Fighting for Love (27 page)

“Great. Let me know if it’s something serious. Since it is almost the weekend, I told her to take tomorrow off as well. I didn’t know if you and she caught the same bug.”

“So far I’m okay,” I claimed, knocking on the wood of my front porch.

“I also wanted to let you know that I’m leaving for Las Vegas in a couple of hours and I’ll be gone until next Tuesday. If you need me call my cell phone.”

Basically, what he meant was that since he wasn’t going to be there I was safe to stay at home. Usually, when he went out of town I’d go into work anyway, but since I didn’t have to I figured I’d take full advantage.

“Have fun, Bryan. One of these days I’ll go there myself.”

After we said our good-byes, I rushed into the house and stripped off my dripping clothes once the doors were closed. Matt had already changed into dry ones and was searching through the kitchen cabinets for the pancake ingredients. He glanced over my way and did a double take when he noticed I was naked and shivering trying to get my socks off.

“I think I could get used to you coming in like that, all naked and wet,” he teased, raking his gaze up and down my body.

“Ha-ha,” I snapped, teeth chattering.

My feet made squishing noises on the hardwood floors the whole way to my bedroom. Grabbing the towel I had left on my bed this morning, I dried myself off and put on a pair of underwear and a bra, along with a pair of my gray lounging pants and a Berkeley sweatshirt. My hair was hopeless, so I dried it as much as possible with my towel before joining Matt in the kitchen.

By the mess on the counter, I knew it would be a disaster to let him cook, so I pushed him out of the way and took over, pointing the spatula right at him. “If you mess up this kitchen Jace will kick your ass,” I stated seriously. “He absolutely hates it when I mess things up in here.”

Guffawing, Matt sat down on one of the bar stools and started unpeeling the bananas. “Is it not strange living with another man?” he asked. “It would be like me living with a lesbian.”

I stirred the pancake batter in the bowl, and pushed it toward Matt so he could add the bananas. “No, it’s not strange living with Jace, and for some reason I don’t think you can compare me living with a gay guy to you living with a lesbian. A lot of the lesbians I know will swing both ways. I think there would be too many complications with that.”

“So there haven’t been any complications with you and Jace? There was never a time when you or he tried anything?” he asked curiously.

When I first met Jace it was hard not to think he was gorgeous, but at that time I was still in love with Matt. Not to mention he told me he was gay from the very beginning, so I never even allowed myself to feel those types of feelings toward him.

“No, he’s never tried anything with me, and I’ve never tried with him. He’s been a good roommate. I’m going to miss him when the time comes for us to separate.”

Turning toward the stove, I poured some of the pancake batter in the pans and set the bowl aside. When I turned around to face Matt he had a serious, yet determined, look on his face. “What are you thinking about?” I asked.

He paused for a second, as if contemplating that question. “When do you think that time will come? You know, for you to move away from him?”

Grabbing the spatula off the counter, I shrugged and turned to flip our pancakes. “I’m not sure. I guess whenever I decide to marry someone.”

My heart was racing ninety miles an hour; therefore, I took my time in flipping the pancakes so I wouldn’t mess them up. Thinking of getting married, or even living with someone else, hadn’t crossed my mind in so long that it almost seemed out of reach for me.

“So are you saying you want to be married before you move in with someone?” he asked incredulously.

Snickering, I turned back around and smiled at him. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I definitely want to live with someone before I marry them, but I wouldn’t just move in with any guy unless I knew it would progress to something more … like marriage.” Matt lifted his brows and waved around my house. “Okay, fine, this situation is different. Under normal circumstances, the next guy I live with will have to be someone I’m really serious about.”

Getting to his feet, he walked around the kitchen counter and joined me in front of the stove. He took the spatula out of my hand and laced my fingers in his. “What about me, Shelby?”

My heart beat thumped faster. What was he asking?

“What about you?” I whispered nervously.

“Would you ever consider moving in with me?”

My eyes went wide and I gulped. “As in now?” I gasped.

Chuckling, he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, maybe, if that’s what you wanted. We’re practically doing it now.” He glanced over at our banana pancakes and smiled. “I know a lot has changed in the years, but I’m still the same guy you knew before. Do you think you’d consider it, moving in with me?”

For once in my life I could actually see a future with me and Matt, our own house, a family.
Could it possibly be real?

“What about my job? I would have to drive over an hour every day to get to work from Santa Rosa, and if we lived down here you would have to drive the same amount to Carter. Don’t you think that would get a little tedious?”

He smiled down at me and tapped my chin with our clasped hands. “We would get our own place, angel. A place where you and I both can be happy. We can pick somewhere in the middle.”

Tears immediately sprang to my eyes and I flung myself into his arms, holding him as tight as I could. “Really?” I squealed happily. “You honestly want to do this?”

It almost seemed too good to be true.

Holding me just as tight, he chuckled and I could feel him nodding his head beside mine. “Yes, I want to do this. We’ve wasted too much time and I’m tired of wasting anymore. If you want we can start looking tomorrow. All I need is to hear your answer, angel,” he murmured in my ear.

With tears streaming down my cheeks, I loosened my grip so I could look into his eyes when I answered him. I kissed him firmly on the lips, over and over, until I could taste the salt of my own tears.

“Yes, Matt. Oh my God, the answer’s yes,” I screamed.

Yes!

THE NEXT MORNING I FELT
like I was floating on air. Matt had gotten up early and was about to leave to go train with his coach while I started the search for houses. I could barely sleep because I was so excited, but yet I still couldn’t get out of bed.

Matt sat down beside me and leaned over to tie his shoes. “Are you going to call Jace and tell him today?” he asked.

