Page 32 of Truth or More Truth (Throwback RomComs #3)

thirty

. . .

I still don’t see how I can make things work with Melissa, but I’m relieved she knows everything now. Well, she knows about Kelli and Nanette, but not about my childhood. That can wait. I’ve given her enough to think about for today.

“Since you’ve shared your story,” Melissa says, “I think it’s time for me to tell you mine.”

My expectation was that we’d be ending the call after my revelation, but if she’s ready to talk, I’m not going to stop her. “Is it as dramatic as my story?”

She laughs. “No, but it’s not great.”

“OK, then. Hit me with it.” I lean back in my chair and kick my feet up on the desk in my home office. I came in here because there’s the least chance Kelli will overhear me from here. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s hovering outside the door, though.

“I told you I moved back to Chicago to be closer to my parents after my dad’s health issues, and that’s true.

But it’s not the only reason I wanted to leave New York.

My story is actually eerily similar to what happened with Randall and Colleen last year, except I was engaged.

Jeremy and I were together for three years and engaged for two months when I caught him in our bed with one of our friends. ”

Anger blasts through me and my fists clench. “Are you kidding me? ”

“Unfortunately, no. But that’s not the whole story.

While it gutted me that he did that, I’d been thinking about calling off the engagement anyway.

I had a … well, there was this guy at work.

I didn’t cheat with him, I promise you that, but we had a really strong connection.

He wanted to pursue it, and I refused to do anything with him because I was engaged to Jeremy.

But the fact is I wanted to. Not cheat—I didn’t want to cheat.

But I was attracted to the other guy, both physically and emotionally, more than I was to my fiancé.

That wasn’t fair to Jeremy, and I was trying to figure out how to tell him and break things off when I caught him with Traci.

I honestly can’t blame him for what he did.

I’m sure I’d been distant and he was reacting to that. ”

“No,” I say forcefully. “His cheating was not your fault. He chose to sleep with another woman.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t exactly faithful.”

“Did you do anything with that other guy? Did you go on a date with him? Did you kiss him or sleep with him? Did you have intimate conversations with him?”

“No.”

“Then you weren’t unfaithful. End of story.”

Melissa sighs. “Maybe.”

“No maybe about it.” I’ll keep telling her that until she believes it. “So after you dumped Jeremy, what happened? Did you end up dating that other guy?”

“The first thing I did was move out of our apartment. Jeremy’s name was the only one on the lease, so I had no choice.

I crashed on a friend’s couch, but that wasn’t a long-term solution, obviously.

And I didn’t date the other guy. Turned out he didn’t want a long-term relationship, and I was already considering leaving New York and didn’t want to jump immediately back into dating anyway.

Coupled with the stuff with my dad, I decided the best thing I could do was move back home to Chicago.

I haven’t regretted one minute of it. I reconnected with the Hamilton boys, became friends with Leslie and Wendy, and can’t imagine my life without any of them in it. ”

Can she imagine her life without me in it? Probably. I’ve only been in it as more than an acquaintance for a little over a week .

“I love my life here, Bobby. But I also really like you. I was willing to try long-distance before, but knowing about Kelli, I’m now not sure.

Not because I don’t want to date someone with a teenage kid, but because I don’t want her to get hurt, either.

Does she know about me—about whatever this might be between us? ”

I sigh. “She does, which makes it more complicated. She overheard me talking to her mother about you, and then she heard the voicemail Wendy left, ordering me to call you tonight.”

Melissa chuckles. “Wendy’s a keeper.”

“She is. But yes, since Kelli knows, there’s no keeping you and me under the radar until we figure things out.

And for the record, she wants this to work out.

She’s already invested, and sneaking around isn’t an option, because she’ll ferret everything out of me.

Well, maybe not everything, but the basics at least. And I won’t lie to her. ”

“I wouldn’t want you to. While I’d love to keep talking, I’m going to let you go. I have a lot to think about, and I feel like you do, too. Let’s talk again in a few days, okay? And if you change your mind and decide trying to date me long-distance isn’t worth it, promise you’ll let me know?”

My chest clenches. “You’re worth it.”

“You think that now, but you might change your mind. And if so, that’s fine. I get it.”

“Okay, we’ll talk again in a few days. I’ll let you initiate the call, whenever you’re ready. Let me give you my number.”

After we hang up, I stay in my chair. I’m exhausted, both physically and emotionally.

I’m also relieved that Melissa didn’t tell me to go take a hike.

I’m not any closer to knowing how this can work out than I was before.

Semi-retiring could definitely help, but that doesn’t solve the problem of us living two thousand miles apart.

Part of me wonders why I’m even considering this, but the other part knows Melissa is special.

I’ve never felt this comfortable with a woman, apart from Nanette.

But the feelings I have for Melissa are different than any I ever had for my ex-wife.

There’s this ache deep down inside me because it’s been a week since I was with her, and I just want to see her gorgeous face and give her a tight hug.

And yeah, I want to kiss her and do other things I can’t tell my daughter about.

Then I want to fall asleep with us tangled up in each other.

Every night. That’s the kicker right there.

Usually one night is all I want with a woman.

I know that might make me seem like a jerk, but the women always know the deal going in.

Melissa is not a one-night woman. Not for me.

