Chapter 22 Those Hard Lessons
THOSE HARD LESSONS
“So, I’ve got to tell you something,” Anya said.
Matt looked over from where he placed the makings of sandwiches on the counter for their late lunch.
She’d leave when they were done eating as he had things to do and so did she.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Jolene Fierce stopped over to talk to me on Friday.”
“Did you tell her you went to Carowinds on Thursday?” he asked.
She frowned. “Yes.”
He whacked his palm on the counter. “Now it’s all making sense!”
She laughed at his familiar teenage antics. “What is?”
“First tell me about this conversation with Jolene,” he said. He shook his hand off and started to make a sandwich.
“You know what she does, right? Sets people up?”
He crossed his eyes at her. “Everyone knows that. She set up Ben and Eve.”
She opened her mouth wide enough a hummingbird could have flown in. “I hadn’t heard that.”
“She has played a part in a lot of matches. All of her kids.”
“I had heard about Mason and Jessica. A few others too.” They were only names to her, not faces so much.
“Has she been talking to you about finding someone?” he asked.
“I hadn’t thought that,” she said. “Until Justin brought it up. At first I assumed it had to do with me and Brendan.”
“Brendan?”
“Get that frown off your face. It’s the guy you pushed away to dance with me at Ben’s wedding.”
“I didn’t push him,” he argued. “It’s not my fault he was half my size and I could flick him off with my wrist.”
“Don’t be cocky.” She gave his arm a little shove, the mustard he was squirting on his sandwich missing the bread and going splat on the counter.
“Now you’re the one being the prankster,” he said.
She reached for a napkin and wiped the mess she’d caused.
Matt finished the sandwich and she took it out of his hand. “Thanks.”
“Hey,” he said.
“Here you go,” she said, handing it back.
“No, keep it. There. I did a lot of work this weekend. Talk about high maintenance. Dinner, breakfast, and now lunch. Let’s not forget the usage of my body. I’m going to need a nap.”
She took a bite of the ham and Swiss he’d put together, then chewed.
“You know, you’re really cute when you’re not trying to be more. When it just comes naturally to you.”
His smile was a tender one. His eyes softening a touch with it.
“One of those hard lessons. I got thinking earlier, that we could have had this years ago if I hadn’t messed up.”
“It wasn’t right back then.”
“That’s what I concluded. I would have ruined it. I won’t ruin this. I got the lecture from Phoebe before you returned.”
She coughed on the next bite. “You told your sister about us?”
“Was it supposed to be a secret?”
“Stop pouting,” she said. He snorted and she grinned. “No secret. I just hadn’t realized you were going to do that.”
“I didn’t want her to find out from someone else,” he said. “She told me you’ve been texting and never said a word.”
“Oh boy. We aren’t going down that road. We aren’t texting a lot. More like catching up and I haven’t talked to her in a few weeks. Don’t get me in trouble with a friend I’m just getting reacquainted with.”
“Sorry,” he said, slapping his bread on his sandwich. “I might have misjudged it.”
She ran her hand over his arm. “Don’t be.
This is one of those things we have to work out.
And it goes back to what is happening with Jolene.
She was hinting around to something I couldn’t figure out.
I wasn’t giving her much. She made a comment about my life being so serious and working all the time.
I told her I had fun and mentioned Carowinds. ”
“And that brings me to what happened on Friday afternoon at work.”
“What?” she asked, going back to her lunch.
“My parents came into my office at the end of the day. It’s not unusual for them to do that, but they sat down to talk. My mother was fishing for something but missing the bait on the line. It had to do with me taking Thursday off last minute and what I did.”
“Did you tell them?”
“I made a comment about rollercoasters and we laughed. Your name came up and how I rode them as a kid when you went with us. It was more a reminiscing thing.”
“Do you think they suspect us?” she asked.
“I more than think it now. I know it. And the source has to be Jolene. My mother and Jolene talked when Ben and Eve were dating. I hadn’t known at that time, but my mother had asked Jolene to set Ben up with someone.”
“No. I can’t believe your mother would do that.”
He laughed. “She did. She wanted her kids settled down. Ben likes to be the center of attention. The class clown.”
“He’s funny but goes about it differently than you.”
She remembered Ben was all about getting laughs at his own expense, not necessarily others.
“I looked up to him. I like to be original.”
“He’s the OG,” she said.
“He is and he reminds me. Back to my parents. They were giving each other funny looks every time your name came up or what I did on Thursday. I’m positive my mother is talking to Jolene again and trying to get me set up.”
“So she’ll find someone else for you?” she asked. Anya didn’t want to think of that.
Good lord, she wasn’t good with competition.
“No,” he said. “I’m betting anything she has you in mind for me.”
“But she doesn’t know us well, right? Either of us?”
“Nope,” he said. “But she has hawk eyes and she would have seen me dancing with you at the wedding.”
“And me leaving you on the floor alone.”
“Don’t remind me,” he said. “I got my ass handed to me by Ben over it.”
“Hurts, doesn’t it, when people laugh at you over what someone else did?”
He heaved out a sigh. “Yes. And I’m sorry for all those times I did that to you and didn’t know.”
“I didn’t mean to bring up the past and shouldn’t have.”
“It’s part of our story,” he said. “We can’t ignore it.”
“We can’t,” she said. “But it shouldn’t impact our future.”
Or she didn’t want it to.
Easier said than done.
“We can try,” he said. “I called Phoebe when you were out. I was going to bring up my parents’ conversation too, but you had to leave and then I forgot until you brought up Jolene. It ties together.”
“You think your parents know it’s me? Or that you’re dating someone?”
“That it’s you. Now for certain they know it if Jolene is aware you went to Carowinds. What are the chances both of us were there during the week?”
“Slim,” she said. “Now what? Are you telling your parents?”
“I should. Phoebe knows. She won’t say anything just yet, but I don’t want her to feel as if she has to watch her words either.”
“I can tell my mother,” she said. “My father is a toss-up. He might remember it or not. I don’t want to confuse things. He knows you as our attorney now and it’s best to leave it that way.”
“You know them best,” he said.
He reached for her and pulled her in for a hug. “I want you to tell me if I do or say anything over the line. If I hurt you or you’re upset.”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I will. I haven’t held back in the past few months, have I?”
“No.”
“Then don’t worry I will now.”