Yesterday's Echo Read Online Free PDF Page B

peered at me and the mirror that separated us during sex disappeared and warmth radiated from her dark, almond eyes. “If people had gotten to know you, they wouldn’t have believed you killed Colleen.”
    The mention of Colleen’s name opened up the ache in my chest. It always did. Even when I said it silently in my head. But Melody mentioning it also set off alarm bells. She seemed to know a lot about my past. Her tears and fears earlier had been real, and I hoped our roll on the couch had had the same meaning for her as it had for me. But she was a reporter. Five hours ago she’d pumped me for information on the mayor’s drunken wife. Had I become the next possible story?
    â€œHow did you remember Colleen’s name?”
    â€œI Googled you on my iPhone after we met tonight. I wanted to see if the police ever arrested anyone else. I hoped that you had at least gotten closure.” She kissed me on the chest. “I’m sorry you haven’t.”
    I wanted to believe her.
    I didn’t say anything and we lay quietly for a while. No more questions. No more memories. Finally, Melody inched up my chest and kissed me on the lips. Natural, easy, like we’d known each other longer than just one night and one eight-year-old TV show. In that moment, I wished we had.
    I checked the clock on the DVR: 2:03 a.m. I had to open Muldoon’s in five and a half hours.
    â€œLet’s go to bed.”
    I took her hand and led her to my bedroom and into my bed. We spooned in an intimacy beyond our time together. In the movies, we would have made love again. In real life, I was asleep in five minutes.
    A rustling woke me up. I saw Melody’s shadow pass in front of the bed and then heard the bathroom door close. I checked the time on my clock radio: 4:07 a.m. I closed my eyes and didn’t open them again until the alarm woke me at 7:00 a.m. Midnight sat beside my bed wagging his tail, smiling at me through his eyes the way Labs do. Time to start the day.
    I slowly eased out of bed so as not to wake Melody. I looked over and saw that I needn’t have worried.
    She was gone.
    I checked the bathroom and the kitchen to be sure, but the house felt empty and I sensed she wasn’t there. The absence of her coat from the hall closet confirmed it.
    I felt empty, too. And, I felt foolish for allowing myself to feel anything. It was a one-night stand that was never meant to make it to night two. That’s how it worked. Take the flowery talk and the soft caresses and stick them in a forgotten file. It was sex. It was over. Melody just figured it out before I did. I couldn’t blame her for that.
    Knowing all that still didn’t fill the vacuum in my gut.
    Midnight snorted and ran his head under my hand to remind me of my priorities. I opened the broom closet in the kitchen and filled his bowl with dog food from a forty-pound bag. I allowed myself a glance at the refrigerator to see if there was a note under a magnet. Nothing.
    Get over it.
    I let Midnight outside, then went into my bedroom and threw on shorts, T-shirt, and tennis shoes.
    On the way out the door, I opened the hall closet to grab my black Callaway hat. My hand came down with Melody’s Giants cap instead. So, she had left something behind. Surely, a lapse of memory and not an excuse to come back. I held the hat up to myface and caught a whiff of Melody’s shampoo. It brought me back to last night on the couch and in bed.
    Move on.
    I tossed the Giants cap back onto the stack and grabbed a dark-blue Chargers hat. It smelled like me and fit my head the way it was supposed to.
    Back to normal.

Muldoon’s
C HAPTER F IVE
    I unlocked the front door to Muldoon’s and Peter Stone’s image took supremacy in my mind. His barb about seeing the restaurant listed for sale sat undigested in my stomach. I wondered if my mornings unlocking Muldoon’s might soon come to an end. I’d given the restaurant my heart