Chapter 20
Coffee in ten?
I definitely needed some girl time, and who better to talk to than Melanie?
Sure thing. See you then.
The thing was, I knew that by saying ten minutes, Melanie would be twenty at the least. This gave me time to try to make myself appear presentable. Even though it was really warm in Australia, I wore a beanie. I paired this with a loose tank top, denim shorts and flip flops. My toenails were hideously unpainted, a pet peeve of mine, so I quickly put on a coat of a light pink polish before grabbing my phone, sunglasses and wallet and heading out the door.
Sure enough, by the time I was at the café beside our building five minutes late, Melanie still wasn’t there. I grabbed a table by the edge of the patio, a favorite place of Mel’s and mine; we both liked to people watch.
I turned my attention to my phone, scrolling through my Facebook news feed.
“Mommy, why doesn’t she have hair?” a child sitting near me whispered to her mom. I looked up in that general direction as the mom gave her child a scolding look and hissed, “That’s not polite dear.” I was used to this by now.
Finally I saw Mel headed towards me, looking fabulous as ever. Honestly, she couldn’t look bad if she tried.
“Hi Ella!” she exclaimed, drink in hand. I stood up to hug her and then we both settled into our seats.
“I have so much to tell you…” I sighed, shaking my head.
“Something wrong?” Melanie asked, looking concerned.
“Little bit,” I told her.
“Who’s fault?”
“Mine.”
“That’s rough.”
“Yup.” I took a long sip of my iced tea.
“So are you going to tell me or not?”
“Yes…”
“Well then spit it out!” Melanie exclaimed.
“Alright…I just don’t know where to start.”
“How about at the beginning?”
“Meaning you want me to go all the way back to when he and I first came to Australia?”
“So it’s about Nico…” Melanie said prodded.
“Maybe,” I replied sheepishly. Nico was, and seemingly always had been a touchy topic for me.
“Start talking,” Mel insisted.
“Well I um…it’s just that…I may have done something I shouldn’t have.”
“Being…”
“I kissed Nico,” I said quickly, squinting my eyes so I didn’t have to make eye contact with Mel.
“You did not,” she gasped, leaning towards me.
“In my apartment a couple days ago,” I told her, nodding. Guilt welled up in my chest once again.
“Did you tell Liam?” she asked.
“I didn’t. I mean I was going to but then he started saying all these nice things, and I just don’t want to ruin our relationship, you know?”
“I understand, but at the same time Ella, I think he deserves to know,” Melanie replied, stirring her drink as she spoke.
“I know, and I wanted to tell him. I asked him if I could come over last night, but he said it wasn’t a good time. But I promise I’ll tell him the next time I see him, okay?”
“Alright,” Mel agreed. “Speaking of last night…I have a little secret of my own that I’ve been keeping.”
“Do tell,” I told her.
“So my boyfriend Austin? A few months ago, we weren’t together. But we were together before that. In other words, for the past year we’ve been on and off. We’ve had…disagreements in our relationship. And they’ve been centered around…” she trailed off.
“Keep going!” I urged.
Melanie took a deep breath, then spoke. “Our baby.”
A blow to the head. That’s what it was. Never in a million years would I have expected bubbly, responsible-seeming Melanie to have gotten knocked up at such a young age with a guy she hadn’t been dating for long.
“Your baby…” I repeated.
“Hallie,” she told me. “My unexpected gift.”
“What?” I said, still somewhat bewildered. I have to admit, I was kind of zoned out thinking about the fact that Melanie had a baby.
“That’s what her name means.”
“Oh. I see.” I was still shocked.
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Melanie said quickly. “And I know this is a lot to add on but…would you want to meet her tonight? And Austin?”
“Um…I guess? Why not?”
“That’s the spirit,” she said sarcastically.
“I’m sorry, it’s not that I’m not excited, it’s just…”
“You never would have expected me to have a kid,” she stated.
“Well…yeah.”
“I know. And I didn’t expect it either. When I found out I was pregnant, sure I was scared. We didn’t know if I could afford it. Austin wanted me to have an abortion, but how could I do that? I just couldn’t justify killing my baby. I swear Ella; she was the most beautiful baby ever. Bright, big caramel eyes, blondish brown curls…and she was so sweet. So peaceful.”
“I understand,” I told her. “I think it’s really good of you to have had her.”
“She’s such a darling. My sister adopted her. She and her husband wanted kids but couldn’t have any themselves, so it’s kind of a win-win situation.”
“That’s really sweet of you,” I told her. “How much do you see her?”
“Every other day, if I’m lucky. But it breaks my heart when she calls me Auntie,” Melanie said, shaking her head.
“Well, on the bright side, she’ll know the truth when she’s older?” I suggested hopefully.
“I suppose so.”
“How much does Austin see her?”
“About the same as me. Sometimes we have her over for sleepovers. He had her last night, and I’m having her tonight, which is why you’ll get to meet her then,” Mel said, shooting me a nice big smile.
“Sounds like a plan,” I told her. “I guess I look forward to it.”
“You’d better. I don’t tell many of my friends about her. She’s kind of my little secret,” Melanie said, smiling bashfully.
“I can imagine,” I replied, laughing lightly.
Melanie took a look at her watch, and then started to gather her belongings and stand. “I’m going over to my sister’s for lunch,” she explained. “I’ll text you when’s a good time to come, alright?”
“Okay. Have fun at lunch!”
“Thanks! Don’t miss me too much!” Mel joked.
“I’ll try,” I joked.
After Melanie left, I sat around for a few moment and watched the world go by. Although I had confided in Melanie, truth be told, my brain wasn’t really less frazzled than it was before.
Maybe it was time to take a walk to clear my head.