After All - Part Four

Chapter Four

Mattie collapsed onto the sofa in her bedsit, tossing her bag onto the floor beside her. What a day...what a weekend. Who’d have thought that Dylan would turn up like a blast from the past?

 But he did, he had...

Closing her eyes for a moment, she sighed, hell, that was what this was.  Jumping to her feet she crossed the room and pulled open the fridge. Inside was a pack of bottled beer, tugging one free, she cracked it open and took a long slug, she had a feeling that alcohol was going to be essential to get through the next few weeks...perish the thought that he’d hang around for months.

TV, beer and a delivered Chinese summed up her Saturday night. And despite being in work for forty hours, she still couldn’t find sleep; panic and fear were keeping her awake.  He’d be gone soon; she could get back to normal, that was what she had to keep telling herself.

Damned jetlag! Dylan had been pacing since five am; there was little sleep in him despite feeling shattered. When he finally accepted that there was no chance of falling back asleep, he decided to check out the one part of the hotel he hadn’t been near - the gym.

After working through his usual regime he finished on the treadmill, enjoying the run whilst looking out towards the hotel entrance, the sun rising over the trees, the birds flying around.  He missed Britain, he’d spent most of the last three years out of the country, and it was the simple things that made him glad to be home.

As he slowed down to a jog, he noticed a lonely figure entering the driveway from the road. Initially he thought it was a boy and he was suspicious, but as the person got closer he could see it was a woman, wearing jeans, a hoodie and a baseball cap, but she was carrying a suit bag over her shoulder. It wasn’t until she was close, almost at the entrance that he realised it was Matilda. Suddenly he was puzzled all over again, why was she here...he glanced at the clock...at seven am on a Sunday morning? Where had she walked from? He’d have imagined that she’d have parked her car in the car park. Weren’t staff allowed to do that?

Stopping the treadmill, he sighed, he wanted to talk to her, get over any animosity, once they’d been good friends.

Before taking a shower he called reception and ordered breakfast for two, once he’d cooled down and got clean, he dressed in his jeans and a t-shirt, then collected the food from reception.

Mattie was taking some time, she had a suit to put on, she liked to maintain a professional demeanour at all times, but these sneaky hours early in the morning were her time, and she took the liberty of opening up her computer and making a jug of coffee in her casual clothes. When there was a knock at the door she groaned, she didn’t like being caught out...but she was human.

                “Yep?”

She was pulling her suit from the protective case it had been in to travel in on the tube when she heard the door open.

                “So you ARE human after all!”

Mattie instantly froze at the sound of Dylan’s voice. He was honestly the last person she expected to hear enter the room, and once again she felt her heckles rise at the thought of more confrontation.

                “I can’t do this Dylan...” she offered as she turned towards him, then she paused seeing the tray of food he carried in his hands.

Giving her a smile he lifted an eyebrow, “we don’t have to ‘do’ anything, I just saw you arrive from my treadmill...jetlag...” he added quickly, “I presumed you may not have eaten either?”

She hadn’t but she wasn’t about to let him know that, then her stomach gave a traitorous growl as the smell of bacon wafted into her olfactory system.

Giving a giggle, he wafted the plate in front of her, “I smell coffee?”

Frustrated she succumbed, filling a mug, “I presume you still take it black?”

Nodding he took the mug, dumping the plate of bread and bacon on her desk. They ate in a form of silence, both surprisingly ravenous. Once their plates were empty, Dylan stood and took her mug, refilling it from the coffee machine. As he handed it back he smiled.

                “So you’re managing this place?”

She nodded, “I am.”

Dylan sighed, “what we can’t work together?”

She laughed at that, “really? Have you forgotten all that happened between us?”

He shook his head, “of course not! How could I? But I had hoped that we had moved past that. It was a long time ago.”

Mattie turned to him, “so you think I can forget what you did?”

He rolled his eyes, “we were young, and we fell out. It got ugly. Are you forgetting that we were friends before that?”

Matilda looked at him, she wasn’t someone who’d enter a marriage with just anyone, the fact that he’s said that made her wonder why she had married him. He’d been everything to her, and he’d let her down...she’d never forgive him for his mental torment, his abandonment. Sighing she looked at him.

