The Game Changer (44 page)

“
Really
?” Ava’s eyebrows winged up over wide, hopeful eyes.

“Actually, not just the three of us…” Rita said with a sly grin, turning her gaze on Olivia. “I was hoping maybe Olivia would like to join us.”

“
Me
? Really?” Olivia asked, eyes going as wide as Ava’s.

“Well, it is a family trip, after all,” Rita said.

Olivia’s bottom lip trembled slightly, but she pulled herself together quickly. She looked at Melody, who beamed and nodded enthusiastically. “I’d love to join you,” Olivia said with barely contained glee.

Rita clapped her hands happily. “Then it’s settled.” She looked at Ava. “I mean, as long as you like the idea.”

Ava was silent for several long moments, examining her hands. Melody’s stomach dropped. It had never occurred to her that Ava wouldn’t want to go. “When do we go?” she finally asked, raising her head and glancing at each of the women in turn.

Melody and Rita let out relieved laughter. “August,” Rita said.

“This is going to be the best summer ever,” Ava said with a slow smile that tugged at Melody’s heartstrings.

Melody glanced around at the three women she loved most. “Yes it is.”

*****

Over the next week, Melody, Olivia, Rita, and Ava spent a great deal of time making plans for their trip. They spoke on the phone every night, and visited back and forth a few evenings.

Melody got the occasional text message from Julian with updates on his father. He was settling in at home, and Julian had hired a nutritionist to help with creating healthy meal plans. He never mentioned what had happened between them while Melody was in Ottawa, nor did he say when he was planning to come home.

Melody wasn’t sure whether she was angry, hurt, disappointed, or all three. She thought about Julian a lot, and although she hated how they had left things, she couldn’t regret what happened between them.

She did her best to concentrate on the positive things happening in her life. Olivia was still staying at the apartment every night, although she invited Cameron over several nights for dinner at Melody’s insistence. She didn’t want Olivia’s relationship to suffer because of her. She filled pages and pages of a notebook with things she thought they should do in the Maritimes that summer, and she dove into new projects at work with renewed vigour.

A week after their celebratory get-together, Melody and Olivia invited Ava over for a girls’ night in, and encouraged Rita to go out with friends for the evening.

Melody had to stay a bit late at work, but they arranged for Rita to drop Ava with Olivia at the apartment at five o’clock.

At five thirty, Melody powered down her computer and grabbed her purse from the bottom drawer of her desk. The office was nearly empty; most people left early on Fridays, but Melody wanted to get ahead on a project she was working on so she could relax and enjoy her weekend.

“I hope you have an umbrella, Miss Cartwright,” Gordon, the janitor, said to Melody as she waited for the elevator. “Got real dark out in the last hour. Looks like a doozy of a storm’s coming.”

“I have one in my briefcase, Gordon,” she told him with a smile.

When the elevator opened onto the ground floor, which had a wall of windows facing Bridge Street, Melody couldn’t believe how dark it was. She checked her watch to make sure it hadn’t stopped; it looked more like nine o’clock at night than early evening. She stepped outside and glanced up at the angry-looking charcoal-coloured clouds, then hurried to the crosswalk.

“Melody!” someone called from behind her, and she whipped around to see Rick rushing toward her, closed umbrella bobbing against his thigh. “Hey,” he said breathlessly. “Can you believe this weather? I went into City Hall to get some permits written up for work and when I came out, the sky looked like this.”

“It’s eerie,” Melody said, casting another look up at the sky.

“I’m glad I ran into you,” Rick said, touching her elbow and drawing her attention back to him. “I won’t keep you, ’cause it’s probably going to start to pour any second, I just wanted to tell you that I ended things with Sydney.”

Melody’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Good for you, Rick,” she said. “You deserve better.”

Rick shrugged and shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know about
that
, but…I just hope the next time I have something really good, I don’t screw it up the way I did with you.”

Melody smiled sadly. “We both screwed it up,” she said. “
We
were both screwed up, I think. Next time will be better for both of us.”

The corners of Rick’s mouth turned up slightly, and he nodded. “I hope so. Anyway, look…Sydney wasn’t very happy with me when I broke up with her. Remember last time I saw you I told you I thought she was a bit…
off
?” He laughed nervously, rubbing his forehead. “The thing is, I wasn’t kidding. She wasn’t just possessive and jealous, she was practically a stalker. She knew things she couldn’t have known unless she’d been following me. When I ended it with her, she blamed you, said she had seen us together, and knew we still had feelings for each other, and…well…a lot of other stuff. I told her she needed help and she completely lost it and stormed out. I guess I just wanted to tell you to be careful. Stay away from her if you see her, you know?”

Melody’s stomach twisted. “You don’t think she’d…” She stopped, remembering back to her previous encounters with Sydney.

“I’m going to pursue getting her help,” Rick said quickly, seeing the worry on Melody’s face. “I’ll tell her that just because I don’t think we should be together doesn’t mean I don’t want the best for her.”

“Good idea,” Melody said. She didn’t need this. She didn’t want to have to look over her shoulder or worry about running into Sydney somewhere, especially now that Ava would be spending more time with her.

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Melody.” Rick’s look of concern made Melody soften slightly.

“It’s not your fault,” she told him. “Just…do your best to sort things out.”

“I will,” he promised. “Hey, let me walk you home, okay?”

Any other time, she would have argued that it wasn’t necessary, but between his warnings and the spooky sky, she nodded and thanked him.

