“Good. Cool, that works.”
There was an awkward pause as both of us searched around for something to say.
“Have you—” Matty said as I opened my mouth to say, “What flavour—”
I chuckled and shook my head. “You first.”
“Have you had a good evening?” Matty asked. “And, er, it’s chocolate.”
“Always a good choice, but my go-to is always strawberry.”
“Strawberry, seriously?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong with strawberry?”
“Nothing, I just… I don’t know actually. It fits you.” He nodded like he was confirming it to himself that, yes, I was a strawberry person, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Thanks. And my evening was good. I rang my sister for a catch-up.”
“Sounds nice. Are you two close?”
“Yeah, well, I have three sisters and I’m close to all of them. I’m the youngest and they can be kind of… nosy. They like knowing everything about my life, but I don’t mind. I know everything about theirs.”
Matty nodded again, a wistful look in his eyes, and I wondered if I shouldn’t have said anything. Some people didn’t want to know about the lives of their staff, but I wasn’t sure it was that. It seemed more like he missed something.
“Marissa liked my rooms, though,” I said, aiming to sort of change the subject. “Said you had very good taste and I have to agree. They’re lovely.”
He brightened slightly. “Oh good, I’m glad they’re okay. I’ve never had any complaints but everyone’s different.”
“They’re perfect. Very comfortable.”
There was another awkward pause. “I should let you go,” Matty said, shifting the washing basket in his arm again. “And probably put this ice cream back in the freezer before it melts and everything needs washing again.”
“Yeah, I’ll let you…” I grabbed for my phone charger, missing it a few times before I managed to wrap my fingers around the cord. “Well, good night.”
“Night, Harper. Sleep well,” he said softly as I turned and scuttled away, my heart racing.
There seemed to be a hint of soft sadness underneath Matty’s grumpy defensiveness that prodded at something in my chest. I shouldn’t have wanted to know more, but I did.
And as I closed the door to my bedroom, I couldn’t help wondering if he was lonely.
CHAPTER SIX
Matty
Harper
I just wanted to let you know I’ve picked Jack up early from nursery today. He’s running a bit of a low-grade fever and has a snotty nose. I’ll give him some Calpol and we’ll spend the rest of the afternoon resting. Are you okay if I put a Disney film on for him?
I staredat Harper’s message, my fork stuck in my pile of beef noodles, as my brain screeched to a halt and all my thoughts turned to static.
Jack was ill.
Jack was ill and I wasn’t there.
And yes, Harper said it was only a fever and a snotty nose but what if it was something else? There were tons of serious things that started out with similar symptoms and got much worse incredibly quickly. Who knew what one of the other kids at nursery had given him.
What were the symptoms of meningitis? Or pneumonia? Did sepsis start with a fever? Could it even be an allergic reaction? I didn’t think Jack had any allergies but he could have developed one. Or we could just have gotten lucky and never encountered his allergen before.
