Before Forever by Sky Harper

Author:Sky, Harper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

19

DEREK

Once again, Em was asleep by the time I made it home. Alyssa was too this time, wrapped up in a blanket on the couch. She stirred awake at the sound of the front door closing.

“Sorry I kept you out so late,” I offered, tossing my keys onto the table.

“It’s okay,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “Em had a good night. We laughed and had a lot of fun. I read her stories until she fell asleep. Did you have fun?”

“Yeah,” I nodded listlessly, pulling out my wallet to pay her.

This was the second time I left Em with a babysitter that week, and even though she assured me Em was fine, and my little girl didn’t seem to mind me leaving, nagging guilt built up inside. It was easy to forget with all that tension building up between Melody and me. Still, it came on strong like a crashing wave the moment I realized she would expect me to stay the night. I felt like a jerk. I should have never let things go so far when I knew I couldn’t stay.

No one would have blamed me for spending the night with a woman when I had the chance, but I would never forgive myself if Em woke up with her night terrors and I wasn’t there to rock her back to sleep.

I paced the quiet house, raking my hands through my hair, replaying my last few moments with Melody in my mind over and over again. The look of disappointment on her face was haunting me. I could have just told the truth, but I felt a strange urge to keep those parts of my life separate. There was no reason for Em or Melody to know anything about each other. Whatever this thing between Melody and me was, it wasn’t going to be long-term anyway. The minute her mother’s lake house sold, she would be on the first plane back to New York.

It was just one night, I told myself with a heavy sigh. That’s all it could be. My mind was made up by the time my head hit the pillow. I’d go over the next day and offer to have someone else finish the work on the house. The other guys on our crew were all too old or not experienced enough to lead a good job without one of us around. But maybe Keith could step up and take over.

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