Melania Goes to Tanner

Melania stood there in her room, still reeling from her run in with Gina yesterday. She had come very, very close to punching her in the face. Marry Tanner? She must be out of her mind. Why on earth would Tanner marry her? The idea seemed so ridiculous and yet, it nagged at her.

After she had told him that they couldn’t see each other anymore because of Matt, what was to prevent him from making future plans with Gina? Gina was divorced and available. And it was obvious that she wanted Tanner. Did Tanner want her too? But what about the kiss at the party? She could tell that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Was it possible that he wanted both Gina and her? The thought made her sick. She hated the idea of Tanner wanting Gina.

She couldn’t get the image of Gina touching him and clinging to him when they were at the party. And then, Matt had told her that when Tanner and Gina were on the porch, that she had her hand on his thigh. Last night they had gone to dinner and Gina had said that after they went dancing, they would go back to her place for a nightcap. Melania hadn’t been able to sleep a wink because she couldn’t stop thinking about Tanner and Gina. Did they end up in bed together? Did he leave afterwards or did he spend the night? There was only one way to find out.

Melania went into the bedroom, grabbed her handbag and left the apartment. She walked briskly over to Scarborough Town Center and caught the train. It was just after seven in the evening when she reached Rosedale.

Tanner was standing in the bedroom, stark naked. He had just come out of the shower, had finished drying his hair and skin and just was about to get dressed when the doorbell rang. He quickly pulled on a pair of slacks and left the bedroom to see who it was. His expression became tense when he looked through the keyhole and saw Melania. He opened the door. “Hello, Lana.”

“Hello, Tanner.”

“I never thought I would see you again.”

“I had to see you. May I come in?”

He stood aside for her to go inside. After locking the door, he preceded the way to the living-room. When they got there, he turned and faced her. “Why are you here, Lana? Did you come to tell me again that what happened between us at the party was a mistake?”

She tried to keep her gaze fixed on his face but was painfully aware that he was half-naked. “Why don’t you put on a shirt or something?”

“Why? Does it make you uncomfortable seeing me half-naked?”

“I just think it would be better if you put on a shirt, that’s all.”

“You’ve seen me completely naked many times and it never bothered you. In fact, it turned you on and you couldn’t keep your eyes, hands and mouth off me. I’m getting hard just thinking about it.”

She shuddered as the heat surged through her body and settled between her legs. Agitated, she glanced away from him. “That was when we were–“

“Lovers. We can become lovers again if you want.”

“What about Gina?”

“What about her?”

She looked at him. “Aren’t you and she seeing each other?”

“Yes.”

“Have you slept with her as yet?”

“No, I haven’t. Would it bother you if I did?”

“Yes!”

“Why, Lana?”

Instead of answering his question, she asked, “Do you know what your girlfriend did?”

Tanner sighed. “What did she do?”

“She told Matt about us.”

“What could she possibly tell Matt about us? As far as she knows we knew each other because you were an intern at the company I worked at.”

“She found out that we had more than a working relationship.”

“How? I never told her about us.”

“She found the photo of us in your hot tub in your office desk drawer.”

“Oh. What the hell was she doing in my desk drawer?”

“She said that she wanted to leave you a note.”

“There was a notepad as well as sticky notepads on my desk. She could have used any one of those.”

“Knowing Gina, she was probably snooping around and you made it easy for her.”

“How did I do that?”

“You didn’t lock your drawer.”

“How was I supposed to know that she would show up at my workplace and go into my office?”

“Where were you?”

“I was in a board meeting.”

“You should have locked your door.”

“I leave my door open in case people need to leave files and papers on my desk.”

“That photo wasn’t the only thing she saw. She saw your wallpaper.”

“Damn. I should have turned off the monitor.”

“She told Matt about the photo and while you were at your meeting, she had time to snap a picture of the wallpaper so that she could show it to him as proof that there’s something going on between us. Matt called me on Thursday after you and I saw each other and asked me if he could come over to my apartment. He told me that that miserable woman went to see him the night before to tell him about us. She told him that I had been giving you the eye all night and that there was a time when both of us were missing. She intimated that we must have been together. When Matt asked me point blank about you and me, I couldn’t lie to him. I told him that we were once lovers. I told him that a year after our breakup and shortly after my high-school graduation, I went to see you to tell you that I had made a terrible mistake breaking up with you and that I wanted you back. Then, I saw you and a beautiful woman coming out of a restaurant, with your arms entwined.  I wanted to die because it hurt so much seeing you with her. I turned and headed for the escalator. I think I started crying at that point.” The tears were rolling down her cheeks and she brushed them away. “I told him that if you hadn’t been with the woman, we would still be in New York, married with a least one child…”

Tanner’s face was pale. “Lana, why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“What was the point? Anyway, Matt asked me if I still had feelings for you. I said yes. I told him that I was still in love with you. I can still see the hurt expression on his face.” Tanner tried to take her in his arms but she shook her head. “I’m not finished telling you what happened.”

“Would you like to sit down?”

She shook her head. “I really wanted to fall in love with Matt because he’s such a great guy and I convinced myself that I had and then, you came back into my life. When I saw you with Gina, I realized that I was still in love with you. I told Matt that I hated seeing you with her. He remembered my reaction when he told me that you and she were dating and he saw how I looked when Gina mentioned that you had gone and gotten her a drink. He said that he didn’t want to believe that I was jealous of Gina because of you but that it was just my dislike for her which was making me act the way I was. He asked me what was next and I told him that I had said goodbye to you because I didn’t want to hurt him. And he said that it would have hurt him even more if he knew that I was with him when it was you I really wanted be with. It would have hurt him to be with a woman who was in love with another man. It would have been living another lie and he couldn’t go through that again. He said that it was best to know the truth even if it hurt like hell. He told me that he wanted me to be happy even if it was with someone else. I cried, he hugged me and then, he left after saying goodbye.” She brushed the tears away. “I hated hurting him like that.”

Tanner reached for her and pulled her into his arms. “I know,” he muttered quietly. “I know.”

Melania buried her face in his chest and clung to him as she cried. In between sobs, she said, “I didn’t want to hurt him but I couldn’t deny my feelings for you any more. It killed me to say goodbye to you on Thursday, but I had to go through with it.” She raised her head to look up at him, her eyes swimming with tears. “I wanted to run after you and tell you that I didn’t mean it–that I didn’t want us to stop seeing each other but I made up my mind that I was going to stay with the man who loved me instead of being with the man I loved.”

“I should be angry with you for breaking my heart a second time and for denying us the happiness we could have had all these years.”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I’ve made a mess of things. Instead of running away when I saw you with that woman, I should have confronted you or come to your condo another time and have it out with you.”

“If you had, I would have ended my relationship with her right away and you and I would have gotten back together.”

“And I never would have left New York and Matt wouldn’t be hurt.”

“I didn’t leave New York because of the job. I left because of you. I found out from Hannah that you were here in Canada. She told me that you had remained in touch with her after you left your internship at the company.”

“I’m grateful that she told you that I was here.”

“Me too. We were discussing something and she mentioned that she had heard from you. She said that she saw you the day before you left New York to come here. She also told me that you had asked her about everyone at the company.”

“When I said goodbye to you this last time, I tried to convince myself that it was for the best but after running into Gina and her planning a future with you, I couldn’t stand it. I had to come and see you and to tell you about Matt and that I still love you. I’ve never gotten over you, Tanner.”

Tanner’s eyes darkened. “Oh, Lana, I still love you too. I never stopped.”

She reached up and clutched his face, pulling his head down so that their lips touched.