Take Two (The Jilted Bride #1)(48)

“I didn’t mean to. What do you want?”

“OWN wants to capture the birth of our child.”

“Seeing as we don’t have a child, just tell them no. Is that all?”

“Do you really hate me, Matt?”

“No. I don’t hate you Selena, I just—I’m not very happy about your threats to ruin my career.”

“It was the only way I could get you to go through with the wedding.”

“So that makes it okay? Right.”

“No, it’s not alright,” she grabbed my hands. “I’m sorry.”

“I mean, it’s bad enough I signed that stupid TV contract, but I can’t believe you went and attached everything else to this. When were you going to tell me that you got a book deal to write about our relationship?”

“I was going to text you that later. How’d you find out?”

“Are you serious? How did I find out? The woman who will stop at nothing to get her name in the news is asking me how I found out? How ironic!”

“Calm down, Matt,” she pleaded. “I said I was sorry and I had every intention of telling you this week.”

“Is that all you have to say to me? I need to get some sleep.”

“Can we start over?”

“What?”

“Can we start over? I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, a lot of reminiscing and…I want us to be like we used to be.”

I couldn’t move. I was speechless. Utterly speechless.

She hesitantly reached up and touched my face. “I miss the days when you used to show up to my shoots with flowers because you wanted to—back when we weren’t caught up in the fame…After the wedding, we can both just disappear and start over and go back to whatever we used to be…Can we do that?”

She stood on her toes and kissed me on the cheek. Memories of our past flashed through my mind: We were kayaking on the Hudson River. We were struggling to paddle properly, flipping our kayak over. We were having a picnic on a rooftop, throwing bread crumbs for the pigeons. We were biking across the city, smiling behind our shades as the paparazzi gave chase. But then we were just existing—talking about ways to remain in the press, scheduling our lives around their cameras. We weren’t having fun anymore, all the excitement was gone. It was staged and pre-meditated, never natural or spontaneous.

I felt her kissing me and broke away. “No. We can’t do that. We don’t belong together.”

“Will you at least help me come up with a way to get rid of the baby? Will you confirm I miscarried on our honeymoon?”

“Goodbye Selena.”

I didn’t call Melody beforehand. I just showed up to her apartment. I banged on her door, not caring if it scared the neighbors.

“Hey! Stop that!” an unfamiliar voice cried. I stepped back to make sure I was knocking on the right apartment.

The door swung open and a Melody look-alike—only with blonde hair, stared back at me.

“Mel!” she ushered me into the apartment. “It’s your boyfriend!”

I laughed. “I take it you’re her sister, Jen? It’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

“Nice to meet you too, Matt Sterling. I was just leaving so—”

“You and your sister are both bad liars. Am I interrupting something?”

“Not really. I was just stopping by to catch up. We were making margaritas. You want one?”

“Sure,” I followed her into the kitchen. “Did you use a juice mixer or did you make the juice yourself?”

“Ha!” she handed me a drink. “I used a juice mixer. We Carter sisters don’t do the cooking thing. Besides, I’m sure they taste the same.”

“I’ll have to make them one day to prove you wrong.”

“Who was that at the—” Melody stepped into the kitchen wearing a stunning white wedding dress. Her eyes met mine.

I need to randomly show up more often…

“I um…” she turned away from me. “I um…”

“I can so feel the tension in here,” Jen tossed back her drink. “Call me tomorrow Mel. Matt, I’m holding you to what you said. I never forget a free drink.”

She gave Melody a hug and left the kitchen. I could hear the front door close as she walked out.

Melody didn’t look up again. She nervously bit her lip and tottered back and forth. I put down my drink and walked over.

I held her face and forced her to look at me. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head and began to cry. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were coming over today.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t call. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what to do with this stupid dress. I keep trying it on, remembering the day I put it on. That was supposed to be the last day I had to, you know? I was supposed to…I don’t cry every time. I’m just having a really bad day.”

“You look beautiful in the dress.”

“You think so? It was custom made. It took Vera Wang six months to get the beading on the corset done.”

“Yes,” I hugged her tightly. “You want to tell me about your day?”

She shook her head and continued sobbing. “No…”