Page 31 of Prickly Pair
He didn’t immediately answer. He swallowed hard as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “I was in love with a girl named Amanda in college. We dated for about three years. She was from here.”
“Wait . . .” I trailed off, remembering that name. It was too small of a town not to know who he meant. “Oh. Matthew, I’m so sorry.”
His eyes glistened and he swallowed again. “Yeah. Drunk drivers. I hate them. I’ve seen so many accidents over the years, and god. She was too young. Not that there’s a right age to go, you know. But she had her whole life ahead of her. She’d worked her ass off to get into medical school in Houston, and I really thought I was going to marry her.”
“So you came here because of her?”
He nodded slowly.
It happened a few years ago, which meant he’d loved her enough to come even after all this time. My heart ached for him.
“Have you dated anyone since?”
“I’ve had sex,” he said softly. “But I haven’t dated again, no.”
Our date was a big deal, then.
And it suddenly dawned on me why he wanted to be the one driving.
I blinked back tears then reached over, sliding my hand over his thigh. I let it rest there, not really sure what else to say. “I’m sorry, Matthew.”
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up?—”
“I’m glad you did,” I said. “It’s okay to talk about her. I didn’t know Amanda very well, but I remember her. Have you ever talked to her family?”
He shook his head quickly. “No. I’ve seen them. Hell, her dad is one of my patients. But, I just haven’t been able to talk to them about it. It always felt wrong to bring her up.”
“I think they would appreciate it,” I said. “Truly.”
“It would make them sad.”
“But that’s okay sometimes,” I murmured. “It’s okay to feel sad when you remember someone you love. It’s just a reminder of how great they were. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
He exhaled slowly then glanced over at me. “How’d you get so good at this, Evie? I’ve never told anyone this.”
“Well. When Mr. Whynot passed, we all felt it.” My eyes burned even more now. “We were all devastated of course. But Avery needed me. She needed June. And we watched her go through so much. All of them. Dallas.”
“Austin.”
I nodded silently.
“He still grieves.”
“He does,” I said. “But the problem is, I don’t think he ever really had time to properly do it. You know? Because everyone suddenly needed him. Avery, Dallas, his mom, all of us. The whole town. Um . . . Sorry, I didn’t mean to talk about Austin.”
Matthew lowered one of his hands and gave mine a gentle squeeze before he settled it back on the steering wheel. “Did I ruin our date?”
“Nope. Did I?”
“Not at all.”
“Good.” We both exhaled in relief, and I smiled again. “If you ever want to talk about Amanda more, you can with me.”
“Thank you.” He cleared his throat. “Let’s talk about brighter things?”
“Yes,” I agreed.
“Like your favorite food,” he prompted.
