Homecoming - Chapter 9
Sunday
Matt
I heard laughter and turned around. Penny had her hip propped against the doorjamb and was wearing a huge smile.
“You really are a great dancer,” she said.
“I know.” I shimmied my shoulders and she laughed again. “Did you two enjoy your nap?”
She nodded. “We must have just passed out. Liam was up all night. You’ve calmed him down though.”
Liam did seem perfectly content and happy in my arms.
James walked into the room with a big yawn. “Hey, Matt. What’s up?”
I stopped dancing to the imaginary music, but I kept bouncing Liam on my hip because he was less fussy when he was moving. I was about to tell James why I’d stopped by, but he was looking around the room.
“Wait, how did you get in here, Matt?” His gaze paused on Scarlett.
“It wasn’t me,” she said.
“There’s no one else here, pumpkin.”
She pressed her lips together. “It was an accident.”
“Accidents don’t happen on purpose.”
“This one did. Right, Uncle Matt?”
I did not want to be in the middle of this. But Scarlett really needed to stop opening the door. I would have thought she’d learned her lesson by now. “It’s okay, we were just having a dance party,” I said, hoping to change the subject.
“A dance party?” Penny asked and lifted Scarlett into her arms. “But where’s the music?” She tickled Scarlett’s side.
“We don’t need music,” Scarlett said through her giggles.
“Hmm.” Penny twirled her daughter in a circle. “I guess we don’t.” She kept twirling her around.
I cleared my throat and turned to James. “I actually need your help with something.”
James looked at Penny and then back at me. “Is this about Kennedy? Because I really think it’s too soon. You’re just going to freak her out.”
Penny stopped spinning in circles. “Too soon for what?” she asked.
“He’s going to propose to her.”
Penny raised her eyebrows. “Matt, I know I said you were going to regret not living your life…but I didn’t mean you should propose to someone you’ve known for two weeks.”
“I’ve known her on and off for 16 years.”
She kept her eyebrows raised as she placed Scarlett back down on the floor. “There’s a pretty big gap in there between high school and right now.”
I knew she was right. But she and James couldn’t possibly understand the situation. I knew Kennedy. I got her. And she got me. I had been struggling for so long and Kennedy made me feel lighter. She made me feel like I wasn’t so broken.
None of my friends realized just how much I’d been struggling. And I didn’t have to explain myself to them. I knew proposing to Kennedy was the right choice. To show her how serious and committed I was to us. I just had to win her back first.
Which meant her not seeing what was sure to make its way into the tabloids tomorrow morning.
And not just because she’d probably be pissed about people thinking I was going to be engaged to Poppy.
The real problem was that I’d have to explain it.
And ruin the surprise that I was at the jewelry store because I was going to propose to her .
Which she probably wouldn’t believe because I hadn’t found a ring yet.
“I really appreciate the advice, but that’s actually not what I’m here to talk about. I need James’ help making sure some pictures of me don’t make it online.”
Liam started making those cute little noises he made when he was happy. I smiled down at him and he did it again.
“What kind of pictures?” Penny asked.
“One of the jewelry stores I visited today must have tipped off the paparazzi. They cornered me outside the last jewelry store I visited and with all that buzz about Poppy and me being in a relationship…”
“You’re worried Kennedy will be pissed,” James supplied.
“And my only explanation will be to tell her I was there for her. And it’ll ruin all my plans.”
James nodded. “Okay. I can help with that.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, you’re a lifesaver.”
“Here, let me take him so you two can get to work.” Penny lifted Liam out of my arms. “Thank you for watching the kids.”
“No problem. Next time you guys can just call me if you need some help.”
Penny smiled. “I might just have to take you up on that.”
I followed James down the hall and into his study.
***
I walked over the weird little moat to Tanner’s apartment, doing my best to ignore the tarp shifting beneath me. Seriously…what was in that thing?
There was a splashing noise and I jumped. That moat gave me the willies. I quickly let myself in with my key.
I pulled out my phone as I walked down the hallway.
Still nothing new from Kennedy. I was lucky I looked up at the last minute, because I almost ran right into the new chairs placed in the middle of the hallway.
It was definitely a weird place for chairs.
They were right in the way. Also from what I could see of the back of them, they looked like desk chairs with really high backs.
Which made even less sense since there was no table.
And why would there be any of that in a hallway?
Luckily the hallways were quite wide or they would have completely blocked my path.
I was about to sidestep them when they both spun around perfectly in sync.
