Page 89 of Then Came the Fall
My head begins to spin.
I tap my foot nervously as Dottie finishes telling Brett a story about a piglet from the farm who thought that a goat was its mother.
I check my phone one more time. Nothing.
I stretch my arms up over my head and force myself to laugh at the ending of the story. “This has been so lovely,” I say to Dottie. “But we should probably get a move on now. We’ve got a long walk back to the car, and then a long drive back home.”
“Of course, dear,” Dottie replies.
“Aw,” Brett whines. “I don’t want to go. I really like it here.”
Dottie smiles. “Of course you do, sweetheart. We all do.” She pats Brett on the shoulder and whispers, “This place is magic.”
Chapter twenty-seven
7 Years Ago
Leyla.Matt never mentioned that name, not once, so I had no idea who she was. Judging from the look on his face, he wasn’t happy to see her.
We’d talked about exes, of course. Matt had mentioned Megan, a girl he’d dated for a while, and I told him about Mike, a guy I was with for about a year during the time between college and my master’s. I hadn’t been serious with anyone since then, and it seemed like he hadn’t either. Not that I pressed him for details. I didn’t want to picture Matt with anyone else.
But he looked at this Leyla as if she was a ghost.
“Stay here a sec?” he asked me. “Let me just go see what she wants.”
“Okay.”
Matt hopped out of the truck and strode around the hood towards Leyla, who stood up as he approached. They exchanged words, but I couldn’t hear them. The body language was awkward; Leyla’s arms were folded over her chest, and Matt’s hands were stuffed in the pockets of his cargo shorts. He didn’t look her in the face. She was more direct, aggressively staring right at him. She looked angry, and maybe a little scared.
After a few minutes, Matt came back into the truck. He turned off the ignition.
“Do you want me to walk back home?” I asked.
“No,” he replied, but his voice was weak.Not convincing.
“Is she an ex-girlfriend or something?”
“No, she’s not. We never dated.” He swallowed. “I’ll explain everything. Let me just get rid of her. You go ahead into the house.” He handed me the key.
Something about the way he said that—let me just get rid of her—didn’t sit right. Regardless, I quietly accepted the keys, and we got out of the truck. I walked towards Leyla, looking her over. She was a beautiful girl, that much was undeniable. She wore a pair of short black shorts, revealing legs that seemed to go on forever. Her tan toes, decorated with a neon pink pedicure, were lined up neatly in a pair of wedge sandals paired with a thin, silver ankle bracelet. Her folded arms covered her bare waist, and her white, bedazzled tank top left little to the imagination. Her glossy, full lips were pursed in a scowl as I wordlessly passed her to get to the front door.
“Let’s go to the back deck,” Matt said to Leyla.
I went inside and shut the door behind me. The muggy August heat permeated the inside of the house, tempting me to turn on the air conditioner. The windows had been left open, though, and putting on the A/C would mean closing them. Those windows were the only chance I had at hearing Matt and Leyla’s conversation. It turned my stomach to consider what she could be here for, but even still, I didn’t want to risk the idea ofnothearing it firsthand.
I left the living room light off, since the back deck was right outside those windows, and interior light would only make it harder to see them out there. Unsure of where to position myself, I stood behindthe wall separating the living room from the kitchen, leaning my head on the cool metal of the stacked washer/dryer.
I heard Matt offer Leyla a seat, which she refused. “So, go ahead. What is it?” he asked.
“She your girlfriend?” Leyla asked.
“Taylor? Yeah.”
“Were you with her when we…” Her voice trailed off.
“No. We started dating after that. Why?”
“Just wondering.”
