By the time I’d dealt with everything and shown him how to find the bathroom, being alone with Matthew felt incredibly significant somehow.
I’d always loved Mum’s room. It’d been storage space when we first arrived but she’d done it up. The bed was tucked under the eaves and Mum had strung up a bunch of fairy lights so it felt like lying under a canopy of electric stars. It was my favorite place to read, tucked under this handmade quilt and propped up on these jewel-colored throw pillows, the sea whispering to me just on the edge of hearing.
It had seemed pretty magical at the time but with Matthew standing there it seemed more kind of…shabby.
And then he pulled his jumper over his head and I stopping worrying about the furnishings.
“God,” I mumbled, “you’re beautiful.”
Because he r
