“Hello Penthouse apartment.” Casey says excitedly when I open the door. I smile and go in for a hug. It feels so good to see her, we haven’t seen each other in so long. I missed her so much. Life has been so busy that we haven’t had time to link up. What they don’t tell you about adulting is that the days get shorter and relationships are harder to maintain. It’s so hard to keep in touch when you are trying to keep your shit together. “I think I chose the wrong career.” She says when she walks into my apartment. “We do the same thing. What are you talking about?” I say laughing. We walk into the kitchen and sit at the island. She touches the marble top, smoothing it out. I look at her funny, we work in the same industry and we make about the same amount of money. She’s acting like she can’t have this if she wanted to. “I chose the house, white picket fence and the 2.1 kids. I didn’t stop to think that maybe I could want this.” She says gesturing to my place. “This is bomb af, pent
When are you going to see her?” My grandfather asks looking at me sitting on his favorite chair in my home office\ library. He looks at me smiling mischievously and then he turns to the fire place longingly. “I’m not going to see her. I don’t think it’s a good idea.” I say more to myself but I’m looking at him. He turns to look at me smiling. He has this I don’t believe the crap you’re telling me look on his face. “We should light the fire.” He says out of nowhere, changing the subject. I look at him confused and disappointed. I really need someone to talk to about this before I lose my mind. But I guess he’s not in the mood to listen to my bullshit today. “It’s going to get hot.” I say looking at the fire place. It’s not cold out, the house is cool. But as soon as we light that thing it’s going to be a furnace in here. “I know but it would be so nice to look at.” He says smiling at me like a kid that wants something really bad. And unfortunately I can’t say no to him when he look
“Hey, Melody.” My new boss Jack says standing at my office door. I look up and smile at him. He walks in gingerly unsure of himself. I look at him curiously, that’s very odd of him. “Hi.” I say and he walks in closing the door. I look at him slightly concerned, I’ve only been here two weeks and he’s already walking into my office closing doors. This can’t be good. I can’t imagine I’ve messed up yet. “I just wanted to check in, see how you’re doing. You know the two week check in.” He says sitting in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “I’m settling in well. I think I’m starting to find my rhythm.” I say and he looks at me smiling but he still seems unsure. “I’m happy to hear that. I want you to be as comfortable as possible. The board and I are very excited to have on board and we know how important of an asset you are to our team. We hope we can build a lasting relationship with you.” He says and I calm down a little, I thought he was coming in here to tell me that I lost my jo
“Thank you for joining me for dinner.” Knox says smiling at me from across the table. I look around at the beautiful view. We’re in a private room at the highest level of the tallest restaurant in the city. It’s so breathtaking. “It’s not like you gave me much of a choice.” I say looking at him. I smile back at him because his real smile is infectious. “I like to believe that I gave you a choice.” He says staring at me. His eyes are filled with that mischief he had in university. He’s playing games. “We believe what we want to believe.” I say and that makes him laugh. “You know, I didn’t imagine meeting you again would go down like this.” He says leaning back in his chair getting comfortable. His eyes don’t leave mine; they greedily take me in as he smiles at me. “No? How did you imagine it going down?” I ask taking a sip of my wine. I need to ask the waiter what brand of wine this is. It tastes exquisite, it’s probably one of those insanely expensive and rare bottles. Knox chose
“Is anyone home?” I hear Olive call out from the entryway of the house. Her footsteps echo in the house as she walks toward my office. “Maybe I should have called first.” I hear her say as she comes closer to the door. She didn’t even tell me she was coming, I wonder if her mother knows she’s back. She walks into the office her eyes going to the desk. She scans the room and finds me sitting in my chair. I look at her at her surprised, she looks refreshed and grown up. I guess a year in Paris will do that to you. I smile excited to see her. I missed her so much. I love having her around. “Wow you look old.” She says smiling at me. I frown at her words; she has a way of making me not miss her in a matter of seconds. “Hello to you too.” I say getting up from the chair. She walks to me and we hug. She wraps her arms around me giving me so much love. I smile at her sweetness. “What’s with the beard?” She asks staring at my face, “It’s a new thing I’ve been trying out for about a yea
“There is a Mr. Knox here to see you.” The concierge says when I answer the phone. I look at the time on my phone and sigh. Its 8 pm on a Saturday doesn’t he have some rich people thing to go to? Or better yet a wife to be with? Why is he here to bother me? “Let him up.” I say ending the call. I knew letting him drive me home the other night was a bad idea. Now that he knows where I live and he is going to show up randomly whenever he wants. I need to stop this before it goes any further. I don’t want a repeat of our university days that shit wasn’t cute then and it will never be. We’re too grown to be going through all that drama again. I don’t have the patience, time, energy, emotional ability or luxury of having a man show up at my day whenever he wants. I have my sibling’s safety and sanity to think about. I’m going through a process of healing and adjustment. I really don’t need his bullshit right now About a minute later my doorbell rings. I leisurely walk out of my bedroom an
