see who her mom had downgraded to ‘just a teenage crush.’ It didn’t matter that it hurt like hell to see him. The sting was just as strong today as it had been that summer when he was supposed to visit her. The plans had changed quickly when she found out he was in love with someone else. Tears prickled at her eyes, and her nose started to tingle, but she fought back the hurt. That didn’t matter now. He was her mom’s doctor, and that was it. That’s all he’d ever be to her again.
Jordan? He was long gone.
JORDAN
Jordan replayed everything that had transpired that morning over and over in his head. It was like Groundhog Day in his mind; the whole exchange with Melody was on a constant loop. And even though the images were so vividly real, he still couldn’t believe it happened.
It was Melody. It really was. In his office. In his arms. Again. At last.
As much as he wanted to fight the lingering feelings he had for her, he couldn’t. Seeing her again had brought him to his seventeen-year-old self, complete with a racing heart and raging hard-on. He closed his eyes as he recalled the first moment he saw her again. She was so beautiful. Obviously, she looked older, but she sure as hell didn’t look a day over thirty. She probably still got carded. Her eyes were bright with life, and her smile was so overwhelmingly breathtaking, he could feel it in his soul when he first saw it again. It was like he could see in her the feelings he was experiencing—shock, happiness, nervousness, and that dreaded feeling of pain, too.
The pain was all too real, even if seeing her again was as farfetched as winning a Nobel Prize. He really needed to pull himself together. Seeing her again didn’t mean anything, only that they had crossed each other’s paths. The chances of it happening again were slim.
Scratch that. They weren’t slim at all. Her mom was his patient. He’d see Mama Annie, as she called herself, so that meant he’d likely see Melody.
How was this going to work? What would he say when he saw her again? Should he refer Annie to another doctor? Should he just shut the hell up and get over it? He had so many questions, so much uncertainty for the first time in a long time. For the past twenty years, every aspect of his life was planned out. The only time he deviated from that plan was after undergrad. He had made plans with Melody to travel to California to see her. It was going to be his graduation present from his parents, but that… that didn’t go as planned. Ever since, all aspects of his life had followed a charted course when it came to women. That course had pretty much been a dead end. He couldn’t bear the pain that had happened the last time he followed his heart. He didn’t want to open himself up to that kind of gut-punching hurt ever again.
Jordan was on his second glass of whiskey when Millie let herself into his place that evening. He had texted her earlier to come over for dinner. He looked around slowly, catching the time on a glance at his watch. Shit. Where had the time gone? He hadn’t made anything to eat. Hell, he hadn’t even ordered out.
“Well, that doesn’t look like tea, Jordy,” she told him as she tossed her bag and her keys on his counter. He hated when she did that.
“Watch my shit, would you?” he called out to her. “Your keys are going to put marks on my counter.”
“Um, I don’t know what crawled up your ass and died, but your counters are just fine.” She plopped on the loveseat across from him. “Bad day, huh? Am I going to need my own glass for this? Will I need a tissue?”
Jordan downed the rest of his whiskey before saying, “I saw her today.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and cradling his face in his hands. “I can’t believe I saw her.”
There was silence between them for a beat. And then, Millie said, “Her…?” Then, she paused again. “Her? Oh my. Her. You saw her.” She dragged out the last word a little longer. “Melody, Jordan? You saw Melody?”
Jordan looked up at his friend, stone-faced and a little bit tipsy. “Yes, ma’am.”
“How? When? Where?” She stood up. “Hold that thought.” She got up,