The Opposite of Love Read Online Free

friends go through with men who appeared to all be perfectly respectable. Everyone was falling in love around her, coming down with it, spreading it, celebrating it as the purpose for waking. And when that love was gone, when it was snatched away or found to have been fraudulent, the heartbreak was hard to stomach and the drawn-out breakups were exhausting to watch.
    Sure, there were plenty of good guys in the world. The problem was that there was no way to tell the difference until it was all out in the open. The bad guys were good guys too, right up until the truth came out. But Derek had a point; what fascinated Melanie about her friends was their eagerness to risk it again and the swiftness with which they did so.
    For her, each relationship was a lesson, a warning of what could happen, and a deterrent to risking it again. She vowed to abandon each failed road, and dismissed suitors at the first red flag, so as to avoid repeating her mistakes. After a while, there were just so few roads left to travel that she stayed home. She had all but given up on dating. The progression had been so gradual that she hadn’t noticed it herself, but her mother missed nothing.
    Derek freshened their cups of tea and returned the kettle to the stove. He came around the breakfast bar and stood behind her, massaging her shoulders.
    “Van Gogh once said, ‘If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced,’” Derek said in a mock-philosophical tone that came off sounding like Dan Rather.
    “Didn’t Van Gogh cut off his own ear?”
    “That’s not the point.”
    “But didn’t he?”
    “His left earlobe, yes.”
    “Why did he do that?”
    “He was infatuated with someone who wasn’t giving him enough attention.”
    “Ah, now we’re at the heart of it.”
    “The point is, you can have a relationship and just enjoy it if you stop telling yourself you can’t. Every time you’re faced with a challenging relationship, you put up walls and head for the door. What would happen if you didn’t do that?” he asked.
    “I could end up with nowhere to put my left earring.”
    “Melanie...” He stopped rubbing her shoulders and sat across from her again. She was smiling at her own joke.
    “I hear what you’re saying. I do,” she said. “And I know I should try. I just don’t think I’ve met the person I should be trying with yet.”
    “You can’t know. No one ever knows until it either goes down in flames or they’re tying the knot.”
    “Both of which are terrifying.”
    “But the point is, Mel, you have to risk it. It’s the only way you’re ever going to be happy.”
    “I am happy.”
    “Don’t you want love, Mel?”
    The question made her squirm a little, but it was Derek asking, so she resisted the urge to change the subject.
    “Sometimes. But it seems like a lot of risk for very little chance at a return on my investment.”
    “Love doesn’t work like a stock portfolio. Money is easier than love. That’s why rich people usually aren’t happy.”
    “Do you really believe that?”
    “Think about it. When you’re able to earn money systematically, and large sums of it at that, you expect to be successful at everything if you just take a systematic approach and work hard. Love doesn’t work that way. Any reformed stalker will tell you.”
    Melanie let out a small laugh. “Point taken.”
    “And if you take that approach and the investment isn’t paying off, you dump the property, sell the stock, offload the holdings, or in the case of a relationship, head for the door.”
    “So why is that such an unreasonable approach?”
    “Because you’re trying to anticipate the downturn. You’re trying to get out before the relationship fails. And so it fails.”
    This was what she liked about Derek. He could call her on what he perceived as her B.S., but she never felt the compulsion to defend herself with him. The nature of their relationship was