Page 67 of Before Forever
I couldn’t stop myself from deflating with relief. Whatever lingering doubts and fears I had were fading into the background. It didn’t matter anymore what I thought or wanted to believe. My heart was speaking louder than the rest of it now that I knew she was here for the long run.
“Melody, I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? For what?” she puzzled.
“I blew this whole thing with your ex out of proportion,” I confessed. It felt so good to just finally accept it and say it out loud. “I think deep down I believed you from the second I saw you with him. But it was easier to use that as an out from all of this. It was a good excuse to just cut things off because, well, it felt safer that way.”
“It’s okay. I understand,” she said with a reassuring smile. “I’ve been looking for any way out of this I could find too, but I just sent my last possible out away.” She pointed to the door where the realtor had been standing moments ago. “Maybe we have to finally let go and accept there is no way out because this is where we’re supposed to be. Together.” She sucked in a sharp breath and added, “Derek, I’m falling in love with you.”
I marched over and wrapped my hand around the nape of her neck, pulling her lips to mine.
“I know we have to take things slow,” I whispered in between long, tender kisses. “But you’ve made me feel things I haven’t felt in a very long time. Things that I thought died with my wife. You’ve opened my heart up again and given me a second chance.”
“You’ve done that for me too,” she murmured with happy tears welling up in her eyes. “In so many ways. You helped me open my eyes to a whole new life that I didn’t know was possible for me.”
I kissed her deeper, then scooped her into my arms and carried her upstairs to the bedroom. It had been a long, miserable week without her, and I intended to celebrate the end of it right then and there.
30
MELODY
Derek tossed me down onto the bed and quickly climbed over the top of me, settling his knee between my legs as he bent down to kiss me. Our lips and tongues danced together as his hands worked to undress me. We took our time kissing, laughing, and tossing the nuisance of our clothes out of the way. With nothing left in our way, he kissed across my breasts, my neck, down my body, between my thighs, then returned to my lips.
I was eager to sit up and get another look at his naked body on full display in front of me. We picked up right where we left off before, and now it was certain. I could have him, look at him, taste him any time I wanted to. That was worth sticking around for.
My eyes dropped to one of many parts of him that I longed for the most, the throbbing hardness between his legs. I reached out to caress him. He moaned and crashed his lips against mine again, laying me back to slip inside of me. Our fingers interlocked, and it felt time was suspended. There was nothing but the sound of our breaths, and the swelling sensation of us moving together as one.
He moved faster, never moving his eyes away from mine until we were completely swallowed up by the intense, explosive pleasure. Our bodies trembled as we clung to each other in the aftermath. We were tangled together, softly stroking each other’s skin and slipping off into a place of peace and relief.
For all the questions and trials and fears we had overcome, we had finally found one safe pocket of time where, at least for now, it was all figured out. I would be staying with him and Em in Silver Point, at my mother’s lake house, my new home. All we had to do was keep things slow and easy, taking each new day as it came. There was no looming disaster or decision. There was nowhere to rush off to or anything threatening to come between us.
I rolled over and trailed my fingers along the lines of Derek’s face. We were wrapped up in white sheets with bright sunlight bursting in through the window. I could hear the birds chirping outside and the gentle laps of the lake rattling the boat against the wooden dock.
“I can’t believe this is my life now,” I laughed, stroking his hair. “Six months ago, I never would have willingly come to a place like this, and I couldn’t have laid here like this with you without worrying about all the other things I needed to rush off to do. This is nice, but also a little scary. Or at least it’s felt frightening up until recently. I think I’m finally starting to get used to it.”
“Silver Point has its flaws,” he admitted. “All places do. But it has its charms too.”
I nodded my head against the pillow. “I guess I’m starting to realize it’s less about the place and more about the people in it.”
I still had to figure out what I would do for a living in Silver Point, but I didn’t feel defined by what I was doing for the first time in my life. My degree, job title, and bank account balance felt like the least important facts about me as a person. None of that compared to the love I had found in this community with Derek and his family.
We laid there until the sun started to drift down lower in the sky, just enjoying each other’s bodies and warm, naked skin. We sucked up every second of it we could until Derek glanced at the clock and knew it was time for him to go.
“I have to go pick up Em,” he announced reluctantly, stroking his thumb along my cheekbone. “But I was thinking, why don’t you come over for dinner tonight? I know a little girl who is very anxious to see you again.”
“Want to know a secret?” I asked. “I can’t wait to see her again, too.”
We kissed away our last remaining seconds until he had to get out of bed and get dressed. I stayed behind and washed up while he went to pick her up from school. After changing my clothes, I stepped outside and wrapped up tighter in my jacket. It was the final days of fall. All of the leaves had shriveled up and fallen from the trees, and the ground was turning gray. Soon, it would be Christmas time, and I couldn’t wait to see what the holidays were like in Silver Point.
I bundled up and climbed on my bike to cross the bridge to Derek’s place. I realized I would probably need to get a car soon. I had no need for one in New York, but I couldn’t keep biking everywhere through the winter. It was another thing to add to the list, but I wasn’t going to stress about it. Things had a funny way of working out if you gave them some room just to see where life took you, I had learned.
Derek’s house looked warm and inviting, with smoke billowing out of the chimney. The smell of whatever he was cooking for dinner wafted outside. The chickens were cozied up in their coop, hiding from the cold evening air. Hank saw me from the front door and wagged his tail, waiting patiently for me to come inside.
The moment I walked through the door, Em came rushing up and threw her arms around me. “You’re here! You’re here! See, Daddy! I told you she wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye.”
Derek appeared around the corner and smiled. “Actually, Melody has something to tell you about that.”
I kneeled down to her level and placed my hand on her shoulder. “About that whole selling the lake house and moving back to the city thing. I’ve changed my mind.”