Page 3 of Never Forever

It wasn’t like I hadn’t anticipated seeing Matt again. There was going to have to be a confrontation at some point. It was probably best to get it over with and maybe finally I could move on with my life.

Reallymove on.

I opened the door and stepped inside. Hair and makeup had long since packed up and moved out and the room was dark and quiet.

Matt came in behind me and shut the door. I pressed a hand to my stomach and tried to get as much space between us as I could. But the room was shrinking with every breath.

Why couldn’t he have lost his hair or something? Gotten hideously scarred in a ferry boat accident? Why did he have to look so much like the boy I’d loved?

The boy who’d destroyed me.

“What are you doing, Carrie?” He asked, cold and indifferent.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m sure you’ve heard. I’m here to make a movie.”

“Bullshit. You’re Carrie Piedmont. You just starred in a movie with Tom Cruise and now you’re in some tv Christmas movie called Snowman Magic?”

“You haven’t read the script,” I shrugged. “It’s captivating.”

“Why here?” He asked, and that was something I would never tell him. Not ever.

“Why doyoucare?” I shot back.

He frowned and ran his hand through his hair. A habit any time he got frustrated. Usually with me.

“Because it’s never easy when you’re here.”

“Not easy for whom?” I asked. “Because I am delighted to be back in Calico Cove.” It wasn’t a lie. But it wasn’t the whole truth either. I sure as shit wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing how hard this was for me.

It hurt. It physically hurt being in this room with him.

Another hand through his hair and another growl. If I was the kind of woman who kept score, I’d say I was winning this little battle.

“Listen,” he said in his calm, I mean business voice. “I’ll do everything I can to stay out of your way. But you need to do the same. For me.”

“No problem.”

“And my dad.”

Anger flared through me.

“What do you think I’m going to do to your dad?” I snapped.

“It broke his heart when you left.”

I gasped. I couldn’t help it. Matt Sullivan wanted to talk to me about broken hearts?

I’d had friends tell me, during drunken nights, late after the clubs closed, when I’d broken the lock on my feelings for Matt, that it was okay to still be hung up on him. Some people never really got over their first love, they just moved on.

I’d had a therapist tell me that the reason I’d carried around the trauma of our breakup for so long was because it happened at a pivotal time in my life. And because of the way he’d broken my heart, it only made sense that I had trust issues.

Andhewas going to dictate the terms of my return to Calico Cove?

“What if I don’t?” I asked.

I stalked toward him, in the green dress with the tiny red belt that was supposed to say Christmas, but the way it hugged my curves, really said sin. I lifted my hand up to the clip that held my red hair up in a bun and released it.

I watched his eyes flare, his breathing pick up.

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