Maybe Matt's Miracle(74)

I watch the two of them. Sky pulls her in and holds her close, rubbing her back softly for a second. What the f*ck happened in the bathroom?

April steps back and wipes her eyes.

“I’m glad you hit him,” I tell April.

She smiles a watery smile. “Me, too.” She takes a breath. “Matt, I’m sorry for everything,” she whispers.

“I know.” What else can I say?

I pull Sky into my side and drop my arm around her shoulders. “It all turned out okay,” I say. “For me, anyway.”

April blows out a breath. “I got what I deserved.”

I nod. What the f*ck else am I supposed to say?

Sky elbows me in the side.

“What?” I ask. I rub my ribs.

“I know I got what I deserved.” She lays a hand on her belly, and my heart clenches for her. “I picked passion over love and look where it got me. I could have been stable and happy.”

Yeah, but she wouldn’t have been pregnant right now. That part I don’t share with her because it’s none of her business.

April holds out her arms. “Can I hug you, Matt?” she asks tentatively.

Sky and I both say, “No,” at the very same time. April lets her arms drop, and she smiles.

“I don’t blame you,” April says. “For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t want to hug me, either.”

“I’m not mad at you, April. Not anymore.” I can tell her that much. And I don’t mind letting her know.

“Now you feel sorry for me?” she asks.

“I feel hopeful for you,” I say. I squeeze Sky to me. “Take care of that baby, okay?”

“I will,” she says with a nod. She walks to the door, and Sky opens it for her. “Thanks again, Sky.”

Sky nods, and April walks out of my life, hopefully for the very last time.

I draw Sky into a hug and whisper to her, “I’m so glad you got here when you did.”





Skylar



It feels really good in Matt’s arms. I let him hold me for a second and then I step back, shove him gently, and shake my finger at him. “What would you have done with her if I hadn’t shown up?”

He scratches his chin. “I have no idea.” He laughs.

Paul chuckles from the couch. “Damn,” Paul says. “Talk about looking like what the cat dragged in…”

I shoot Paul a look, and he rolls his shoulders in, trying to make himself smaller. But he’s not truly contrite. I know that much.

“I kind of feel sorry for her,” I admit. “You didn’t see her in the bathroom.”

“Thank God,” Paul mutters. “She had a lot of f*cking nerve coming here.”

“She didn’t have anywhere else to go,” I tell him. “She lives with Kenny now, as of last week. And she just hit him over the head with a heavy object.” I laugh. That part makes me laugh.

“But she couldn’t possibly think that she would be welcome here,” Paul says.

“She’s made a lot of enemies. She’s not welcome in many places.” I point toward the bathroom. “Her dress is still in the tub. She said to burn it.”

“Can I just toss it out the window?” Paul asks.

I shrug. “She doesn’t care what you do with it.”

“You okay?” Matt asks, his gaze as soft as his fingertips, which drag across my forehead, pushing my hair from my face.

I jerk my thumb toward the door. “April and I had a long talk. Well, I talked, and she listened. I think she got it.”

His eyes narrow. “What did you tell her?”

I look toward his bedroom door. “Can we talk privately?”

He takes my elbow, much like I took April’s, and he leads me toward his room. Paul makes a coughing noise from the couch. He looks like he’s about to hock up a lung. He jerks his thumb toward the kitchen, and Matt rolls his eyes, goes to the kitchen, and comes back with a handful of condoms. They have a drawer full of condoms? In the kitchen? What?

Matt laughs as he closes the bedroom door behind us. He tosses the condoms onto the dresser. There are about twenty of them. “You were feeling kind of ambitious, huh?” I ask.

“A man can hope,” he says over a chuckle. “So what did you tell April?” he asks as he sits down on the edge of his bed.

“I told her that I appreciated her need for help this time, but that I’d appreciate it even more if she never sought you out again.”

He nods and makes a noise low in his throat. “Nice,” he says. “I like it.”

“I think she understood what I was talking about.”

“What else did you tell her?” He kicks his shoes off and reaches behind him to pull his shirt over his head the way men do. I look at the frog on his belly.

“I told her your frog prince has met his frog princess.”

He laughs. “You did not.”

“It was something like that.”

“I was just talking with Logan tonight about drawing a frog princess for me to put beside this one. I want your name inked on my skin, too. Something permanent.”

“That’s sexy,” I say.

“So are you,” he says quietly. He shoves his pants down over his hips.