Starting Over

“Did you know that your parents live next door to mine?” Matt asked as we pulled up to my parents’ house and I smiled lightly.

“Yes,” I said, “I bet you ten bucks that your mom and dad are already over. They are really nice people.”

“They are pretty cool parents,” Matt said shrugging and I smiled lightly keeping the piece of information I had on him secret.

I remember one day walking into my parents’ house to find Matt’s mom and my mom going through baby pictures and Kim insisted that I look at Matt’s baby pictures because she was going to set us up when he got home from tour.

“Sure if that’s what you think,” I said as I rang the doorbell and Matt looked at me confused as I smirked at him.

“You must be Matt!” my mom exclaimed hugging the giant next to me taking him off guard and I just laughed.

“Hello Mom,” I said, “It’s nice to see you too.”

“Oh hush Melrose Mae,” my mother responded as I groaned inwardly that my mother used my middle name because I saw Matt smirk at me, “My name is Maggie. I’ve heard so much about you from your mother. Come on in, come on in.”

She then ushered us into the house and I just laughed as she dragged Matt into the kitchen and I made my way into the living room to see the boys, my dad, Charlie, Charlie’s girlfriend Sarah, and Gary hanging out watching the football game.

“Who’s winning?” I asked walking into the living room.

“Mom!” Jace and Zander exclaimed rushing up to hug me.

“Hey boys,” I said hugging my boys tightly, “Have you been good for nana and papa?”

“Always Mel,” my stepfather Joe said smiling at me as I hugged him and then Gary.

“Well I’m glad they were well behaved for you guys,” I said as I hugged Charlie and Sarah.

“Where’s Sanders?” Charlie asked gruffly and I rolled my eyes.

“We good Charlie,” I replied sharply, “And he’s in the kitchen with Mom and Kim.”

“Melrose!” Kim exclaimed as I saw my mom and Matt in tow.

“Hi Kim,” I said smiling and hugging her tightly, “It’s good to see you again.”

“You too dear,” she said, “I was just telling Matt about the day you saw all his baby pictures.”

I could see Matt look and me worried and I just smiled widely.

“That was a good day,” I said enjoying the moment in embarrassing Matt.

Matt just put his hands in his face and I just laughed lightly as my boys realized that Matt was here.

“Matt!” they exclaimed and ran over to the man and hugged him.

“Hey guys,” he said, “You being good for grandma and grandpa?”

“Yes!” they said exasperated, “Mom already asked that.”

“Yeah,” I said, “I already asked that.”

Matt just rolled his eyes and my mom and Kim smirked at the banter we were having.
“Well dinner is almost ready,” my mom stated, “We’re just waiting for Val, Jonah, and the boys.”

The doorbell then rang as I took a seat on the floor next to the couch. I groaned inwardly because I had been ignoring Val’s calls and texts today and I was assuming Matt was doing the same thing. We looked at each other and had a silent conversation while I knew Charlie was watching us carefully.

Charlie knew what Matt had pulled the night before at the barbecue bothered me quite a bit and he wasn’t a fan of it. I remember driving him home with him stating that he was going to kick Matt’s ass the minute he could because he was acting like a douchebag. I was about to say something to Matt about talking to Charlie when Charlie beat me too it.

“Hey Matt can I talk to you a minute?” he asked standing up and Matt agreed without hesitation.

I think he already knew what Charlie wanted to talk about and he knew he needed to talk to Charlie about. Jace, Zander, Cash, and River all rushed past us towards the playroom my boys had at my parents’ house and I took a seat next to Sarah who had confusion written all over her face. Sarah was my brother’s girlfriend of a couple of years and my best friend since we were in high school together. Shockingly I did not set them up but they ended up meeting online and were definitely the perfect match for each other. Sarah was quick witted and always had a response for Charlie’s smartassness and Charlie always made her feel comfortable in any situation since Sarah had some anxiety issues with big crowds. I was happy they were happy and since moving back Sarah and I have reconnected even though we never really lost touch since high school graduation.

“Are you two?” she asked before Val came and playfully glared at me.

“You’ve been ignoring me,” Val stated sitting next to me and I rolled my eyes.

“On purpose,” I said and Val smirked at me.

“Details now,” Val stated and Sarah continued to look confuse.

“Before I continue,” I said, “Matt’s Cash’s and River’s dad and Val’s ex-husband. She’s been trying to get us to date for the last few weeks. Yesterday there was a barbecue and he was a complete and utter ass. This morning he came over, scared the absolute shit out of me, and apologized. I also beat him up because I thought he was an intruder. He stayed on the couch until he felt better and ended up making me lunch and we spent the rest of the day hanging out.”

