CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
All this time, I've been bearing it alone
Never had a single doubt in my mind
You've passed me by when I was barely hanging on
But you were there when I was doing just fine
Caroline, I'm gonna take your own advice
I won't think twice 'cause you are not worth my time
Cause you'll be there waiting when I'm back on top
And you'll be there saying you gave me what I've got
But you're just another Voice In The Chorus
Just another Voice In The Chorus
Singing, just another Voice In The Chorus
Bet you knew it all along
Tell me where you have been all this time, Caroline?
Big surprise, you're the last one to arrive and the first to cut in line
Sacrifice, something you don't know about
But something I can't get around in my life
Tell me where you have been all this time, Caroline?
Cause you've never really known
Till you're all on your own
And the words come out all wrong
Oh you've never really known
Oh you never really know
Till it's dark and it's cold
And there's no one to call you home
Oh you've never really known
Your true colors will be shown
When you're out all alone
And everything comes out all wrong
Oh you'll finally really know
TAYLOR
"The ipecac was a nice touch."
Taylor was absolutely livid. He had so much to say but he didn't even want to speak to her at all. His first instinct was to do what he was used to doing and completely flip out on her. But he couldn't even do that. So he remained calm. Cool. Collected.
Tears streamed down Natalie's cheeks.
"Ten years," he continued. "For ten years you've been my wife. Ten years of lies. Deception. Manipulation. And I am so incredibly, insanely pissed off at myself for being so stupid. I would ask 'how could you' but I really don't even want to waste my breath."
"Tay..."
"No. Don't even say my name. It makes me physically sick to hear my name come out of your mouth."
Natalie bawled as she fell into the chair at the table across from Taylor.
"You know, I can't even feel sorry for you. But I really feel like you need help. Real help. Professionally. Because nobody, NOBODY, in their right mind would do something so sick and twisted. Twice--TWICE--you made me believe that I was going to be a father. TWICE I fell for it. Because I trusted you."
"I'm so sorry," she sobbed.
"You do realize I married you because I thought you were pregnant? Because that was the right thing to do? You realize I wanted to renew our vows because I thought it was the right thing to do? It certainly wasn't
because I WANTED to."
She looked at him in complete shock. He had hit her where it hurt. Normally he would have felt bad for making her feel that way, but not this time. She wouldn't manipulate him again.
"I knew what you were about the moment I laid eyes on you. I always knew it. The money, the fame. I should have known you and Kate were one in the same after she whored around with both of my brothers until one of them was dumb enough to keep her. But I was young and I was stupid and you were my rebound. And you knew it. I know you knew it. That's how you trapped me. For ten fucking years I've lived a lie with you. I always knew we wouldn't last. I just didn't know it would all go down quite like this."
He slid the paperwork across the table at her and she broke down all over again at the sight of them, the realization setting in.
"This can't be fixed. You know what this is. You have two choices. You can read over these, make the necessary adjustments and then meet me at my attorney's office tomorrow morning to sign off on it, or we can take this all the way to court where your name can be blasted all over every form of media that exists, exposing you as the sick, lying, psycho bitch that you are. Your choice." He stood up, preparing to leave the
table. "I'm going to pack my things. I'll be out of here tonight. Hell I can't even get out of here fast enough."
He walked away from her and down the hallway, leaving her alone with her misery.
________________________________________________
ZAC
"So, why are you HERE?" Zac asked Taylor.
"Uh, I kinda have no place to go," he answered.
"Tay, don't be a moron," Isaac said. "You can stay at my house. Or Mom's..."
"Or Mel's," Zac interjected.
"NO!" Tay said hastily. "Not Mel's."
Zac looked at him like he had two heads. "Well why the hell not? It's what you want..."
"Of course it's what I want! But she doesn't know yet. We just signed the papers this morning--and I'm honestly surprised she showed up. But it's going to take a couple of days to actually finalize and I want to tell Mel when it's finally done. I don't want her to doubt me again. I've done enough already."
"Stay at my house," Ike said. "We have plenty of room."
"What about me?" Zac asked. "I have room, too!"
Taylor looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding? Kate's the enemy! I'm not putting myself through that."
