It was her cottage. That is what she told family and friends when the came visiting. It didn't have the hustle and bustle of city life, nor did it have the nosy neighbours of village life. It was perfect for her.
She had bought it a year ago, having saved for what felt like ages. It was worth it though, it had a flower garden in front and a porch in the back. She had flowers in the spring time and a cool place to read in the summer time. A fireplace kept her warm in the winter and she could watch the leaves change in the autumn.
At last she felt at home and although, at times, she felt lonely, for the most part she was happy.
"I heard Matthew divorced his wife." Her mother was visiting and over a cup of tea, she was bringing her up to date on the gossip in the village.
"Hmm, is that so," she said, distractedly.
"Yes, he asked after you, he did," her mother continued, going into a play by play recount of her and Matthew's encounter. She suspected her mother was elaborating some parts as she doubted Matthew would have remembered her as nothing more than the bookworm who wore glasses.
"I gave him your number," her mother said.
"What!!! Why did you do that?!? Really, mother, sometimes you go too far!" she exclaimed, tired of her mother butting into her life.
No, she didn't have a husband, not even a boyfriend, but that didn't mean she was not happy. Her mother had no reason to worry that she would become that odd cat lady. In fact, she hated cats. It's not as though her mother would never have grandchildren, the truth was she already had four from her two siblings.
"I thought the two of you would have a go at it, seeing you are single and he is newly single," her mother replied to her question.
She sat back and sighed, "When did you convince him to call me?" she asked dejectedly. What's done is done. All she could do was deal with the phone call and move on with her life.
"Tonight, around 7:30, you should have had dinner by then and would either be watching TV or reading a book," he mother gaily answered.
"Is my nightly schedule so predictable?" she asked, sadly.
The older woman patted he shoulder, "I can set by clock by you, love."
It was about 7:15 that evening, when she was debating if she should take the phone off the hook that it rang. She had been staring at the phone and the unexpected ringing made her jump. With shaky hands, she answered the phone.
"Hello."
"Hello, is this .........?" a deep, husky voice asked.
"Yes, this is she. Is this Matthew?"
"Yes, I got your number from your mother and she insisted that I call," the voice on the other side of the line said.
"I am so sorry about that, she can be a bit much. How about this, let's agree that you called and we talked for say about an hour and a half. We agree to talk again but in the end, we just keep putting it off. Do you think you could go along with that story?" There was silence on the line, "Matthew, are you there?"
"Um, so you don't want to talk?" he asked quietly.
"Uh, well, uh. Do you want to talk?" she asked a bit shocked by the turn of events.
"I would, if you don't mind," he responded.
"I, uh, I don't mind, really," she pulled the phone over and settled into her favourite chair. "What would you like to talk about?"
"What have you been up to since you left school?"
The ended up talking most of the night. He found out that she went on to university, got a job as a clerk for one of the local barristers and had bought a cottage. She found out that he had married his childhood sweetheart and after eight years of marriage, he found out that she had been sleeping with his best mate. He lost his wife, his friend and a bit of his pride.
The had agreed to talk again and he gave her his number so she could call him as well. Over the next couple weeks, they chatted on the phone and a couple times she had coffee or dinner with him in the village.
It was a month after they first conversed that she had invited Matthew over for dinner. The morning was a whirlwind of cleaning, followed by an afternoon of cooking and pampering herself.