Sarah and Val then started laughing hysterically because I said that I beat the shit out of Matt. At that exact moment Matt and Charlie both walked into the living and Val and Sarah then started laughing louder because they looked at Matt and then at me and continued to laugh because I kicked his ass and he had to be a good foot taller than I was. Matt looked at me confused until Val piped up and filled in the gaps.

“She totally kicked your ass this morning when you scared the shit out of her,” Val gasped and I gave Matt an innocent smile while Charlie and Jonah joined in on the laughing since they were in ear shot of Val’s comment.

“You had to give out that information?” he asked as he sat in front of me on the floor.

“It is pretty comical if you ask me,” I said smiling lightly, “But I’m sorry. I won’t say anything else.”

That’s pretty much how the rest of dinner went. Kim and my mom continued to ask about how we were getting along and how the boys were getting along. My mom grilled Matt relentlessly about his future and I got the same from Kim. I could tell that Val was enjoying this since all she was at this point was a spectator in the fury of questions being tossed back and forth. The boys all wanted to sit by Charlie, Matt, and Jonah and so Matt and I were seated across from each other. By the time dinner was over and everything was said and done, I was pretty sure that Matt was going to take back that offer for a date. I was finishing up with putting the boys’ stuff in the car, when Sarah came out of the house and helped me.

“What’s your honest opinion?” she asked me without skipping a beat.

“What?” I asked confused.

“What’s your honest opinion of the situation you’re in right now with Matt?” she asked.

I sighed stopping what I was currently doing and looked over at my future sister-in-law and knew this was her way of being serious.

“I don’t know I’m cautious I guess,” I said shrugging, “It’s like I want to jump into it and see what happens because I like him as a person and we get along great but my past is basically what’s holding me back. I don’t want him to get dragged into the drama with Derek and the boys and then I want to make sure the boys are okay with me dating and then I want to make sure all four boys are okay with us dating. . .It’s just so complicated.”

Sarah just smiled lightly at me and shook her head.

“It’s not complicated at all Mel,” she said, “You’re making it complicated. You want to go on a date with him. Go on it. See what happens and then go from there. Who knows maybe things might end up happening the way you want them to.”

I sighed knowing that Sarah was right and gave her a smile and hug. She always knew what to do and I was thankful for her piece of advice since she was literally the only outside opinion that wasn’t clouded by anything.

“Thank you,” I said hugging her, “We still on for tomorrow for lunch?”

“Always,” she said, “I’m picking up Lynn and Noah right?”

“They haven’t asked for a ride yet so I’m assuming yes,” I said smiling lightly at her.

“Perfect see you tomorrow,” she said as Matt came out with the boys since Val and Jonah had left fifteen minutes prior to us leaving.

I waved goodbye to my parents and Matt helped me get the kids into the car. Once everyone was inside the car, we headed back to my house.

“So did you like having everyone over for dinner?” I asked the boys as we were driving.

“Yeah,” Jace piped up, “It was so cool. Do you think Nana will do that every Sunday?”

“Every Sunday?” Matt asked confused.

“Yeah Matt,” Zander exclaimed, “We eat dinner at Nana’s every Sunday!”

I just laughed lightly and nodded my head.

“It’s something my parents like to do since we’re all out of the house,” I said, “We used to make the drive when we lived in LA. It’s just nice to catch up with everyone and how their week went before starting it all over again.”

Matt nodded his head and smiled at me.

“It was nice,” he said, “Totally embarrassing but nice.”

“You mean my parents didn’t scare you away with their constant questions,” I said laughing lightly as we pulled up to my driveway and the kids ran into the house.

“You mean that my mom didn’t scare you away either,” he replied and I smiled lightly.

“I think we have an entire team rooting for us to get to together,” I said laughing as we walked up to my door.

“That’s definitely an understatement,” Matt replied smiling lightly at me, “But are we on for Tuesday after school?”

“Always,” I said smiling lightly, “My house this week? We can just let them run loose.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” he said, “And I’ll text you details about Friday. I’m pretty sure our parents will have no problems watching the kids.

“I have a feeling you are right,” I said smiling lightly.

“Well I’ll text you later beautiful,” he replied smirking as I could feel my cheeks start to tint pink.

“Drive safe Matt,” I said.

“Goodnight,” he said.

“Goodnight,” I replied and then shut my front door.

Today played out quite weirdly but I wouldn’t have changed them. Things were starting to actually look up for me and I was going to ride the wave as long as I possibly could.