In the meantime, she thought dolefully as the peal of the doorbell rang through the flat, there was always pizza.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
LAURA had been back home for half an hour yet her cottage felt as unfamiliar as when she’d first moved in. Had it really only been a handful of weeks? she wondered, flicking on the kettle. So much had happened, so much had changed. She’d changed.
But one thing hadn’t changed. She arrived here bruised and battered from a doomed relationship, and here she was again.
She could tell herself all she liked that she was ready to move on, but the truth was that she wasn’t. How could she be when every corner of her heart wrenched and every cell in her body ached?
When would it ever stop? When would she be ready to move on?
The doorbell rang and Laura jumped. If that was one of her neighbours asking for a lift, she thought, heading to the front door, they could forget it.
But as she pulled the door back and stared at the figure standing on her doorstep, Laura froze. All her blood drained to her feet and her head went fuzzy. There was a roaring sound in her ears and her breathing shallowed and quickened. She wondered if she might be about to pass out. Thought it might not be such a bad idea.
Because although it was one of her neighbours, she was pretty sure he wasn’t there to ask her for a lift.
Matt looked as if he hadn’t slept in weeks. His face was haggard and the lines on his face seemed more sharply etched. Her heart tightened with hope and longing and she had to force it not to, because she wasn’t going down that road ever again. Blinking away the nausea, she pulled her shoulders back and curled her hands into fists to stop herself from reaching out, running over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing the life out of him.
Because however much she might wish otherwise, she’d missed him. God, how she’d missed him.
‘What are you doing here, Matt?’
‘Looking for you.’
‘How did you know I was here?’
‘I’ve been waiting for you.’
‘Not too long I hope.’
‘A while.’
‘I’ve been in London.’
‘Ah.’
He leaned against the door frame, his expression inscrutable, and Laura felt herself start to flap. ‘What do you want?’
‘I’d like to come in.’
Laura’s heart began to hammer. Letting him inside her house would be such a bad idea, but if she left him on the doorstep then he’d know how much he still affected her and once again she’d be the one on the back foot.
‘Of course. Please,’ she said, mustering up the semblance of a smile. ‘Do come in. Coffee?’
He stepped over the threshold and Laura felt as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the hall. ‘No. Thank you.’
He walked into her sitting room and stood with his back to the fireplace looking big and dark and gorgeous.
‘So,’ she said, desperate to fill the crackling silence. ‘How’s work?’
‘Horrendous.’
Good. Hah. There was some justice in the world, after all. ‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ she said, feeling anything but.
‘You should be,’ Matt said with the glimmer of a smile that flipped her stomach. ‘It’s your fault.’