Saltwater Secrets - Amelia Addler Page 0,16
boy. “Alright.”
She followed him to the door; Toast was already barking at the unfamiliar voice.
“Oh no, you got a dog?” asked Laura. “Is he big?”
Matthew shrugged. “About eighty pounds. Don’t worry – his bark is worse than his bite.”
“He bites?”
Matthew laughed. “No, don’t worry, he doesn’t. Come on in.”
He let her into the living room and offered her a seat on the couch. Toast kept barking, first close-up, and then from far away, popping his head from behind the couch every so often.
“He’ll come around eventually,” said Matthew.
“You’re a very pretty boy, aren’t you?” Laura said in a high-pitched voice.
Toast growled, then ran off to hide in the kitchen.
“Sorry, he’s not really used to attention. I’ve only had him for a bit.”
“That’s okay.” She cleared her throat. “So, I don’t want to take up too much of your time. I don’t know if you have plans tonight, or if your girlfriend is coming over…”
Matthew sighed. That was everyone’s favorite question. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Oh!” Laura’s face brightened. “Well, I just really needed to talk to you. I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said – about how you wanted a different life than the one that we were building. So I quit my job, and I got a job up here in Burlington. And I moved to Anacortes.”
“Wow.” Matthew stared at her for a moment. It was true that he’d said those things when they’d broken up, but he didn’t intend for her to change. He wanted a different life for himself. “Okay.”
“Matty – I want to start over, too. I thought I would take the ferry over and just check out what it looks like over here – and you were so right, it’s so beautiful. I see why you love it up here.”
“Yeah, it’s really something.”
She folded her hands in her lap. “I know this is a lot to drop onto you all at once, but I’m still in love with you. And I know that we had our problems, but I want to see if we could start over together.”
Matthew didn’t know what to say. She’d sort of kept in touch the past few months, but just to say hello and see how he was doing. He never expected this. “This is kind of a shock, Laura. I mean, I had no idea that – ”
“I know. But I thought that the best way to show you that I could change was to just do it. So – here I am!”
He laughed. The absurdity of the week was getting to him. “Here you are.”
She scooted closer. “I just think that what we had was too special to throw away. I am so sorry about everything that happened and…I’m not going to give up until you give me a second chance.”
Matthew sat back. “I…don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything!” she said. “Just think it over.”
He smiled, then rubbed his face with his hands. He felt tired – worn out from the week.
But he couldn’t lie to himself – it was nice to see a familiar face, even if it wasn’t someone he expected. Laura knew him, at least.
And still loved him, apparently.
He was about to open his mouth to speak again when Laura leaned forward and planted a kiss.
Matthew froze at first – somehow he didn’t expect it. Mainly because he didn’t expect any of this.
After a moment, he pulled away. “How about we…just take it slow?”
She smiled. “Sure. We can get to know each other again. What’s the harm in that?”
Matthew couldn’t think of a good response, so he settled with, “Alright.”
They ended up talking and catching up into the late hours of the morning; it got so late that Matthew let her sleep in his bed while he took the couch.
Then they spent the entire day together on Sunday. It was awkward at first, but the feeling didn’t last long. It felt like they picked up just where they left off.
Matthew was surprised by how natural it felt; he was strangely put at ease with her. The loneliness that had nagged him since he moved to the island was quieted; and for a moment, he just felt happy. It wasn’t until now that he realized he’d isolated himself – perhaps too much.
The day was going well until Laura managed to get herself invited to Sunday dinner. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her to be there, it just seemed so fast. And then when she got there, she told everyone that she was