All They Need - By Sarah Mayberry Page 0,74
counter and crossed her arms over her chest.
“So? What’s going on with Flynn?”
“If I said none of your business would you listen to me?”
“No.”
Mel sighed. “We’re seeing each other. In case you haven’t already guessed. There’s not much else to tell.”
Justine frowned. “Are you in love with him?”
“It’s way too early for that kind of talk,” Mel said, even though her heart did a nervous little shimmy in her chest.
“Not for Flynn it isn’t.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The man is besotted with you, Mel. If you could have seen the way he was looking at you at Mom and Dad’s party, you’d know what I was talking about.”
“Justine, can we please not read too much into any of this? I’m seeing a man. A really nice, great, lovely man. It feels like more than enough to be happening without piling the labels on.”
“So, what, you’re winging it?”
“Yep. Taking each moment as it comes.”
“And when he gets down on his knee and proposes, how are you going to take that?”
Mel blinked, startled by her sister’s comment. “Wow. You are really pushing the boat out today.”
“That man is crazy about you, Mel.”
Mel shook her head. “We’ve barely started seeing each other. Stop trying to make this more than what it is.”
“It took me an hour to work out that I was going to spend the rest of my life with Jacob. Sixty minutes almost exactly from the moment we met.”
Mel shook her head again. “It’s not like that between us.”
She could hear the strain in her own voice as she tried to convince her sister. The truth was that she didn’t want to think about any of the things her sister was pushing her to consider. She was coping—barely—with being intimate with a man again. Being naked with him, trusting him with her desire and her needs. Both big steps after the way Owen had abused that trust. She wasn’t up to worrying about bigger-picture stuff, like where her relationship with Flynn might be going, what it might mean.
“Okay,” Justine said, nodding. She pushed away from the counter and pulled a white bakery bag from her purse. “You want chocolate chip or blueberry or halvies?”
Mel watched her warily, not convinced her sister would back off so easily. “Halvies sounds good,” she said cautiously.
Justine cut the muffins in half and divided the bounty between two plates. She took a big bite of muffin, then fixed Mel with a contemplative gaze as she chewed and swallowed. “For what it’s worth, I like him. He seems like a decent guy.”
“He’s more then decent. He’s a great guy.”
“But he’s still a rich guy. He’s still got lots of rich friends and rich parents and all that bullshit hanging over him.”
“And?”
Justine shrugged. “Nothing. I just want you to go in with your eyes open this time.”
Mel took a deep breath, reminding herself that Justine had been the one she called the night of the Hollands’ party. She’d seen Mel at her worst, seen the marriage at its ugliest. She had a right to dislike Owen and all he stood for.
So instead of telling her sister to butt out, she crossed the kitchen and gave Justine a big hug.
“I’m doing okay. I think Flynn is good for me, and I’m smarter now.”
Justine’s eyes were swimming with tears when Mel let go.
“I want you to be happy so badly, Mel. He seems like a nice guy, but he’s not like us. He doesn’t know what it’s like to have the heating break down and know you’re going to have to live on baked beans for the next month to pay for the repairs. He’s never had to call the bank to explain why the mortgage repayment will be late. He’s used to the best of everything, to having the world at his feet.”
Mel thought about what Flynn was going through with his parents, the career he’d given up to take over the family business. “His life isn’t perfect, Justine. Far from it. Money doesn’t make everything better, and it doesn’t turn people into dicks. They do that all on their own.” She paused for a beat to give her words a chance to sink in. “Now, can we talk about something else? Anything else?”
Justine sniffed inelegantly and used her sleeve to blot her tears. Then she pushed the plate with Mel’s share of the muffins on it toward Mel.
“Eat something. You’re making me feel like a pig over here.”
Mel dutifully picked up half a muffin, and her sister dutifully