“This bed looks so comfortable.” Knox says walking into my bedroom. I love how he just walks around the apartment like he and I are allowed to do this. He’s just walking around like he belongs here. “I thought you were going to wait for me in the living room.” I say looking at him from my bathroom door. He looks at me smiling, that beautiful smile he used to give me when he wanted to get into my pants. I missed that smile. “I really wanted to see what your bedroom looks like.” He says walking to the bed and touching the duvet cover softly. “I loved your bedroom in your old apartment. I slept the best in that bed.” He says and I look at him surprised. “That bed was not even long enough for you to fit in.” I say taking a change of clothes from my drawers and walking into the bathroom to change. I close the door so he doesn’t get any ideas. Or am I closing the door so I don’t get and ideas? I push the thought aside and get undressed; thinking like this won’t help me at all. “It wasn’
I walk into my bedroom feeling refreshed. The usual tiredness that I used to feel every single day is gone. I feel calmer and so much more settled these days and Melody has everything to do with it. We’ve been hanging out for almost a month now and it’s been a joy. She’s the reprieve I have needed for the last five years of my life. We spend hours talking; laughing and we argue a little. It feels like we’re getting to know each other all over again. Only this time we’re doing it without the pressure of hormones. That’s not to say that there isn’t any sexual tension between us. I still want her; in fact I know I want her more than I ever have. But I know that I can’t have her like that and I made a promise to keep my hands off her. And that’s a promise I intend to keep. She and I have a respect and understating that can only come from maturing and time. Well I can say I’m the one that did the maturing. I didn’t think things through when I was younger. I wanted what I wanted, when I wa
“I know your favorite thing to do right now is to sleep.” Knox says into the silence. I stand in the doorway and watching him holding our son. He has his back to me so he can’t see me eavesdropping on his conversation with his son. My eyes water at the beautiful sight, he’s taken so well to being a father. I knew he would be great at it but it blows my mind how much heloves being a father. I don’t have to ask him to do anything. He knows exactly what his child needs. I wasn’t surprised when I woke up from our nap and Asa wasn’t next to me. I bet Knox came up to our room as soon as he got home. He misses his son like crazy when he’s not home. If it was up to him, he would stay home and devote his whole life to our child. But he can’t do that, he has tgousands of people that rely on him. They need him to show up at work so they can have jobs too. The dedication he has to his family takes my breath away. He makes sure that his child is loved in every way. He has Asa sitting comfortabl
“Are you okay?” Knox says walking into the bathroom. I’m bent over the toilet, vomiting my guts out. I’ve been having morning sickness for a while now and I’m not happy. “I read somewehere that ginger helps with morning sickenss. Let me get you some.” He says walking away. I listen to him walk away. He’s been annoying the hell out of me with his rememdies and pregnancy facts since he found out we’re having a baby. But I have to admit for once I appreciate his obsession. I would give anything to make this stop. I came home about half an hour ago and I’ve been hurdled over this toilet since. I thought morning sickness was for the morning and that’s it but not. Imagine my surprise when this happened during a meeting in the middle of the day. I flush the toilet and sit on the wall next to the toilet. I don’t want to move from here. I’m pretty sure I’m going to need to vomit in a minute or two. Knox and I should have thought about this a little harder before we decided to engage in bab
My ex wife is sitting opposite me at one of her favorite restaurants in the city. She looks perfect. She doesn’t have a hair out of place; she’s staring at me with a look of hope in her eyes. She’s looking at me like she won the lottery. When I look at her face I see my past. I don’t see anything beyond this conversation. The only woman I want is Melody. I’ve never been surer about something like I am about my love for Mel. I feel bad that Samantha is looking at me like that. I can tell she thinks I’m here because there’s still something between us. “Thank you for meeting me.” Samantha says smiling at me. “I didn’t think we would ever see each other after everything that happened.” She adds looking away but she’s still smiling. After my talk with my father I had a lot to think about. I realized I owed her at least one last conversation. I might have moved on but she clearly needs to talk to me. I want to go into this next chapter of my life with no attachments. And no matter how I