Zac shrugged. He did have a point. And that made Zac think. Jesus Christ. Surely Natalie has told Kate by now. He just knew his life would be a living hell as soon as she found out. He was dreading the news breaking. And if she found out he already knew and didn't tell her? Goddamn, there would be hell to pay.
Tay looked at Ike, shifting his weight nervously. "Hey, uh...will you help me? I mean, help me pack? Get my stuff out of there? I'm gonna go rent a storage unit and maybe do some apartment hunting or something. I'm not taking much but I don't really want to do it alone."
"Of course," Ike said. "Yeah, anything you need, you name it." Ike glanced at the bedding covering the loveseat in the studio. "And get that shit up, this isn't happening again. I'll have Nikki get the guest
room ready. You should have come to my place first."
"Well, okay...I'll be here!" Zac called as he watched Ike and Tay walk out the door.
From somewhere off in the distance, he heard Tay call back to him, "Don't tell Drew!"
Zac huffed to himself in response.
Looking around, he found himself in the studio alone. Making adjustments to his drum set, he had prepared to start playing something random when he spied Drew standing in the doorway. He smiled at her. "You remember what happened last time you surprised me like this?"
She smiled back. "I am not risking a repeat recording session. So where are Ike and Tay off to in such a rush?"
Zac's heart pounded. He wanted to tell her SO BAD! Instead he raised his eyebrows and moved his hair out of his face. "Top secret business, I guess."
"And you're not off getting into trouble with them?"
"I wasn't exactly invited."
Drew furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Trust me, it didn't hurt my feelings," he said. "Not this time."
"Uh, look," Drew said nervously. "Um, I wanted to tell you. Gerard and I went to dinner last week."
"I know."
"You do?"
"Glamarazzi apparently doesn't sleep."
"You need to stay off that thing. Honestly."
"It keeps me informed."
"So why didn't you say anything?"
"I wanted to hear it from you first."
"Well we're not, like, together or anything," Drew said. "I mean, it was just dinner."
"Why are you feeling the need to explain yourself?"
"Uh, because--because I still want you."
"And you think that just because you went out to dinner with another guy that I might want you any less?"
Drew looked around nervously. "Well--maybe..."
Zac smiled at her and shook his head. "Never gonna happen."
Drew bit her lip and smiled at him. "For awhile I was beginning to think you hated me. You've been kinda crabby lately."
"I know," he said, still smiling. "I'm sorry."
"Um...so I've been thinking a lot about what you said. And...I haven't forgotten."
"I know."
"It's not that I don't feel the same way. I just...life is moving so fast. You know? REALLY fast."
"I know. I haven't exactly been fair to you lately. I think we should just stick to our original plan. Take it slow. See what's out there for us?"
Drew smiled, obviously relieved. "That would be awesome."
Zac smiled back at her once again. He wished he had felt better after this conversation. And he kind of did. But not the way he thought he should have.
_______________________________________________________
MEL
The recording booth was the last place Mel wanted to be. Especially with Taylor. She was glad she was outside the booth, and even more glad that she wasn't alone. Drew sat next to her as she stood in front of the mixer. Zac sat on the other side of Drew and Isaac sat next to Tay inside the booth with his acoustic in his lap.
It was times like this that Mel hated being asked to collaborate on anything. She had written another song with Ike and it was agreed that it was definitely a Taylor song. Of course, this was back when everything was
peaches and roses. Now she could have strangled Ike for making her take control of the way this song was recorded.
They had done a zillion takes. There was just something not quite right about it and she couldn't put her finger on it. This time, when Tay stopped singing, Mel pressed the intercom button. "Do it again," she
said.
"What? No! That was perfect!"
"It wasn't perfect. Do it again."
"No! Ike, tell her. It was perfect!"
"Look. I wrote the majority of this song, I know how it's supposed to sound," Mel said. "It's still wrong. You can either do it again or we can scrap the whole thing. I don't really care."
"No!" Ike protested. "We are recording this song. Tay, do it again."
Tay took his headphones off, an obvious tantrum coming on. "I hit every fucking note spot on. I got every single inflection and I even enunciated the right way! I'm not doing it again!"
Mel pressed the button again. "See, this is why I won't work with him," she said to Ike. "He's such a fucking diva."
"TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!!"
"I WANT YOU TO SING IT THE WAY I FUCKING WROTE IT!!"
