Close Your Eyes (28 page)

‘Well, you make everything better.’ He shrugged
.

H
is honest and impulsive comment
left
her speechless for a moment.
She didn’t know if there even was a proper response to such a compliment.

He seemed just as surprised and embarrassed by his slip,
and
his pale cheeks
darken
ed,
nearly blushing
.
The expression
made her remember him
being
much younger and
more
awkward, a memory most welcome
,
given the situation.

‘Aha, so
you would have woken
me up to co
me with you if I
hadn’t been
here?’
She acted
outraged
,
making sure he knew she was just pretending.

‘I tried my luck calling you.’ He grinned again, his
self-confidence
restored. ‘
If
you were about to hit the hay
,
I wouldn’t
have bothered
you
,
of course. But since your mom admitted you
’d gone
back to the store to work, I followed you here. Please come with me,
Megs
. You’ll have to meet mom
sometime
soon
,
anyway. It will be nicer without all those people around, believe me.’

Resisting
Matt
was practically impossible
. S
he nodded resignedly
.
‘All right, but just for a bit,
okay
?’
H
is wide grin was her reward
,
and oddly enough
,
it seemed to be satisfying. Actually, she felt positively lightheaded
. T
he joy in his face tugg
ed
at her heartstrings and
made
it impossible to back out.

‘
Sure
, just
for
a short time.
Mom and Bill won’t have time for much more anyway,’ he agreed, his face angelic. ‘I can’t tell you how much better I feel about it already.’

‘You’ll need to give me a few moments though
,
’
She looked
down at her simple outfit. ‘
This
here takes the word casual to totally new heights.
I
biked over here
, for
G
od’s sake.
’

‘You look perfect to me
.
’
Matt
looked her up and down, giving her the uncomfortable sensation that he could see much more than she would have preferred. There was a certain quality to his gaze, blue eyes lingering on her shirt and going all the way to her feet with unhurried thoroughness.

‘
Matt
, it’s your mom we are talking about,’ she protested, remembering Elisa
Harper
.
Elisa
was the
most elegant and sophisticated woman
Megan
had ever seen
. H
er perfect clothes and make
-
up
could never
be replicated. Compared to that
,
Megan’s
bare
face and long, bouncy ponytail fell very short of the target.

‘Honestly, you look just as lovely as you did in
that
blue dress earlier today,’ he assured her chivalrously, grinning at her doubtful expression. ‘
Megs
, you could wear a potato sack and still make a fashion statement
. Y
ou know that. Come on, let’s just go
over and have a drink with them.
Afterwards,
I swear I will deliver you home before your mom decides to call my grandfather and give him
a piece of her mind
.’

‘
Not
in a million years
.
In
her eyes
,
he can do no wrong
.
’
A bitter note crept into Meg’s voice. She
shook her head. ‘
And
anyway, I may be staying at their
home
, but my apartment is rather detached from the main house. I mean, that
was the
compromise
when
my parents insisted on me living at their place.’

‘Well, don’t feel bad,
Megs
.’

He
waiting gallantly until she locked the door to the store
before he led her to his car. Cheerful and
carefee
, he opened
the car
door and invit
ed
her in with an exaggerated gesture. ‘I mean,
neither
Ry
nor
I have really moved out after we returned from university. My granddad would
have
a heart attack if we even tried. Our house ha
s
been the family’s base for the last five hundred years
,
at least
. S
o instead of people moving out, new wings keep being added to accommodate everyone. Kind of weird, compared to my
friends’
homes, but to be totally honest, I quite like it for short
periods.
Living
there
long term is a different story. Sometimes
,
I think it was one of the reasons our parents split. I mean
,
there is no real privacy
with
in those walls, when you constantly run into relatives watching your every move. Mom must have hated it by the end of her marriage
.’

Meg
wondered how Ry
an
would feel about the living situation
if they were to end up together
, and then she tried
very hard not to
dwell too long
on
the future.
She would enjoy what she had and not relent to her mom’s pressure to take it to the next level until Ry
an
felt ready to talk about it on his own
terms
.

Driving with
Matt
wasn’t something she did often, so she was pleasantly surprised at the easy ride
. His
long finger
s
barely
touch
ed
the wheel
,
and yet
he steered
the car
with graceful ease and precision
. She smiled as he turned on the music
. S
mooth notes of a poignant rhythm and blues ballad
filled
the interior of the car with its haunting beauty. She let her
head
rest
against the leather
upholstery. She was
glad
just
to be here, safe and weightless in
this
tiny universe, away from the hubbub of the world outside
its
dark
,
tinted windows. Her eyes closed on their own volition
as
the sense of safety
tempted
her into a
dreamlike
state where reality mixed with imagination.

She saw Ry
an
’s face, smiling at her with
the
tender expression she loved so much, his blue eyes wide. Her own lips curled in a response that was as easy as breathing,
and
her heart
swell
ed
with gladness.
S
uddenly
,
a woman stepped
forward
. H
er green eyes
sparkled in challenge
as she put her fingers on Ry
an
’s sleeve.
Meg
watched
the woman’s
neat,
short nails digging into
the
hospital nightgown
. Meg’s
breath
caught in her chest
as she suddenly remember
ed
that Ry
an
was in a hospital, recovering from the
shooting
. With a start
,
she was totally awake, her eyes wide open and her heart racing as if she
were
running a marathon.

‘Hey, are you
okay
? We’re here.’
Matt
’s concerned voice reached her just in time to stop her
from having
a total panic attack, which
would
have been mortifying
. She smiled weakly and nodded,
then peeked
outside the already
-
parked car.

‘You dozed off
,
and I felt guilty
for dragging
you out here, so I let you sleep,’ he admitted, his eyes still on her face.