“Is it weird that I want to pick out the baby’s name already?” Knox says kissing my belly. This man is obsessed with his baby. That’s all he wants to talk about, he’s constantly asking me random questions about pregnancy, birth and anything else that comes to mind. “Are you pretending you didn’t hear what I said?”I ask looking down at Knox. He doesn’t want me to go back home. But I need to; I haven’t seen my siblings in two days. I feel bad for leaving them alone for so long. I know they’re grown and they can take care of themselves but I can’t pretend they don’t live with me. I have to be a good sister and make sure they’re okay. I know they love it when I give them their space but I need to check in on them. “I’ll drive you home when we’re done here.” He says kissing me over and over again. Of ‘course Knox wants me with him all the time, I want the same thing but as long as we have two different households that’s going to be a little difficult. I need to make sure all the people i
The dinner party is over. Knox’s grandfather opened his expensive gifts. Olive and her father left, done for the night. It’s just Knox, me and his mother left. We’re back in the living room enjoying a late night drink. I’m having tea while everyone else is having alcohol. I have to admit, this being pregnant this has its drawbacks. On a stressful night like this a glass of wine would have come in handy. If I sip on the tea slow enough I swear I can taste the wine. If I’m going to be required to attend these awkward family events, it’s going to be a very long 9 months. I can’t imagine getting through them sober. “Are you ready to go home?” Knox says touching my belly softly. I look up at him smiling. I can feel his mother’s eyes on me. She’s been eying me the whole night. She hasn’t said a word to me but she had her eyes on me the whole time. It was creepy in the beginning but I don’t care anymore. If she has something to say to me she should shout. I won’t let her intimidate me wi
“Mel, you look so pretty. Look at you.” Olive says when I walk into her grandfather’s house. It’s pouring outside and I had to run into the house while Knox parks the car. We’re at his grandfather’s town house. Knox says this is the house he uses when he wants to host extravagant parties. And of ‘course his birthday is one of them. “Thank you, you look beautiful as always.” I say giving her a hug. She giggles as I squeeze her closer, I’m so glad to see her here. I need all the support I can get if I’m to face her parents. “Thank you. I feel beautiful as always.” She says smiling at me. “Melody, how nice to see you.” Knox’s grandfather says walking to the entryway. “You know I barely recognized you. I can’t believe how much you kids have grown.” He says looking at me surprised. “And you look like you haven’t aged a day, happy birth day by the way.” I say smiling at him. We hug as he laughs at my comment on his age; or lack thereof. “You don’t have to lie to an old man. I know I’v
“Casey seems to be in love with you.” I say looking at Knox peeling a papaya. I shift forward in my stool so I can be closer to his plate. I’m sitting on the opposite side of the island, so it’s hard for me to get my hands on it. He’s been at this for the last five minutes; he’s taking his precious time to peel the whole thing. The moment he started peeling it my taste buds went crazy. The bright orange color is making me want to bite into it with the peels. “I think I’m in love with her too.” He says cutting the peeled pieces into even smaller pieces. I reach out taking a piece off of the plate he’s cutting them on. I don’t what know what happened but as soon I found out about the pregnancy I had a rush of an appetite. I want to eat everything I see. It’s like my body knows I need to eat for two. “Don’t tell her that or she’ll ask to move in with you.” I say throwing the piece into my mouth. I moan in appreciation at the taste. It’s so sweet. I reach out to take another piece and
10 minutes before “I’m confused. Why are you taking a pregnancy test?” Casey asks sitting the bath tub in my bathroom. I look at her with a look of concern on my face. I’m stressed out to the 100th degree. I can’t believe I’m here, with a pregnancy test. I’m sitting on my toilet, feeling all types of embarrassment. I survived all of my teenage years without taking a pregnancy test. I know it’s not a big deal but it’s embarrassing that I’m doing this as an adult. I’m so mad at myself for being careless with Knox. I didn’t even think about using protection with him. I didn’t even think about the possibility of getting pregnant. I just went in blind, I wasn’t thinking at all. This has to go down as the dumbest mistake I ever made. This wasn’t part of the plan, I wanted to take time and fall in love again, have fun, relearn each other. How are we supposed to do that with a baby? “Well I know why you’re taking the pregnancy test. I just mean what happened, when and most importantly wi
“Hi Mel.” Samantha says staring at me when I open the door. The smile on my face slowly fades; I go from excitement to shock. How did she get up to my apartment? Why wasn’t I told she was coming up? The front desk should have let me know when she arrived. I look at her on alert. I look into her eyes trying to figure out if she has any animosity. The second I saw her at y door, the word murder pops into my head. Why else would she be here? Surely she came to kill me for taking her love from her. I have so many questions right now. The one that’s nagging me the most is; how does she know where I live? I look behind her expecting to see Knox. He’s supposed to be here instead of her. Maybe they are playing a sick game on me. Knox wouldn’t tell her where I live; he believes Samantha would never bother us. So much for his promises. “How are you here?” I ask looking at her suspiciously. I don’t know what’s going on here, I feel ambushed. I hate when people show up unannounced at my door. T