Chapter Twenty-seven

" YOU DON’T SMILE anymore, Ms. Rhodes. You okay? " The question was innocent enough and meant to be kindly inquiring, but it made Taylor's eyes mist just the same.

" Oh, I'm fine, Nina, " she replied to the radio station's receptionist, as she passed by the front desk and headed back to her own.

She carefully pasted on a phony smile in an attempt to show she was telling the truth. " Just tired. Thanks for asking, though."

Nina didn't look the least bit convinced, but she let it slide, turning her braided head to answer the ringing phone lines.

Taylor retreated to her desk, shaken up by the question. She thought she'd been hiding things pretty well, but apparently, people could see right through the facade. No, she wasn't okay. She hadn't been for several days, and she had no idea how to pull herself out of this funk the whole situation with Melanie had put her in. She wasn't eating. She wasn't sleeping. She was a mess, and she didn't like it at all. The same thing had happened when she'd finally realized she and Maggie were never going to survive. Try as she had, she couldn't consciously pull herself out of that, either. She'd had to wait it out, something she didn't do well.

She just didn't understand. Or, maybe she did. Taylor liked to think that she knew Melanie pretty well. She didn't think the redhead played mind games or was prone to lying. She seemed straightforward, kindhearted, and loving. Taylor's best guess was that either Melanie was concerned about the condition of the relationship between Ben and Taylor, or she needed solitude to deal with her new alternative sexuality. Or both. There were no other logical explanations for the way she had just high-tailed it out of the city. Hell, she'd high-tailed it right out of the state. If she had simply been playing, merely been experimenting, she would have just said so, right? She could have said so and just laughed it off. Thanks for the fun time. Have a nice life. Easy, right?

Of course, there was the other possibility Taylor didn't want to acknowledge. The possibility that Melanie regretted the whole incident, that she wished it had never happened. Taylor decided that might actually be worse than the other choices. Please, don't let that be the case.

Any attempt at an explanation would have been nice, though, not to mention considerate. A phone call would have been even better. But, the silence was deafening for Taylor. It was Thursday. It had been almost five days since that disastrous Saturday morning, and not hearing from Melanie at all was absolutely breaking her heart.

Her two " angels" were no help. One sat on her shoulder, crying non-stop. The other stood with its arms folded over its chest, shaking its head, a look of " I told you so" plastered glaringly across its face.

" Get lost, " Taylor scowled at it. It stuck its tongue out at her.

Why did this keep happening to her? Why did women treat her this way? She felt an unwelcome wave of self-pity wash over her.

She was a good girlfriend. She was considerate and sensitive and loving and attentive. Why did she keep getting stepped on? Her feelings were deeply hurt, but part of her was just, simply put, pissed off.

She looked at the list of names she'd pulled off of her voice mail. She hadn't even been able to throw herself into work, which was how she would normally handle a lousy situation. She just didn't want to deal with anybody. More than anything, she wanted to go home, curl up under her goose down comforter, and sleep until the world went away.

Since that was obviously not the healthiest method of dealing with life, she decided she'd better at least pretend she was still paying attention to her job. She glanced at the list on her desk and reached for the handset of her telephone, just as it rang.

She snatched it up. " Taylor Rhodes."

" Hi."

The sound of that one word was magical. Taylor felt all her anxiety slipping away, like a layer of ice melting off of her frozen body. Her throat closed, and she couldn't speak.

" Taylor? It's Melanie." The voice faltered a bit, unsure.

" I know. Hey."

" Hey yourself." The relief was apparent.

" Are you okay? " Taylor asked.

Melanie chuckled. " You are something else, Taylor. You know that? "

" What do you mean? " Taylor asked, honestly puzzled.

" I mean, I take off on you without so much as a backward glance, yet you ask if I'm okay. You're amazing."

" Are you? "

" Am I what? "

" Okay. Are you okay? "

There was a pause. " Yeah. I'm okay. And I'm sorry I didn't call. But, I think we need to talk. In person."

Taylor felt anxiety churning in her gut, a sour mix of excitement to see Melanie again and dread over what she might have to say.

We need to talk rarely meant that something good was about to happen. " Are you back in town? "

" Yeah. Um...are you busy tonight? "

" No, " Taylor said, too fast. Melanie chuckled. " No, I'm free tonight. Do you want to meet someplace? "

" Well, " Melanie hesitated, not sure how Taylor would take this. " I thought maybe you could... um... come to my apartment."

Taylor blinked in surprise, feeling a bit hurt at this news of which she was unaware. " You have an apartment? "

" Uh huh."

" Wow. That was fast. Um...yeah, okay. Where is it and what time do you want me to be there? " Melanie gave her directions. " Does seven work for you? "

" Seven's fine. I'll see you then."

" Great."

Taylor hung up the phone slowly, not quite sure what to make of the call. Melanie wanted to talk. She was back in town, and she wanted to talk. This could be good. She also had an apartment. An apartment? When had she secured that, and why hadn't she shared it with Taylor? That was bad.

Contrary to what she'd been telling herself for the past several days, hearing from Melanie hadn't managed to make her feel the slightest bit better. In fact, she felt more anxious than she had all week. She felt her stomach churn, threatening to toss its emptiness up onto her desk.