Even 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?”