Page 111 of I Knew You
“Does she know about everything? The marriage and all that?”
I nodded. “Yeah. She knows it all, including the wreck. I’ve been pretty open with her.”
“Okay. I didn’t want to slip up and say something that would surprise anyone.”
That didn’t sit right with me. It was true that I married herfor her convenience and as a form of penance, but it was so much more than that. It always was.
We were so much more than that.
“You can say and do whatever you want. Always.” I squeezed her thigh again. “Mel is not a bullshitter. I like that about her.”
“Like Grams?” Julianna asked, and I nodded.
“Mel had a hard upbringing. She was pretty much without family until she found me.”
“Does it bother you that she existed for so long and you didn’t know?”
I took a deep breath. “Yeah. I try not to feel guilty that I lived luxuriously while she was in a shack in the woods.”
Julianna’s face fell. “You shouldn’t, you didn’t know. Your life was bad enough and the only one you experienced. You’ve got to find a way to quit bearing the burdens of other people’s circumstances.”
I knew what she was saying was true, but I found it hard to accept.
“I never asked you how you got to Grams’ house the night we split. You didn’t take the Jeep.”
She blanched a little, and I narrowed my eyes, going back and forth between her expression and the road.
“I…called Hunter to come get me.”
Jealousy swept over me, my muscles stiffening in protest.
“Julianna Joy. You did not.”
She flinched a little but then cracked a wide, teasing smile.
“You could have gotten yourself fucking killed,” I grumbled, deciding to embrace the anger for a moment.
She squeezed my hand. “You’d have found my body,” she soothed, her voice as sweet as honey, shoving off my admonishment. “I’d already been out with him before. He was a perfect gentleman. I thrived under his tutelage.”
I raised my eyebrow and watched as her smile widened. Shewas toying with me, and I could play this game all night for the rest of my life if it kept her smiling like that.
“I feel like you might need to be punished for a decision like that, sweets.”
“Mmm. Make it a good one, please. Don’t bore me.” She flipped her long hair over her shoulder.
“Deal,” I replied.
Lakey metus in the lane leading to the house, which meant Mel was outside. I’d texted her before we left Grams’ house, letting her know we were on our way together. She said she’d make herself scarce, but I explained it was time for them to get to know each other and asked her to stay.
Lakey jumped on Julianna, and their love reunion was more heart-tugging than expected. They’d grown so close in just a few weeks.
“My girl,” Julianna cooed, scratching Lakey with vigor. Lakey soaked up every stroke, raining kisses down on Julianna at every turn.
Mel exited the garage side door, wiping her hands on a cloth, her clothes covered in spray paint.
“Hey, bro,” she said. She stepped into the floodlight from the garage so we could see each other. She looked out at Lakey and Julianna. “Looks like that discussion went well.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. “We discussed…a lot.”
