A pang hit me. That had been the day when we first slept together. I’d been so nervous, but Matt had been so perfect and supportive. How times had changed. “Well, we’re not together anymore.”
“What happened?” my mom asked.
I swallowed, composing myself. “I mean, it’s no big shock. We were always going to break up at the end of the year. He was only here temporarily.” I bit my lip to ward off tears. “But he ended up having to do a lot of work on his book, and…anyway”—I wiped my eyes—“he no longer has time for me.”
“I’m so sorry.” Una came around to my side of the table and hugged me from behind.
“I kept trying to tell him that I only wanted to support him, and then he said he felt awful, like he wasn’t fully supportive of me, and that I deserved better, and then he tried to give me some money for Kelsie’s rent, and I threw it back in his face.”
“You did what?” my dad and Bobby asked.
I glared at them. “He tried to give me money, like he was paying me off.”
“Is that what he said?” Bobby asked.
“No.” I blew my nose into my napkin. “He told me it was because he didn’t want me to have to spend all my money on rent. He said that I’d earned it and that it was what he would’ve paid me through the rest of the year, plus some extra.” I rolled my eyes.
“So he wasn’t paying you off,” my dad said. “He was trying to be kind.”
“I wanted to help Kelsie myself.” I bugged my eyes out at my mom, the one person I could count on to be on my side. “I spent my entire adult life being taken care of financially.”
“There’s a difference between giving someone power over your own financial security and accepting a bonus for a job well done,” my dad said.
“It’s like your vision board,” Una said, eyes wide with shock. “‘Accept it.’ You were supposed to accept the money.” A hand went to her mouth. “Holy shit. Vision boards really do work.”
Ignoring Una’s revelation that the hill of beans she’d thought she’d been selling us and her clients actually had merit, I stabbed at my food. “Well, none of it matters, because Matt wants nothing to do with me. And vice versa.”
The door to the restaurant flew open, and Kelsie rushed inside, followed by a young man wearing a motorcycle jacket. I glanced at Rafferty as he let out a squeal. His saucer eyes were focused on the man in the motorcycle jacket, who happened to be holding my daughter’s hand. “We haven’t met.” I stood and held out my hand to the stranger gazing with puppy dog eyes at my teenage daughter.
“It’s Markys.” Bobby rushed over to greet this new person. “He’s from The Saga. Oh my god, Markys, I’m such a fan.”
“Brennan’s his real name,” Kelsie said, rushing. “But, Mom, we’re here because of Matt. He broke his ankle.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin, but quickly composed myself. I rested my hands calmly on the table. “What happened?” I asked, nonchalantly.
“He fell climbing down a trellis to find you.” She nodded to her new friend. “Brennan drove me here to find you. Mom, you should go be with Matt. He’s in the urgent care center getting his leg set.”
I glanced back at my family. My mother made a motion with her hands, urging me to go. “I didn’t drive,” I said. “I don’t have my car.”
“I’ll drive you, miss,” said the actor man with his Irish brogue.
A smile lit up Kelsie’s face. “Brennan drove me here on his motorcycle.”
My eyes bugged out at Kelsie. “You were on a motorcycle? That’s so dangerous. Did you at least wear a helmet?”
She pushed me toward the door as Brennan produced the helmet. “I did. And now you get to.”
I grabbed my coat and followed Brennan out to his vehicle. I supposed this was another new thing for me to try.
…
Matt
I sat up in my bed at the urgent care center. The doctor had just finished setting my ankle, and I was waiting for my paperwork to go home.
“Well,” Jane said, peering out the window into the darkness, “this was one way to get out of going to your party.”
“I wasn’t trying to get out of the party,” I said.
“Mmm-hmm. A likely story.” She turned around. “I wanted to tell you, Mr. Bradford—”
“Matt, please,” I said. “You just saw me wailing in pain while two nurses had to hold me down. You can call me Matt.”
“Okay, Matt,” she said, trying that on for size. “That speech you gave to everyone this morning was really brave.”
“I wasn’t trying to be brave,” I said, but I felt a warmth in my chest at her words anyway. “I was only being honest. I think I finally realized life’s too short to keep plugging away at something I don’t love or believe in.”
“Well, I still think it was brave. Honesty is brave.” Jane nodded at my busted ankle. “Much more so than climbing out a window for…what?”
“I knew if I took the stairs to the first floor, people would see me and drag me into all the party stuff.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You really will go to great lengths to avoid a crowd.”
“I may have been a little sleep-deprived and hungry from all the writing I’d been trying to get done in two days. I may not have been in exactly the right frame of mind.” I paused. “I had to get to Dani before I got swept up in all the party nonsense.”
“And how did that work out for you?” Jane nodded toward my injured ankle before glancing out the window again.
“Anything?”
She shook her head. “But it’s really hard to see with the glare of the lights in here.” She sat down gingerly at the foot of the bed. “What’s your plan?” she asked.
“If she shows up?”
“Either way.”
I folded my hands in my lap. “Either way, it’s time for a change.” I furrowed my brow. “I’ve been thinking, Indianapolis, the house there, I love them both, but they’ve kept me dwelling on the past. I’ve been living in that big relic of a house, waiting for what, for my parents to come back and apologize? For us to be how we were when I was a kid?”
Jane frowned. “You love that house. I love that house.”
“Yeah, but it’s also felt like an albatross on my shoulders. Maybe it’s time to pull up roots and try really making it on my own, to move on and make new memories with new people.” I glanced at Jane, who was now looking at me with concern. “What would you say about moving here permanently? I mean, assuming Dani shows up and still wants to be with me. Otherwise,” I laughed, “I think I might move to a deserted island somewhere.”