A short while later, the door opened and Matt stood on the other side in his pajamas.
“Hi there,” said Gina. “You must be Matt Becker. Nice to meet you. She pushed me over the threshold of the house right into Matt’s arms. “I would’ve taken her back to my place, but she insisted on coming back here. She really wanted to sleep in her own bed.”
“That’s fine,” Matt said. He smiled down at me. “Seems like you had a good time tonight.”
“Eh,” I said. “It was fine.”
He looked at Gina, thanked her for getting me home safely, then closed the door and walked me to my bedroom.
“I have to wash my face,” I said as we passed the bathroom. “And brush my teeth.”
“Alright,” he said. He brought me back to the door to the bathroom and let go of me. “Do you think you can take it from here then?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m good. Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
He started to walk down the hallway and I watched him go. Just before he turned the corner I whispered, “Hey Matt.”
He turned and looked at me. “Yeah?”
“... Have a good night. Sweet dreams.”
He smiled. “You too, Steph.”
I was pretty sure that was the first time he didn’t call me by my full first name.
ChapterTwelve
MATT
Something was different about Stephanie.
Ever since the night she went out drinking with her friend, she’d been acting strange. I don’t know what happened on her date, or what she and Gina talked about, but when she returned from her night out, she immediately stopped avoiding me. She started to spend more time in the kitchen and living room, even when Will wasn’t around, and she no longer waited to get her breakfast until after I left for work. Instead, she drank her coffee and ate her eggs and toast at the same time I did in the morning, during which time she would chat with me about anything and everything under the sun.
She would ask me about work, or about my childhood, check in on how I was liking the book she bought for me. It was honestly a very pleasant, albeit confusing, development, and I decided to just go with it for the time being.
Summer was winding down and that week Stephanie and I both accompanied Will on his first day of school. I took the morning off work, so that we could attend the parents meeting together while he got settled in his new classroom. A few people gave me strange looks when I showed up with a woman next to me, but I didn’t feel like stopping everyone as they walked by and announcing that Stephanie was ‘just the nanny’ so I let them stare. It didn’t seem to bother her, so I didn’t let it bother me either.
After the parents meeting wrapped up, I knew Stephanie had a few hours to kill before she had to go back to the school to pick up Will. “You hungry?” I asked her on our way to the car. “We could go grab a bite to eat.”
“Sure,” she said. “I actually am quite hungry.”
“Great,” I said. “You pick the place.”
“How about that café sort of near your offices. I went there once after dropping Will off with you one time.”
“I think I know the one you’re talking about. Let’s do it.”
On the drive over there, she asked me how I thought the parents meeting went. “Fine,” I told her. “Those things are usually pretty boring, so I was just glad it didn’t drag on for too long. Although, I was surprised by how often they brought up the cell phone issue. Do you think every kid in Will’s class is going to have one?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Which is only going to make his desire to have one that much stronger.”
At the red light, I looked over at her. “You think I should cave and buy him one, don’t you?”
She laughed. “Yeah you caught me. I do think you should get him one. But mostly for safety reasons. And convenience. He’s been talking about joining the science club, and that would mean some days he’d be staying late after school. How am I going to know what time to pick him up if I don’t have a way of getting in touch with him?”
“He can use the school phone.”