When William Stafford asked her to lunch to discuss the school project, she accepted. She wouldn’t let the volunteer Nazis squeeze her out, and any minute she was thinking about something else was a minute she wasn’t thinking about Matt.
And then Matt was the only person she could think about. Breakfast and dinner, hot kisses and hotter sex. Matt’s rough hands sliding over her body. The cold tea in her mouth went down the wrong pipe and she choked until her eyes teared. Yikes.
She recovered from the choking and the embarrassment, and William did everything he could to make her feel at ease, but somehow she just didn’t. When was the last time she’d eaten with a grown-up? Aside from Matt, she couldn’t remember. Would she measure every experience against those she’d had or hadn’t had with Matt?
William pulled her mind back to the here and now, and they discussed her ideas for the school. One was an art show, inviting alumni to bid on art created by students of all ages. Professionally framed pieces supporters would be proud to hang in their homes.
Lunch ended and William walked her through the restaurant to the door.
Abby did a quick side step to avoid his hand at her back, tripped, and caught her hip bone hard on the corner of an empty table.
Ouch. She sucked in a breath, covering the injury with her hands.
“Oh dear, Abby. Are you all right?” William’s hands were on her arms and his eyes on her belly, visibly concerned. “Is it the baby?”
“I’m fine.”
“Did you hurt yourself? Should I take you to the doctor?”
“No, really. I’m fine. Just a little clumsy.”
It took a while to convince him she was indeed fine, and all the way to her car he asked her repeatedly if she needed to see a doctor. William was a nice man, even if she’d never be interested. If it had been Matt…she’d trip a thousand times to be back in his arms. To kiss him. To taste the skin of his neck and run her hands over his back. To have his hands on her body.
He’d awakened something inside her and now that he was gone, she wasn’t completely sure that was a good thing.
—
Matt sat at his parents’ table, ready to enjoy his mother’s cooking, but missing Abby so much he ached. So much that a couple of the guys had caught him staring at her picture on his phone. Not that he cared. He wasn’t hiding it, though he didn’t appreciate their repeated requests for another look.
He’d talked to her as much as he could, which hadn’t been much. As soon as he’d retuned from Raleigh, his platoon had left out for ten days of joint special ops training. Communication had been nil. He’d left her a message when he could, but hadn’t heard back. She was putting up walls and he didn’t blame her. Didn’t mean he was going to let her hide behind them.
“So, Matt, did you have a good time at the beach?” Lizzy asked.
He grabbed a piece of bread, ignoring his sister, hoping she’d move on and use her psychology skills on someone else.
“I ran into Barbara at the store,” his mom said. “She mentioned Rob was home Thursday.”
Barbara was his mom’s sister and, yeah, he’d gotten a message from Rob. Turned out Brittney was not the one after all. Big surprise.
Lizzy wasn’t letting it go. “Why didn’t you come home with Rob?”
“Well, Nosey Nellie, the condo was available and I was there. Figured I’d use it. What?”
His brothers Patrick and Andrew stared at him from across the table. Patrick was just two years younger than him, Andrew two years younger than Patrick. Both were married with children. Stephen, J.T., and himself were the only ones still single. J.T. wasn’t even old enough to drink and Stephen…Three years ago Stephen had come tragically close.
“Oh, nothing,” Patrick said. “I just find it interesting that someone who can’t sit still for more than five minutes decides to sit on the beach for a week. Alone.”
Matt gave Patrick his best poker face.
Beth eyed him suspiciously over a spoonful of mashed potatoes. “You have something to tell us, Matt?”
“Yes, please. Tell us everything,” Lizzy said dramatically. “You owe us for your general lack of gossip after years of listening to ours. Time to pay up, brother.”
Tony stopped eating. “Okay, let’s hear it.”
Matt looked up and found all eyes on him. He didn’t know what the hell had possessed him, and he was sure he’d regret it, but he laid his fork down and took a breath. “I met someone. At the beach, and I went to see her last weekend.”
They waited, Tony’s hand motioning for him to go on.
“She lives in Raleigh.” He paused, then decided to get it all out. “Her husband died six months ago. She has four children.” He started to take a bite, then stopped. “Oh, and she’s pregnant.”