A Place of Hope and No Pain

Matt's POV

I pulled up out the front of Mom and Dad's house and sat there for a minute reminding myself that it was only for a couple of hours. A few hours would be okay and I could do it.

I looked around, Lucy's car was here so I knew her and the boy's had arrived. Her and Mom tried to concoct some plan where Lucy and I arrived together but I wasn't having any of it, as soon as this lunch was over I was going to see Chloe and that was all I wanted to do, spend the day with her and Harper.

Chloe. She was busy having lunch with Drew right now and that pissed me off. He was trying his damn hardest to get back in her life and I was kind of pissed at her for letting him. She'd invited him to have lunch with them herself.

I shook my head, getting out of the car. I just wanted today to be over already.

I walked up to the door and Mom was there, waiting, smiling.

"Nice of you to join us." She muttered under her breath as I walked inside.

"Matt." Amy screamed, hugging me tightly. "God it's good to see you."

"You too." I said kissing my baby sister on the cheek.

"I can't believe you had band stuff to do on Thanksgiving." She went on. "Of all day's."

I nodded. So I guess that was the story Mom and Lucy had fed her about why we were arriving apart.

"Yeah you know." I mumbled. "It never stops."

"Come here sweety." Lucy called, smiling at me and patting the seat next to her.

I rolled my eye's. Sweety? Was she fucking joking?

"I'll just get a drink first." I muttered, heading into the kitchen.

I walked in and stopped. Ryder and Jaxson were sitting at the bench, shovelling ice cream into their faces.

"It's a bit early for ice cream isn't it?" I asked them, grabbing some juice out of the fridge.

They both nodded and smiled. "Yep."

"Well why are you eating it?" I asked, looking at them.

"Nan said." Jaxson told me, between spoonful's. "If we promised not to talk about Chloe we could have all the ice cream we wanted."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I muttered to myself.

What the fuck was the big deal about Amy finding out about Chloe? I was pretty sure she'd understand, but no, we had to come here and play charade's for the day instead of telling her the truth.

Lunch wasn't so bad, I mean the food was good, but Lucy ruined it, she kept trying to touch me, hold my hand, rub my leg all the way through it and no matter how many times I pushed her away she just kept on trying.

"So Matt." Amy said, once lunch was over and we were waiting for dessert.

"What?" I said glancing around at everyone.

The kid's were laying with their heads on the table, the idea of dessert not very appealing to them. They were probably full from their unlimited ice cream anyway.

"What have you been doing?" She asked me. "God, you look so good, so healthy, I love it."

I smiled. "Yeah I feel pretty good." And I did, I felt like a new man.

"I'm really proud of you." Amy said, smiling at me.

"We all are." Mom added, smiling at me as well.

"Yes." Lucy added, once again putting her hand over mine.

"So." Amy continued. "You two should have another baby, add to the family."

Oh jesus was she serious?

"I agree." Lucy said smiling widely. "I'd love another baby."

I couldn't help it. I looked at Lucy and shook my head. "Are you serious?"

"Well yes I am." She said softly, this time squeezing my hand.

"God, it's so cute." Amy laughed.

I pulled my hand out of Lucy's and looked at Amy. "It's not cute Amy."

"Matthew." Mom said scowling at me and I ignored her, standing up.

"Look Amy." I said and fuck it, I wasn't playing this game anymore. "Lucy and I aren't even together anymore."

"What?" She asked, looking confused.

"Yeah, our divorce will be final in a few weeks." I told her.

"Matt please." Lucy said softly and I looked at her, shaking my head.

"I got dragged here." I said. "To pretend to be all happy and shit but I can't, I have somewhere else to be."

"Sit down Matthew." Mom snapped, but I ignored her too. I was just done with this game.

"So it was nice seeing you." I said, going to Amy and hugging her again. "And sorry things aren't as rosy as Mom made out they were." And I turned, walking for the door. Finally, I was free.

I walked down the path, listening as I heard the door open behind me. I waited for it, I waited for my Mother to chastise me, but frankly I didn't care. The marriage was over, she needed to get over it.

"Matt." Amy called out and I turned around to see her walking down the path towards me. "What happened?"

I shrugged. "I don't know." I told her. "Being sober has given me a different perspective on life and I realised I just didn't love her anymore, actually I don't even like her." I added.

Amy smiled. "Me neither." She laughed, hugging me.

"Really?" I laughed, hugging her back.

"God yes." She said smiling. "I never could, even at school, she always thought she was better than everyone else."

"And she still does." I said and that was the truth.

"Yep, so anyway." Amy said. "Are you happy? What are you doing with yourself?"

"Yeah Amy." I said. "I am happy." And I was. "And right now I'm about to head over to spend the rest of the day with my girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend?" She asked smiling widely. "Who is she?"

"Chloe, she's the best." I told her. "You'd like her." And I knew Amy would love her.

"How long have you been together?" She asked me and I loved that at least one member of my family was interested in Chloe.

"Oh about five months." And saying it like that I couldn't believe how quick those months had gone.

"Really I guess she's the reason you look so good." Amy said and then she frowned. "Well why isn't she here?"

I shrugged. "You tell me. Anyway, I'm going to head off." And I hugged her again.

"I want to meet her before I leave." Amy called out as I got in my car.

"You will." I called back and she would, I wanted to introduce Chloe to her.

Finally I was out of there and on my way to Chloe's. I couldn't wait to see her and I didn't even care if Drew was still there, I could be civil for a while.

I arrived and Drew was indeed still here, his car out the front. I jumped out, going to the door and knocking, waiting for someone to open it.

When nobody came I went around the back and peered through the glass. The kitchen was still a mess, but nobody was home. Maybe they'd gone for a walk after lunch.

I shrugged, going back to my car. They couldn't have gone far and I was sure I could find them.

Find them I did and I parked my car, watching Drew, Chloe and Harper at the park just down the road.

The three of them were playing, laughing and just generally having a whale of a time and I frowned as I watched Drew take Chloe's hand and pull her closer, whispering something in her ear before she threw her head back and laughed.

Oh yeah, they looked pretty cosy, too cosy and I drove off, leaving them to it.

Who was I to interfere on such a happy family moment.

Such a cosy fucking family.