Page 58 of Love is a Harmony
“It’s decided then.” He reached forward, opening the bag. “What’s for breakfast?”
Melanie uncurled her legs and leaned forward. “I got you a mushroom egg white omelet wrap.”
“A what now?” His face twisted in horror. “Mel, that sounds disgusting.”
“Well, you can have a scone if Stella allows it.”
Stella snatched the bag. “Nope.”
Noah lunged across Melanie, tackling Stella to the couch and tickling her until she gave up the bag.
Melanie laughed as she shoved him off her. “Play nice, children. I’m going to take a shower, and then we can curl up in bed and pick out a movie.”
She left them giggling on the couch as she walked into the bathroom and shut the door, leaning back against it. An audible breath pushed past her lips, and she closed her eyes.
She’d done it, revealed Justin’s existence to Noah. And he hadn’t told her she was wrong for still missing him.
There’d been no platitudes of “it will get better.”
But for the first time, she believed it might. And the key was her fake husband and the little girl he now had to raise.
“I’m sorry, Justin,” she whispered. “But I’m going to try to let go.”
17
Noah
Noah had never been a lay around the house kind of guy. Between touring and other obligations, his life didn’t allow for much down time.
Maybe he should thank Jo for getting pregnant and forcing the need for a break.
But she’d probably punch him if he did.
“You’ve never watched Frozen?” Stella looked from Melanie to Noah where they lay on each side of her on the bed. “But…”
Noah smiled at the thought of his brother watching Frozen with his daughter. “I’ve never had the need.”
Stella scoffed. “Everyone has the need to watch Frozen.”
Melanie smiled at him over Stella’s head. Neither of them knew what they’d gotten in to with this kid. The more time they spent with her, the more she opened up, letting a feisty personality that reminded Noah so much of Carson show. There were moments she looked on the verge of tears, as if she’d forgotten she wasn’t supposed to smile, to enjoy herself.
He knew the feeling well.
“Just put it on, or she won’t stop berating us.”
Melanie laughed. “True.” She found Frozen on Amazon and rented it without a second thought.
The three of them settled in for two agonizing hours of a musical. Noah didn’t do cartoons or musicals. He wasn’t a warm and fuzzy singalong kind of guy. Not when he’d spent most of his time around other rock stars and getting into trouble.
This, here, was a different kind of life, but he found himself no less content.
Melanie’s confession was still fresh in his mind, the way her expression looked so broken. He’d wanted to gather her into his arms and tell her everything was going to be okay. But grief didn’t work like that. He knew that now from experience.
He’d found himself feeling happy in small snippets since Carson died, but then a fresh wave of loss hit, dragging him back down to the bottom of the hill. It was an endless cycle, trying to reach that crest, the point at which he wouldn’t feel it so strongly anymore.
Melanie was thirty-four now. Which meant she’d been living in that cycle for ten years, never breaking free. What did that do to a person? He’d seen her reaction to the guitar, the way she’d buried herself in work before their time in France. She was the most productive person he knew, but maybe she had to be productive to keep moving forward.
Before long, Stella’s breathing evened as she fell asleep.
