Matty swallowed hard enough for Reese to see the movement in her throat. “I was hoping I could catch you.”
“Well, you did.” The attitude, the frostiness, was her tried and true defense that worked so well in the past.
There was a pause, with Matty shifting her weight from foot to foot. “I just...”
Reese waited.
When nothing came, irritation flared up fast and hot in her chest. “You just what?”
Matty looked down. “I know things have been weird.”
Reese let out a breath that sounded too close to a laugh. “Weird?”
Matty winced.
“You’ve barely spoken to me for a week, Matty.”
“I know.”
“A wave across the lawn isn’t enough. A text message every twelve hours isn’t it.”
Her face tightened. “I know.”
“Then what are we doing here?”
Matty’s shoulders slumped. For a second, she looked so tired that Reese almost hated herself for pushing, but the hurt inside her had been building for days now, and she didn’t know how to keep swallowing it. Her wall was up, and it was up to Matty to climb it. She just couldn’t risk being vulnerable again.
Matty’s hesitance to talk only furthered her irritation. “Matty, this is where you talk. What happened Saturday?”
“It’s... complicated. Messy.” Her eyes were looking everywhere but at Reese.
Reese stared at her. “Messy?”
Matty nodded but still wouldn’t look at her.
Her hurt flared in her cheeks. “That’s all you’ve got?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like, Matty?” Reese stepped closer before she could stop herself. “Because from where I’m standing, it feels like you disappeared on me.”
Matty winced. “I didn’t mean to.”
“But you did.” She almost felt guilty for the harshness in her voice, but at this point, she was protecting her heart.
Matty opened her mouth, closed it, then tried again. “I just didn’t know what to say.”
“Then you at least try.”
For a second, Reese thought maybe this was the moment. Maybe Matty would finally say something. Something that made the last week make sense.
Instead, she just stood there with her jaw set in a grimace. It was as if she couldn’t bring herself to speak. That hurt the worst of all. They hadn’t had an issue with talking before. They had been very in sync with each other. This was absurd.
Reese shook her head. “You know what? Never mind.”
“Reese—”
“No.” She yanked open her car door. “I’m not doing this right now.”