Tay glared at Mel through the glass and she glared right back at him. He was the first to cave. "Fine," he said, putting the headphones back on his ears. They started the song again.
Halfway through, Mel's cell phone rang. She didn't recognize the number but something in her gut told her to answer it. Hitting the button, she signaled to Zac to keep Tay going. "Hello?" she answered.
And then the most god-awful shriek filled her ear. "I hope you're happy with yourself, you home-wrecking whore! I should have known the moment my best friend showed up on my doorstep barely able to hold herself up that you would somehow be involved and I was right!"
Mel was absolutely flabbergasted by this phone call. She looked over at Zac, confused. "Uh, Kate?"
Zac's eyes widened and he turned white as a sheet.
"Don't play coy with me, you know who this is! Congratulations, you succeeded in stealing one of our husbands away, but don't think you and your little friend are going to steal another one!"
"Kate," Mel said, completely confused. "What the hell are you talking about? Tay and I are barely even speaking right now."
"You can stop lying now, we all know the truth! I know you talked him into that quickie divorce! The moment she told me, I knew it was you--wait--" Mel heard a voice in the background and then Kate started speaking to the voice. "Wait--what? You did what?" Then she got back to Mel on the phone. "This conversation isn't over!"
But by this point, in Mel's mind, the conversation was over at the word divorce. Quickie divorce, Kate had said. Her best friend...Taylor...quickie divorce...
The room began to spin and Mel was frozen in place. Surely this was a huge misunderstanding. Divorces didn't happen that quickly. She had said to him, she had told him not to...don't...
Kate was still screeching into the phone when it fell out of Mel's hand. She hadn't even realized the music had stopped until she locked eyes with Taylor and the blood drained from his face.
She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't--he couldn't--
Finally Mel gained some feeling back in her body. And then she did the only thing she knew how to do:
She ran.
_______________________________________________________
Do you want to be the one I know?
To be the place I go?
To Be My Own?
To Be My Own?
Yeah, I'd do it all over again
Yeah, I'd chase you right down to the edge
All the mistakes and the heartbreaks
Every bad song and the done wrong
If I could do it again I wouldn't do it right
Cause I might not be here tonight
And you held me close, close to your heart
Once I've sinned, I just want to be that close again
Do you want to be the one I know?
To the place I go?
To Be My Own?
To Be My Own?
I don't care of no one understands
I've walked under the stars just holding your hand
All the long roads and the sorrows
All the broken and the borrowed
When it's us against the wind we'll be fine
Do you want to be the one I know?
To be the place I go?
To Be My Own?
To Be My Own?
TAYLOR
Taylor saw her face through the glass as she talked on the phone and knew whatever was going on on the other end couldn't be good. He stopped the song right in the middle and the room fell silent. Nobody objected. Nobody pressed the intercom button. Both Drew's and Zac's eyes were focused intently on Mel. Something was going on. Something wasn't right.
Suddenly she looked up at him and her eyes locked into his. They were filled with fear. The second the phone fell from her hand, everything was clear.
She knew.
Taylor braced himself. He knew Mel. He had known her his entire life. He knew her. He could feel her. He knew her next move before she did. And so he braced himself for what he knew was coming, his eyes darting to the door behind her.
His prediction came true as she turned around and darted out the studio door. Ripping his headphones from his head, he clamored out the sound booth door, out the studio door and by the time he made it out the back
door, she was already miles ahead of him down the street in the middle of downtown Tulsa. Not wasting a second, he tore down the sidewalk behind her at full speed, operating on nothing but pure adrenaline.
Goddamn, did she not get tired? He could already feel himself getting winded but no way was he slowing down. He had to get to her. He had to tell her. She had to know...
Ahead of her he saw a small grassy area just off the sidewalk. If he could just close in on her, he could stop her there...
Before he knew it, he had barreled into her, tackling her and rolling her onto the ground in the exact location he wanted her in. She fought him the entire way down, incoherent cussing flying out of her mouth. The elbow in his ribs nearly knocked the wind out of him but no way was he giving up this time.
