A Road to Let Go (Fallen Tuesday #4) by Karolyn James Read Free Book Online Page B

began
while holding a half empty glass of wine. Finishing it made it her fourth
glass. The wine certainly helped her to open up. “ I think by me hating him so much, she ran to him.
She wanted to show me up. She didn ’ t
want me to protect her like I always did. That ’ s what happened. She ran into his goddamn arms and
the rest … what a
mess. What a fucking mess …”
    Mel took that as a shot at her, because the mess was that her mother ended up pregnant with Mel. And that set
the course of her mother ’ s
life. The struggles. Raising a child on her own. Always trying to forge some
kind of path that never really worked out. All of which led right up to her
death.
    As far as friends went, her mother
had a lot of them but none were really close. Mel jotted down a few names that
had stuck in her mind. Most of the names were nicknames and the only memories
of them were there because of the way they looked, talked, or acted. Even
though Mel had a small list of people by the time she dropped the pen, she felt
she had nothing. Nothing wasn't going to help her. Yet she couldn ’ t stop looking. All she wanted
was to find her father, tell him her story, and then hear his. She didn ’ t want to live with confusion -
or hate - in her heart, even though he took off all those years ago.
    Mel stood from the table and
wandered to her bedroom. Her bedroom was actually just a corner in the loft.
There were a couple poles floor to ceiling, giving her the option of maybe
hanging some curtains or sheets up for privacy, but she never did. It wasn ’ t worth the effort because this
apartment would never be home. Mel wasn ’ t
sure where home was, but it wasn ’ t
here.
    Falling to the bed, Mel closed her
eyes but couldn ’ t sleep.
Her cell phone rang and she reached for it. One eye open, she saw it was the
only friend she had around here, a woman named Alex. Alex played guitar and
spent half her week playing small shows in cafés and restaurants. She lived
with two other women, one in veterinary school and the other law school. Alex inherited
a small fortune from her grandmother who encouraged her to go out and
experience the world . The information was mostly useless, but after dealing
with Jon long enough Mel had taught herself to absorb everything she could.
    “ Hey
Alex, ” Mel said.
    “ Girlfriend, ” Alex said. “ What are you up to? ”
    “ Supposed
to be sleeping. ”
    “ This
early? ”
    “ Have
to go back to work. ”
    “ Oh. ”
    “ Yeah.
Extra shifts. Money, money. ”
    “ You ’ ll die in that hotel before you
experience something fun, girlfriend. ”
    “ You ’ ve said that before, ” Mel said and smiled.
    “ You
should call in sick. Play hooky and come hang with me tonight. I ’ m driving an hour north for a
show at a little café. I ’ m
looking forward to it. ”
    “ Do
you get paid for these shows? ” Mel asked.
    “ No.
What the hell do I want money for? Takes the fun out of it. I think. I don ’ t know. Maybe I should ask for
money. But I just like to play guitar and chill. ”
    Mel had a hard time keeping up with
Alex when she started to talk. In a two minute non-stop sentence (Mel knew
because she stared are her alarm clock on the nightstand) Alex managed to talk
about new guitar strings, using something called a slide for the first
time so she could get a cool sound on the guitar, and how she thought of
getting a kitten but then realized she would never be able to take care of it
the right way. Then again, Meghan (the roommate in vet school) could help take
care of it. But, wait, Ashley (the other roommate) was allergic to animals. Then
the kitten thing somehow led into getting a new laptop and that somehow led
into getting sushi for lunch.
    Mel was tired for Alex when the
sentence finally ended.
    There was a two second pause of
silence and then Alex asked, “ Are
you there? ”
    “ Oh,
I ’ m here. You ’ re busy enough for the both of
us. ”
    “ You
could be busy too. Just look to