Another writing exercise where Matt meets up with a past flame...hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading and the feedback!
Matt walked past the store windows that advertised the annual celebration of love affairs around the globe. He had been looking for a gift for his valentine who was sitting at home with her feet up after spending all day arguing a case inside a courtroom. Her last trial before going on maternity leave in a couple of months to await the birth of their first child had just ended.
Not that her workdays would slow down, but she would spend the rest of her time at her job writing and researching briefs in other cases and interview the women and girls that she helped. They both had remained in Houston longer the day earlier to have dinner with friends of theirs who had gotten together at the home of Dan and Chris to eat dinner. It had been too cold to barbecue so they had instead cooked the steaks indoors along with baked potatoes and vegetables. Matt had gotten C.J. away from Fran's twins and Chris' young son long enough to sit down while he prepared her dish.
She had rolled her eyes at him but he just winked back and disappeared into the kitchen.
"I can get my own food," she said.
Chris laughed.
"He knows that," she said, "Men just get like this when their women are expecting and you have…grown a bit."
C.J. looked down and had to agree.
"It's still a while yet," she said, "but I think I can almost see the home stretch."
Fran laughed.
"That's what I thought and then I exploded and couldn't see my feet."
Chris shot her a look.
"But you had twins," she said, "C.J. you aren't having more than one are you?"
She shrugged.
"So far it looks like just one inside there," she said, "At least according to the last sonogram."
Fran smiled.
"That's what I thought with the first one but the next one…so maybe you're safe."
Chris just patted C.J.'s shoulder.
"One will be enough for you to handle," she said, "But you'll love almost every minute of it, you both will."
When Matt had walked in with their plates of food, he saw her sitting there, her hand absently on her abdomen as it usually was these days and with a smile lighting up her face. He stood there and watched her for a long moment, transfixed at the woman he had loved since the moment she had walked into his life. Of course, it took him years to get his head straight and listen to what his heart had been telling him all along but life had more than made up for his shortcomings in that area. Not that life hadn't rocked their life with some serious challenges which had nearly ripped them apart, but the two of them had worked their way through whatever had been thrown at them, learning along the way that they belonged together rather than apart.
After that dinner, they had driven back to the ranch where they lived since just before they were married and he had thought about the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday which he hadn't meant to forget but their lives had gotten so busy especially preparing for the new addition who would be joining them in several months. When they had come to look at the old ranch house, C.J. had loved it so much because it had plenty of space for a growing family. But it did need a whole lot of work done to fix it up first. And they had just gotten it done under the wire, barely. Now they lived there some miles outside of Houston.
C.J. had settled in the living room by the fire to review some old case law while he finished typing up some contracts on his computer. Then he looked up for just the right word phrasing and had seen her looking at him, with that look. He gazed back at her and one thing led to another because they were still newlyweds after all.
Matt had finished organizing his caseload and taken an early lunch to go look for a gift for his wife. He had gone the previous day at lunch but then had wound up in a home improvement store looking at some power tools until it had been time to meet with a prospective client. Today, he stopped by the window with custom made jewelry.
"Well, look at you," a woman's voice came from behind him.
A familiar one.
He turned around and saw a blonde woman with blue eyes who he knew as Faith dressed in a business dress looking at him.
"Hi Faith," he said.
"Hello yourself Matlock," she said, "Haven't seen you around much since you came back."
"I've been traveling a lot," he said, "and I don't live here."
She digested that.
"I heard you're working in Dan's security firm," she said, "That's quite a step up from when you used to be an investigator."
He ignored the dig.
"I still do that line of work," he said, "For Dan's firm and I take outside cases at all if you're interested in hiring."
She flipped her hair back.
"I've been traveling a lot myself," she said, "for my husband's car dealerships. I'm his marketing person."
He smiled.
"I can't think of someone better for the job," he said, "How's your husband doing?"
She smiled broadly.
"He's doing fine," she said, "How's the wife?"
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"She's doing great," he said, "You know I married C.J."
She smiled, but with no mirth in her eyes.
"Ah yes," she said, "Well she did always have that big crush on you since we were dating."
"She did huh…"
"Oh yes, she wore her heart on her sleeve that one," Faith said, "I think she was jealous of what we shared."
Matt's brow furrowed.
"We didn't go out that long," he said, "As I recall, you broke my heart and dumped me for the linebacker."
The smile left her face.
"I wish I had known how he was," she said, looking at her nails.
