Waltz This Way (v1.1) (33 page)

Tonight before she left for her audition, they had to talk about what his feelings on the subject of the show were.

An ominous dread stole over her while she contemplated the wooden turkey welcome sign hanging on the McPhees front door, but she shook it off.

She had dough to roll.

Before she headed to the kitchen, she popped into the living room to say her hellos before beginning her slave labor.

The blare of the football game followed her to the kitchen where the scent of roasting turkey, women’s laughter, and clouds of flour welcomed her. Drew’s sisters and Myriam stood in a line at the long kitchen counter, each completing one task or another. Mel rolled up the sleeves of her imitation blue silk shirt and nudged Myriam to press a kiss against her warm cheek. “Put me to work, ladies.”

In moments, she had a flour-covered counter and a wad of dough to roll. As she kneaded the soft concoction, Mel fought another niggle of worry about leaving tomorrow. The opportunity was huge and, no doubt, a gift of pure luck, but there was a definite reluctance to return to the place where she’d been officially shunned when she’d become Stan’s ex-wife. The glitz of Hollywood, the lure of fame and fortune had long since waned for her.

She loved it here in Riverbend. She loved her job, teaching boys who were as reluctant to dance as they were to skip an episode of The Big Bang Theory. She loved that Nate had accepted her so willingly and that their private sessions had given her the chance to get to know him on a one-on-one basis.

She loved being closer to her father and regretted that she hadn’t taken a firmer stance with Stan about seeing him more often. She loved her new independence and making her own decisions.

And she loved Drew. Whether he liked to dance or not.

A tingle of awareness skittered along her arms. She was in love, and she didn’t want to move to L. A. for a job when everything she’d ever wanted was right here in Riverbend.

Mel loves Drew. She let the phrase repeat in her brain. It was terrifying and exciting and mostly terrifying to feel this way so soon.

But the question was did Drew love Mel? If he did, he hadn’t copped to it. She wasn’t the only one new to the idea of a relationship after a divorce. Drew had told her, she was his first serious encounter since he’d divorced Sherry. But maybe he wasn’t as serious as she was? She’d never know until she asked, and while that would take all the courage she possessed, she was going to ask anyway.

And even if the outcome weren’t what she hoped for, would that really affect her choice to take a job on Celebrity Ballroom if it was offered? Did staying in Riverbend mean Drew had to love her in return?

No. Because she’d come to love this new life, and if Drew McPhee didn’t love her in return, that was fine. He’d be a stupidhead.

Okay, it wasn’t fine, but it would be because while she loved nothing better than to be with him and Nate, she’d survive if things went wrong, and she’d do it while she stood on her own two feet. It might hurt like hell to be rejected by Drew, but she could withstand anything now that she knew who she was.

A smile spread across her face. She’d go to L. A. simply because Jackie and Frank had gone to so much trouble to get her an audition, and if they offered her the job, she’d tell them she already had one.

One she loved.

Myriam pinched her cheek with affection. “What’s so funny?”

Her head tipped back. “Life. Life is funny, Myriam.”

Myriam chuckled, taking the dough from her inept hands. “Yep. Sure is. So I heard you’re goin’ on an audition for Celebrity Ballroom. Me and Selena almost wet ourselves, we’re so excited for you!”

Mel’s return smile was bright. “I wouldn’t get too excited. I’m up against some stiff competition. Lucy Vega to name one,” Mel listed a well-known ballroom dancer.

Myriam waved a flour-covered hand at her, leaning into Selena who’d joined them. “As if Lucy Vega could ever be as pretty as you. Have you seen her feet? They’re like hooves.”

“Whose feet are like hooves?” Drew asked, popping a stalk of celery from a platter on the counter in his mouth.

Mel shook her head, wiping her hands on a nearby towel. “Oh, no one.”

“Lucy Vega,” Myriam provided. “Mel thinks she’ll lose the audition for Celebrity Ballroom to that horse. Hah! No way can she out dance our Mel, and no way is she as pretty. Mel’s gonna be the new judge on Celebrity Ballroom. Count on it.” She said with a firm shake of her head and a warm smile in Mel’s direction.

