Thanks again for the wonderful reviews you guys have given. This chapter is the continuation of the previous one...Don't worry, it's not that bad. It's just a confrontation scene between our favorite couple, Matt & Mimi. I hope you like it!
Hybrid Fairy - thanks for the positive review. I'm glad you liked it! You really made my day! K14princess-ROCK - you've got a really cool name there! Thanks for the review. I hope you keep on reading. A Fire Inside - it's pretty hard to change & re-write this story again, but I'll keep your advice & work on my stuff. Thanks a bunch! jack-e -you'll find out more about Matt & Mimi's past in the next chapters. It's like, in every chapter, you get to learn something new so you better stick around! lol
Chapter Six
Matt pushed the door open. He saw Mimi scrambling up from her chair.
"You can't come bursting in here anytime you want!" She said. "Please respect my right to some privacy."
"Meems," he moved forward but stopped a few feet away from her. With a pleading gesture, he said, "I'm not your enemy. You seem to think of me as some kind of threat..."
"You're wrong, Matt. I don't think of you at all."
He sighed. This conversation was going nowhere near the direction he wanted it to.
He started again. "All I wanted to ask was...did you find the cemetery?"
"Yes."
"And your father's grave?"
"Yes."
"I know," he said, "it must've been tough..." To his dismay, he saw a mist of tears in her eyes. Tears which she quickly blinked away.
"What was tough," she said levelly, "was finding out from the caretaker that before my father died, he was...incarcerated (for heaven's sake!)...in Brickstone Nursing Home."
"Incarcerated...that's kind of harsh, Mimi."
"Harsh? I don't think so! As I recall, the only people who ended up at Brickstone were people who couldn't afford anything better." She placed her hands on her waist, her expression in distress. "I don't understand how my father ended up there when he had tons of money."
"Most of it was apparently invested in the stock market & a few years after you left, he lost all of it. It was the reason of his storke."
She swallowed hard & her voice became shaky as she asked, "How did he cope...after his stroke?"
He knew she was finding this conversation difficult, but there's no way he could make it any easier for her. "Ha had to have a round-the-clock attendant."
"Where did he get the money for that?"
"He decided to mortage the house. In the end, he had to put the place up for sale to pay his debts. The day before I put in my offer, he had another stroke. And then a few weeks later, he had his fatal heart attack..."
"How sad to end up like that. With no family around & in a place like Brickstone. I should have come home years ago." Mimi hid her face in her hands & started to cry.
He couldn't bear to see her so distressed. With a groan, he closed the space between them & drew her tenderly into his arms. "I knew this would be tough for you," he murmured into her ear. "That's why I wanted to come along. But you didn't want me around. You wanted no part of me."
She felt so fragile, he was afraid she might snap in his embrace. Anguish twisted his heart. She had once been his and through a moment of stupidity & immaturity, he had lost her. He looked down on her as she leaned against him, weeping gently. And he felt a ray of hope.
She wasted no time in telling him she was independent, but...was she really so independent? She wasn't fighting him now, was she? Maybe this would be an opportunity for him to make amends.
"Mimi, please let me help you," he begged. "I'd do anything to..."
She quickly jerked away from him, & with a hiccuping sob, glared at him through eyes that shone with tears. "I don't need help." She dashed aa hand over her eyes. "And if I did, you'd be the last person in the world I'd turn to. I can handle this on my own!"
Once again, she was a fighter. Mimi Tachikawa was no longer the easily intimidated, innocent girl she had been at eighteen; she was strong & she was determined. And she didn't need him in her life. He was going to have to accept that, but it wasn't going to be easy.
"Just tell me one more thing," she said in a softer tone, "about this house."
"Anything," Matt replied.
"My father was under pressure to sell."
"Yeah, he was..."
"So you got yourself a good deal? I mean, if he was under pressure..."
"What are you saying, Mimi?" But he knew damned well what she was saying. She was implying that he took advantage of an old man's desperate financial need.
"So, tell me," she said with an accusing look, "were you happy with the deal you made?"
He somehow managed to hide the anger he felt at her insinuating tone. "Happy?" He said with a careless shrug. "I wouldn't have used the word 'happy', but I was certainly more than satisfied."
"I bet!" Her scorn was blatant.
He wanted to get that contemptuous expression away. He burned to tell her exactly why he had bought Laurel House, but his pride wouldn't let him. And what did it matter anyway? In her eyes, he could never redeem himself for the mistakes he did to her eight years ago.
"Okay," he rubbed a hand wearily over his jaw. "I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."
