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Matt watched as Katie slept in the crook of his arm. She had fallen asleep as they sat by the fire. He didn’t move all night. At that moment, he paid attention to the muffled crash of waves, her soft breath, and the morning light sneaking through the windows. He had never been happier.
Every few minutes his heart skipped a beat, looking at her. It wasn’t a dream. Katie O’Neil slept right next to him. He wanted to kiss her all over again, but he also wanted to take this all in. He didn’t know what the day held. With Katie, it was completely unpredictable.
Suddenly, her arms stretched out as her fingertips wandered out to him. A smile grew across her face as his hands touched hers. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
“Good morning.” He leaned forward, and her lips fit perfectly in the crevice of his.
She rubbed his hands and he grimaced.
“What happened to your hand?” she asked, just noticing his swollen knuckles.
Instead of answering, he held her chin and kissed her again, taking in her sweet scent. She sat up, but he pulled her back into the same spot, not wanting her to leave. The night had gone from miserable to magical. They sat in front of the fire with a glass of wine and talked. Then kissed, but mostly talked. He wanted to take things slow. To enjoy the pleasures in front of him, like that very moment.
He was so wrapped up in his head of perfectness, that he almost didn’t register the doorbell rang. Katie jerked and sat up on her elbow, listening.
It rang again. Matt looked at the clock. It was barely daybreak. Who’d come to Vivi’s this early in the morning?
She looked at him. “Do you think someone’s here for you?”
Matt grabbed his phone off the coffee table and checked to see if he had any messages. Nothing. He shook his head, just as confused.
When the doorbell rang a third time, it was like a light went off in her head. She kissed him on the lips as she jumped up off the floor.
“It’s Vivi! I forgot to fix the garage door after the power went out.” She stood up. “Oh! I cannot have my sweet aunt seeing you wake up here in the morning!”
His jacket hung off the couch, and his boots sat in the hallway.
“Hang out in the bathroom. I’m going to make her some coffee. You can sneak out when we’re in the kitchen.”
She was about to sweep out of the room, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her into him, kissing her again. “You have to invite me in for breakfast when I ring the doorbell.”
“I did make a few pastries last night.”
He kissed her once more, then grabbed the things he could find and ran into the bathroom. After he shut the door, he leaned on the bathroom sink and turned on the water.
He looked at himself in the mirror, and thought, things don’t get much better than this.
***
KATE PRACTICALLY SKIPPED to the front door. She could hear the bathroom door close behind her and her heart jumped inside her chest. The smile on her face just kept growing.
“Vivi?” she called to the front door. Her heart fluttered again. She was unexpectedly excited to see her aunt.
When she swung the door open, a rush of cold air blew her hair behind her shoulders. Eric faced her from the bottom step. Her mouth went dry. Any words she might have summoned were lodged in her throat.
The silence felt as cold as the air.
His eyes were bloodshot. “I’m so, so sorry.”
A sour taste filled her mouth as she studied his face. She couldn’t believe it.
Then she remembered Matt in the bathroom.
She looked at Eric. His eyes didn’t leave her, and a red puffiness made them droop. He looked like he hadn’t slept for days.
He looked absolutely miserable.
“What are you doing here?” It was all she could say.
“I totally freaked out.” He looked away, out at the harbor, then back to her. “But I know now, more than anything, that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
When he finished, he stood there staring at her, his pain palpable.
“I’ve tried calling you for a couple of days, and when you didn’t answer...” He swallowed before he said, “I just needed to hear your voice. To see you again.”
She looked out at the driveway and saw his rental car, an upscale SUV, probably with four-wheel-drive, parked next to the minivan. That was her dream sitting in the snow before her. Why did it feel so empty and cold?
His eyes flickered to the side and he made a face. She looked behind her and noticed the wine glasses on the coffee table. He then stepped onto the front stoop, examining. He looked puzzled at first, then surprised, as though he’d been sucker punched. “Is there someone here with you?”
Kate didn’t know what else to say but the truth. “Yes.”
At that moment, the floorboards creaked from down the hall.
His eyes scanned the space and then said, “Oh my God.”
He sat down on the front steps, putting his head between his hands. He began taking deep, heavy breaths. Then he stood, his face bright red.
“Is there another man here?”
“Eric.”
The cold poured in as she stood with the door open.
He straightened up, blew out a breath and said, “I don’t care about anything except you.”
***
MATT TRIED EVERYTHING he could not to listen to their conversation. He thought about breakfast. He thought about getting his boat back and going out with Katie, dragging the pots out of the water. He thought about his schedule, towing and making deliveries for Frank and David. He thought about how strange the nickname john was for a bathroom. He tried everything he could to not think about how Katie’s ex-fiancé stood, but nothing worked.
“You should leave.” Katie’s voice traveled through the door.
His heart pumped inside his chest as he waited for Eric to respond.
“Please, Kate, we need to talk.”
He heard her hesitate. He hated that he was hiding in the bathroom. Worse, he knew Eric was right. They did need to talk, but that didn’t mean he wanted her to.
“You don’t get to make demands.” Her voice held an edge. She was also right. “You can’t just come back and expect that a sorry will fix things.”
“Please, I have to talk to you.”
Matt could hear the fear in the guy’s voice. He was afraid he’d lost her.
“I needed to talk to you. You never called. Why would you expect me to welcome you in?”
“Why, because he’s here?” Eric’s voice grew higher with each word. “You can come out, or you can keep hiding!”
“Eric, please,” Katie said. “You need to leave.”
He couldn’t stay in hiding in the bathroom, and he certainly wasn’t going to let this guy be a jerk to her. He opened the door, and Eric saw him right away. He was tall. He stood in a wool pea coat and shoes that probably cost the same as Matt’s entire wardrobe. He didn’t look like a jerk, like Matt had hoped. He looked like a guy who just lost the love of his life, and Matt instantly felt sorry for him. Because Matt felt the same fear Eric did. He was afraid of losing her, too.
When Matt came closer, he tried to focus only on her, ignoring the fact that Eric now stood in front of the door. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I’m fine.”
He looked at Eric, then back at Katie. “You two should probably talk.”
“Matt, no.” She wrapped one arm across her stomach, while her other hand went to her lips. “Please, stay.”
“No, you should talk.” He forced himself to swallow. He put his coat on and turned toward the kitchen, to go out the garage and bypass the front door, but he stopped in front of her. With his back to Eric, he cupped her elbow in his hand.
Katie stood there, her eyes tearing up. She whispered, “You don’t have to go.”
He smiled and nodded. “You two really should talk.” Matt looked quickly at Eric. A hint of anger now flinted in the man’s eyes. He turned back to Katie and recited the speech he prepared in the bathroom. “He doesn’t deserve you. I don’t even deserve you, because when I was sixteen, I was too stupid to know that letting you go would be the biggest mistake of my life.”
He locked eyes with her for a second. He wanted to see if she believed him this time. But her eyes swirled with emotions he couldn’t decipher. He squeezed her elbow twice.
She placed her hand on his and squeezed it back, twice.
As he left through the kitchen, Eric stepped further inside and he immediately regretted leaving. What did he just do?