My Dirty Affair

Chapter Thirty Six

At two o'clock, the guests started to arrive. Mom and Dad had invited their old friends from home over, Emily had invited Allison and Kat, and my sister invited some of her friends from work. There were children attending too for Alice and Monty had a little puppy from come over from the neighbors house to keep him tamed. Scott and Matthew hadn't arrived yet.

"Are you sure you gave them the right address?" I asked Emily. She'd been preparing some drinks for our friends as we'd decided to sit outside and catch up.

"Yes. I did. Be patient."

"Right, sorry." I said.

"This is something I haven't seen from you in a long time." Emily said. "You're actually excited to see him."

"Yes, Em. It just nice to feel this way again." I put my hand on my chest, right where my heart was and felt it race.

"Are you interested in making you two exclusive?"

I hadn't mentally prepared myself to answer that question. "Uh . . ."

"Come on, you're not going to give Jon a chance and you sure as hell can not to go back to Ellis. When are you going to think about yourself for a change?"

She was right. But . . . "Jon called me this morning."

She gasped. "Shut. Up. No, he didn't."

I nodded. "Yes, he did. And I froze. I couldn't answer it."

"It's a good thing you didn't. That would've been hard to explain."

"I know. Jon and I—"

"Ah, ah, don't even make it sound like you two had a thing going on because let's face it," Emily held the tray of drinks she prepared in her hands, "he was just a rebound."

"A rebound?" I asked as I followed her.

"Yes, you used him to keep your mind off of Ellis."

We excused ourselves from the crowd gathering inside of my sister's home and made our way outside. There, Kat and Allison were busy talking before they saw us. Emily passed out drinks while I took my seat. A rebound, no way. Jon had meant more to me than just someone who passed the time.

Emily's phone chimed and she checked it. She smiled from ear to ear and quickly excused herself. I didn't think much of it because it'd probably been a call from a friend or coworker or a family member. I continued to tune into the conversation between my friends, not really paying attention to the subject, just nodding whenever someone made eye contact that way I gave off the illusion that I was listening.

"Everyone, I would like you to meet two old friends of mine—"

I turned around before she even finished the sentence. My heart stopped at the sight of Matt looking boyishly charming as ever. He'd dressed the same, casual, and laid back and devilishly handsome. His hair was pulled back into a man bun. He smiled when we made eye contact and I did my best to remain calm because while he and I knew what happened last night, as well as Emily, no one else knew of my troubles with Ellis and I had to keep to notion that I was still married. Hence, the reason why I was wearing my wedding ring.

For that, my smile dropped and I turned away from him.

"Scott and Matthew Fletcher from college?" Kat said. "Well, damn."

"There's an empty seat next to me." Allison volunteered.

I couldn't hide my annoyance when Matthew took a seat next to her, across from me, and he wasn't sitting next to me. I supposed sitting in front of me was safer and it wouldn't draw attention to the fact that I wanted this man while I had a "husband" waiting for me at home.

"Now that we're all here," Emily began, of course sitting next to Scott, holding his hand in a possessive manner in which she dared any of her friends to give him a second look, "we can all catch up."

"Right, Matt, how've you been. I never expected you to be get even hotter since college." Leave it to Kat to make the moment more awkward.

I watched Matt as he'd done the same to me, only this time he broke eye contact to look back at Kat. "Good, I moved to Florida, it's nothing."

"Not just nothing, Matty could be opening his own surf shop soon." Scott said.

I was astounded by the news as it was new to me. I was impressed. He was about to become his own boss.

"I like to surf and Florida has some amazing beaches. It's been a goal of mine for some time." Matt said.

"Melinda and I were just thinking about taking a trip to Florida on our next weekend off together. Weren't we, Mel?"

"We were?" Emily gave me a look and underneath the table she pinched me. I squeaked. "Yeah, yeah, totally."

"That's great. I'd love to show you guys what I've been working on." Matt said.

"It's pretty good. I'm proud of my little brother's hard work." Scott said.

I smiled.

"Foods ready!" Dad announced then he ducked back into the house.

We stood at once, Kat and Allison scurried inside while Emily and I lingered with Scott and Matt. I wanted to touch him, to kiss him, but I kept my distance. He pinned me with a look but I shook my head and continued inside. Meanwhile, Emily talked animatedly with Scott. Suddenly, I wished my love life were that easy.

Lunch was served in the kitchen. Dad set up an array of food he'd cooked on the grill while Mom prepared more food in the kitchen. Some of our guests bought finger food or fruits and drinks. We stood in a long line, Matt let me in front of him.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing, it's just," I balanced two hotdogs and chips on my plate, "we've got to be careful." I said in a low voice.

"Does your family know?" He meant our date last night.

"No."

"That means they don't know about . . ." Ellis, is what he wanted to say.

"No."

"I'm okay with that. Until then, we can just talk as friends."

I nodded. Although, I didn't want to, I had to be careful. I knew eventually I would have to tell my family Ellis and I were separated and that a divorce was on the horizon. "Yeah, I'd like that."

We both finished filling our plates, Matt's was higher than mine because he piled his plate with every dish of food being served. He had to use both of his hands to hold the plate. As we are about to step out line, he pressed himself against my back and whispered in my ear lowly so that we weren't overheard. I frozen, shocked he'd been so close and in front of all of our guests including my parents whom I didn't have direct sight of at the moment. My heart began to race and that familiar happy feeling began to grow in my stomach. Suddenly, I didn't care who was watching. "In all honesty, I'd rather be kissing you again."

___________________________________________

Long time, no talk. I've been busy with school and work and sometimes too tired to write. I tried to write this chapter a few weeks ago, but I was utterly stuck and found myself slipping into writers block so I left it alone. Then, I suddenly knew what to write and BAM, new chapter. One more chapter and then we go back to the drama that is waiting for Melinda at home. Personally, I can't wait to write those chapters and I've kind of been eager to write more steamy scenes with Matt and Melinda.

To be continued . . .