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She bit the inside of her cheek. “I agree.”
“Same time next year?”
Natalie laughed a little nervously. “I wish.”
“Me, too,” he said.
Natalie’s chest tightened. Part of her longed to ask if he was serious. Why couldn’t they meet up again for a weekend of fun? But logic answered her question even before it could really take hold. To make plans to meet up again implied they had a relationship that would continue. They didn’t.
The past three days had been perfect. To continue would be only waiting for him to leave, waiting for him to decide he didn’t want any more three-day weekends together. She’d been left several times too many already in her life to set herself up that way.
Sticking to their original plan was the way it had to be.
“Thank you for this past weekend, Matthew. How does this work from here?”
His gaze narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“If we accidentally run into each other. What if at some point we are both at the same place at the same time?” After all, his mother lived in Memphis. Yes, the city was large, but stranger things had happened. “Do we pretend we don’t know each other or...?” She let her words trail off.
He considered her question. “Who knows what’s going to have changed between now and that time if our paths cross again?” His expression tightened. “You might have met someone and—”
“I won’t have,” she cut in, wanting to set the record straight. “I’ve learned my lesson.”
His expression darkened. “You mean me? Natalie, I—”
She shook her head and hastened to assure, “No. This weekend was wonderful, and exactly what we agreed upon.” She took a deep breath. “It’s odd. I feel like we shared so much, that you know everything about me, but in reality you know very little.”
“I know how to make you...” he continued in a whisper into her ear, winking at her when he straightened back in his seat.
Natalie blushed. “Yes, you know that.” He knew her body well. She wouldn’t argue with that. “But what you don’t know is that two months ago I found out the man I’d been in a relationship with for the past three years was cheating.”
“Idiot.”
Matthew’s absolute confidence in his assessment of Jonathan made Natalie smile.
“Yes, he was. Is,” she corrected. “But the truth of the matter is that he did us both a favor, because we didn’t want the same things.”
“You lived with him?”
Staring at the travel magazine poking out from the seat pocket in front of her, Natalie nodded. “He moved into my condo apartment just over two years ago.”
“Is he still there?”
“Good heavens, no.” She closed her eyes, then, realizing how he might take her having done so, she opened them. “He’s gone and I’m glad.”
Matthew stared at her in ways that made her want to close her eyes again.
“You deserve a life, Natalie.”
Did he think she didn’t know that? But deserving a life and actually getting that life didn’t always mesh up. She wanted someone who wouldn’t leave her, who could love her completely, but in reality her career seemed the only aspect of her life she had control over.
Fortunately she loved medicine, and her career had never let her down.
* * *
Suzie gave Natalie an “are you crazy?” look. “You didn’t get his cell number or social-media account information or anything?”
After Natalie had arrived at her apartment—her practically empty apartment, thanks to Jonathan clearing out his things and quite a few of Natalie’s as well—the television hadn’t been able to abate the quietness. She’d called and asked her friends to meet her for a late dinner at their favorite downtown restaurant. Tonight, the partially empty rooms had made her feel claustrophobic, alone, and she’d had to get out of the apartment.
