“Are you sick or something? No, he didn’t call me. I mean, he did, but not because of Kori. Carolyn told me Kori went home sick. Thanks, by the way, for calling and letting me know. I had a freaking panic attack when I was in the pick-up line and only two of my three came out of the building.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “But wait, Danny called you? Why?”
Melody held up the bottle of wine, two glasses, and motioned for them to go sit outside. Kelly fixed Kori a bowl of soup and found her friend already sipping on a glass of Merlot. “Spill,” she said after sitting down. Melody poured another glass and handed it to her. She sipped, thinking that Mel probably wanted her tipsy. Just thinking about Danny made her this way. She wanted to be disgusted with herself for even thinking about him, but once she saw him today, any rationale she’s been holding onto for the last fifteen years went out the door. So did her resentment. However, she wasn’t willing to admit that just yet.
“He was worried about you. Asked me to stop in and check on you.”
“Why would he care?”
Melody shrugged. “Maybe he still cares about you.”
The thought not only excited her, but made her heart ache. They shouldn’t care about each other, not anymore, and if he had cared back then, he wouldn’t have laughed with the others. As much as she wanted to forgive him, forgetting would be near impossible. She also knew she wasn’t being fair to him. He did apologize this morning, which stunned her. The right thing to do would’ve been to tell him she accepted his apology, but she kept her words to herself. She had another opportunity this afternoon, to which she could’ve apologized in kind for questioning his medical degree. Again, found herself without a voice.
“You know I tried to go talk to him, to ask him how his life has been, but it was like I had no voice box. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I think maybe, he felt the same way. I don’t know. I wasn’t prepared to see him. No thanks to you.”
Mel shrugged. “Honestly, he’s not on my radar, ya know? Everything happened such a long time ago, sometimes I forget, and he definitely doesn’t dare ask me about you.”
“Couldn’t even fill me in on him being the town doc. I made a fool of myself today.” She picked up her glass and swirled the red wine around before taking a drink. On one of her trips with Alan, they went to Napa and visited every winery they could. She was drunk for days, but at the time thought it was worth it. He was worth it. Over the last year, she’s tried to figure out when things changed. She couldn’t pinpoint a specific date though and it drove her batty when she thought about it.
“You know, I’m sitting in the office today and this woman is next to me, going on and on about how hot Dr. Weatherly is, and all I could think about was my dad.”
“Your dad is hot though.” Melody bumped Kelly’s elbow with hers.
“Shut up.”
“What, it’s true.”
&n
bsp; She rolled her eyes and changed the subject back to her visit. “I told Danny that I wanted Kori to see his dad. He actually offered to call him for me, pull him out of retirement.”
“Danny’s a good physician. When his father announced he was leaving, the town was in a tizzy. He waited a few days before coming clean that Danny was coming back to take over the practice.”
“He wasn’t even supposed to be a doctor,” Kelly mumbled. “That wasn’t the plan.”
The friends grew silent after that comment. They both knew what the plan had been, there wasn’t a need to rehash and bring up the past. Besides, she wanted to be done with the “what if” game, and since running into Danny earlier, those questions have plagued her mind. Of course, now she wondered if he would’ve switched his major if their plan hadn’t changed. Would they have ended up back in Gray, no matter what?
Melody finally broke the silence. “Plans change. It’s a part of life. That’s why nothing is ever set in concrete because once it is, you have to chisel and break the stone to get rid of it and no one wants that hassle.”
“I broke down in front of Danny today,” she paused and shook her head. “So stupid. I thought he called me into his office to tell me that Kori was dying.” She looked out over the railing of her terrace, spotting a man and his dog. Her mind instantly went to Danny and his furry pal, who waited outside so obediently for him this morning. “He held me, and it was like we were back in high school. It felt good, genuine. I wasn’t questioning why he was touching me, and he was clearly crossing the patient/doctor line.”
Her tears though, they had no issues with falling in front of him. Loud and obnoxious sobbing out of fear she was losing her daughter over a silly stomachache. She was due for a good crying session. She hadn’t had one in months, not since she saw a picture of Alan, having the time of his life on his Facebook page. She’s since deleted her social media presence, mostly out of spite. If his family wanted to see or know what Kori’s up to, they could call. They hadn’t, not in months. It was like once Alan decided he no longer wanted a family they cast Kori aside. That was another reason to move home.
No wonder she jumped to conclusions earlier today, Danny probably thought she was one of those neurotic moms. Ugh.
They sat in silence, both staring out over the boardwalk. There was very little traffic right now. The people who were downtown, were out for a stroll, meandering about and likely enjoying the setting sun and rising moon. She loved it here and was happy to be back, even with Danny here.
“I know you’re going to say no, but Chad and I talked about it, and he’s promised to protect you—”
“From what?” she interrupted.
“Our fifteenth is coming up. We want you to go.”
“No.”
“Look at it from this standpoint. You’re a business owner now and you have a daughter. Don’t you want to stand tall in front of these yahoo’s and show them you’re stronger than their words? It was forever ago. Show them they don’t even exist in your world.”
She drank her glass of wine and refilled. “Enticing offer, but no.”