He wrestled her off the ground and into an upright seated position. From behind he wrapped his legs tightly around her to try to calm her fighting. There wasn't much he could do for her arms and he held his face out of her way until he could think a little quicker. Finally, he was able to grab both of her wrists and cross them tightly over her chest, wrapping his arms around her like a straight jacket. She may have been a cop at one point, but he was still stronger than her.
He sat there with her, wound tightly around her, and rocked her until her squirming and wriggling calmed down. When she had finally stopped fighting, he could hear her crying quietly.
"If I let you go," he said quietly in her ear. "Are you going to stay here?"
She shook her head.
"Okay, then. We'll just sit here. Just like this. I have all day."
Mel then sniffed and nodded, helplessly.
"Is that a yes? Did you have a change of heart?"
"Yes, goddammit, now let go of me!!"
"You have to promise not to run."
"I promise."
Tay sighed and rolled his eyes. "Uncross your fingers."
He felt Mel's body slump in defeat. She showed him her hands like jazz hands, her tears obviously subsiding. "I promise."
Slowly and cautiously, he loosened himself around her. Certain that she'd kept her word, he said, "Turn around here."
Head hung low, she obeyed him and turned her body around. She sat Indian-style between his legs as his knees bent on either side of her. "Look at me," he said. He lifted her chin till her eyes met his.
"It's true," he said to her.
Tears filled her eyes again. "She called me a home-wrecking whore."
"Who was that on the phone?"
Mel sniffed again. "Kate."
Tay sighed. "I should have known. Look, I was going to tell you as soon as it was final. I didn't want to give you any reason to doubt me again. I wanted you to feel secure with me. I'm sorry you had to find out like that."
"But I am a home-wrecking whore. I told you, I didn't want to be a home-wrecking whore!"
"Mel, you're not...you're not THAT. That's coming from someone who doesn't know what she's talking about. But she is right about one thing. Natalie and I did sign divorce papers. Not separation papers. Divorce papers."
"What's the difference?"
"A legal term and an obscene amount of money."
Mel started crying all over again. "I told you last week...when you asked me what I wanted and I told you I didn't--I didn't want--I feel like a whore!! It's gonna be all over the papers and Glamarazzi--I'm gonna be the Hanson Home-Wrecker! How could you put me in this position?!"
Tay wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. "Mel, you're not a home-wrecker. You've done nothing wrong. Natalie's not even pregnant. Okay? There's no baby."
Mel sniffed and pulled away from him. "What?" she said in a small voice.
"There's no baby. There never was. She's barren, she can't even have children."
Mel's face filled with confusion as her tears dried up. "Wh--what??" Then her eyes suddenly darkened. "That bitch."
Tay found himself smiling in relief. He nodded. "My sentiments exactly. I couldn't even wait on the divorce. I had the papers drawn up, uncontested. It should be final by tomorrow."
"That's the quickest divorce I've ever heard of," she said quietly.
"I'm not messing around this time."
Mel's eyes suddenly widened unexpectedly and Tay could feel the panic start to rise inside her again. "Tay. I'm not ready! I'm not ready for this, it's too soon, it's too fast! I--we--we've never even lived together before! What if--what if we--Tay, what if we hate each other?!"
He took her face in her hands and smiled. "Mel, stop worrying so much. I'm staying with Ike right now, I'm gonna find an apartment, something, I dunno. But I want to do this right this time. Mel, I love you. You're everything to me and I know I've messed us up every chance I've gotten. But I don't wanna mess us up again. It's just you and me now, okay? Just us. Us against the world. Just like it always was. We have all the time in the world to make it right."
"I miss you," Mel said. "I've missed you for ten years. I even missed you on my goddamn wedding day. I don't know what I was thinking not taking you back all that time ago."
"We're together now, that's what matters. Right?"
"I want you to come home."
Tay nodded in response, surprised by his own sudden tears. "You want me to come home?"
Mel nodded back.
"Okay," he said, grinning through the tears he tried to fight. "I'll come home."
"I hate cold water on the bathroom floor," she said. "And mixed colors in the laundry. It makes me violent."
Taylor laughed and nodded. "Okay. I'll remember that."
"Is it too soon to tell Ike to forget about you being there tonight?"
He gazed into her eyes and brushed her hair out of her face, shaking his head lightly. "No. It's perfect."
And then he kissed her. Deeply. Wide open in the middle of downtown Tulsa.
