The Rescue - Nicholas Sparks [98]
“Eat your hot dog,” Melissa answered.
“But Mom—”
“Eat your hot dog,” she said again. “If you’re still hungry after that, I’ll make some, okay?”
She knew he wouldn’t still be hungry, but it seemed to placate the child.
Once everything was under control, Denise and Melissa moved away from the table and sat down closer to the pool. Ever since Denise had learned about Taylor’s father, she had been trying to piece the rest of it together in her mind. Melissa seemed to divine the direction of her thoughts.
“Taylor?” she said, and Denise smiled sheepishly, embarrassed that it was so obvious.
“Yeah.”
“How are you two getting along?”
“I thought it was going pretty well. But now, I’m not so sure.”
“Because he didn’t tell you about his father? Well, I’ll let you in on a secret: Taylor doesn’t talk about it to anyone, ever. Not to me, not to anyone he works with, not to his friends. He’s never even talked about it with Mitch.”
Denise considered this, unsure how to respond.
“That makes me feel better.” She paused, furrowing her brow. “I think.”
Melissa put her iced tea aside. Like Denise, she’d stopped drinking beer after finishing her second.
“He’s a charmer when he wants to be, isn’t he? Cute, too.”
Denise leaned back in her seat. “Yes, he is.”
“How is he with Kyle?”
“Kyle adores him—lately, he likes Taylor more than me. Taylor’s like a little boy when they’re together.”
“Taylor’s always been good with kids. My kids feel the same way about him. They’ll call him to see if he can come over to play.”
“Does he come?”
“Sometimes. Not lately, though. You’ve been taking up all of his time.”
“Sorry about that.”
Melissa waved off the apology. “Don’t be. I’m happy for him. You too. I was beginning to wonder if he’d ever meet somebody. You’re the first person in years he’s actually brought over.”
“So there’ve been others?”
Melissa smiled wryly. “He hasn’t talked to you about them, either?”
“Nope.”
“Well, girl, it’s a good thing you came over,” she said conspiratorially, and Denise laughed.
“So what did you want to know?”
“What were they like?”
“Not like you, that’s for sure.”
“No?”
“No. You’re a lot prettier than they were. And you’ve got a son.”
“Whatever happened to them?”
“Now, unfortunately, that I can’t tell you. Taylor doesn’t talk about that, either. All I know is that one day they seemed to be doing fine and the next thing you knew, it was over. I never did understand why.”
“That’s a comforting thought.”
“Oh, I’m not saying it’s going to happen with you. He likes you more than he liked them, a lot more. I can see it in the way he looks at you.”
Denise hoped that Melissa was telling the truth.
“Sometimes . . . ,” Denise began, then trailed off, not knowing exactly how to say it.
“Sometimes you’re scared about what he’s thinking?”
She looked at Melissa, startled by the acuity of her observation. Melissa went on.
“Even though Mitch and I have been together for a long time, I still don’t understand everything that makes him tick. He’s sort of like Taylor sometimes, in that regard. But in the end, it’s worked out because we both want it to. As long as you two have that, you’ll be able to make it through anything.”
A beach ball came flying from the table where the kids were sitting, bonking Melissa on the head. A series of loud giggles broke out.
Melissa rolled her eyes but otherwise paid no attention as the beach ball rolled away. “You might even be able to put up with having four boys, like we do.”
“I don’t know if I could do that.”
“Sure you could. It’s easy. All you have to do is wake up early, get the paper, and read it leisurely while drinking tequila shooters.”
Denise giggled.
“Seriously, do you ever think about having more kids?” Melissa asked.
“Not too often.”
“Because of Kyle?” They’d talked a little about his problem earlier.
“No, not just that. But it’s not something I can do alone, is it?”
“But if you were married?”
After a moment Denise smiled. “Probably.”
Melissa nodded.