Knock, knock.

“Dad? It’s quiet in there. Are you off the phone?”

I can’t help but smile while I sigh. “You can come in, kitten.”

The door swings open, revealing my daughter with a fist on her hip and the other hand gesturing wildly. “Kitten? Really? You think that’s better than ‘baby’?”

I throw my hands wide. “Then what should I call you?”

“Uh, my name?” She throws her own hands out and rolls her eyes. “It’s Kelli, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“I had forgotten. Thanks for the reminder,” I say dryly.

“Whatever.” She curls up in the oversized green chair she made me put in here for her soon after we moved in.

I don’t meet with clients at my house—other than Diego, but he actually stays here with me when he’s in town—so I didn’t initially have another chair in here.

However, that didn’t work for my daughter.

She wanted pink, but I put my foot down on that, so we settled on kelly green, because she claimed that would remind me of her every time I looked at it. She wasn’t wrong.

“What do you need, cupcake?” I tease her.

She slices her hand through the air. “No. No cupcakes or muffins or kittens or bunnies or other desserts or adorable animals. And I need to know what Melissa said.”

I fold my hands in front of me on my desk. “I’m not sure that’s any of your business.”

Kelli sighs dramatically. “Dad, we’ve already discussed this. It’s totally my business. Now tell me.”

“She’s thinking about it.” That’s really all she needs to know. I’m for sure not telling her about Melissa’s jerkwad of an ex-fiancé.

“See? She didn’t send you packing. What did I tell you? ”

“Yeah, but she didn’t say yes.”

“But you’re giving her the chance to decide for herself, and I think she appreciates that. I haven’t met her, obviously, but I don’t think you’d be interested in dating a woman who would let you make decisions for her. You appreciate independence.”

That’s pretty insightful for a thirteen-year-old. “You’re right. About Melissa and in general.” I hadn’t ever thought about it that way, but my daughter is right.

“Of course I am. You and Mom are raising me to be an independent woman, so it only makes sense that’s the type of woman you’d want to be with.”

I point at her. “You’re not an independent woman yet. Don’t go getting any ideas.”

Kelli rolls her eyes. “I know. But I will be. And you don’t make all my decisions for me.

You let me make some of them even if you don’t agree with them, as long as they’re not something that’ll get me killed.

And then when I screw up, you don’t get mad.

Well, maybe you do for a minute or two …

or ten, but then you hug me and help me see what I could’ve done better. ”

I lean back in my chair and cross my arms. “When did you grow up and figure all that out?”

She shrugs and smirks at me from her chair. “When I turned thirteen.”

“Hmm.” She might also spend too much time around adults—the curse of the only child.

“It’s what you do with your clients, too.

I hear you on the phone with them sometimes.

You try to talk them out of doing some of the dumb stuff they want to do, but in the end, you let them make their decisions and then help them clean up their mess when it all falls apart.

And then you show them how they could’ve made better choices. You’re like their dad.”

I’m not like my dad, that’s for sure. I’m like the dad I wish I’d had. I try to do the opposite of what my dad would’ve done, which has worked out pretty well for us.

“You’re really good at your job,” she continues. “I know a lot of people think you’re a jerk, and believe me, you can be at times. Like to Mrs. Canby. ”

She raises an eyebrow at me, and I shrug. The headmistress at Kelli’s private school is … well, she’s a jerk.

Kelli continues, “And you can be a jerk when you’re trying to get a deal for your clients.

But you’re not a jerk to your clients, at least not that I’ve overheard.

I mean, Uncle Diego loves you like a brother.

And Jimmie Zane is an idiot, but he trusts you with his life.

You really do treat him like he’s your kid.

You ran off to Chicago to straighten him out two days after Christmas when you could’ve just let him continue to screw up his career and leave all the mess to his PR people to clean up.

I repeat, it’s like he’s your kid and you’re trying to get him on the right path.

Of course, you’re old enough he could be your kid,” she teases.

“Haha. You’re so funny. But no agent is going to let their client run wild without trying to rein them in.” Plus, Leslie is his PR rep and there was no way I was letting her deal with Jimmie drama the week before her wedding.

“Maybe so. But I don’t think other agents do it like you do.

I know that horrible Wayne McCormack doesn’t.

” She shivers dramatically, and I laugh.

My nemesis truly is a terrible person. “You really care about those guys, even if you don’t say it.

You show it by the way you treat them and help them be better people. ”

Maybe she’s right, but what she didn’t point out is I left town to go be a pseudo-father to a grown man when I should’ve been right here with my actual teenage daughter a couple weeks ago.

I got an earful about it at the time, but she seems to have moved on.

I’m not sure I want her to move on from something like that, though.

“Ba—” I catch myself before fully calling her baby again. “I’m sorry I left you to go clean up Jimmie’s mess. I should’ve left him to deal with it on his own.”

“I know you’re sorry. You’ve said it twenty times. But you can’t help it. You want to help those idiots. But it would be nice if you were here more to help this idiot.” She points her thumb at herself.

“You’re not an idiot.”

“I know. I was just making a point. ”

“It was well made. Sounds like I might need to be saving up money for law school.”

“I’d kick some butt in a courtroom,” she declares.

“You would indeed.”