________________________________________________________
All this time, I've been bearing it alone
Never had a single doubt in my mind
You've passed me by when I was barely hanging on
But you were there when I was doing just fine
Caroline, I'm gonna take your own advice
I won't think twice 'cause you are not worth my time
Cause you'll be there waiting when I'm back on top
And you'll be there saying you gave me what I've got
But you're just another Voice In The Chorus
Just another Voice In The Chorus
Singing, just another Voice In The Chorus
Bet you knew it all along
Tell me where you have been all this time, Caroline?
Big surprise, you're the last one to arrive and the first to cut in line
Sacrifice, something you don't know about
But something I can't get around in my life
Tell me where you have been all this time, Caroline?
Cause you've never really known
Till you're all on your own
And the words come out all wrong
Oh you've never really known
Oh you never really know
Till it's dark and it's cold
And there's no one to call you home
Oh you've never really known
Your true colors will be shown
When you're out all alone
And everything comes out all wrong
Oh you'll finally really know
TAYLOR
"The ipecac was a nice touch."
Taylor was absolutely livid. He had so much to say but he didn't even want to speak to her at all. His first instinct was to do what he was used to doing and completely flip out on her. But he couldn't even do that. So he remained calm. Cool. Collected.
Tears streamed down Natalie's cheeks.
"Ten years," he continued. "For ten years you've been my wife. Ten years of lies. Deception. Manipulation. And I am so incredibly, insanely pissed off at myself for being so stupid. I would ask 'how could you' but I really don't even want to waste my breath."
"Tay..."
"No. Don't even say my name. It makes me physically sick to hear my name come out of your mouth."
Natalie bawled as she fell into the chair at the table across from Taylor.
"You know, I can't even feel sorry for you. But I really feel like you need help. Real help. Professionally. Because nobody, NOBODY, in their right mind would do something so sick and twisted. Twice--TWICE--you made me believe that I was going to be a father. TWICE I fell for it. Because I trusted you."
"I'm so sorry," she sobbed.
"You do realize I married you because I thought you were pregnant? Because that was the right thing to do? You realize I wanted to renew our vows because I thought it was the right thing to do? It certainly wasn't
because I WANTED to."
She looked at him in complete shock. He had hit her where it hurt. Normally he would have felt bad for making her feel that way, but not this time. She wouldn't manipulate him again.
"I knew what you were about the moment I laid eyes on you. I always knew it. The money, the fame. I should have known you and Kate were one in the same after she whored around with both of my brothers until one of them was dumb enough to keep her. But I was young and I was stupid and you were my rebound. And you knew it. I know you knew it. That's how you trapped me. For ten fucking years I've lived a lie with you. I always knew we wouldn't last. I just didn't know it would all go down quite like this."
He slid the paperwork across the table at her and she broke down all over again at the sight of them, the realization setting in.
"This can't be fixed. You know what this is. You have two choices. You can read over these, make the necessary adjustments and then meet me at my attorney's office tomorrow morning to sign off on it, or we can take this all the way to court where your name can be blasted all over every form of media that exists, exposing you as the sick, lying, psycho bitch that you are. Your choice." He stood up, preparing to leave the
table. "I'm going to pack my things. I'll be out of here tonight. Hell I can't even get out of here fast enough."
He walked away from her and down the hallway, leaving her alone with her misery.
________________________________________________
ZAC
"So, why are you HERE?" Zac asked Taylor.
"Uh, I kinda have no place to go," he answered.
"Tay, don't be a moron," Isaac said. "You can stay at my house. Or Mom's..."
"Or Mel's," Zac interjected.
"NO!" Tay said hastily. "Not Mel's."
Zac looked at him like he had two heads. "Well why the hell not? It's what you want..."
"Of course it's what I want! But she doesn't know yet. We just signed the papers this morning--and I'm honestly surprised she showed up. But it's going to take a couple of days to actually finalize and I want to tell Mel when it's finally done. I don't want her to doubt me again. I've done enough already."
"Stay at my house," Ike said. "We have plenty of room."
"What about me?" Zac asked. "I have room, too!"
Taylor looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding? Kate's the enemy! I'm not putting myself through that."
