Page 89 of Suddenly Dating
“I didn’t know you’d behere,obviously. I’m here because I’m taking over Birta’s publicity tour.”
He frowned with suspicion. “Seems a little too convenient.”
“All right, Hazel told me you were in East Beach, and Andy told me who was on the guest list. Please don’t judge me, Harry. Is it a crime that I wanted to see you? I wouldn’t have come tonight at all if I’d known you’d already moved on.”
Had he moved on? The only thing Harry knew was that he’d always been so certain about Melissa... but he was terribly uncertain about her now.
Melissa had sensed his reluctance, his distance, and had touched his hand. “I’ve wanted to call you. I’ve been thinking a lot about us lately, and I wish... I wish we could give it another go, Harry.”
“Melissa—”
“If you don’t want to, I totally understand. But I really want to try again. I was so wrong about so many things,” she said, clasping her hands at her breast. “I want to prove to you that I am more understanding now and I want to help you realize your dreams. I should have been more supportive, I know I should have. I really miss us. Don’t you?”
No, he didn’t. He hadn’t missed Melissa in a few weeks and frankly, he hadn’t thought of her at all in the last two weeks. He stood there, gazing at the woman he thought would be his wife, wondering if he’d really moved on so quickly? Had he been so wrong about his feelings for her?
“You don’t have to give me an answer right now, obviously,” Melissa said. “But I’m asking you to think about it.” She lifted her gaze and locked it on his. “Justthinkabout it. I love you, Harry.”
But Harry didn’t love Melissa anymore...at least he didn’t think he did. After years of doggedly pursuing his company, and failing thus far, all it took was one small plea from Melissa for him to question everything he wanted from life. He realized he’d had some questions he’d been ignoring. Those questions really had nothing to do with Melissa—and they had everything to do with Lola. She was the fresh air in his life.
Jesus. Somehow, some way, his world had been uprooted by a pair of women who were nothing alike.
Harry looked at his ledger again. He was leaking money, and dangerously close to being out completely. It occurred to him that he’d once been so certain of everything in his life—his woman, his business. Now, he was uncertain about everything. If he’d been so wrong about Melissa, maybe he’d been wrong about bridge construction, too.
Harry was in a black mood when he left for work before dawn. He walked quietly down the hall to the kitchen. The lights were out, but he could see Lola’s figure on the couch. She didn’t rouse in the least as he went into the kitchen and gathered a few things. He made coffee, picked up his things, and tiptoed out.
When Harry arrived home from work that night, Lola wasn’t there. She’d left him a covered dish in the fridge. It was labeledKing Ranch Chicken. Help yourself.It was not the funny little note she typically left.
While Harry was wondering about Lola, Melissa was texting him.Thinking of you!she texted, along with a picture of her in one of his old T-shirts. And then,Remember the time we did this?and attached a picture of them at a ballgame.
Harry didn’t respond to her texts. He felt manipulated by them. Melissa had asked him to think about reconciliation and he didn’t think it was fair that she was trying to influence his thinking. Not that it mattered—he had no idea what he was thinking.
Half the week went by before Harry actually saw Lola, mainly because he was racing against the clock to finish his job and staunch the flow of money. That, and he didn’t know if he could be in the same house with Lola while Melissa was texting him notes and selfies while out with their mutual friends.
Ah, but Harry missed his roommate. He missed the smell of something delicious wafting through the house when he came home from work. He missed the banter, he missed her charming, dimpled smile, he missed her crazy little notes. By Thursday, Harry had finished his job, had lost money on it, and had nothing lined up.
He was as dejected as he’d ever been when he returned to the lake house.
He perked up when he saw Lola bobbing around in the pool on the big yellow rubber ducky.
“Hey, you,” she said when he walked out onto the terrace.
“Long time no see.” He squatted next to the pool. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d been avoiding me.”
“Really? I was thinking the same thing about you.”
She sounded like her old self, which was encouraging. “So where have you been?” he asked.
“Everywhere. For your information, I have gone from having no jobs to having two jobs. Well, except for today. Today I went into the city to pick up my nephews from summer day care and ride home with them, and I just got back. Ty was in a bind.”
Seemed a long way to go to pick up two kids from summer day care. Harry dipped his hand into the warm pool water. “Mind if I join you?”
He detected a slight hesitation, but Lola smiled brightly. “Sure!”
Harry returned a few minutes later in swim trunks and eased into the water. He swam across the pool and latched onto Lola’s ducky. She looked happy and pretty. Those sparkling blue eyes always got to him. “So you’ve got two jobs, huh?” he asked.
“I do. I’ve been seeing Birta for a couple of hours every day, and then I go to Mallory’s shop for a few more hours. She wasn’t kidding about dyslexia,” Lola said. “It’s really bad. Or, she skipped math altogether. I’m no mathematician, but I can at least add. Mallory? Not so much,” she said with a shake of her hand. She took a tumbler from the cup holder and drank through a straw.
“If you’re spending time with Birta and Mallory, when do you have time to write your book?” he asked curiously.