Drew said nothing, but the dark expression crossing his face made her pause. His disapproval was crystal clear. Why she hadn’t seen it sooner was a mystery.

Her palms grew sweaty with her new now-or-never approach. She rinsed her hands at the sink and dried them, taking deep breaths of air.

It was time to figure out exactly where she stood with Drew.

Where such a resolute stand had come from, she couldn’t say. She just knew it was time to sort this through so there were no misunder-standings.

And whatever the outcome— she’d get through it.

Hopefully, she’d do that without a can of chocolate frosting and some sprinkles.

She tugged on Drew’s sleeve. “Got a minute?”

“For someone as sexy as you, I can spare two.” His smile warmed her, giving her the courage to push forward.

She folded her hands behind her back. “Meet me in the tree house?”

“It’s cold out there. You don’t really want me to get frostbite just because you can’t keep your hands off me, do you?”

“Funny. You’re very funny. I need to talk to you. Meet me in the tree house when the coast is clear,” she said with a smile, heading for the door off the laundry room and out into the overcast, cold day.

Grabbing the rope ladder, she climbed to the top and took another deep breath. It would be all right. It had to be all right. Please let it be all right.

Mel chalked the foreboding dread up to nerves when she heard Drew’s feet climbing the rope. His head appeared in the entrance of the tree house, dark and handsome. He climbed in, sitting on his haunches to work his way over to the bench she sat on.

His face held a question. “Mind telling me what couldn’t wait until I’d had a dozen or so of those baby quiches?” He wrapped an arm around her and grinned.

Mel turned to face him, her hands trembling. “I need to know something.”

“Well, hurry up, woman. I hear there’s clam dip. If I miss that, it’s on.”

“How do you feel about me going to audition for Celebrity Ballroom?”

His chin lifted, and the hand in his lap clenched. “How am I supposed to feel?”

“Happy for me.” Yes. Drew was supposed to be glad she’d been offered an opportunity of a lifetime whether he knew she wanted to take it or not.

His jaw tightened. “Okay.”

Mel cocked her head as if she hadn’t heard right. “Okay? Just okay?”

“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say here, Mel.”

She paused a moment to gather the right words and then she thought, The hell with the right words. There’d be no more walking on eggshells for anyone. Not even for the man she loved. “Are you angry because I’m going on this audition? You haven’t said a single word about it since I heard from Jackie, and every time I mention it, your jaw clenches. Something’s up. I want to know what it is.”

Pulling away from her, he leaned back against the bench, his body language unreadable. “ ‘Angry’ isn’t exactly the word I’d use.”

Her heart crashed against her ribs, but she had to know. “Then what is the word you’d use, Drew?”

“It’s probably more of a phrase than a word.”

“Then what’s the phrase?”

“I’m just waiting to see if the other shoe drops.”

Her next question was filled with hesitation. “The other shoe? What does that mean? I didn’t know there was even a shoe to drop. This is a huge opportunity for me, one I’d like your support in because I’m sick with nerves about it, and I don’t want to disappoint Jackie and Frank after they went to all this trouble to get me this audition.”

“But you don’t mind disappointing me and Nate?”

“What?”

Drew’s lips, lips that had kissed hers over and over, thinned.

“What happens if you get the job, Mel? Wait, no, don’t say it. I know what happens. You move off to L.A. and go back to living your lifestyles of the rich and famous. That’s what happens.”

Mel’s mouth fell open. She could abort the mission now by simply telling him she had no intention of taking the job if they offered it to her, but that would make it too easy on Drew.

She needed him to support her choices, barring murder charges, and know she’d never do anything to hurt him no matter what her decision was.

This was about trust.

She was never going to have the kind of relationship where she did all the off-stage work while her partner expected nothing but a bottomless pit of go-get-’ems from her. “So you’ve figured this all out. All of it. Without ever saying a word to me?”

“I was sort of in wait-and-see mode.”

