Matty's POV
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Once she is asleep, I glance at her soft rosy cheeks and smile slightly. I'm trying to process that this is the last time, at least for a while where I will be putting her to bed and indeed hugging her all night.
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I quietly pace out of the room, not wanting to leave her, but my head insists I clear up downstairs. The wine, the food and the art. I laugh to myself as I walk down that crazy marble staircase, which isn't so easy in the dark. Just how many steps are there? Must be at least 40 odd. When I eventually reach the bottom I hear the music still playing in the dining hall. Her playlist alternates from country to rock to dance seamlessly and it's just so her. So I leave it on for now.
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I head to the kitchen putting the dishwasher on and cleaning down all of the sides as if it's a crime scene that I'm removing evidence from. I'm in this weird state of not wanting him to know a damn thing yet also wanting to shout at him that she loves me too. I sigh cleaning away my drawing apparatus and placing them in my hold-all.
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Next is the dining hall, I walk through the double doors and the sheer size of the room is imposing when you're on your own. I take myself over to the bar, Jay's whiskey in sight. Pour myself a small glass and sip it, killing the music and the sound system. Her phone illuminates on the side and intrigued I lift it up.
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Decide to down that whiskey upon noticing that they are all over her wallpaper. A picture I've never seen before; by a lake. Her holding the camera taking a selfie of the both of them, Jay kissing her cheek and deliberately not facing the camera.
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When I really look at him, as painful as it may be, in this picture I must admit the happiness that emanates from him hits me. He was so upset for so long, clearly upsetting women became a coping mechanism for him. The continual disappointment he created in others just seeped back out of his own expressions. For years.
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I place the phone down and pour myself another, just one more in the silence of their grande dining hall. I didn't even bother to check the time, but as I stare up at the bar, the clock tells me that it is two am. This is not any kind of time to be keeping her up until.
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Just as I'm downing the whiskey and ready to head back up to her. To climb back into his huge four poster bed with the woman Jay calls his wife, her phone rings. And in my wine/whiskey state I believe it's a good idea to answer it.
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"Taylors phone" I announce.
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"Matthew" I hear him say after a short pause.
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"Where's my wife" Jay asks, direct isn't he?
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"Asleep in your bed" I answer.
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"Sorry hope you don't mind but I'm helping myself to your whiskey" I laugh.
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"As long as that's all you're helping yourself too, Matthew" he says and I suppress my laughter.
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"Well and Taylor's... cooking" I laugh and there's a short pause where I think I may have just told a bad joke.
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"How I've missed her cooking" he laughs deciding to play along.
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"She made coq au vin tonight" I say and he laughs.
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Another pause and he clears his throat.
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"Is she okay?" He asks and it takes me by complete surprise. I'm not used to him being caring or sensitive.
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"She's absolutely fine after the appointment" I say and he breathes out.
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"Your baby is a wriggler" I laugh.
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"What makes you say that" he scoffs.
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"He kept rolling over at the scan when the midwife was trying to check his organs" I laugh again.
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"I wish I had of been there" he mumbles, his voice thick with regret. Not at all the reaction I had expected. It leaves me stumped and unable to come up with a sarcastic retort.
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"Man" he adds after a break.
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"Thanks" he says breathing out.
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"I know that she gets worried" he says softly.
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"Welcome" I say. I'm an awful friend.
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"What are you doing now then" he asks.
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"Drinking in your bar" I say, he's thinking about her asleep in his bed, and me in the house alone with her.
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"What are you doing Jay?" I ask him.
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"It's around one o'clock afternoon time here" he half laughs.
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"I'm not drinking whiskey, I'm packing to come back" he says.
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The question is on his lips, why do I have her phone? How did she manage to just leave it unattended, and get herself up to bed. Women don't go anywhere without their phones.
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"Right, well I guess I'll see you soon" he says and it's eating him up.
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"Got it, we'll be there" I say, cheeky.
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"Bye man" he says and we hang up. I pocket Taylor's phone leaving the whiskey glass on the side. He can remember this moment later, when he's back in his fancy house drinking his own fancy whiskey.
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Flicking the switch off for the lights as I leave the room and head up the stairs past the many spare rooms. Hearing Jay's thank you's in my ear as I venture down the hall all the way to those double doors.
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I crack one door open and slide in hearing her soft breathing from the bed. In the dark I pace over to the bed pull the voiles apart and climb in under the covers next to her. Instantly she moves into my arms and placing them around her I hold her.
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She murmurs into my chest so I stroke her hair back.
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"Shhh sleep" I say kissing her forehead, knowing that I won’t sleep tonight. I’ll go back to watching her. To enjoying every last minute of being here with her like this.
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