Page 16 of Stolen Moments
But his smile began to fade as he realized that she wasn’t answering. He put the mugs on the floor and opened the door to Melia’s bedroom. The sun filtered in from the window, casting an eerie golden light on Melia’s neatly made bed. He leaned against the doorframe and took in the emptiness of the room. She had erased herself from the room, the only evidence of her stay there a book on the desk and the smell of her vanilla and patchouli perfume in the air. Luka clutched at his chest. He felt like he couldn’t fill his lungs with air as he closed the door and leaned against it, feeling profoundly bereft and lonely.
Chapter Nine
When Victor opened the door to his apartment, he found a pathetic-looking Melia standing there amongst her things.
“Aye mija, I’m so sorry,” he said, hugging her instantly as she began to cry. He helped her bring her belongings inside and then ran to the kitchen to open a bottle of wine. They sat at the kitchen table drinking. Melia drained her cup quickly and poured herself another.
“Oh, Victor, I really fucked this one up.” She threw back another cup.
“Be careful, Melia, or you’re going to end up with your head in the toilet.”
Melia snorted. “Anything would be better than this.”
“What happened?”
“I fell in love. I fell in love with Susan.” Victor raised an eyebrow. Melia threw a crumpled napkin at him. “No, not likethat. She’s kind, warm, and direct. She was so strong and wonderful; you guys would have hit it off, Victor! I know you would have loved her. Everything about her screamedfierce. I really came to appreciate and love her genuinely. But then there’s Luka.” Melia drained her cup again. “Luka was smart, and so dedicated to his wife, and I fell in love with him, too. His eyes, the way he touched me…”
“The way hetouchedyou? Girl, are you crazy?”
“I don’t know what came over me, Victor. I really don’t. I stopped it, I swear.”
“Hmm,” Victor puckered his face and looked straight at Melia.
“Okay, I know it doesn’t sound like me, but I did. I tried to be happy with taking care of her. Something about the feeling of sisterhood I had with Susan kept me tied to Luka. And Victor, I love him like I have never loved anyone in my life. But I knew it wasn’t right. So, I left. I didn’t want him to become a bad guy because of me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, before I left he came to me trying to tell me that maybe we could find a way to make it work.”
“Newsflash, honey — that doesn’t sound like something a nice guy, would say. Like ‘hello, my wife is dying of cancer in the next room, but we can still bang until she croaks.’ Where in the world do you find these guys, Melia? You deserve so much better.”
“Yeah? Well what does it say about me that I was tempted to take it, that I was tempted to betray a woman who’s kind of my friend now?”
“It was that good, huh?” A devilish smile crept across Victor’s face.
“Oh god, you’re incorrigible, seriously.” Melia looked at the wine glass between her hands and she grinned sheepishly. “But yeah, it was pretty good.”
“Oooo,sucia,I knew it. Give me details.”
“Well, he’s into some pretty crazy stuff. Susan told me he’s into that tying-people-up-and-whipping-them shit.”
“I had a boyfriend like that. Girl, you have no idea what you’re in for. But I mean, do you even like that?”
“I could have been down for trying it. It seemed really interesting…you know…if he hadn’t been married to my patient or what not.”
Victor rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. “Whatever. So?”
Melia felt heat flush up her neck. “Let’s just say he’s good with his hands.”
“That’s it? That’s all? What are you like in the fifth grade?”
Melia laughed. “Excuse me for having a moral compass.”
Victor pouted at Melia and looked at her from the corner of his eye. “Says the woman who was thinking about having an affair with a dying woman’s husband.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” they laughed and clinked their glasses together.
* * *