“I was waiting for you,” he said, like he needed to point that out.
“Wow. What a shock,” I answered with biting sarcasm.
“Selene!” My mother admonished me the way she always did.
“You would have liked to duck me, but I’ve been waiting for you.” Matt straightened his expertly tailored blue blazer, which he wore over a black button-down. He approached me with the confident bearing of someone who always had everything and everyone well in hand.
Except for me.
“You two can talk. I’ll just head up to my room,” I snapped. That was what I usually told him whenever he came to visit me at home. My maximum tolerance for his presence and his overpriced cologne was about two minutes. I’d been able to live with Matt for longer in New York because… Well…Neil had been a really good distraction.
Immediately a shiver of heat ran down my arms, and I had to quickly squash the mental images and avoid arousing the suspicions of the man who stared at me now, waiting for me to pay attention to him.
“These work calls are so irritating. Even on the weekend!” A third female voice made me freeze. Just a short distance away, a blond woman appeared. She had a perfect body and a movie star’s face.
Mia Lindhom was crossing into my humble living room with a determined stride. She wore an expensive suit. Her bright hair, wavy at the ends, floated around her delicate, sensual features.
“Selene, darling,” Mia began affectionately. “How are you? I really wanted to see you before now, but your father wanted to wait until you were doing a bit better, and…wow! Here you are in excellent shape. A little thinner, but still lovely,” she said all in one breath, giving me a tight hug.
I went stiff and watched my father over his girlfriend’s shoulder. He just stood there, watching us with his customary impassivity. I decided to ignore him, and, after a few moments, I returned his girlfriend’s gesture of affection. I had, after all, come to a certain accord with Mia while we were all dealing with the trauma of Logan’s accident.
In that situation, we had come together like a real family.
“I’m so glad to see you again,” she murmured into my hair, but I didn’t respond.
I had promised her that we would try to be “friends,” but I still wasn’t ready for such blatant displays of affection.
“Mia.” My father put a hand on her shoulder to disrupt our embrace, which had already gone on longer than he was expecting. He probably sensed my discomfort. He did know me, after all, and knew how I was.
Mia reddened and took a step back, nervously fixing her hair. Matt asked her to join my mother on the sofa, then fixed me again with that cryptic stare, ready to resume our conversation.
“You can’t just go out without telling your mother where you’re going when visitors are expected. I came here today to make sure you’re okay, not to take a vacation or waste my time,” he lectured me, standing right there in front of the two women who had gone head over heels for him.
One in the past; one in the present.
I glanced away from his face to look at my mother, who shook her head, silently urging me not to fight with him and to be reasonable. I could practically hear her voice, begging me to keep my cool.
“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do?” I answered, dashing all my mother’s hopes.
“Your father,” he snapped back sternly. “And someone who is worried about you,” he added.
“Oh, since when?” I pasted on a sarcastic grin.
“Since always,” he answered, sounding exhausted. The defensive walls I’d erected around myself were too thick, even for him. He’d been trying for years to break them down to no avail, and now even a short period of distance between us had me feeling all the same hollowness I’d felt as a child.
I stared into his eyes, and I could see the love he felt for me there, but once again, I chose the simplest path. Denying that love both to myself and to him. Denying us a second chance.
“I’m here today—” He paused. “Actually,weare here”—he gestured to his girlfriend with his index finger—”for two reasons.” I tried to listen silently to him to avoid arguing again.
“First, because I wanted to see you. You don’t answer my calls; you don’t tell me anything about yourself or your health. I don’t care if we’re living far apart; I would go to the ends of the earth to see you.” His voice took on a strange tone, and I could see a tiny crack forming in the ice of his resolute personality. “Second, it’s going to be my birthday in a few days.” He said it like a child gearing up to ask his parents for an impossible present. “I’m not in the mood for a party, a formal dinner, or anything like that. The best gift I could receive would be getting to spend a few days with you,” he finished, his voice small. My eyes bulged at this insane request.
Matt wantedmeto be his birthday present?
Really wasn’t expecting that.
“What?” I muttered, petrified and more than a little incredulous.
“I want to go on a trip, just you and me. Do you remember your grandparents’ house on the shore?”
