Saltwater Secrets - Amelia Addler Page 0,57
haven’t.” Matthew took a sip of his drink. “I’m sorry about that – things have been really wild since the fire. But how are things going with Morgan’s case?”
“Alright I suppose. The trial is finally scheduled.”
“No kidding! I can’t believe I didn’t hear anything about this.”
“There’s not much to hear yet. We’ll see what happens once the jury is selected. I’m just trying to keep her occupied until then – luckily, work has been extraordinarily busy.”
“That’s good,” said Matthew. “Have you fallen in love with weddings yet?”
Luke scoffed. “Hardly. But I don’t mind it as much. Also, it was nice being able to make that video for Jade. People really seemed to respond to it.”
Matthew nodded. “Yeah – it was great – really stunning. Much better than what Eric Burke is dragging around.”
Luke laughed. “Thanks. I assume you’ll be going to the presentations tomorrow?”
“I am – but I haven’t broken the news to Laura yet. We’re supposed to spend Sundays together, and she won’t be happy about it.”
“Ah,” Luke crossed his arms. “You don’t bring her around much. Does she not like us, Matthew?”
He laughed. “She does, she’s just…having a difficult time adjusting.”
“Right, right.” Luke sat for a moment, staring into his glass. “You know…”
The waitress stopped by and interrupted Luke’s thought. “Another round for you?”
“That’d be excellent,” said Luke. “Also, I’d like to put in an order for those mini corndogs.”
“Coming right up!”
Matthew crossed his arms. “Do you realize that you just charmed her so hard that she forgot to ask if I wanted anything?”
Luke frowned. “Sorry about that, but you really can’t let this hero thing go to your head, Matthew. It’s not always about you.”
Matthew chuckled. “You’re right. What was I thinking.”
“I can’t help it that those mini corndogs have been calling to me all this time. They shouldn’t put them on the menu, they should just assume you want them the moment you walk in. There should be piles of corn dogs everywhere you look.”
Matthew studied him for a moment. Luke wasn’t usually this crazy about corndogs. This was new. This was…
“What were you going to say before she interrupted you?”
Luke shifted in his chair and shrugged. “You know, maybe. I’d heard a bit of gossip. From the girls.”
Matthew smiled. “Is that what we call them now?”
He nodded. “Yes, as of right now. The girls. And Morgan is in charge, obviously, and I do think that she can be a bit exclusionary – and she may have been mean to Laura when she first arrived.”
“I can see that,” Matthew replied. “Not that Laura made much of an effort – she’s trying to convince me to change departments.”
“Like onto the mainland? Why?”
Matthew sighed. “She doesn’t like making the trip out here. She said it’s too inconvenient.”
“I won’t stand for it,” Luke said, slamming a fist onto the table. “You’re an island treasure and they can’t have you.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not really considering it,” Matthew said with a laugh. “She really wanted us to have a second chance though, so – here we are.”
Luke smiled. “And how is that going?”
Matthew rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s hard to say. I’ve been so busy investigating Jade’s case that I probably haven’t been very fair with my time.”
“Right, so overall, not great,” Luke quipped. “And as your friend, I can only assume, therefore, that there was a good reason why you cheated on her in the first place.”
Matthew almost choked on his beer. “I’m sorry?”
Luke scrunched his eyebrows. “Oh – well, that was the gossip. Morgan told me about it.”
“I never cheated on Laura. Is that what Morgan is telling people?”
Luke sat back. “No – that’s what Laura is telling people. Apparently, that’s what she told Jade.”
“Well that’s…interesting.”
Luke put his hands up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t really mean to get involved. I just have Morgan in my ear all the time, you know how she is, and I assumed that it was – well, that it was common knowledge.”
“Apparently it is. To everyone but me.” It seemed that Laura was spinning a narrative in her head – and nothing would convince her that it wasn’t true.
“You know, I didn’t really believe it,” Luke continued. “Which is why I had to see your reaction.”
Matthew laughed. “Thanks a lot Luke.”
“Now that that’s out of the way, we can go over the details of the video that we’re going to make.”
“What video?”
“The one of you running into a burning building. I’ve got big plans for you.”
They both started laughing and the corndogs