Chapter 14
Lacey
The day had started out badly. Everyone knew I was not a morning person at all. Jarring me awake would only cause me to be pissed off. I yanked the door open. “What?” I felt bad for yelling when I noticed who was on the other side of the door. Hell, could she blame me though? It was five o’clock in the morning. Normal people would be asleep at this hour. “Abigail, what is going on?” Why would she be banging on my door this early? What’s wrong?
She looked down at her feet. “Uh, sorry for waking you. There is a storm heading straight for us, so everything outside of the hotel has been shut down. We won’t be going anywhere today. I’m sure they tried to call your room, but you didn’t wake up. I just got off the phone with the manager of the hotel.”
Holy shit. Of course, a tropical storm would hit while I was here. Only made sense since I had the worst luck. Why did stuff like this have to happen now of all times? Couldn’t it have waited a couple more days for me to be gone?
“Sis,” Matteo said, rubbing his eyes, “what the hell is going on?”
Abigail went on to explain to him about the storm while I went into the bathroom to turn on the shower. There was no way I was going back to sleep. I was wide awake now, thinking about how bad this storm could get. I’m not a big fan of thunderstorms. I was afraid of them. I used to hide in the cabinet during storms when I was a small child. On a warm autumn night, the leaves rustled outside. It made me pace back and forth knowing what was coming. My dad had the Weather Channel on, blaring in the background.
“Watch out tonight. We have a chance for severe weather in our area. Make sure you have a plan in place,” the weatherman said clear as day.
That only made me squirm more. I wasn’t afraid of lightning, but the loud rumbles of thunder that shook our house did me in. I screamed and ran and sat on my dad’s lap. At first, he made fun of me until he realized just how scared they made me.
When I came out of the bathroom, Matteo was sitting up in his bed with pillows behind him, watching TV. He looked comfortable and not worried at all. “Well, looks like we are stuck in here all day. Renting movies, it is.”
He laughed, but I could tell he couldn’t imagine anything worse than being stuck in a hotel room all day with me. It was mutual. How the hell were we going to pass the time today? I guessed I could grab the book out of my suitcase and read. I brought it for the plane ride back but now was as good a time as any.
There was a knock on the door, and Matteo jumped up to answer. “Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it.” He lugged in a trolley that had food on it. “I figured I’d order in due to the storm. Are you hungry?”
I attempted to say no, but my grumbling stomach said otherwise. I grabbed a plate of food and started demolishing it when he turned on a sappy romance movie. You know, the ones where you always know how it was going to end, but you keep watching it anyway? I despised those movies because they were so predictable. Life wasn’t predictable at all. Every day, lives changed for better or worse. Nothing like movies. “Do you really want to watch this?” I only questioned him because it didn’t seem like it was something he would want to watch.
“Why? What’s wrong with it?” Matteo scoffed.
I laughed so hard, food flew out of my mouth. Normally, I would be embarrassed, but I wasn’t trying to impress him, so I couldn’t care less. I let him watch his sappy romance crap while I read the newest thriller novel that was on the shelf at the airport. Honestly, it was pretty good. I liked books that kept me guessing what was going to happen next. That made for good writing. All of a sudden I heard Matteo scream, taking my attention away from my book.
“Why did they get so close knowing they were only going to be spending a summer together? Why put themselves out there for so much hurt in the end? Why?” Matteo looked baffled and almost like he might shed a tear.
“Sometimes it’s worth the risk,” I shrugged, not looking up from my book. Matteo fell silent, as if he were taking my comment into consideration.
“We naturally want someone to be close to,” I said, interrupting his quiet. “This is why we seek out best friends. But having a committed partner is different. Spending a summer is better than never meeting each other at all.”
He looked over at me for a moment, almost as if he had something more to say. But he quickly went back to watching the movie.
The morning had proven that Matteo did have feelings and even liked the sappy stuff. I didn’t know the real Matteo, but I was starting to. At that moment, my heart fluttered, but this could never be anything more than a lie. It would never work. Maybe the movies were right; spending a lot of time together really could force people to fall in love.
“Can I ask you a question without you being offended?” I asked permission before bursting his bubble.
“I guess, why not, shoot.”
“Why did you hide? Why are you such an asshole when around new people or women? People would be more prone to like you or your company if you were this way around them from the beginning.” I didn’t know how else to say it without sounding horrible. So, instead of beating around the bush, I just said it.
His response made me stop and wish I hadn’t said those things to him.
“I was once madly in love with a girl named Kelsey. I know my family has mentioned her. I was stupid. I bought her a ring and planned to propose.” He squirmed in place.
“And? What happened? Why didn’t you?” I asked curiously. I had heard about Kelsey, and it sparked the curiosity inside me to know exactly what happened between them.
“When I came home from the jewelry store, all of her things were gone. All that was left behind was a note,” he explained, looking down, not making eye contact.
“What? What the heck did it say? Who leaves a note?” I asked, shaking my head.
“That she was grateful for her time with me but there was no future for us.” He frowned.
“Oh my. I’m so sorry. No one should be dumped through a note. Wow, that’s worse than a text. Did you find out why she suddenly had to end the relationship?” I couldn’t help but ask more questions. His story was helping me realize why he was so closed off from the people around him. He was afraid of getting hurt again. It suddenly made so much sense.
“Honestly, I’d really rather not go into detail on the why. I’ve told you enough for now.”
He had been scarred. His heart broken. Instead of feeling that pain again, he’d rather close himself off and be alone. I understood completely. I had been through my fair share of breakups. Nothing as shitty as his but I still one day wanted a loving relationship with a man, get married, have some little ones, and live happily.
“Happily ever after isn’t real. Sorry to break it to you. It’s just a façade movies and books tell you is possible,” he said.
“My parents met in the ninth grade and got married right out of high school. They are still happily married to this day. True love is a real thing, but you must be open to it when it presents itself. If you are always so closed off, who knows if you have already missed your opportunity.” It was true. His true love could have already shown up in his life, and he rejected her. Even Matteo deserved to be happy.