“Um… so I was actually on my way home for Thanksgiving when my car broke down and, uh…kind of rolled over into a ditch.” I sucked in some air realizing how awful this sounded. Even to me, who typically brushed everything off as not a big deal. Now hearing myself explain the story, I could feel the nerves revving up like an engine in my ribcage.
“Your car flipped off the road and into a ditch?” His voice thundered across the small space, making me jump.
I didn’t know what to say. This complete stranger who had helped me was now yelling. At me.
Flustered by his tone and by the realization that he was right to freak out, I yelled right back at him. “Hey, dude. I appreciate the help and all, but don’t fucking yell at me!”
He paused. Then chuckled.
What a weird response. I really was in the twilight zone.
“You think it’s funny?” I asked again.
“Yeah…yeah, I do. Carly.”
Chapter 4
MATT
I’d been waiting to say her name since the second she had appeared like a goddamn apparition in my headlights. This was crazy. A frozen, soaking wet, disheveled, and fucking beautiful as ever Carly Roberts, was sitting in my car. Maybe going home to Maple Cove hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.
She turned her head slowly, her voice quivering as she spoke. “How do you know my name?”
I just smirked. “Does that mean you don’t know who I am?” Knowing full well that the cover of darkness had definitely worked to my advantage.
“No…” She asked slowly. “Should I?”
Switching the car over to autopilot, I flicked on an overhead light and turned my head towards her. “Still don’t know me, sugar?”
Carly’s eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. “Holy crap! Matt? Matthew Harris?”
I winked before turning my head back to the road and shutting off the light.
“You got it. The one and only.” I chuckled, happy and relieved that she remembered me.
“This is insane!” She continued as she threw her hands in the air. “Like really! What are the fucking chances?”
“I see that you still have the same foul language that you did as a teenager, Carly.” I answered calmly.
“Excuse me?” Carly pulled her seat back up and stared me down. Even in the dark, I could feel her peeling away at my mask, trying to see what was on the other side. This girl had always been wild. As had I, but those days were long gone. For me anyway. Carly, well, it seemed like they were very much still in motion. She had been the crazy, spontaneous, chaos in a bottle kind of girl. Back in the day, that had worked for me. But not anymore. Now things were different. I believed in carefully planned out, scheduled order, rules and consequences. That was the creed that I lived by.
Ugh. Then why had I lied to my mother? It didn’t make sense. Somehow in that moment, I had regressed and acted like a teenager trying to avoid responsibility. I was going to have to come clean.
Carly and I had spent most of my senior year together. Fortunately, or unfortunately, every minute of it had been spent fighting, except when we were making up...naked. We had done a lot of that. We were fire and ice, oil and water, and passionate as all hell. Nothing alike, but two parts that made a tumultuous whole. Despite how we had ended things, here she was. Glaring back at me as if none of these years had passed and nothing had changed. I wondered how things had been for her during that time.
“First of all, my language is none of your concern. I am grateful that you stopped to help me, but I’ll be dammed if you think this evening is going to be about you yelling at me like you always did. Besides, what are you even doing in Maple Cove? I thought you and your mom moved out years ago.”
Our reason for leaving was the last thing I wanted to discuss, but at least she was talking to me. I knew all too well how she could decide to refuse and march back off into the storm. Carly Roberts has a mind of her own and no one could tame her.
“Well, as you know, we left quickly last time. And I apologize about that. But…”
“Wow, you want to apologize? That’s handy, isn’t it? Have you been waiting to get that off your chest all these years?” Her condescending tone slid in with perfect timing.
Clearly that was still a sore spot. Not that I could blame her. Still, a part of me wanted to slap that tone right out of her. If she only knew the real reason why we left…
“No, Carly.” I paused, pacing myself. “I had no choice about leaving, but I do know that leaving you waiting like that was awful.”
She nodded, silent this time.
“Anyway, my mom eventually remarried, and she’d always loved Maple Cove, so when she inherited her family’s farm, her and Dave settled there.” I exhaled. That hadn’t been too bad. I didn’t have to say everything after all.
Carly unwrapped the wet bun from the top of her head and shook out her hair before pressing me for more. “And what about you?”
This part was easy.
“Well, I settled in the city. I practice law there. It’s a bit of a drive to see my mom, but I try to come home as much as possible.” It was so easy to lie.
“Hmm… I’m sure you do. Such a good son.” She trailed off as if lost in thought.
Maybe I needed to switch gears. “What about you? What are you doing here?”
“Yeah, well, I had no choice. Maybe you heard, my dad passed away a few months ago? Anyway, Christy insisted that I come home. Apparently, there’s a reading of the will and all us siblings have to be there.”
She trailed off and seemed to be lost in her own thoughts again.
“I see. I’m sorry to hear about your dad.” I offered. She just nodded silently.
I tried again. “And you drove here alone? Wasn’t there someone to come with you? Where are you living now?”
She jumped a little. Shit. I hadn’t anticipated sounding like the Spanish Inquisition.
“Please excuse me. It’s been a long day and I’m forgetting myself.”
“Uh yeah, no problem. So anyway, I live in New York. Alone…well, with Bry. Remember her? We don’t actually live together but close by.”
Carly was rambling now. I’d clearly flustered her. I didn’t check myself before I spoke again.
“Anyway.” She continued. “This has been a really long day of driving for me. And I don’t even want to think about tomorrow and how I’ll have to go find my car and assess the damage. It looked really bad…I’m worried she won’t be fixable.” Carly’s voice was thick with worry.