Driftwood

[Ludub]

6 minutes ago, pembie said:

Nice like refence to Brody being like Gordon Ramsay I like to think you may have taken that from my comical comments about him

Haha!  Yes, I think I did, actually! Thanks for that! I like the idea of him having an over-inflated opinion of himself, not realising that he's running a restaurant in a little backwater, and taking himself far too seriously. Still, he's very sweet when he's not being Gordon Ramsey so I thought Evie should make that clear (and to be fair, he has been quite kind to Matt).

[Ludub]

Thanks yet again for all the kind and encouraging comments. Glad you're enjoying the story so far  Hope you like this chapter x

 

Chapter 11

 

 

"Hey Matt" groaned Maddy, casting him a momentary glance as she dragged herself into the living-room and threw herself down on the couch. She was still wearing pyjamas and a lot of smeared eye makeup from the night before. With a dramatic sigh, she grabbed a cushion and lay on her side, pulling herself into a foetal position and hugging onto it for dear life. "Oh my God! I feel like death!" she moaned, covering her eyes with one hand and squeezing at the temples of her forehead, "My head is just thumping!"

Matt looked up from his bowl of uneaten cereal and stared at her for a moment in silence, wondering whether to confront her about her nasty little chat with Evie last night. He knew that he hadn’t been meant to hear, but that didn’t make him feel any better about it. Up until last night he would have said that Evie and Maddy had been good friends to him, and he would have trusted them implicitly, but that had all changed in an instant. To say that he was hurt would be an understatement. He hadn't really slept all night thinking about it, just tossing and turning, and wondering what other nasty little chats were going on when he and Roo weren't there to hear them. The thought that everyone was talking behind their backs and poking fun at them wouldn't leave him. He’d expected that kind of gossip from strangers but not from the people that he loved and cared about. Maddy of all people?! She was his ex-girlfriend, and for Roo she had always been something akin to a daughter, so hearing her talk about them like that last night had really shocked him. What if all the people that they counted as friends were secretly mocking them as soon as their backs were turned?! What if they were just a source of amusement for all and sundry?! He started to clear his things from the breakfast table with the intention of leaving as soon as possible. He felt like tearing into her right here and now, and giving her a piece of his mind, but some part of him didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. He didn’t want her to know how much she’d hurt him.

“Could you make me a cup of coffee?” she asked, peeking over the arm of the couch and giving him a cheeky little smile, “Pleeeeease?”

“Get it yourself” he muttered, carrying his cereal bowl and coffee cup over to the counter, “You’ve got legs.”

“Matt?!” exclaimed Maddy, pouting at him in an exaggerated way. “I’m suffering here!” she whined, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and cuddling it around her, “Evie let me drink too much… far too much… and I feel so bad!” She stuck her bottom lip out in a childish sort of way and clasped her hands together by her face in an exaggerated prayer pose.  “Please Matt?! …C’mon! …I’d do it for you!”” she pleaded, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

He snorted in derision and turned to look at her with an icy stare. He’d always thought that she was beautiful, with her sparkling blue eyes, glowing complexion, and perfect white teeth, but in this moment he couldn’t see anything that he found even vaguely attractive. She just seemed so fake. What had he ever seen in her?!

“Why are you looking at me that way?” asked Maddy, pulling herself into a sitting position and looking at him in confusion. Something about the expression on his face was making her feel ill at ease and her heart began to beat a little faster.

“I don’t know what you mean” said Matt, leaning against the kitchen counter and folding his arms across his chest. He’d been having difficulty maintaining eye contact with people since he’d been home but the anger that was building inside him now seemed to be giving him a newfound confidence. He continued to stare at her, feeling a strange sense of power, as he watched her begin to squirm. She was actually starting to blush.

“You’re looking at me strangely” said Maddy, furrowing her brow at him in a worried sort of way. Scraps of her conversation with Evie last night were starting to float back into her mind and she could feel her face burning as a redness crept up her neck. Had she really told Evie all about Roo and Matt’s sex life?! What had she been thinking?! “You’re creeping me out!” she whined.

“Guilty conscience?” he asked, raising his eyebrows at her and curling his lip up on one side. As he stared at her in disgust, he could see that she was slowly joining the dots, and that she did feel at least a little guilty for the things that she’d said. ‘Good!’ he thought to himself, ‘She should feel guilty!’

 

“What?! …I …I …uh…” stammered Maddy, looking a little shocked, “Why would I… Uh… What do you think I’ve done?!” Her heart was thumping now as she ran the events of the previous evening over in her head and tried to make sense of things. Of course, she knew that she probably should feel guilty for the chat that she’d had with Evie. The things that they’d said had been incredibly cruel, and she cringed at the thought of Roo ever finding out about them, but how on earth could Matt know anything about it?! He couldn’t, could he?! Had he been there or had Evie told him?!