Zac shrugged. He did have a point. And that made Zac think. Jesus Christ. Surely Natalie has told Kate by now. He just knew his life would be a living hell as soon as she found out. He was dreading the news breaking. And if she found out he already knew and didn't tell her? Goddamn, there would be hell to pay.
Tay looked at Ike, shifting his weight nervously. "Hey, uh...will you help me? I mean, help me pack? Get my stuff out of there? I'm gonna go rent a storage unit and maybe do some apartment hunting or something. I'm not taking much but I don't really want to do it alone."
"Of course," Ike said. "Yeah, anything you need, you name it." Ike glanced at the bedding covering the loveseat in the studio. "And get that shit up, this isn't happening again. I'll have Nikki get the guest
room ready. You should have come to my place first."
"Well, okay...I'll be here!" Zac called as he watched Ike and Tay walk out the door.
From somewhere off in the distance, he heard Tay call back to him, "Don't tell Drew!"
Zac huffed to himself in response.
Looking around, he found himself in the studio alone. Making adjustments to his drum set, he had prepared to start playing something random when he spied Drew standing in the doorway. He smiled at her. "You remember what happened last time you surprised me like this?"
She smiled back. "I am not risking a repeat recording session. So where are Ike and Tay off to in such a rush?"
Zac's heart pounded. He wanted to tell her SO BAD! Instead he raised his eyebrows and moved his hair out of his face. "Top secret business, I guess."
"And you're not off getting into trouble with them?"
"I wasn't exactly invited."
Drew furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Trust me, it didn't hurt my feelings," he said. "Not this time."
"Uh, look," Drew said nervously. "Um, I wanted to tell you. Gerard and I went to dinner last week."
"I know."
"You do?"
"Glamarazzi apparently doesn't sleep."
"You need to stay off that thing. Honestly."
"It keeps me informed."
"So why didn't you say anything?"
"I wanted to hear it from you first."
"Well we're not, like, together or anything," Drew said. "I mean, it was just dinner."
"Why are you feeling the need to explain yourself?"
"Uh, because--because I still want you."
"And you think that just because you went out to dinner with another guy that I might want you any less?"
Drew looked around nervously. "Well--maybe..."
Zac smiled at her and shook his head. "Never gonna happen."
Drew bit her lip and smiled at him. "For awhile I was beginning to think you hated me. You've been kinda crabby lately."
"I know," he said, still smiling. "I'm sorry."
"Um...so I've been thinking a lot about what you said. And...I haven't forgotten."
"I know."
"It's not that I don't feel the same way. I just...life is moving so fast. You know? REALLY fast."
"I know. I haven't exactly been fair to you lately. I think we should just stick to our original plan. Take it slow. See what's out there for us?"
Drew smiled, obviously relieved. "That would be awesome."
Zac smiled back at her once again. He wished he had felt better after this conversation. And he kind of did. But not the way he thought he should have.
_______________________________________________________
MEL
The recording booth was the last place Mel wanted to be. Especially with Taylor. She was glad she was outside the booth, and even more glad that she wasn't alone. Drew sat next to her as she stood in front of the mixer. Zac sat on the other side of Drew and Isaac sat next to Tay inside the booth with his acoustic in his lap.
It was times like this that Mel hated being asked to collaborate on anything. She had written another song with Ike and it was agreed that it was definitely a Taylor song. Of course, this was back when everything was
peaches and roses. Now she could have strangled Ike for making her take control of the way this song was recorded.
They had done a zillion takes. There was just something not quite right about it and she couldn't put her finger on it. This time, when Tay stopped singing, Mel pressed the intercom button. "Do it again," she
said.
"What? No! That was perfect!"
"It wasn't perfect. Do it again."
"No! Ike, tell her. It was perfect!"
"Look. I wrote the majority of this song, I know how it's supposed to sound," Mel said. "It's still wrong. You can either do it again or we can scrap the whole thing. I don't really care."
"No!" Ike protested. "We are recording this song. Tay, do it again."
Tay took his headphones off, an obvious tantrum coming on. "I hit every fucking note spot on. I got every single inflection and I even enunciated the right way! I'm not doing it again!"
Mel pressed the button again. "See, this is why I won't work with him," she said to Ike. "He's such a fucking diva."
"TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!!"
"I WANT YOU TO SING IT THE WAY I FUCKING WROTE IT!!"
