Page 203 of In at the Deep End

He laughed. “For the fourth or fifth time, the couch is perfectly comfortable. The curry was fantastic. The beer was great. I’m not going home because of anything you two have done, all right?” He sighed. “You’ve given me some breathing space, helped me put a little distance between—” He clammed up.

“He’ll still be there,” Eric said in a gentle voice. “You can’t avoid him forever.”

“Eric…” Garth touched his knee. “Matt’s a grown-up.”

Matt gave him a grateful glance.

“Why don’t you pick a film for us to watch?” Garth tossed him the remote. “You choose the streaming site. We have most of them.” He grinned at Eric. “Don’t we, sweetheart?”

Matt could tell Eric was gearing up to fire back at him.

Then his phone rang, and he glanced at the screen.

Fuck.

His heart thumped.

Ring.

“What’s wrong?” Eric demanded.

“Owen’s calling me.”

Ring.

“Then answer it.” Eric was on his feet in seconds, tugging on Garth’s hand, pulling him towards the door. “We’ll give you some privacy.”

The phone was still ringing.

Matt clicked on Answer. “Hey.”

“Hi. Is this a good time to talk?”

He cursed the way his heart pounded at the sound of Owen’s voice. “Yeah.” He caught sounds in the background. “Owen… where are you?”

Whatever Owen had been about to say was lost when a voice announced the next stop would be Carlisle.

He frowned. “You’re on a train?”

“Yeah.”

Something clicked into place.

“I went through there yesterday.” He froze. “Are… are you on a train to Edinburgh?”

Owen chuckled. “Can’t get anything past you, can I? I’m due in at four-twenty. I’ve booked a room at the Balmoral.”

In spite of his churning stomach, Matt forced a quiet laugh. “Of course you have.”

“Can you meet me there this evening? I know you’ll be in Edinburgh tomorrow morning anyway, so if you want, you can stay there tonight too. You… you don’t have to share a room with me. I’ll book one for you. But… I really do need to talk to you.”

Matt swallowed. “You’re coming all this way—just to talk to me? Couldn’t it have waited until I got back to Winchester?”

There was a pause, and Matt couldn’t miss the note of exhaustion that crept into Owen’s voice.

“No, it really, really couldn’t.”

Matt tried to get his ragged breathing under control. “I’ll be there.” And then he hung up before he could change his mind.