“I think you know” he said, giving her a cold little smirk before turning to rinse his breakfast things in the sink, “I think you know exactly what you’ve done.”

“What who’s done?” asked Roo, carrying a freshly bathed Alfie into the living-room in his frog-themed hooded towel that they’d gotten from Leah. It was his new favourite thing and every time he had a bath he insisted on wearing it for at least an hour afterwards. Clothes were still such a novelty for him and he’d gone from hating having his body covered to taking quite an interest in the colours that they dressed him in. Green was his favourite right now.

Maddy glanced at Matt as he spun back around to look at Roo, and she made a pleading face at him with eyes wide with fear. The thought that he might spill the beans to Roo was just too awful to even contemplate. She would never want to hurt her like that!

“Nothing” said Matt, drying his hands on a tea towel and heading straight towards Roo with a big warm smile on his face, “Nothing you need to worry about anyway”. He leaned down and planted a kiss on Alfie’s forehead before lifting him gently out of Roo’s arms and setting him onto his feet on the floor. He gave Maddy a defiant sort of glance before taking Roo’s face in both his hands and pulling her in for a long and passionate kiss that was verging on indecent. They didn’t come up for air for what seemed like a very long time.

“What was that for?!” giggled Roo, sounding a little breathless when she finally pulled away from the kiss, “I mean… not that I’m complaining!”

“I love you” he said, gently caressing the side of her face and playing gently with her long dark hair, “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”

Roo’s eyes flicked in an embarrassed sort of way to the blonde figure huddled on the sofa. Maddy seemed to be studying something on the opposite side of the room with great interest and doing everything in her power not to look at them. Roo looked back at Matt and blushed a little red. He tried to go in for another kiss but she put her hand on his chest and held him back for a moment as she looked at him more carefully. There was something a little forced about all of this. “Okay… What have you done?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously. Matt wasn’t one for very public displays of affection and he was always particularly careful about not rubbing Maddy’s nose in things. This just seemed a little out of character.

“I haven’t done anything” he said, emphasising the word ‘I’ and glancing at Maddy once more. She’d looked round for a second when he’d said it, biting her bottom lip a little nervously, before looking away again. He turned back to Roo with a big goofy grin and put his arms around her waist. “Sometimes you just wake up and you realise how lucky you are, that’s all…” he said, pressing a soft little kiss on her forehead, “I’m just a lucky lucky man… that’s all.”

“I love you too” said Roo, giggling a little nervously as she snuggled into his embrace. It was like he’d read her mind or something. This morning, more than most, she had needed affection and reassurance, and Matt had somehow known that. This hug meant the world to her, and simply being told that she was beautiful, and that he loved her, couldn’t have been better timed. She wondered if Leah might have said something to him. She hoped not. She wanted to believe that she and Matt had some deeper connection and that he understood her better than anyone else. In many ways that was true. He certainly understood her better than any other man that she’d shared her bed with. They’d been each other’s world for four long years. They’d been each other’s everything. How could they not be linked in some way that other ‘normal’ couples weren’t? She looked up at him and put her hand on the back of his neck to bring him down to her level again. “You’re everything to me” she whispered, before giving him another kiss.

The house phone rang, and Maddy sprang to her feet, never feeling so grateful for an interruption in her life. “I’ll get it!” she called out, running to the phone desk to answer it. “Summer Bay Caravan Park” she practically sang into the receiver in a nervous and breathy voice. “Um… yes, Matthew Page and Ruth Stewart do live here…”

Matt turned and frowned at her. “Who is it?” he mouthed to her, taking his arms from around Roo’s waist and holding them out in a questioning sort of way.

She shrugged and turned her mouth down at the corners in a way that said she didn’t know. “Um… who is this?” she asked, glancing back and forth between Matt and Roo’s worried looking faces. “Clayman and Associates?” she repeated, giving them both a quizzical look.

Matt charged forward and took the phone out of Maddy’s hand. “Hello?!” he snarled into the receiver, “We’ve asked you people to stop calling us! We don’t have anything to say to you! Can’t you just leave us alone?!” He slammed the phone down and gave a loud exasperated sigh.

“That’s like the twentieth call this week!” complained Roo, sitting down on the arm of the couch and watching Alfie as he played with a pull along caterpillar toy. “I don’t understand why those vultures can’t just leave us in peace…” she sighed, “I mean, what do they want from us?!”

