The Mix-Up (Southern Hearts Club #3) - Melanie Munton Page 0,92

all his life to do the exact opposite.”

“What did you do?”

“I told him I was going to leave him,” she answers without hesitation. “If he didn’t talk to me and let me in on what he was really feeling, I was going to walk right out that door and never come back. That’s when he started writing his poetry again.” She smiles proudly. “And he hasn’t stopped since.”

It’s still tough for me to process that this side of my father actually exists. He’s sure never opened up like that to me.

“He does more for me than you know, Gretchen. More than just poems.”

She reaches over to grab a folder off the nightstand and hands it to me. Inside I find two first-class tickets to Hawaii. Booked for next month, during their anniversary.

My gaze jerks back up to her.

I’ve never seen her look so happy in my life. She has always wanted to go to Hawaii.

“Every day, he finds his own unique way of making sure I know that he loves me and that his feelings haven’t changed since the day he met me,” she continues softly. “You and Ross just don’t see it because he’s still not comfortable doing it openly, around other people. He probably never will be.” She places her hand over her heart. “But as long as I get to see it, that’s enough for me.”

“What made you want to marry him?” I find myself asking. “I mean, if he was so closed off with his emotions, how did you know he was The One?”

She purses her lips in thought. “Because I loved the person he was inside. I knew he had issues with how to communicate it on the outside, and I was willing to work with him on it. I loved him enough to want to improve that part of him. I knew it was something he’d struggled with since he was a kid, and no one had ever tried to help him with it before I came along.”

Sounds familiar.

Ryder said very similar things to me in his office the other day.

“I see those same characteristics in you,” she goes on. “And I’m sorry I haven’t been very good at getting you to open up like I got him to.” She chuckles mirthlessly. “You’re so much like him. So, I’ll just say this and I hope you listen.”

I scoot forward, my ears perking.

She places her hand over mine. “When you find a man who not only understands how and why you hide your feelings, but is also willing to work through all of that with you, don’t let him go. And don’t settle for anything less than that.”

Ryder.

Ryder knows.

He addressed those exact issues the other day. He understands what I do, though maybe not why because it’s my job to tell him. But the fact is, he knows how shut down I am and he still wants to give us a shot. He still wants to try, when most men would run screaming for the hills.

There’s just one more question I can’t help but ask because it’s always nagged at me.

“Why didn’t you pursue your music career?”

She looks confused.

“I know how good you were at the violin, Mom. Grandma let it slip once that you were offered a music scholarship, but you got married and moved away with the Major instead. Why?”

There’s no regret on her face. No longing in her voice when she answers. “I enjoyed playing the violin, but it was never a passion of mine. My mother had me in lessons from the time I was five years old because she could tell I had a talent for it. It was more her encouraging it than me actually pursuing it. And when I met your father and realized I had to make a choice, it didn’t take me long to decide. I loved him far more than I would ever love playing the violin.”

My heart sinks a little. “But you still had to make a choice between the two. Him or your career.”

“In that particular case, yes, but I’ve never once regretted it. How I felt when I played the violin couldn’t touch the level of happiness he brought me. I knew without a doubt there was one of those I could live without, and one I couldn’t.”

“But have you been happy with all the desk jobs you’ve worked over the years? And moving around so much? Do you ever miss playing?”

She smiles. “I get out my instrument and play every now