Stretching my arms out over my head, I laid back down on my pillows. “Yeah, I probably need to do that. He’ll most likely want to stay here and just the pay the rent once I’m gone. He likes this place, so if he wants it I’ll let him have it.”

Leaning over, he caged me in his arms and kissed me softly on the lips. “Well, you have fun today while I’m gone. Do you want to drive up to Santa Rosa this afternoon and stay at my place for the weekend? The fight’s in Stockton tomorrow night, which makes it a little longer drive from my place, but I didn’t think that would matter anyway.”

I ran my fingers up and down his muscular arms, feeling his muscles flex as I passed over them. “Yeah, we can do that. I’ll pack a bag and head out your way this afternoon. I’m going to call Jace and Lexi, and probably my mother, to fill them in on everything. I haven’t exactly kept in touch with her as much as I should.”

“Sounds good, angel, I’ll see you this afternoon. Tell her I said hello.” He kissed me again and leaned his forehead against mine. “Be careful on your way up.”

“I will,” I told him. “I love you.”

He looked back at me one last time and said, “I love you, too,” before walking out of my room and out the front door. Grabbing my phone, I slipped out of bed and put on my gray lounging pants I had thrown over my writing chair in the corner of my room. My stomach growled in protest, so I ventured off to the kitchen and poured a glass of orange juice and fixed a bowl of cereal. I loved eating breakfast while looking out the windows toward the bay, and soon I wouldn’t be able to do that. Maybe my next house would be with a beautiful view of the mountains. There were so many choices and I couldn’t wait to start searching.

After I finished my cereal, the first person on my list to call was my mother. Not only was I going to tell her about me and Matt, but I really needed to know what exactly she said to Hayley. With everything going on I hadn’t talked to her at all except the one phone message, but I knew she was busy. My dad and I talked about once a month when he wasn’t out trying to impress his girlfriend who wasn’t much older than me. My mother worked long hours at the hospital and I never knew when she was on call. It was rare she was ever around when I actually called her.

After dialing her number, I waited as the line rang, over and over. I was about to hang up when she finally answered, sounding breathless yet excited, “Oh, Shelby, I almost missed your call. I had an emergency surgery late last night and I just got in and was about to take a shower. Are you doing okay? How’s work going? I got your message the other day, by the way.”

“It’s going good, Mom. I thought you would call me after I left you the message about Matt.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, sweetheart. I can’t believe it took this long for the world to get you two back together. Is everything going okay with him?”

“Yes, everything’s going great,” I said. “Since you just got in are you going to try and get some sleep now?”

She sighed. “That’s the plan. I was going to take a nice, long shower and lay down. I’m glad you called me when you did because as soon as I get in bed, my phone is going off.”

“Well, I won’t keep you long then,” I told her. “I wanted to tell you I ran into Hayley the other day. She said she ate lunch with you and Janet a few weeks ago.”

“Oh yes, she did. She’s such a beautiful girl,” my mother gushed.

Yeah, only on the outside
, I wanted to say.

“Did you happen to bring up Matt Reynolds in the conversation?”

“Hmm … let’s see,” she mumbled. “Yes, I did actually. I was telling her how I hated seeing you alone and that I wanted you to find someone like Matt. It’s uncanny how just after that you ended up seeing him again. Have you told him about …”

“No, I haven’t told him,” I murmured sadly. “Things have been going good with us and I didn’t want to ruin it. I was about to yesterday until we got interrupted by my boss. I’m going to tell him tonight, though. He wants us to move in with each other and I know I can’t take that step without being completely honest with him. I’m just afraid that he won’t want to be with me anymore once he finds out.”

“I know you’re scared, honey, but he needs to know. You were only trying to look out for him and his family. No one knew that he would be where he is today, and he might not have made it that far if you’d stayed. He’s going to be angry and hurt when he finds out, but as long as you tell him what’s in your heart you won’t go wrong. Don’t hold back, sweetheart. He needs to know exactly how you felt and that it was all in good intentions.”

Tears streamed down my cheeks and I wiped them away with the sleeve of my T-shirt. “Thanks, Mom, I really needed to hear that. Why don’t you take your shower and get some rest? I’ll talk to you soon. I know you have to be tired.”

“All right, honey. If things don’t go so well with Matt tonight make sure you call me. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”

We hung up the phone and I called Lexi to see how she was feeling. Unfortunately, she didn’t answer, so I left her a message saying I needed her to call me back before I tried my luck with Jace.

He answered the phone on the first ring; I could always count on him. “Hey, Shels,” he greeted, “I don’t have long because we’re getting ready to start filming. What’s up?”

Since he didn’t have time I figured I’d tell him quickly. “Matt wants to move in together,” I blurted into the phone.

The phone went silent for a few seconds and I thought he might have hung up on me until I heard him say, “Wow.”

I laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”

“What do you want to do? Do you want to move in with him?” he asked.

The thought of not living with Jace anymore broke my heart because he’d been by my side for so long, but I loved Matt and I didn’t want to wait to start our life together.

“I do,” I told him sadly. “I want to more than anything. I guess I was just worried about you and your family. What are you going to tell them?”

“Shelby, don’t worry about that,” he said with a sigh. “There’s actually something I want to talk to you about when I get home. I would tell you now, but I’m running out of time. So what about the house? Are you going to sell it?”

I hated it when he would say he needed to say something but didn’t tell me what. It drove me crazy when people did stuff like that.

“I was going to leave that up to you. Whether you want to continue paying, or if you’d like, I can sell it to you. You decide if you want to stay here or not and we’ll go from there. How is that? There’s no rush, okay?”