I turned the car onto my street, pointing out Krista’s house and explaining to Matty how she had left for Hawaii just within the past hour. She was flying into Chicago, where she was meeting her mom and sister; the three of them were then flying together to Oahu for a week.
“Krista single?” Matty asked, tipping the bag of chips so that the bottom bits slid into his mouth.
“Yes, single now. She’s had more boyfriends over the years than I can count. She really wants to settle down and start a family, but the dating pool around here is pretty small. I wouldn’t be surprised if she fell in love with some random guy she meets while walking along Waikiki Beach!”
“She was always looking for love, wasn’t she?” Matty asked. “And in all the wrong places.”
“Oh Matty, please don’t sing….”
Too late. “Looking for love in all the wrong places,” he belted out, his voice cracking at the effort. “Looking for love in too many places. Come on LEE-AH, sing with me!”
“You know I don’t sing. So, I’ll pass; thanks, anyway,” I said, cringing at the sound of his voice. I loved most things about Matthew Boyd, but his singing was not one of them.
“Still so uptight,” Matthew teased, tossing a chip in my general direction.
“You’re cleaning that up,” I said with a smirk as I pulled into my driveway.
“Wow,” Matty stopped laughing, his mouth gapped open. “This is your house? It’s a mansion!”
“Ha, not exactly,” I said, going on to explain. “Years ago, it was the home for the college presidents. After Lakeview purchased a new house closer to campus, this one fell into disrepair as the school thought they would hold onto it and eventually do something with it. They finally decided to sell it about ten years ago, and a local couple purchased it and brought it back to its original Queen Anne style but added all modern features inside. I loved it the first time I saw it. It looks just a dollhouse. The corner lot is an added bonus as I don’t have neighbors boxing me in on either side.”
“Anyway,” I continued, “the couple had just finished restoring it when they both ended up getting better job offers in Boston. They had to sell the place fast. I had just started looking, so I was the first to see it. The timing just worked out perfectly. It was an amazing deal. My parents had given my sisters and me some of the money they got from selling their house as they felt bad letting go of our childhood home; plus, they were planning on majorly downsizing, so I had a nice down payment. It’s way too much house for me, of course. But I just couldn’t pass it up.” I didn’t mention how I secretly hoped I would be able to fill it up one day with a family of my own.
“I’d be the perfect house for kids, wouldn’t it?” Matty asked, seemingly reading my mind and smiling at me before turning back to gaze at the house.
“Yes, it would,” I said quietly, trying to keep the sadness out of my voice. I was already thirty-two years old; how much longer was there for me to meet someone, get married, and to have kids? I stopped myself from going down that rabbit hole of emotions and refused to even think that maybe the solution was sitting right next to me. Do not get ahead of yourself, Leah, I silently scolded myself. Instead, I perked myself back up and got out of the car. “Come on, you can meet my dogs.”
We climbed up the porch stairs and I unlocked the front door, and my black labs were there to greet us. They had been attending a doggie day camp twice a week, where they were getting obedience training; they used to knock me down completely whenever I came home. They still rushed towards me, but I hadn’t ended up on the floor in a few months. Still, they couldn’t contain their excitement when someone new came over, so they both charged at Matty.
“Hi, guys!” Matty greeted them enthusiastically, getting down on his knees to pet and play with them. He’d been strong enough to withstand the force of them both jumping up on him, which was impressive as they both weighed over sixty pounds. “Oh man, they are great! What are their names?”
“Sadie and Jack; they are actually sister and brother. The local shelter found their litter abandoned in a ditch outside of town. They were two of eight puppies. I originally only put in an application for one, but when I went in to meet them in person, these two pretty much glued themselves to me. The shelter had already realized that they were bonded and couldn’t bear to split them up, so I ended up with two twelve-week-old puppies. They were quite the handful during their first year; it was like having two giant toddlers loose in the house. But they both just turned three and have settled down quite a bit. Well, except when they meet someone new, obviously,” I added with a laugh as I watched them playing with Matty. “These days, they sleep most of time, but they can also snap to attention if they think anyone or anything is threatening the house. They are good snuggle buddies and great watchdogs; they are basically my children.”
“Aw, they are so sweet,” Matthew said with a huge grin. “I always wanted a dog. But, as you know, my parents would not allow it. And now I work so much that I feel it wouldn’t be fair to have a dog at home alone all day. I’ve thought about getting a cat, since they can be on their own longer; but I would still feel too guilty knowing they were by themselves most of the time.”
“Fortunately, my schedule is flexible enough that I can
