Beyond Time: A Knights Through Time Travel Romance (Knights Through Time Travel #1)(6)

Was there only one person for each of us? And if so, had Melissa lost her chance? Or if Greg wasn’t her one and only, who was? How would she find him? What if he were in Australia and here she was in Maryland? Head pounding, she blew her nose again, resting her cheek on the cool metal of the bathroom stall.

Not wanting to risk running into the kids again, she sat there, letting the minutes tick by, grateful that classes were almost over and tomorrow was Sunday, so no antiquing. She could wallow all day. Now she was out a boyfriend and no longer a plus one. Mellie would have to go alone to the big family event, endure the comments and jokes, watch them shake their heads that at the advanced age of twenty-five she was still alone and couldn’t hold on to a man. It was enough to make her want to crawl into a bowl of cookie dough and never come out.





FOUR





The sound of tree limbs scratching against the window jolted Mellie awake, and her hand touched cold water as she righted herself in the stall.

“Yuck.” She wiped the wetness off on her jeans, cringing at the thought of toilet water touching her skin. “At least the water’s clean.”

Stiff from sitting so long, her back and legs protested as she stretched. How long had she been in here? It was dark outside. Who’d covered her register in the gift shop all this time? Then the reason she was hiding in here in the first place came roaring back, making her shoulders slump.

Searching the pale blue ceiling above, she looked for answers to why she hadn’t seen the signs with Greg.

“All I want is for someone to truly love me and no one else. Let me be enough. Let him be faithful, upstanding, and care for me. Is that too much to ask?”

In response, the lights blinked and went out as a nervous laugh escaped. She heard a commotion, and the door opened, heavy footfalls giving the man away. Will, the security guard, poked his head inside.

“Anybody in here? The power’s out and the museum’s closing early.”

Not daring to speak, she pressed her hands over her mouth and nose so he wouldn’t hear her breathing or the pitiful noises still clawing their way out from the back of her throat.

A beam of light played under each stall until it illuminated the floor beneath her. Perched on the toilet, she held her breath, praying he wouldn’t see her through the crack where the door met the wall. Will coughed, a heavy smoker’s hack as he looked around, all the while jangling the big ring of keys on his belt, no doubt nervous and sweating at having to set foot into the “private world of women,” as he called the ladies’ room.

A tiny smile tugged at her face as she pictured him actually encountering a woman in the ladies’ room. He’d most likely have a heart attack on the spot. The door shut, and after counting to twenty, she let her breath out in a whoosh.

“A few more minutes and I’ll face the world again.”

Unable to deal with going home to an empty apartment, knowing she was no longer part of an “us” but was now an “I” once more, Mellie sat there and picked at her lavender nail polish until there was a small pile of purple flakes scattered across the floor. After the nonstop dinging, she’d turned her phone off and somehow forced herself to stay off social media, not wanting to read all the messages piling up, both the congratulatory ones on his page and all the private messages she’d been getting asking what had happened.

Thank goodness her family or her brothers’ wives weren’t friends with Greg, so they wouldn’t witness her failure in real time. At least she could keep the death of their relationship a secret for a little longer until she was strong enough to face them and their well-meaning but hurtful comments.

When she woke again, neck stiff, Mellie twisted, this time almost falling into the toilet. Pins and needles in her legs and feet made her stumble as she risked a peek into the corridor. The museum was still. Quiet except for the rain outside. Other than the emergency lights, it was dark, the power still out.

Cold water woke her up as she splashed her face, the emergency lighting showcasing puffy red eyes, washed-out skin, and the drooping face of a basset hound. Scowling at the image, she wiped the sink off with paper towels and opened the door. Satisfied Will wasn’t lurking nearby, she made her way to the front doors and pressed on them. No go. The doors were locked until morning, when they’d automatically unlock. Fingers crossed, she tried the other doors, only to find them locked as well. Even the door by the loading dock, which was usually propped open so a couple of the employees could sneak out for a smoke, was locked.

With the power out, the security system either wasn’t functioning properly or Will had forgotten to set it when he left. It wasn’t the first time; he had trouble remembering to hit the code when he left for the night. Grateful he’d forgotten, she heaved a sigh of relief. The sound of an ear-piercing alarm was the last thing her nerves could take after the blowup of her relationship for all the world to see and comment on.

Right about now she felt sorry for celebrities: always in the spotlight, having every outfit, weight gain or loss, and love-life mistake catalogued for all the world to judge.

When she reached Will’s office, she peeked around the door in case he was still there. Sometimes he stayed and used the museum Wi-Fi.

“Hello? Anybody here?” She peered into the gloom of the small office, risking turning on the phone to use the flashlight app. “Will? You still around? It’s Mellie. I fell asleep in the ladies’ room.”