They crossed the street and walked quickly down Front, noticing how quiet the normally busy street was. Only a handful of cars passed on the street, and the sidewalks were empty except for vendors pulling outdoor displays inside.

“This is seriously creepy,” Melody commented, glancing around. She’d never been nervous in Bellevue before. She walked these streets alone all the time, and even at night she’d always felt safe. When a sudden rumble of thunder sounded from the sky, Melody jumped, then laughed anxiously, glancing at Rick. “I can make it the rest of the way by myself,” she told him. “You should get to your car before it starts to pour.”

Rick shook his head, taking Melody’s elbow and steering her across the deserted street toward Green Pea’s. “Nope. I was a crappy boyfriend, but I’m determined to be a good friend. I’d just worry about you all night if I didn’t make sure you got home safe.”

Melody couldn’t help but smile at that. “Well, I appreciate it.” Rick looked at her, his head cocked to the side. “I really do, Rick. Thank you.”

They hurried down the alley beside Green Pea’s and around the corner to the private door that led up to Melody’s apartment. “Here we are,” she said, ducking under the overhang as several fat raindrops hit her face. “Do you want to come up and wait out the storm?”

“Thanks, but I need to get going,” Rick said, pulling the collar of his jacket up around his neck. “I’ll talk to you soon though?”

“Absolutely.” Melody leaned forward and kissed Rick’s cheek. “Thanks again, Rick.”

He smiled slightly and waved before jogging off toward the alley.

Melody watched him go, then pulled out her keys to unlock the door. She glanced at Olivia’s car, parked close to the river, and noticed the driver’s side window was down. She rushed over as the sky opened and rain pounded down on her. Fumbling with her keys, she found the spare to Olivia’s car and unlocked the door, jamming the key into the ignition and powering up the window.

Locking the door again, she ran for the building, blinded by the onslaught of cold rain that hit her face like a thousand tiny needles. She unlocked the door and wrenched it open as a loud clap of thunder erupted from the sky, making her scream. Nerves jangled, she ran up the stairs, realizing halfway that she hadn’t heard the door close behind her. She was so used to it closing and locking automatically, she didn’t bother to pull it closed anymore. Any other day, she wouldn’t care since she always locked the door to the apartment when she got inside, but after what Rick’s warning, she wanted to err on the side of caution.

Turning to head back down the stairs, she let out a yelp when she saw Sydney step onto the bottom stair. Her blond hair was soaked and matted to her head, and her mascara ran like a black river down her cheeks, making her appear manic.

“This is private property,” Melody told her, unable to control the tremor in her voice. She began to back slowly up the stairs. If she could just get to the apartment door and get inside, she’d be fine. “You can’t be in here.”

“I warned you,” Sydney said, her voice unnaturally high. “I told you to stay away from my Rick, but you just wouldn’t listen. I saw you together the other day, and I saw you together just now. He broke up with me and went straight back to you.” For every step Melody took, Sydney took a step toward her.

“Rick and I are just friends,” Melody said, clutching the railing as her shoes slipped in a puddle created by her dripping clothes. “We didn’t work as a couple.”

Sydney shook her head hard, sending droplets of water flying from her hair. “Do you really think I believe that? After all the times I told you to stay away from him, but kept seeing the two of you together, rubbing it in my face? You were probably together this entire time, laughing behind my back. ‘Poor, stupid Sydney, she has no idea.’ I can hear the two of you now.”

“No,” Melody said, desperately wishing she could reach into her bag for her cell phone. “That’s not true. Rick wants what’s best for you. You’re sick, Sydney. You need help.”

The second the words left her mouth, Melody knew it was the wrong thing to say. Sydney lunged for her, grabbing her elbow and jerking her. Melody lost her footing and slipped on the now-slick stairs. She reached for the railing, but Sydney knocked into her and she was suddenly weightless as she tipped forward, the long metal staircase spread out before her. She hit with a thunderous crash and went tumbling, hitting her head and banging her knees and elbows as she rolled down the stairs before landing in a heap on the cold, wet floor.

She was aware of her own laboured breathing, and of the ringing sound of running footsteps in the closed stairwell. “I warned you,” Sydney hissed again, this time from just inches away.

Melody’s vision began to darken, and she blinked her eyes rapidly. Every inch of her body was on fire, but she couldn’t pull herself up. As darkness descended like the closing of a curtain, she heard hurried footsteps in the stairwell once more. She had a fleeting thought that Sydney had come back to finish her off, but then she heard, as if from a great distance, “Melody? Aunt Melody!”

Then the world faded, and darkness closed around her.

CHAPTER 23

Melody heard hushed voices, but couldn’t figure out where they were coming from. Was someone in her room? Had she fallen asleep in the living room, and Olivia and Ava were awake? Was she still in Ottawa and the last couple of weeks had been a dream?

When pain seeped through her consciousness, she knew she wasn’t dreaming. She’d never dreamed of pain before, and this was too acute to be anything but real. She pried her eyes open slowly, despite the pounding protest in her head.

She was in a room with white walls and a pale green curtain pulled around the bed.
The hospital
. Her heart rate sped up, and a machine beside her bed pinged, making her jump.

“She’s awake,” Olivia whispered. “Mel? Melody?” Olivia appeared by the side of her bed, gripping her hand. Rita was behind her, and she rushed to the other side of the bed. Melody wondered why her mother didn’t take her other hand, but when she looked down, her eyes widened at the sight of a cast encasing her hand and half her forearm.

“Wh-what happened?” Melody croaked.

“That crazy bitch Sydney—” Olivia began, her voice rough with anger.