she began, after he took a long sip but still didn’t speak, “why did you stop in today?” He’d been here twice in the space of two days, after nearly a year of separation that hadn’t involved more than a couple of quick run-ins at events for Emmie. There had to be a reason—Cade Matthews was a man who didn’t waste time, or make a half-hour journey if he didn’t have an agenda.
He cupped his hands around the mug, staring at the coffee for a long second before looking up and meeting Melanie’s gaze. “Are you happy here?”
“Yes,” she answered, no reservations in her voice.
“I love working for myself.”
“Good.”
He didn’t go on and Melanie told herself not to push. But then she found her mouth opening anyway, out of habit, out of something more, she didn’t know.
“What’s bothering you, Cade?”
He drew in a breath, then slid the coffee to the side. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ve just been putting in too many hours lately. Or had too many frustrating clients.”
“You’re not enjoying your job anymore?” she asked, surprised. There’d never been a day where she’d seen Cade anything but charged to get to the office. Perhaps that was why he was interviewing with Bill, to find a new challenge. Or maybe he’d finally grown tired of being under his father’s demanding rule.
“I have a trial next month,” he went on.
“Trademark infringement. One of those really big battles. On any other day, I’d be charged up, ready to hit it head-on.”
“But not today?”
He shrugged. “It’s like I’ve already been there, done that. I don’t know…maybe I’m just looking for something different.”
Cade unsure? Questioning his job? Either he was an alien replacement of his former self or—
There was no “or.” The Cade she knew hadn’t had a day of indecision. Perhaps he felt out of sorts now that the divorce was becoming a reality.
“I stopped by because I had an idea. An idea for you and me,” he said, putting up a hand. “Don’t say no until you’ve heard me out.”
“Okay…” She leaned back against the small refrigerator and crossed her arms over her chest. The appliance hummed against her back.
“We’ve been apart for a year and if we go to the reunion as we are now, I’m sure that’s going to show.”
“Oh, I don’t—”
“It will, Melanie. We’re not close like we used to be.”
“We were never close, Cade.” The harsh truth sat there between them, heavy and immovable. She’d thought they were, once, but it had disappeared, lost in Cade’s relentless work schedule and her busy days of being room mom and child chauffeur.
In the dark of night, she longed for that closeness again. Longed for Cade, for the days when he’d crawled into bed and wrapped his arms around her, making it seem as if anything in the world was possible. Then work had taken him away more and more—physically, emotionally—and those times had stopped.
“Either way,” Cade continued, “I don’t want to walk into that room and let the entire senior class know we’re having problems.”
Those would show, without a doubt. The old Cade and Melanie had been glued at the hip, always touching or flirting, and making so many public displays of affection, PDAs, as Emmie called them, that anyone within a five-county radius could tell they were in love. “Since when did you start worrying about what other people think?”
His eyes met hers and in them, she saw much more than exhaustion. Loneliness. Regret. But then he swallowed, and it all disappeared, replaced with Can-Do Cade. Disappointment flickered inside her. “I don’t. I just want this to be convincing for Bill.”
She slapped a smile on her face. “Of course.” The career, always the career. If anything told her Cade hadn’t changed, it was that sentence.
“In order to do that, I think we need to spend a little time together.”
Time with Cade? That couldn’t be good. Judging by the way her hormones were scrambling a counterattack to her common sense, she knew spending more time with him would only give the estrogen a little more ammunition. “Do you mean dating?” she said, nearly knocking over the sugar as she moved away from him and the idea. “Because I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
She sighed. Why did he have to be so obtuse about this? Wasn’t the moving out, the serving of papers, the year apart, all one huge bullhorn announcing that it was over? “We’re getting a divorce, Cade. Please don’t make it any harder than it already is.”
“Is it hard on you, Melanie?” His gaze locked on hers, the deep blue eyes she’d stared into for more than half her life missing nothing, and displaying frustration and hurt. “Because it sure doesn’t seem it.”
“Of course it is.” She turned away, ignoring the sudden burning behind her eyes. Did he think she’d left their marriage impetuously? That any of this had been an easy decision?
She busied herself with wiping an already clean counter, instead of dwelling on the what-ifs and the storm whipped up by Cade’s presence.
When she glanced at him again, he seemed to have tamped down the temporary flare of emotion. As always, Cade was back to being cool, calm and collected. Never betray a weakness, he’d always told her, particularly in a courtroom.
And he never had. Especially with her. And especially not when it had mattered.
If he had…
But he hadn’t.
“Anyway,” Cade said, clearing his throat, “I thought maybe I could work here for a few days. From what Emmie says, this place is busier than a zoo, and you could use the help. She said the student you had working here quit last week.” He grinned, and her heart—which had never done a good job of listening to her mind—skipped a beat. “Plus, I’ll work for free.”
“Work here?” She paused, the sponge dripping onto her toes. Had she heard him right? “Why would you want to do that?”
“I told you. We need to spend some time together. It seems like a win-win to me.”
Melanie eyed the man she had lived with for all of her adult years and knew he was hiding something. It wasn’t just about putting on a good show for Bill Hendrickson at the reunion.
She had to wonder if Cade’s win-win also involved winning her heart again. As much as a part of her—the lonely part that shared a bed with extra pillows instead of a husband—might wish otherwise, Melanie knew that was the one thing not up for grabs.
