<h4>Chapter 265: Wait</h4>


    Marianne nodded slowly, before giving her daughter another pointed look. "Are you sure he’s real? You’re not pulling a fast one on me, right?"


    Melody hesitated for just a beat, her lips tightening as she muttered something under her breath before quickly nodding. "Of course I’m not lying, Mother. Come on. Do you seriously think I’d go through the trouble of making up some random name just to get you off my back?"


    Marianne Thomas raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "Uh-huh. I’m not saying the name is made up. I’m asking if the boyfriend is." She gestured vaguely with her hand, trailing off mid-sentence. Her eyes had drifted past Melody’s shoulder, locking onto something—or rather, someone—outside the coffee shop window. Her expression changed in an instant.


    Because standing just outside, perfectly framed in the ss, was the woman she had been hearing so much about and yet knew nothing about. Mnie.


    Melody blinked at the sudden silence and turned halfway in her seat to follow her mother’s gaze, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. The ce was empty. She shrugged, confused. "Mom. Adam is real, okay? He’s great. He’s smart, handsome, kind. Has that grounded, but somewhat dangerous vibe-and he’s amazing with kids."


    Thatst part snapped Marianne back into focus.


    Her eyes narrowed. "Hold on. How do you know he’s good with kids? Does he have a child?" A pause. Then she leaned in, lowering her voice suspiciously. "Melody, are you dating a single father?"


    Melody rolled her eyes. "No, Mom. He doesn’t have a child." She leaned back in her seat, folding her arms as if anticipating the next wave of suspicion. "He came to school a few times. Remember that little reading event I told you about? He dropped by for a bit-met some of the kids, sat with them, even did those silly animal voices for the story. They loved him." Her voice softened without her meaning it to. "He just... fit right in."


    She sighed then, the kind that slipped out when someone had stopped pretending they weren’t impressed. Her lips tugged into a small, unguarded smile and for a moment, her eyes lost focus.


    Marianne didn’t miss the change. Her expression eased as she watched her daughter, something warmer recing the earlier skepticism. She tilted her head and let out a quiet hum of approval.


    "Well," she said, taking a slow sip of her tea, "you’ve definitely got that look."


    Melody blinked. "What look?"


    "That look," Marianne said, nodding at her. "The ’I’m already halfway in love with this man and don’t even know it yet’ look."


    Melody scoffed, cheeks coloring. "I do not."


    "You do. And if he’s good with kids and does animal voices, I’m willing to believe he might actually exist." She raised her brows. "But just in case-next time, bring him along."


    Melody muttered into her cup. "That was the n before you ambushed me with the Spanish Inquisition."


    Marianne smirked. "What are mothers for?"


    Melody took another sip, forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Her mother’s teasing should have made herugh, should have filled her with that usual, exasperated fondness. Instead, a flicker of guilt twisted in her chest. Because the truth-the part she hadn’t said-clung to the back of her throat like something sour.


    Everything she’d told Marianne was true. Adam was smart. He was kind. He hade to the school, and the kids had adored him. But what she hadn’t said, what she couldn’t bring herself to admit, was that he wasn’t hers. Not in the way her mother thought. He wasn’t her boyfriend. He wasn’t even on the verge of bing one. He was just... Adam. Someone she had be so smitten with that she had described him to her mother as if he was already hers.


    The weight of the lie—or the half-truth—pressed harder with each second of silence.


    Melody set down her cup with a little more force than needed and stood abruptly. "Mother," she said, brushing imaginary crumbs from herp. "Let’s go. I want to show you the club."


    Marianne looked up in surprise. "Now?"


    "Yes. There’s this amazing track that goes all around the property—winding past the tennis courts, the gardens, even that littleke at the back. It’s beautiful. Come on, you’ll love it." Her voice was a touch too eager, but she didn’t care. She just needed to move, to say something else, anything else.


    As the two women walked around the ce, both were still lost in their own thoughts. Melody kept up a steady stream of light, disjointed unfiletered chatter - anything to keep her mother from circling back to the subject of Adam.


    "So apparently there’s a new café opening just across the street from the staff entrance—finally, right? Not that I’ll stoping to this ce, but as you can see, this is a bit further away from my home and work, so that ce is also good.. And did you know that the club’s track used to be a polo field? Someone told mest week- oh, look at that bougainvillea, it’s totally taken over the trellis. I think that shade of purple is actually called ’magenta,’ but no one ever agrees on those things...I am sure you know that..."


    She talked as they walked, pausing only to wave at a passing staff member or to make a fuss over the koi pond they passed- though she wasn’t even really looking at it. Her voice rose and fell cheerfully, filling the space between them with noise, so that her mother would not have another chance to question her.


    In her hurry to keep her mother distracted, Melody failed to notice that the older woman was actually distracted. Because she was letting her daughter ramble on, without giving it any thought.


    Marianne Thomas had already been looking for an excuse so that her daughter would take her on a tour. And As Melody had unexpectedly offered exactly what Marianne wanted, she was now eagerly looking around. She had seen Mnie wearing a shirt and a tennis skirt so she was probably here for that.


    But Marianne was disappointed to see that Melody was not to be seen in any of the tennis courts...so she could only look around as they walked around therge club.