Count On Me - Sequel (Laughing into Love)

Chapter 9: Handing it Over

Brian goes into Melanie's room and she's already moving things into a box. Brian goes over to the closet to grab somethings off the top shelf for her to sort and pack through. About an hour into him helping her clean her room he coughs up "uhm, Mel. Can I uhh, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure" She says without stopping what she's doing.

He stands still, and repeats "Melanie, please. I need you to take a seat."

She turns to look at him over her shoulder and when she see's how serious he is she sighs, rolls her eyes and stands from where she was bending over to go and sit down on the bed. "Fine, what is it?"

Brian knows now wouldn't be the best time to give it to her but he's dying being alone in this room with her in silence and her not knowing. She's in a bad mood, so he tries to start off by asking her how she's doing. "How are you handling all of this, do you need to take a break?"

"No, I just want it to be done." She replies.

Brian nods, wishing he could say something magical. He decides to open the wound and says out "have you found anything of your fathers yet?"

"What?" Her eyes go darker "why would that matter?"

"I'm just wondering. I'm sure there's a lot of stuff here you haven't seen in a long time." He tries to play it off.

She shakes her head "I was two when my dad left us, pretty sure my mom got rid of everything of his after waiting years for him to come back."

He sits up slightly to get the letter out of his back pocket and then holds it on his right knee. She just looks at him, waiting for him to respond and doesn't even recognize the envelope in his hand. He slowly explains "well, I uhhh, I don't know how to say this so I'm just going to spit it out. Your mom gave me this letter right before she passed away. She said it's from your father."

"What?" She spits out the one syllable word.

He repeats "it's a letter from your dad, she wanted me to give it to you."

He then lifts it off his lap and tries to give it to her "what are you doing?" She scoots back and away from him.

"Giving you the letter?" He questions out loud, not sure what she's asking or why.

She stands "I don't want that. That's not from my dad. Why would you say this to me? You already told me everything my mother said before she died. I asked you so many times and we went over it. Where did you find that?!" She points to the letter in his hand.

He keeps calm as he replies "I'm sorry. I didn't know how to give it to you or explain what she said."

"No, no." She storms past him and out of the room. She yells "I don't believe you!" before she leaves the house.

Brian walks out of her room and into the living room with a look of defeat. All 8 eyes look at him with curiosity and he says to them "she didn't take it. She doesn't believe Jane gave it to me."

He tosses the letter down on a side table and throws his arms down against his thighs. Caroline says "she'll come around, just give her some time." Brian nods and comes back out of the room to help them out with what's left in the house. Brian, Caroline and Sal all have tried to call or text Melanie over the past few hours to check on her. They manage to finish putting everything away or in piles by a little before 10:00 and everyone heads off, telling Brian to give them a call tomorrow when they want them to come and to let them know when Melanie gets back. He thanks everyone with a hug and they head out. Brian sits at the kitchen table staring at his phone and watching the time click by. The front door opens sometime around 4:30 in the morning and Melanie comes walking inside. Brian calls out to her "there's some extra Chinese food in the fridge for you."

"Not hungry!" She calls back but Brian also says the same two words at the same time, getting her attention. She comes around the corner and eyes him widely "excuse me?"

He just shrugs without looking to her "just knew what you were gonna say."

Brian is doing everything to be there for her but her just walking out and leaving him there for hours without a word really pushed his patience. He's not going to let her push him away, but he's done letting her treat him like he's not there, like he's not hurting either. She spits "what's your problem, my mom just died."

"And you don't think I know that?" He asks her back. She stands firmly in the entry way to the kitchen with her hands on her hips. He stands and adds "I'm doing everything I can to be here for you Mel but you're making it really hard."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I just suppose to be crying on your shoulder and letting you take care of me?" She asks rhetorically "should I just be a fucking puddle on the floor who can't take care of herself."

Brian remains calm as she raises her voice and he replies "that's not at all what I'm saying, but it would be easier for me to help you go through this if you were at least a little bit open with me."

"Open? You're talking about being open?" She paces closer in the room "you had a letter in your possession from my father that you hid from me for almost a week!"

"Mel, your mother had just died, I didn't know what to say or how to tell you." He tries to explain to her "I mean, how do you think I should have done it?"

"The moment you fuckin saw me!" She gets in his face, full on screaming "how can I marry someone who isn't being honest with me."

Brian's voice raises just a tad "no, no. Don't go twisting this to be about us."

"How is it not about us, you lied to me!?" She argues.

"I didn't lie, I just waited to tell you. I clearly didn't tell you at the right time today but then again, there was no good time." He explains on, putting his voice back to normal. "This is about your father.

She shakes her head "no, it isn't. My father ditched my mom and me and that's all there is to it. Now you want me to believe he wrote a fuckin' letter and that's going to make everything okay? Who's side are you on, anyway?"

"Melanie, will you listen to yourself? Whose side am I on? There are no sides here. Your mother told me this letter was for you and it was written by your dad. She wanted to give it to you at your lunch but you know.." He trails off, not wanting to upset her saying the words. He then goes on "so she gave it to me to pass along."

"Why!? Why did she have this letter and not tell me sooner?" She asks him, still standing close to him, and still talking almost in a yell.

Brian grabs her by her arms and stares into her eyes "look, am I sorry I didn't tell you sooner? Yes. Do I wish you could've been the one to talk to her before she passed? Of course. But this is where we are at. She gave me the letter and she wanted you to have it."

Melanie stares back at him, letting the tears fall out in front of him again like she did at the hospital "why?" She spits out and he pulls her close to him into a hug "why? why did she have it? How long did she have it for?"

"Shhhh" Brian rubs her back "it's okay. I'm right here. Shh. We'll figure this out together. " He promises her, wishing he didn't make her cry. She lets him hold her for a little while before her eyes dry of tears and she leans away from him. He asks "do you want me to go get the letter?"

She wipes at her eyes and whispers out "not now, no. I just want to sleep."

He nods "can you eat something first, please? You only had a bite of pizza at lunch." She nods and he moves to microwave up some of the Chinese they all had for dinner the night before.