A fractured fairytale

25

༻ Rose's POV ༺

On the way back to the apartment, Matt stopped at a convenience store. He placed Kelsey in the shopping cart and pushed her up and down the aisles, speeding up when there was nobody else around. He managed to pull a few more giggles out of her and calm her cries slightly. He picked up a variety of groceries and a teddy bear for Kelsey before bundling it all in the car and driving us back.

"I'll make us dinner," he stated as he unloaded everything into Sierra's fridge.

"You've bought enough to make the whole building dinner every night this week!" I exclaimed, looking at the amount of food he'd grabbed. I hadn't paid much attention when he was filling the cart since he'd said he wanted to stop for a few bits but when we reached the checkouts, the cart was full and now, so was Sierra's fridge.

He only shrugged. "She needs some food in the house," he muttered, piling up the tins he had bought in the cupboards.

My eyes widened. He'd bought all of this for her. "Matt," I said, my voice barely a whisper.

He turned to me, a smile on his face. "You like spaghetti?"

I stared back at him, my heart pounding in my chest as I really studied the man in front of me. He was good looking, sure, but the most beautiful thing about him, I was beginning to learn, was his heart. I'd known he was nice, at least to me, but figured that was him flirting or putting in extra effort to try and win me over but everything he had done today only proved it had nothing to do with me. Matteo Sternato was one of the sweetest people I'd ever met.

"Are you always like this?"

His smile faltered. "Like what?"

I lifted a shoulder. "Kind. Thoughtful. Just a genuinely nice person."

His lips curved upwards. "I try to be."

I matched his expression and took a step towards him. "I like it."

For a moment we just stared at each other, smiling at the other like we didn't need words to express the way we felt about each other. A smile said enough. "Spaghetti would be great. Can I help?"

He shook his head. "No way." I frowned as he swatted me with a tea towel, causing a giggle to bubble out of me. "Go and sit down while I make dinner."

With a sigh, I did as he said and made a space on the couch to curl up. Kelsey had been put down for a nap when we got back and the silence coming from the next room indicated she'd finally fallen asleep. I switched the TV on and settled in for a while but my eyes were heavy from the lack of sleep and the long day we'd had so I found myself drifting off quickly.

When I woke, it was to the smell of food. The whole room held a delicious aroma of garlic bread baking in the oven. I smiled and stretched, blinking my eyes open to find a pillow beneath my head and a blanket draped over me that wasn't there before. I rubbed at my bleary eyes and then moved to sit up. The TV was off and the curtains along the back wall had been pulled open, allowing the late afternoon sun to pour into the room, casting everything in a golden glow.

I frowned when I scanned my surroundings in the new lighting. The floor had been cleared of all the toys and they were now packed away in the large box in the corner of the room. A candle was burning on the coffee table in front of me and a mug of steaming hot chocolate sat beside it. The light overhead was now suddenly fixed, no longer flickering incessantly. When I turned to where Matt stood, his back to me at the stove, I saw the cleared worktops, no rubbish in sight, and the small table in the centre was set with a few mismatched dishes and cutlery, another candle burning in the centre.