An angry claw of disappointment scratched at her heart. “Wait and see what? Wait and see if ex-pampered-trophy-wife Mel can resist the lure of the bright lights and hardcore greenbacks because she missed her chance at fame and fortune by marrying some rich guy? Maybe have a do-over to reclaim all she lost? But you weren’t going to share your misgivings with me, were you, Drew? You know, like normal people in a relationship do. Maybe say, ‘Hey, Mel. Let’s talk about what’ll happen if they offer you the job and you have to commute to L. A.’? Noooooooo! You were plenty happy to test me to see if I’d fail without me ever even knowing I was taking the test. You just assumed I was going to choose a new life in L. A. over the one I’ve made here. Who the hell do you think you are?” she fumed, pushing her way past him to climb over his legs and off the bench.

He swung around to fully face her, his face was tight and his eyes were narrowed. “Why else would you want to do Celebrity Ballroom, Mel? Because of the things it’ll buy you. The exposure it’ll get you. You’re not going to do it for free, are you?”

How dare he make her out to be some money-grubbing twit? Her mind raced through some of their past conversations and it made her visibly shake her head. No. She’d never ever given him the impression money and being in the limelight was all that mattered to her.

Now she was incensed. That he had no inkling of the person she really was stung like nothing ever had. “No, I’m not going to do it for free, but I would, Drew McPhee! Maybe I want to do it because I love to dance. Because I want everyone to love to dance the way I do. Because this could be a dream come true for me. That there’s a paycheck involved is an added bonus.”

His lips thinned into an angry line. “A paycheck that’ll cost you everyone in your life because you want things.”

“What is it with you and your ridiculous notion that anyone who has money or hopes to have money is evil incarnate? Yes, Drew— I like things.” She grated with a harsh rasp. “I like shopping and clothes and shoes. So what? Do they define me? Are they all I aspire to? Didn’t I do a bang-up job of surviving without them? Wasn’t it me eating a chili cheeseburger with you and Nate when it was zero below? Have you heard me whine even once because I couldn’t have whatever I wanted whenever I wanted to? I didn’t even do that when I was married to Stan. Damn you for making me sound like I’m frivolous and money hungry!” she yelled on a wheezing breath. The calm approach she’d hoped to take on this escalated to a new height.

His response was dry and cold as ice, his body language a direct reflection of his bitter view of her. “That’ll all change once the money starts rolling in again. Forgive me for having a bad taste in my mouth about it. Or have you forgotten what it did to me and Nate?”

A red-hot flash of fury shot up her spine. She backed away from him, the top of her head scraping against the ceiling of the tree house.

“Don’t you dare compare me to Sherry, Drew! Do. Not. I’m nothing like her, and I won’t defend possibly taking this job because she did something bad to you. Things don’t ruin a marriage, Drew— people do! Addictions do. You know who needs to suck it up here, Drew? You do! That you would even consider that I’d do something as horrible to you and Nate as Sherry did makes me want to shove my fist down your throat. I love Nate, and I—”

“Love a big paycheck,” he finished for her on an angry snarl, fro-zen in his place on the bench.

It was as if he’d slapped her in the face.

Her gut clenched in pain, her heart followed suit. So this was what it boiled down to. All this time she’d thought Drew knew she was nothing like the women he so despised, only to find he’d just been laying in wait for her true colors to show once she got her hands on some cold, hard cash. Like he was somebody to pass her impoverished time with until the money train rolled back into the station.

Drew’s voice was like a block of ice when he said, “If you took the job, you’d have to move to L. A. I don’t want a relationship with someone who only lives here part time. I want one that involves helping me raise Nate.”

Tears stung her eyes, but she was determined not to make the same mistakes again. Never. Again. “And I don’t want a relationship that means I have to sacrifice my dreams, big or small, filled with bags of money or not, just so I can prove I’m not like your ex-wife!”

Mel took one last look at Drew— angry, cold, and unmoving— before escaping down the rope ladder and running toward the front of the house.

That’s where her father found her when he arrived for Thanksgiving dinner.

Hiding in the bushes, red-eyed, and freezing.

But pride and self-esteem still intact.

She made a discovery in those bushes, though. Pride hurt like a bitch and self-esteem blew chunks.

Drew lost track of how long he sat in the tree house. The smells coming from inside didn’t tempt him, and neither did the call of a cold beer and his mother’s pumpkin pie.