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“No one is going to be angry that you and Marky ended the engagement,” Mark reassures me. I bite my lip.
“Yes, but they’ll have a million questions, and I don’t know how I’m going to answer them. Plus it’s not my place to tell anyone about Marky – he has to do that on his own terms.”
Matt puts a steadying hand on my own.
“Don’t then. It’s no one’s business why you two split.”
I calmed a bit under his steadying reassurance. With Matt’s guidance, I knew we’d figure out how to handle the broken engagement and the gossip that would be sure to follow. But our relationship wasn’t just about the big things. We even talked about the trivial things, which frequently left us arguing, laughing, or a combination of both.
“Mushrooms are the worst,” Matt had insisted, sticking his tongue out at me in mock disgust when he sees I’m adding them to our dinner salad.
“No way, I love mushrooms!” I counter, and hold his gaze while I grab another handful and toss them into the mix.
“They ruin everything they touch,” Matt insists. “Once, at a museum, I had this pizza that was supposed to have just a few of them on it, I thought hey, no big deal.” Matt covers his face with his hands and groans. “The entire pizza, I kid you not, was covered in hundreds of nasty little mushrooms. And they smelled just as horrible as they tasted. Haven’t eaten one since then.”
I merely laughed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
“Then you’ll pull them out once the salad’s done and I’ll eat them,” I say teasingly. “It’ll work out, I promise.”
On day nine of our little cabin bubble, we take our usual walk to the main road to check on the tree removal update. As we round the final bend in the road, we each stop short.
The tree is gone, and much of the debris that had been lying about since I first came up the mountain has been swept to the sides of the road.
But if the road’s clear… I look at Matt desperately, only to find him looking reflective.
Matt and I walk back up to the cabin, each of us lost in our own thoughts. That night, over a dinner made up of various leftovers, something feels different. We don’t chat as much as we normally do, and I can tell that Matt is preoccupied.
Finally, unable to endure the silence any longer, I speak first.
“I probably need to get back to Hearts and Heroes soon. We have that visiting writer event coming up.”
Matt looks up mid-bite. “Oh?”
“Yeah. It’s not for another couple of weeks or so, but I’ve been gone a while.”
“Events do take some planning,” Matt says, giving little away.
“Yeah. Plus, I need to tell my parents about the fire. The cabin’s insured, so they’ll probably want to get it fixed up before too long. Since we come up here every summer.” Matt continues eating, brooding and silent.
“Anyway, I guess I’ll go tomorrow.”
At that, Matt looks up, a tense expression in his eyes before his face settles into a casual nonchalance. “I have a business trip too, so I guess I’ll take off too. Thank you for being a wonderful hostess, Cora.”
Well that stings. Hostess? Is that all he thinks I was? I lean back in my chair.
“Hmm.” I stab at my own dinner, sulking.
“Cora,” Matt says, his tone patient. “You knew we couldn’t just stay up here forever.”
I sigh heavily. “I know. I just didn’t think it’d all have to end so soon.”
“Well let’s not spoil our last night worrying about tomorrow.”
“You’re right,” I concede. I want to tell Matt how I feel. I’m starting to fall for him, and in fact, I have already fallen for him. But I can’t, especially knowing that in the morning our happy little bubble is going to burst.
Instead, I get up and head to the fridge. “I bought a cheesecake.”
Matt leans back in his chair and smiles. “How and when did you buy a cheesecake? I’m pretty sure that aside from the occasional bathroom break, you and I have been joined at the hip.” He raises his eyebrows with mirth.
I roll my eyes.
“No silly. I got it before I came to the cabin. When I bought the other groceries. I just forgot I had it.” I pull out the creamy dessert, placing it on the table in front of Matt.
“I love cheesecake.” Matt looks at me suspiciously. “How did you know? Stalker…”
“Ha! I love cheesecake and I bought it for myself, you know for all the wallowing I was supposed to do. You showed up uninvited, remember?” I cross my arms and put on my best mean face, but I can’t hold in a giggle.
“So tough, Cora. So tough.” Matt takes the lid off the dessert and sticks his fork directly into it. “Hmmm, strawberry.”