Tay glared at Mel through the glass and she glared right back at him. He was the first to cave. "Fine," he said, putting the headphones back on his ears. They started the song again.
Halfway through, Mel's cell phone rang. She didn't recognize the number but something in her gut told her to answer it. Hitting the button, she signaled to Zac to keep Tay going. "Hello?" she answered.
And then the most god-awful shriek filled her ear. "I hope you're happy with yourself, you home-wrecking whore! I should have known the moment my best friend showed up on my doorstep barely able to hold herself up that you would somehow be involved and I was right!"
Mel was absolutely flabbergasted by this phone call. She looked over at Zac, confused. "Uh, Kate?"
Zac's eyes widened and he turned white as a sheet.
"Don't play coy with me, you know who this is! Congratulations, you succeeded in stealing one of our husbands away, but don't think you and your little friend are going to steal another one!"
"Kate," Mel said, completely confused. "What the hell are you talking about? Tay and I are barely even speaking right now."
"You can stop lying now, we all know the truth! I know you talked him into that quickie divorce! The moment she told me, I knew it was you--wait--" Mel heard a voice in the background and then Kate started speaking to the voice. "Wait--what? You did what?" Then she got back to Mel on the phone. "This conversation isn't over!"
But by this point, in Mel's mind, the conversation was over at the word divorce. Quickie divorce, Kate had said. Her best friend...Taylor...quickie divorce...
The room began to spin and Mel was frozen in place. Surely this was a huge misunderstanding. Divorces didn't happen that quickly. She had said to him, she had told him not to...don't...
Kate was still screeching into the phone when it fell out of Mel's hand. She hadn't even realized the music had stopped until she locked eyes with Taylor and the blood drained from his face.
She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't--he couldn't--
Finally Mel gained some feeling back in her body. And then she did the only thing she knew how to do:
She ran.
_______________________________________________________
Do you want to be the one I know?
To be the place I go?
To Be My Own?
To Be My Own?
Yeah, I'd do it all over again
Yeah, I'd chase you right down to the edge
All the mistakes and the heartbreaks
Every bad song and the done wrong
If I could do it again I wouldn't do it right
Cause I might not be here tonight
And you held me close, close to your heart
Once I've sinned, I just want to be that close again
Do you want to be the one I know?
To the place I go?
To Be My Own?
To Be My Own?
I don't care of no one understands
I've walked under the stars just holding your hand
All the long roads and the sorrows
All the broken and the borrowed
When it's us against the wind we'll be fine
Do you want to be the one I know?
To be the place I go?
To Be My Own?
To Be My Own?
TAYLOR
Taylor saw her face through the glass as she talked on the phone and knew whatever was going on on the other end couldn't be good. He stopped the song right in the middle and the room fell silent. Nobody objected. Nobody pressed the intercom button. Both Drew's and Zac's eyes were focused intently on Mel. Something was going on. Something wasn't right.
Suddenly she looked up at him and her eyes locked into his. They were filled with fear. The second the phone fell from her hand, everything was clear.
She knew.
Taylor braced himself. He knew Mel. He had known her his entire life. He knew her. He could feel her. He knew her next move before she did. And so he braced himself for what he knew was coming, his eyes darting to the door behind her.
His prediction came true as she turned around and darted out the studio door. Ripping his headphones from his head, he clamored out the sound booth door, out the studio door and by the time he made it out the back
door, she was already miles ahead of him down the street in the middle of downtown Tulsa. Not wasting a second, he tore down the sidewalk behind her at full speed, operating on nothing but pure adrenaline.
Goddamn, did she not get tired? He could already feel himself getting winded but no way was he slowing down. He had to get to her. He had to tell her. She had to know...
Ahead of her he saw a small grassy area just off the sidewalk. If he could just close in on her, he could stop her there...
Before he knew it, he had barreled into her, tackling her and rolling her onto the ground in the exact location he wanted her in. She fought him the entire way down, incoherent cussing flying out of her mouth. The elbow in his ribs nearly knocked the wind out of him but no way was he giving up this time.
