Page 20 of A Family Affair: The Ring
“The line?I’d say she knows exactly where it isandcontinues to cross it to show everyone who’s in charge.Why can’t she just mind her own business and let other people live their lives?”
He shook his head, frowned.“I’ve been asking myself that for a long time.I spent years despising my old man for what he did to our family, how he broke us apart and made us all miserable.”He stared at her, eyes bright.“But what if it all stemmed fromherand her inability to be a decent person?”
“I’m sorry, Will.”Nobody cared for Marjorie Callahan, but they tolerated her because of the children and because of the “situation” with her husband.People said a man who brings home a paycheck and contributes nothing else to the family in terms of affection, guidance,orconcern isnota family man.And if that same man heads to the bars or worse, disappears for hours at a time, then that man is not a partnerora parent.Melanie had heard all the stories about Joe Callahan, long before she and Will started dating.It was her father who told her Will’s dad wasn’t a bad man, he was just confused and trying to make sense of his life.Don’t believe everything you hear, he’d said.Rumors are often attempts to entertain or make a person feel better about themselves or their own situation.
Will began pacing, his long strides covering the length of the room in mere seconds.“All I’ve done with my mother is make excuses for her constant state of dissatisfaction; she can’t find a decent job, she’s too old to get job training, she’s heartbroken about my father… She misses my sister… It’s always something and itneverstops.”He blew out a loud sigh, dragged a hand through his hair.“As long as I keep refueling her needs, she’s happy—or as happy as my mother gets.Need a new roof?Sure.Want a trip to Charleston?You bet.Want me to show up for Christmas EveandChristmas dinner, even though I dread it?I’ll be there.But when she comes after you?That’s a line I won’t let her cross.”
“I can handle your mother.”The dark expression and the frown said she had no idea what she was talking about.“Listen, why don’t we head to the kitchen, and you can try out a few chocolate chip cookies.”Pause and a soft “I put walnuts in them.”
Those blue eyes narrowed, his jaw twitched.“I haven’t had those since...”
Since we broke up?she wanted to ask.Why would you do that?To obliterate the memories, or to obliterate me?But she didn’t ask, because deep down she didn’t want to know the answer.“Well then, you should definitely try at least one.”She didn’t wait for his response but headed toward the kitchen and the cookies he’d once claimed were his favorite.Melanie removed the cookies from the tray, lined them up on the wire racks and began filling another tray with cookie dough.
“You always were a great baker.”
She glanced up, caught him studying the rows of cookies, his hands resting on the edge of the Formica countertop.“Thank you.”If he didn’t eat chocolate chip cookies with walnuts anymore, what about dark chocolate-covered strawberries?Were they off limits as well?Oh, how she wanted to ask, but to do so would reveal too much interest and what if he askedherthe same question?What would she tell him?I gorge myself until I’m numb, so I won’t feel anything when I look at them?
What did that say about her other than she had some serious issues, and he was at the center?No surprise there, even though she’d denied it for too many years, until she listened to the last therapist.But that didn’t happen until she broke her ex-boyfriend’s heart because she couldnotcommit to a life with him.
Because of the man standing on the other side of the counter.
Before she left Magdalena, shewouldhave her life figured out and shewouldhave closure with Will Callahan.
He picked up a cookie, gaze narrowed on it.“I wonder what the ratio of walnuts to chocolate chips is?”
Melanie shot him a look.“You’re wondering this...why?”
A shrug, a twitch of his lips that reminded her of the old Will Callahan.“It impacts the taste, so what ratio would be required for the walnuts to overpower the chocolate chips?Would you say fifty-fifty?Sixty-forty?”He toyed with the cookie, drew in a deep breath, opened his mouth...And then he cleared his throat, placed the cookie on the counter and stepped back as though the darn thing had burned him.
Fine, he wanted to pretend he didn’t want the cookie oranyof the memories associated with it, including her?No problem.All he had to do was deny it.Melanie lifted the tray of cookies, placed it in the oven and set the timer.Then, she selected her own cookie, bit into it and let out a slow moan of pleasure.“So good.”Will stared at her lips, those blue eyes shifting to silver.He opened his mouth to speak, closed it.Continued to stare as she took another bite, offered up a smile and another tiny moan.“These are almost as good as dark chocolate-covered strawberries.Almost, but...not quite.”
She should be quiet and let him pretend he didn’t remember how she fixed him chocolate chip cookies with walnuts as he crammed for a test or when they lay side-by-side watching a movie, nibbling on cookies, so close, so intimate.So perfect.Or the night she made him cookies at his college apartment wearing nothing but his T-shirt.Oh, she bet he rememberedthat.She took another bite, let out a soft sigh, held out the rest of her cookie.“Sure you don’t want any?”The left side of his jaw twitched, the brackets around his mouth deepened...and those eyes...so bright...so intense...“Will?”
“I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not going to work.”
“You do?I’m simply offering you a cookie.”
More jaw twitching, and a snarl.“I know what you’re trying to do, Melanie, what I don’t understand is why.”
Eight years ago, she knew almost everything about William Joseph Callahan and what she didn’t know, she asked.It was so simple, but now?Her ex-fiancé wanted to pretend what they’d shared was so insignificant that he couldn’t remember it?That was a flat-out lie, and she wasn’t going to let him get away with it.“I’m trying to get you to acknowledge that we meant something to each other.Enough that you proposed, and I accepted.”
“And?”The tone of his voice was cold, harsh, unforgiving.“The acceptance lasted less than a week.It hardly qualifies.”
That was cruel.“I don’t care if it was three minutes.You proposed and I accepted.”Darn the man and his coldness.“We loved each other, and I’m sorry that it’s inconvenient for you to accept or acknowledge that, but it’s true.And you can walk around in your button-down shirts and fancy haircut with your stares and scowls and pretend that you don’t see me, and you don’t remember, but you do and that’s what I’m trying to get you to admit.”
“You want me to admit to a time in my life I wish never happened?For what purpose?”
That comment did not sound as though he hadn’t cared.No, absolutely not.Thatcomment sounded as though he’d cared a lot and wished he hadn’t.Maybe he was as messed up and broken as she was because they’d never reached closure.One day they were planning a life together and the next, they were over.
How could a person move on from that if it had all happened with the force of a tornado and there was nothing left but the aftermath of destruction?Melanie pushed out the truth she’d refused to accept for too many years.“I haven’t been able to move on since we broke up and I’ve tried.It hasn’t worked and the only hope I have of finding a decent life and some sort of lasting relationship is to have closure with you.But that does not involve pretending or acting as though we never mattered.It doesn’t work because I’ve tried both.”
Her confession made him lash out.“Closure?I don’t need closure.I want to forgetweever happened, and I am not going to dredge this all up so I can live through it again.You’re not going to do that to me.”He glared at her, stone-cold furious.“Not again.”
“Who’s pretending now?You once accused my whole family of pretending around the truth about what happened.I sensed they weren’t being honest, but I didn’t want to admit it.And now you’re doing the same thing with what happened between us.You say you want to forget, but have you been able to do that?Why aren’t you married?”She fisted her hands on her waist, didn’t miss the flinch.“Why haven’t you found someone?”
“It just hasn’t happened.”
“It hasn’t happened, or you won’t let it happen?From what I’ve heard there’ve been a lot of applicants over the years.”She tried to keep the hurt from her voice, failed.“A lot.”