"You married him."
She looked up at him, her eyes fluttering in surprise.
"Well you married her."
He looked at her, wondering what she was getting at though he did remember that she and C.J. had never really seen eye to eye. And C.J. had been right about her and kind enough not to rub it in when he got dumped.
"I sure did."
"How did that happen?"
Matt scratched his head, pretending to think about it.
"I married the woman I fell in love with," he said, "Isn't that how it usually happens?"
She just scowled.
"I heard she got pregnant before the wedding…"
Matt smiled.
"Well, that was kind of my fault."
Her lips tightened.
"And it could have happened after she agreed to marry me."
She folded her arms and studied him and Matt felt as if he were back under her magnifying glass. He remembered back when he had fallen hard for her in his younger days but that hadn't been enough for her. C.J. and Matt hadn't attended the same high school but when they ran into each other at football games, she would ask him how things were going with Faith. He would say they were fine and then she would ask him why he still hung out with the cheerleader who liked to drive around in his fancy car or accompany him to social galas but otherwise, couldn't be bothered to see him. Matt had defended her to C.J. but when he sat alone and thought about it, he didn't really have any answers to her questions.
As it turned out, he didn't really need them because a month after the last time C.J. had challenged him on that relationship, Faith had dumped him for the linebacker. He had taken it hard at first as hard as he took any of his failed relationships. C.J. had shown up at the football field after Faith had dumped him when practice had ended and had taken him out for a meal at their favorite diner. It hadn't taken her that long to cheer him up and soon enough, they had been laughing together over their burgers and fries. He had climbed back on the horse so to speak after dusting off his ego and had gotten together with Heidi the following week and life had moved on eventually pushing him forward to where he stood today with the woman who had been right with him the whole time.
Faith just stared at him.
"I really can't believe it," she said, "I mean I guess I always thought we'd get back together."
Matt remembered the time when he had believed or even had hoped that she would return to him or that he could win her back. But that day had never happened because she had been tied up in her new boyfriend after all. The one she had wound up marrying.
"Faith, it was never going to work out between us," he said, "It never could work out and we're two very different people."
Her lip trembled.
"If I knew how you were going to turn out," she said, "I would have changed. Really I would have."
And Matt heard something in his voice that led him to believe that she meant her words. But it wouldn't have made any difference because she had never been accepting of who he had really been underneath the trappings of playing varsity football. All she had seen was a wealthy playboy who looked at football and his schoolwork as hobbies even though he had taken them both seriously as he did with important things.
"Faith…you can't change for someone else" he said, "I wouldn't expect you to and it never would have worked out even if you did."
"You don't know that for sure Matt," she said, a smile forming, "We could have made it work."
He shook his head.
"You can't force somethings Faith and one of them is love," he said, "I don't think we ever were in love with each other but more for the idea of what we wanted in each other."
She looked puzzled.
"How do you know that it wasn't love between us," she asked,
"I didn't know then," he said, "but I do now."
She read his eyes and knew what she saw there and it didn't include her. It hadn't for a long time because he had found his own path in life and what it brought him showed in his face.
"I wish it could have worked out differently."
Matt studied her hearing the pain etched in her voice but like he, his ex-girlfriend just had to find her own way. And somewhere her husband sat waiting for his wife.
"I think we both went into the directions we needed to go," he said, "I found my happiness where it had been all along. Maybe it's time for you to do the same."
She looked at him almost as to say something but she just nodded. Then an older man with dark hair appeared, who still looked as if he could tackle anyone over a piece of pigskin.
"Faith, there you are," the man said and after glancing over at Matt, she smiled at him.
"Here I am darling," she said, reaching for his arm.
The man looked Matt over.
"Hey I remember you," he said, "Didn't you go to high school around here?"
Matt nodded.
"Played football?"
"Yes I did," he said, "I quarterbacked."
The man looked at him and Matt wondered if he would remember that they had played on the same team and had fallen for the same cheerleader. But the man just smiled and they both said goodbye and departed. Matt watched him go and then headed inside the jewelry store.
Later, he walked into the living room where C.J. lay on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. He saw that she had fallen asleep with a lawbook on her lap and he carefully extricated it from her embrace. She murmered and snuggled into her blanket, her hand resting on her abdomen.
He sat in his chair and picked up a magazine to read it. His gift had been tucked away until he would present her with it the next day, having completed his quest under the wire and counting the minutes until he could give it to her.