James Brown had adjusted his emotions by the time he returned to the company, although he felt an indescribable sense of loss, there was also a sense of relief, as if the emotional debt that had been weighing on his heart for years was finally put down with Melody Yoody's departure.
"Could it be that I no longer like Melody Yoody?" James wondered to himself.
He was startled by his own thought; he felt that his feelings for Melody Yoody were not that deep after all. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so calm when she left. Time is a butcher's knife; he had thought that Melody Yoody was his true love, and for her, he had refused to accept the affections of any other woman. Now he realized that it was just self-deception. He did think about Melody Yoody, but that youthful fondness was not real, enduring love—it couldn't withstand any turmoil, and a small incident was enough to shatter it.