He wrestled her off the ground and into an upright seated position. From behind he wrapped his legs tightly around her to try to calm her fighting. There wasn't much he could do for her arms and he held his face out of her way until he could think a little quicker. Finally, he was able to grab both of her wrists and cross them tightly over her chest, wrapping his arms around her like a straight jacket. She may have been a cop at one point, but he was still stronger than her.
He sat there with her, wound tightly around her, and rocked her until her squirming and wriggling calmed down. When she had finally stopped fighting, he could hear her crying quietly.
"If I let you go," he said quietly in her ear. "Are you going to stay here?"
She shook her head.
"Okay, then. We'll just sit here. Just like this. I have all day."
Mel then sniffed and nodded, helplessly.
"Is that a yes? Did you have a change of heart?"
"Yes, goddammit, now let go of me!!"
"You have to promise not to run."
"I promise."
Tay sighed and rolled his eyes. "Uncross your fingers."
He felt Mel's body slump in defeat. She showed him her hands like jazz hands, her tears obviously subsiding. "I promise."
Slowly and cautiously, he loosened himself around her. Certain that she'd kept her word, he said, "Turn around here."
Head hung low, she obeyed him and turned her body around. She sat Indian-style between his legs as his knees bent on either side of her. "Look at me," he said. He lifted her chin till her eyes met his.
"It's true," he said to her.
Tears filled her eyes again. "She called me a home-wrecking whore."
"Who was that on the phone?"
Mel sniffed again. "Kate."
Tay sighed. "I should have known. Look, I was going to tell you as soon as it was final. I didn't want to give you any reason to doubt me again. I wanted you to feel secure with me. I'm sorry you had to find out like that."
"But I am a home-wrecking whore. I told you, I didn't want to be a home-wrecking whore!"
"Mel, you're not...you're not THAT. That's coming from someone who doesn't know what she's talking about. But she is right about one thing. Natalie and I did sign divorce papers. Not separation papers. Divorce papers."
"What's the difference?"
"A legal term and an obscene amount of money."
Mel started crying all over again. "I told you last week...when you asked me what I wanted and I told you I didn't--I didn't want--I feel like a whore!! It's gonna be all over the papers and Glamarazzi--I'm gonna be the Hanson Home-Wrecker! How could you put me in this position?!"
Tay wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. "Mel, you're not a home-wrecker. You've done nothing wrong. Natalie's not even pregnant. Okay? There's no baby."
Mel sniffed and pulled away from him. "What?" she said in a small voice.
"There's no baby. There never was. She's barren, she can't even have children."
Mel's face filled with confusion as her tears dried up. "Wh--what??" Then her eyes suddenly darkened. "That bitch."
Tay found himself smiling in relief. He nodded. "My sentiments exactly. I couldn't even wait on the divorce. I had the papers drawn up, uncontested. It should be final by tomorrow."
"That's the quickest divorce I've ever heard of," she said quietly.
"I'm not messing around this time."
Mel's eyes suddenly widened unexpectedly and Tay could feel the panic start to rise inside her again. "Tay. I'm not ready! I'm not ready for this, it's too soon, it's too fast! I--we--we've never even lived together before! What if--what if we--Tay, what if we hate each other?!"
He took her face in her hands and smiled. "Mel, stop worrying so much. I'm staying with Ike right now, I'm gonna find an apartment, something, I dunno. But I want to do this right this time. Mel, I love you. You're everything to me and I know I've messed us up every chance I've gotten. But I don't wanna mess us up again. It's just you and me now, okay? Just us. Us against the world. Just like it always was. We have all the time in the world to make it right."
"I miss you," Mel said. "I've missed you for ten years. I even missed you on my goddamn wedding day. I don't know what I was thinking not taking you back all that time ago."
"We're together now, that's what matters. Right?"
"I want you to come home."
Tay nodded in response, surprised by his own sudden tears. "You want me to come home?"
Mel nodded back.
"Okay," he said, grinning through the tears he tried to fight. "I'll come home."
"I hate cold water on the bathroom floor," she said. "And mixed colors in the laundry. It makes me violent."
Taylor laughed and nodded. "Okay. I'll remember that."
"Is it too soon to tell Ike to forget about you being there tonight?"
He gazed into her eyes and brushed her hair out of her face, shaking his head lightly. "No. It's perfect."
And then he kissed her. Deeply. Wide open in the middle of downtown Tulsa.
________________________________________________________