He left her standing there & he didn't look back.
Next day was sunny & very warm, and Mimi decided to attend the eleven o'clock service at the nearest church. But when she tried to start her car, she found she had carelessly let it run out of gas.
Even if she wanted to (which she didn't!), she couldn't have asked Matt to drop her off as she heard him leave the house an hour before. So she took off at a brisk pace & walked a couple of miles into town.
By the time she got to the church, it was five after eleven, & she heared the choirs singing. The music faded to an end as she pushed open the double doors, & in the bustle of movement as everyone sat down, she slipped unnoticed into one of the back pews.
"Matt, will you go to the basement & pick up the boys from Sunday school?" Sora adjusted the brim of her straw hat as she looked up at Matt. They were standing near the exit, jostled together by the jovial crowd making its way out to the street on this lovely sunny Sunday.
"You're not coming down?" he asked.
"No, I need to dash home to check on the roast. Will you pick up the boys & take them to my place?"
"Sure, no problem. But Sora..."
"Mmm?" She was impatient as a horse at the starting gate. "What is it, Matt? I really must go."
"Ok, honey, go ahead. But," he rested his hand on her shoulder, "I need to have a talk with you...today."
Her eyes took on a luminous glow. "My parents invited the boys to come over after lunch. We'll be on our own & we can talk privatey." She ran a hand down his striped silk tie. "Hurry home, Matt. I'll be waiting."
Mimi walked along Fourth Avenue, the echo of her steps made a rather lonely sound on the Sunday - quiet street. She slipped away before the choir sang the final song. She knew she'd have to face everyone eventually, but she decided to put it off another day.
She still felt drained afterher visit to the cemetery; & her confrontation with Matt last night didn't help. Nor had it helped when he pulled her into his arms.
For a moment, she swallowed herself the luxury of leaning on him. But when he offered, in that soothing sexy voice, to help her, to do anything...
His words had jerked her back into reality as surely as if he had slapped her face. She could not depend on this man and she should never forget it.
Picking up her pace, she was almost at the corner of the block when a sudden squeal of tires grabbed her attention. A red car had stopped in the road just ahead & was now backing up toward her.
When it stopped, she saw the driver was a woman...wearing a floral dress, a wide brimmed straw hat & sunglasses that hid her eyes.
"Mimi?" The car window was open & the woman's tone was high with astonishment. "Mimi Tachikawa? Is it really you?"
Mimi frowned. "I'm sorry but I don't..."
The stranger's laugh gurgled out. "Oh, Meems, it's me!" She took off her hat & sunglasses and tossed them onto the passenger seat. "There, is that better?" She ruffled a hand through her short auburn hair & poked her head out the window.
It was Sora Tekeneuchi. Mimi felt a surge of delight. She & Sora had been friends all the way up to school, until she was thirteen, at which time, Sora has to move away to a different town. She & sora had lost touch after that.
"Sora!" Leaning over, she brushed a kiss over her friend's warm cheek. "It's wonderful to see you again. How have you been? When did you come back to Odaiba? What are you doing now?"
"It's a long story. I'd love for us to get together & catch up on each other's news, but I don't have time right now. I'm on my way home to rescue a roast from the oven. I'm making a special lunch for my crew."
"Your crew?"
"I'm a widow with two little boys and," Sora's cheeks turned red, "there's a man in my life...you probably wouldn't know him." She didn't wait for Mimi to respond, but just barreled on. "Anyway, he & I have been seeing each other for a while now & we have an...understanding. And before very long, I expect..." she broke off with a vexed 'Tsk!' and gushed on, "Oh, I shouldn't have said that! Matt...Yamato Ishida, that's his name...probably wouldn't want me to be talking about it. You wouldn't say anything to a soul, will you?"
Mimi hoped she didn't look as numb as she felt. She somehow managed to say, "No, I won't say a word." Sora & Matt. Sora was the woman he'd been with at the park.
"Thanks, I really appreciate it!" Sora set her car in motion again & as she pulled away, she called back merrily, "Give me a call, Mimi! My number's in the phonebook. It's under Kamiya, my married name. Sora Kamiya. We'll have coffee together soon ok...and by then I should have some lovely news to share with you!"
AN: I was planning to make Sora & Mimi's meeting a cliffy to have a little bit of suspense, but I thought better, so I included it here coz some of you were dying to know what Sora's reaction will be if she saw Mimi...But she still doesn't know that Mimi's staying over at Matt's house, so you guys better watch out for it coz it's coming up in chapter 7.
Don't forget to leave a review! lol :)
