Melanie picked up a piece of pineapple and put it into her mouth, buying time. She chewed the morsel, but couldn’t savor the sweet taste. All the while, Lawrence’s eyes bore into her.
The moment she swallowed, he said, “I’m waiting.”
Then he picked up a strawberry and popped it into his mouth. Casual as could be.
“What’s the purpose of this?” Melanie asked in a low voice.
“You owe me,” Lawrence said. “Or do you think that it was actually okay to leave the man who loves you and tell him absolutely nothing? Leave him to guess and explain to his family why the woman of his dreams was a no-show at their wedding?”
“Fine.” Melanie shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I just—I just didn’t think it was going to work long-term. I figured it was best to walk away before tying the knot.”
“Not good enough,” Lawrence said.
“That’s my answer.”
He folded his arms and placed them on the edge of the table.
The waitress returned then with the two plates of omelets. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw that a man had replaced one of the women.
“Oh,” she said. “The woman who was here?”
“Will be back momentarily,” Melanie said. “Please.” She gestured for the waitress to put the food on the table, which she did.
“Actually,” Lawrence said, lifting Richelle’s plate. “Our friend is right over there.” He pointed to the far end of the pool, where Richelle sat with her feet in the water. “Now, see my buddy at that table there? Can you set our friend up at his table so she can enjoy her meal there?”
“Sure,” the waitress said, shrugging. “No problem.”
Lawrence grinned at her. “Wonderful. Because the two of us—” he eyed Melanie “—we’ll be a while.”
Melanie raised her eyebrows at him.
“And whatever this omelet is,” Lawrence went on, “I’ll take one, too. It smells delicious.”
“Certainly.”
Horrified, Melanie watched as the waitress walked over to Richelle with the plate of food. Then watched as she gestured toward Shemar’s table. Richelle then got to her feet and made her way over to where Shemar was sitting, eyeing Melanie with a puzzled expression as she did.
“Now,” Lawrence began, “where were we?”
Melanie gaze met his. “Seriously, Lawrence.”
“Think of it this way. Once you explain it to me, I’ll be able to move on. Then, if we see each other around here again, you won’t have to worry about me hounding you for an answer.”
Melanie drew in a frazzled breath. “You want an explanation? Okay. You and I were on different pages, Lawrence. That’s why I realized I couldn’t marry—”
“Bull,” Lawrence said, cutting her off.
“If you want an answer, then you—” She stopped herself when the couple at the table across from them looked at her. “If you want to hear what I have to say,” she went on in a calmer tone, “then you need to listen.”
“I’m happy to listen.” Lawrence’s jaw stiffened. “But I want the truth.”
“I don’t know, Lawrence. Like I said, I’m sorry for what I did. I know I took the coward’s way out. It’s just...we didn’t agree about everything.”
“Who does?”
“And I was afraid,” she pressed on. “Afraid those differences were going to lead us in different directions.”
“Really?” Lawrence looked flabbergasted and hurt.
“You thought I worked too much. And I know it annoyed you that there were a lot of things you wanted to do that I was afraid to try. Like swimming.”
“We are different people,” Lawrence said. “I didn’t expect you to be a carbon copy of me.”
“Yes, you said that. But I just... Come on, Lawrence. We wouldn’t be the first couple to drift apart because of differences like that. And then there was that job offer I had on that series in Los Angeles. You weren’t happy that I was considering it.”
“Not so unhappy that I thought it meant the end of our relationship. If I had to live without you for a while, I would have managed.”
“I know,” Melanie said softly. “I know it’s easy to think that issues are surmountable when you’re in love, then suddenly, everything changes. What if I got a wardrobe job on a set in another part of the country or even in another part of the world—one that would take me away for weeks or months?”
“Did I ever once say that I didn’t support your career? From the day we met in that men’s clothing store—where you were doing some shopping for a film, and you gave me advice on the suit I was picking out—I knew what you did for a living. And I’ve always supported it.”
“I know. But...”
“But you were looking for reasons to walk away,” Lawrence said, his tone sour. “Sure, we got involved, but ultimately, you never could let down your guard with me. I thought I’d made it clear how much I loved you, wanted to be with you, wanted a life with you. But you...you couldn’t get past what your father did to your mother. He told your mother that he left because she wasn’t a homemaker, and you, at the end of the day, you believed I would do the same thing.”
Melanie’s heart began to pump a little harder. Lawrence had so easily torn away the layers of her excuses and hit the very core—something she didn’t even like to acknowledge to herself. Because Melanie had spent years believing that her father wasn’t a typical man. And then, there she was, on the morning of her wedding, and suddenly paralyzed with fear that Lawrence would hurt her the way her father had crushed her mother.
“Nothing’s impossible.”
“Wow.” Lawrence shook his head. Though he had come up with the very reason for her bailing on him, he seemed stunned to hear her verify his hypothesis. “Wow.”
Melanie glanced down, feeling bad for how her words had clearly hurt him. At her core, she had definitely believed that Lawrence was a family guy, one who would value her and not up and leave.
That was why she had fallen for him, why she’d agreed to marry him. But in the end, she just couldn’t go through with it.
“Why didn’t you call me?” Lawrence asked when she faced him again. “After all we meant to each other, after we were about to get married, you didn’t think you owed me the courtesy of a phone call?”
“I was afraid of how you would react.”
“Nothing would have been harder than the reality I was left to deal with. Being stood up at the altar and facing all the wedding guests who wondered what the heck was going on. My family and yours. Having to explain to them that the wedding was off. Having to be consoled by people when I didn’t even understand what was going on.”
“I’m sorry,” Melanie said.
Lawrence pushed his chair back and stood. “Yeah,” he said dully. “Thanks.”
And then he walked away, and Melanie knew—by the tone of his voice, even though she had explained her actions—her apology nine months after the fact was too little, too late.