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As if Brenda needed her little girl’s advice on matters of the heart. She was determined to keep him forever and prayed he could wait just one more year for Mia to finish high school.
“D’you want to go up for seconds?” he asked. He’d cleaned his plate in no time.
“I’m full. Thank you.”
He handed her an envelope. “All right, look at this while I get more noodles.”
“What is it?”
He’d already left the table. She opened the envelope and extracted several sheets—two air tickets to Miami, a reservation confirmation at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, and a brochure of the resort.
“Oh my God, Matt. This is fabulous,” she exclaimed when he returned with a heap of noodles on his plate.
“Glad you like it. I hope the dates are good. They’re three weeks away. Are you sure you can free yourself up for the week?”
“I will definitely do that.”
They spent the rest of the dinner planning their vacation and daydreaming together.
When they jumped into her SUV, Matt casually asked, “My place or yours?”
“Yours.” She answered without hesitation. The house without Mia was way too empty, to quiet, too sad.
He squeezed her hand. “We’ll stop by your house so you can pack for the week. No need to drive back and forth every morning before work.”
“All right.”
Matt is the best man on earth. Mia was right in her assessment.
“Is Royce home?”
“Probably, but he’s quite busy working on his research and thesis. I’ll ask him to be invisible. Now, if his presence bothers you we can kick him out.”
She laughed. “Don’t. Your condo is big enough to coexist without bumping into each other.”
Brenda never regretted her decision to spend the week in Matt’s condo—an idyllic week, although she bumped into Royce on her first morning just before going to work.
Half asleep, he asked her if she’d made coffee or expected him to brew a pot.
Matt came to her rescue. “I’ll start a pot, Royce. Go back to bed. Brenda will spend the week here. I’ll order dinner and leave you some in the fridge.”
“Thanks, Matt. I’m drowning in work. You two, enjoy life. Maybe I will one day, if I survive this thesis.”
He seemed so overwhelmed that Brenda and Matt laughed.
“No pity from me,” Matt said. “Now you know how the rest of us felt going through med school, or getting a Ph.D. in psychology. Not a rose garden for sure.”
“Maybe, but I miss fun, I miss women, I miss a good party. I can say it loud and clear. There are no kids around here to protect from my bad example.”
“Back to bed, Royce. I promise you a big party on your graduation day.”
“Thanks, bro. Just for my info, are you two official or not?”
“Not yet,” Matt hastened to say. “Mia is at camp for two months. She’s granted us some freedom.”
“All right, I’ll keep my big mouth shut. Matt, teach her to prepare your coffee the way you like it. Don’t count on me for the next two months. Welcome aboard, Brenda. Good to have a helpful female around. By the way, if you ever want to cook, lasagna and roast pork are my favorites,” he added before heading to his room.
“Don’t pay attention to him. Our mother spoiled him too much. The way he’s whining, you’d think no one had ever studied as much as him.”