Tanner was sitting in one and Nigel was in the other. And they both looked very stern. Actually, Nigel’s sternness looked more sassy than anything.
“I’m very disappointed in you, young man,” Tanner said.
“What?” I just stared at him. “Tanner, you’re younger than me. How many times are we going to have this conversation?”
“Right, of course I am. But I act much older than you. Clearly.”
Did he? Because this wasn’t the first time he’d accosted me in a weird way in his apartment when he was “disappointed in me.”
“How could you do this to us?!” Nigel screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Nigel, stop it, you’re acting hysterical.” Tanner turned back to me. “How could you do this to us?!”
I laughed. “I have no idea what the two of you are upset about but…”
“You’re engaged?!” Tanner said as he glared at me.
For fuck’s sake. How did they know about this? I should have known better than to ask for Rob’s help. Now the whole world knew. Not that I wasn’t planning on bringing Tanner into the loop. I just thought I’d get a chance to tell him myself. To avoid exactly this.
Nigel stood up before I could respond and kicked his chair. It rolled into the wall with a quiet thud. “Ow,” he said and grabbed his foot, hopping awkwardly in his lederhosen.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He collapsed back in the chair. “I’ll never be okay again,” he said with a heavy sigh. “And now my foot is broken to bits.”
“You guys, I’m not engaged.”
“You’re not?” Nigel asked. He suddenly didn’t seem at all concerned about his hurt foot.
“No.” I sighed. “I was thinking about asking Kennedy to marry me. But I haven’t asked her yet. And I was going to tell you. How did you even find out?”
“Young Robert called me to gloat,” Tanner said. “Hours ago. Where have you been all morning and afternoon?”
“Where have you been all morning and afternoon?”
“I was here the whole time,” he said.
“I thought Nigel said you were at church?”
Tanner laughed. But when he saw that I was serious he cleared his throat. “Yeah. That’s where I was. I’m a religious man of worship. Of many gods,” he added.
Why did Nigel and Tanner both talk so weirdly about church? And what was he talking about many gods for? Was he a big believer in Norse mythology or something? I shook my head. It wasn’t important. “So yeah, guys, I’m sorry. I was going to tell you when I saw you next. But you weren’t here.”
“I was here,” Nigel said and folded his arms in front of chest.
“Nigel, why are you here? Don’t you have things to do?” I gave him a look which I hope he knew meant he was supposed to be finding dirt on Poppy. We had a deal. And that didn’t involve him angrily staring at me.
“I’m on a break,” Nigel said. “It’s scheduled into my calendar. I’ll show you if you’d like. It’s very full. Do you have a problem with that?”
Yes, I did have a problem with that. Nigel and his stupid calendar.
How many breaks did he get? His sassy response seemed to mean he didn’t get my subtle hint about his things to do.
I needed out of this mess. And I needed Nigel’s help to do that.
Which meant being angry with him wouldn’t help anything.
I took a deep breath. “Sorry, Nigel. I know you have scheduled breaks.”
He smiled. “It’s okay, Master Matthew. You’ve been forgiveth.”
Tanner gave him a weird look.
Nigel cleared his throat. “I meant Mr. Caldwell.”
I actually thought Tanner was looking at him strangely because Nigel had just said forgiveth. But yeah, the Master Matthew thing was weird too.
“So you’re going to propose to Kennedy?” Tanner asked, quickly changing the subject. “And you went to Robert instead of me?” Normally he was joking around, but he looked a little hurt.
“I’m sorry. I would have told you first but you weren’t here.” That actually had been my plan.
“Right. I was with the gods.” Tanner sighed. “But you’re serious about this? You’re in love with Kennedy?”
“Yeah.” I nodded my head. “I love her.”
“So that means the two of you must have slept together?”
Why did he always insist on knowing who I was currently sleeping with? I shrugged. “We hooked up in the elevator after leaving James’ place.”
Tanner nodded. “Nice. Elevator sex is always great. High-five!” He put up his hand.
I didn’t bother correcting him. I just high-fived him instead. I hadn’t actually had sex with Kennedy. We were trying to take things slow. And for some reason slow wasn’t something Tanner understood. To him sex meant love or something. For a guy who was all about true love, it really made no sense.
“If you’ll excuse me for one moment.” Tanner spun back around in his chair so I couldn’t see him.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said. But he didn’t turn back around. “Glasses me,” he said and put his hand out to Nigel.