Chapter 9

Friday afternoon at four thirty Matt picked Claire up for the fair. "I should have brought flowers huh?" He smiled as he opened the passenger side door for her.

"Yes, you should have. What kind of cheap date are you," Claire said laughing.

"How about I win you the big stuffed animal then? Would that make up for it?"

Claire acted as though she were thinking it over before saying, "I guess so, yes."

Laughing together they drove to the fair, parking in the lot and then hand in hand heading to the gate. Matt bought a ton of tickets, making Claire wonder how many times he planned to ride each ride there. He neatly folded the line of tickets and slid them into his pocket before taking her hand back in his. Claire loved the feeling of being close to someone with no pressure, no worries about anything at all

After riding every ride twice he led her over to a ball toss game. He turned to her and smiled. "So my lovely lady, which one would you like to take home tonight?"

Claire giggled and pointed up to a big pink frog. Matt was determined to win it for her and that determination was written all over his face. As he tossed the last ball and it landed smoothly in the old antique milk can he turned to her with a triumphant smile. The carnie working the game took the huge frog down off the hook and handed to her. She beamed at Matt over the gigantic head of the stuffed animal.

"No one's ever won me anything before. Thank you." She leaned over and kissed his cheek before taking his hand to head toward the exit.

"Matt, hey man, how are you?"

Claire and Matt stopped at the sound of the lilting accent speaking. Matt shook hands with a monster of a man, the very example of everything Claire didn't want in her life. She looked slowly up to see a huge chest and tree trunk arms, wide shoulders and bright red hair. Her five feet three inch frame was dwarfed in the giant mans presence. Even had she not heard him speak it was abundantly obvious that he was Irish, a Ginger at its best, with his red hair and freckled face and arms.

"Claire this is Stephen, Stephen meet Claire. She moved here a few months back from Louisiana. She is a marketing student at the local college in Tampa."

Stephen took her hand in his and smiled a greeting. "Hello Claire, how are you tonight"

"Fine thanks," she said, her voice sounding aloof and hard even to herself. She didn't mean to come off as rude, and hoped that she didn't, but she wanted to keep her distance from this man. He seems nice enough but he was everything Claire didn't want in her life.

She stood silent as Matt and Stephen talked for a minute and then waved when they started to part ways. "You were really quiet back there, everything okay?"

"It's fine, and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to seem rude at all, it's just he took me off guard. He was massive, even if he seemed nice enough he isn't a person I would want in my life."

Matt smiled softly at her. "He wouldn't hurt a fly," he said, trying not to think about the career that he and Stephen shared. "He just a big old Irishmen who has a heart of gold, but I understand where you're coming from."

They made the ride back to her house in silence. Matt walked her in and they shared a glass of tea before he said goodnight and headed to his own house. He knew that Claire wouldn't even think about Stephen in any way, not if it included him being in her life even as a friend. He had a feeling that things would get interesting if he had read the light in Stephen's eyes right that night, and he only hoped that he could be there to see Claire through it all. She needed to open herself up to love again, even to a massive monster, as she had described him, like Stephen.

A loud shrieking woke Matt up the next morning and with his eyes still squeezed tightly closed he flung his arm out to silence the alarm clock. When the insistent shriek continued he grabbed the alarm and threw it across the room, thinking that surely when it connected with the wall it would stop yelling. The thud of the clock echoed in his room, yet the shriek continued.

"What in the living hell is the damn deal," he said wiping the sleep from his eyes. When he cracked on eye he saw his cell phone on the table, lit up with a loud yell. Grabbing it he snapped it open. "I hope this is damn important, whatever it is!"

"Morning sunshine," Stephen said. "I think it's rather important actually. Why don't you hop up grab some coffee and call me when you get to moving?"

"You called to wake me up at this hour, just to say call you back after I get coffee? You really are a sick monster. What's the deal man?"

"At this hour eh, you do realize that hour is going on ten, right? Get your coffee and call me back. This is going to take more than a few minutes son."

Climbing out of the bed and padding his way into the bathroom Matt washed his face before heading to the kitchen. His apartment wasn't huge, and it was nothing special at all. He liked it though. It was enough for him and that was the important thing. Putting on a pot of coffee he sat down at the small table that made up his dining room area. Fifteen minutes later he was eating a strawberry cream cheese bagel and drinking his second cup of coffee. He looked to his cell phone with a scowl, thinking that it didn't really matter what the hour was, he had been sleeping good and it had disrupted that sleep.

When Stephen answered the call on the third ring Matt said, "Alright I've had two cups of coffee and a bagel covered in strawberry cream cheese. What the hell was so damn important that you just couldn't wait until tonight to talk to me at the arena?"

Laughing Stephen said, "Are you always so fekking cranky in the morning? No wonder you haven't found a woman to put up with you. Or have you?"

"You called to talk about my love life? I'm hanging up now."

"No wait a minute, I was kidding you," Stephen said still chuckling. "I did however call you to talk about women. In particular the one you were with last night at the fair. What's going on between you two?"

It took Matt a full half a minute to register what his friend was asking him. He felt his stomach drop at the thought that Stephen was interested in Claire, not because he was a bad guy but because of the life Claire had lived to this point. Because he knew that the last thing Claire would want would be any type of relationship with Stephen. He would love to see her change her mind about the fiery Irishman, but he didn't know that she would ever be able to that.

"Matt, you there man? Are you two dating or what?"

Snapping himself back to the phone conversation Matt cleared his throat. "No, no we aren't dating at all. She isn't looking for anything like a relationship right now. She is like a sister to me though."

"She's not looking for a relationship eh? What if a relationship just happened to find her? She's beautiful, no denying that fact."

"Oh no you don't big guy. Not her, not now. She isn't your typical woman Stephen, and I can't explain it to you, just know that she isn't ready for anything, whether it finds her or not. Please this one time just trust me and don't try anything with her, okay?"

"You sure that you two aren't an item?"

"I'm positive, I just know her."

Five minutes later the two ended the call and Matt got ready to head to the gym before heading to the arena tonight. He thought about the call and he knew that Stephen could very well be just the man to show Claire that all guys were not like her ex-husband, if only she would give him the chance. The thing was she was dead set against any relationship, but especially anything with someone like Stephen. Hell he was worried about his friendship with her once she found out that he was a wrestler. Taking a deep breath as he walked into the gym he pushed it all out of his head and began his workout.