CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
Abram
I realize for the thousandth time how much I’ve missed her. I’ve barely survived the month without her, but I persisted just for this very moment.
I smile slowly at her.
“How have you been?”
“Hello, sir,” Melody says with a slight bow. “I’ve just finished cleaning and am getting ready to leave now.”
She sounds so cold that I pause to stare at her in surprise.
This wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. Yes, a degree of anger was expected but not this scary indifference.
Melody turns away from me and picks up her handbag from the dining table.
I quickly recover from my shock and block her exit with my body.
“Wh...What’s going on, Melody? Why are you acting this way?”
She scoffs and looks at me like I’m not making any sense.
“Are you seriously asking me that? You waltz in here after a month without any communication, and you expect everything to be alright? What did you expect? That I’d jump into your arms and weep about how much I missed you? Keep on dreaming, honey.”
“Look... I’m sorry,” I say, hoping she will look me in the eyes with the same love and adoration I was used to. “I can explain. I...I needed to put everything together as soon as possible so that I could get back to you...to Hudson. I worked so hard so I wouldn’t have any reason to go back, or at least for a long period of time.”
He pauses looking dejected.
“So many times, I stopped myself from leaving it all behind and running back here to you. I missed you so bad, but I had to comfort myself with the thought that we’d soon be together. I did all of that for us, Melody. Can’t you see?”
“No,” Melody replies, shaking her head slowly. “I can’t see... I do see what I’ve refused to accept all this time. You were always like this, testing boundaries. Did you think I’d wait around for you forever? I can’t do this anymore. You've got this push and pull thing going on and I don’t want to do it with you anymore. “
“What are you saying, Melody?” I ask, my chest swelling with mounting horror.
My brain is refusing to process her words, and I can barely think amidst the deafening ringing in my ears.
Melody raises her chin and looks me square in the eye.
“There is no us,” she says quietly.