                “We were many things Dylan, and at one point you meant everything to me. But that changed, you let me down on SO many levels. I can’t sit here and pretend that you didn’t. I understand that we have to work together, that’s been thrown at us. But I don’t have to pretend that I’m happy, that this is all that I wanted. I loved you Dylan, SO much...but you ruined that. And I am not about to welcome you back with open arms. Ok?”

He sighed, “you divorced ME!”

She nodded, “years after I should have.”

She wasn’t wrong. She’d met Dylan in her second year of university, he was a year older than her, and was the life and soul of every event. As a quiet, unassuming teenager, she’d avoided the wild parties, the drinking...coming from a family where she was the first person to attend university she wanted to do them proud, and to her that meant concentrating, focusing and getting the most out of her experience. She’d noticed Dylan immediately, her first day, and he’d been everything she’d wanted and desired, handsome, popular, witty...the whole of the student union silenced when he spoke, and if he endorsed a party, event or occasion, EVERYone joined him. And she wasn’t his only admirer, and realistically she had no idea that one day he’d notice her. But he had. And she’d always felt in his shadow, the weaker part of the relationship...when she finally succumbed to being with him that was, and she’d spent her time in his shadow. Was that why it had all ended?

Mattie sighed, Dylan was studying her, and his presence was unnerving.

                “You can’t blame me for everything. There were two of us in the marriage.”

She laughed at that, “you were seventy five percent of our marriage Dylan and you made every decision. You were the one who took every risk known to man. I’m not a risk taker, I never was. And you left me in such vulnerable positions. My confidence, my independence died in that marriage, so don’t talk about it with such revere. OK?”

She could see that he was stunned by that announcement, “I had no idea you felt that way.”

She laughed, “did you think I divorced you on a whim? Bloody hell Dyl, you always were, still are so single minded, you have NO idea what other people are thinking, do you?”

For a moment he looked hurt, what she knew about Dylan was that he didn’t cope well with criticism, and as predicted he closed down. He cleared the plates from in front of them, and Mattie watched as he made for the door, pausing to look back at her.

                “I want to meet the team in the morning.”

She nodded, “this is why it ended.”

He stared at her, then stormed out.

Mattie slumped back in her seat, infuriated with her ex husband, he lived in a bubble where nothing ever went wrong, and nothing was ever his fault. And the whole downfall was due to that. She sighed.

It hadn’t been easy giving in to the whirlwind that was Dylan Wallace. She remembered the moment he noticed her. She’d been in University for almost a year, and no one could help but admire his charm, his charisma and his vivaciousness, he filled a room, he dominated groups, and never by choice. He was a natural leader. She’d been in the library working on an assignment when he’d come across, his arms full of books and almost dropped them. She’d saved a book from hitting the floor, and he’d stared at her for a moment, then lowered himself and the reading matter to the seat opposite her.

As he scoured he books, scribbling on the jotter he had pulled from his rucksack, he kept glancing up at her, a smile on his face. She’d felt almost embarrassed by his attention. But he was all smiles and he had the ability to flatter her, boost her confidence with just a cheeky grin.

after an hour she realised she hadn’t done any work, she’d re read the same page of the same book a dozen times and had no recollection of a word of it.

                “Party in Union Street tonight. You going?”

Mattie looked at the note that had been shoved in front of her for a moment heart racing, heat rising in her cheeks. Chewing on her pen top she thought of a response, witty? Cheeky? In the end she wrote, “don’t know.” And handed it back without lifting her eyes. She could hear his chuckle at that.

                “Come...with me.” The voice made her look up; he was leaning across the desk and spoke in a theatrical whisper, “it’ll be fun.”

A few people at adjacent tables had looked up at the sounds of them conversing, and Mattie was even more embarrassed, “Say yes and I’ll shut up!”

She stared at him, eyes wide, then gave a little nod as she bit her lip, and it caused him to lean back in his seat and smile, in a cat got the cream kind of way.

He started to clear his things, forcing paper and pens into his bag.

                “I’ll pick you up at seven. Where do you live?”

Against all her better judgement she scribbled her address below his question then held her breath until he walked away with a smile. As he got to the door that led him out into the college, he turned and gave her a smile, and a wink.

She was smitten.