 

*****

 

“Returning to the scene of the crime?!” laughed Kyle, as he saw Evie approaching the table with dark sunglasses on. He’d been standing having a chat with Brody, keeping him company while he waited for Evie to come and meet him for lunch. The barman from the night before had filled Kyle in on the details of Evie and Maddy’s escapades and he’d been teasing Brody about having a petty thief for a girlfriend. He’d said that he could see the headlines right now - ‘High End Restauranteur’s Girlfriend Implicated in Disaronno Heist’. Oh, the shame! They’d both been having a good laugh at her expense and seeing her walk in now, looking like she’d just been dragged through a hedge backwards, wasn’t doing much to dampen their amusement.

“What?” she asked, sounding a little dazed as she slid into the seat opposite Brody at one of the booth tables in Angelo’s. She put her head in her hands and massaged her scalp a little with her fingertips.

“What can I get you?” asked Kyle, biting his bottom lip and winking a little mischievously at Brody, “Maybe a nice glass of Disaronno?”

She looked up at him for a moment, squinting over the top of her sunglasses, and leaving her mouth hanging open as memories of the night before came flooding back. “Oh God!” she exclaimed, shaking her head at him as she put two and two together, “I’m sorry, Kyle! We were very drunk!”

“I hope so!” laughed Kyle, patting her on the head in a very patronising way, “I’d like to think that you wouldn’t steal from my bar when you were sober!”

“I’m so embarrassed!” moaned Evie, crossing her arms on the table top and hiding her face.

“Ah come on!” laughed Brody, razzling her hair a little, “We’ve all done worse!”

“Water?” asked Kyle, fighting the urge to burst out laughing again.

“Water” agreed Brody, nodding at him emphatically and biting his own lip in amusement, “And lots of it”

He watched Kyle go and then turned back to look at Evie. “You look…” Brody started to say, with a grimace on his face as he took in his girlfriend’s incredibly dishevelled appearance. Her hair didn’t even look like it had been brushed! She looked up at him with racoon make-up eyes, fixing him with a stern glare over the top of her sunglasses, and he gave a nervous little laugh. “What?!” he teased, shaking his head at her with a cheeky little smile, “You want me to tell you that you look great?!”

“Just don’t say anything at all” she muttered, picking up the menu in a half-hearted sort of way with one hand as she slouched across the table. “And if you have to talk… can you just… keep it down a little bit? My head is bursting!”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” he said, in a loud and exaggerated voice, winking at Kyle who’d just returned to the table with a jug of water for them. “Am I speaking too loudly for my very hungover… but very beautiful girlfriend?”

“Do you have to be so mean?!” she whined, squinting up at Kyle and then shaking her head at Brody in disapproval, “I wasn’t this mean to you the last time you were hungover!”

“I know! I know!” said Brody, reaching across the table for her hand and giving her an apologetic look that didn’t look all that sincere, “I’ll be good!”

“Oh, here comes your partner in crime!” laughed Kyle, sticking the tray under his arm and giving Maddy a round of applause as she barrelled her way towards Evie. He stopped when he saw the expression on her face and the fact that she’d been crying and he looked down at Brody with an embarrassed little grimace.

“Are you okay?” asked Evie, taking off her sunglasses and peering up at Maddy’s tear-stained face. “What’s wrong?!” she asked, sounding concerned.

“Everything!” sobbed Maddy, hugging her arms around herself as she stood at their table, “I’ve messed everything up and I don’t know what I’m going to do!”

 

*****

 

Alf sat at a table in the diner sipping at his cup of coffee and slowly leafing through his newspaper. It felt like it was the only place that he could actually get some peace these days. With Maddy in the house, and Roo and Matt holding court like they owned the place, and even Alfie’s toys and baby paraphernalia taking up so much space, it really didn’t feel much like home anymore. Or maybe he’d just gotten so used to rattling around the place on his own for so long that it was difficult to readjust to having people around again. Whatever the case, he reflected on how ridiculous it was to have to come to a busy diner just to feel like he could read his morning paper undisturbed. He took another sip of coffee, giving a little sigh of contentment, and contemplated taking a solo fishing trip in the afternoon.

“Hi Alf” said Leah, reaching around him to clear his empty breakfast plate from the table in front of him, “I was wondering how Roo is this morning?”

“I wouldn’t know” muttered Alf, glancing at her for a moment over the top of his paper with an impatient sort of huff, “She wasn’t up when I left.”

“Oh, okay…” sighed Leah, lingering by his table and dithering a little about whether to sit down and talk to him or not.

He set the paper down and gave an exasperated sigh. “Alright, what is it, Leah?!” he asked, folding his arms across his chest as he reddened slightly in the face. Could he not be left in peace for five minutes?!

Leah ignored his hostile tone, so used to him at this stage that it hardly registered, and fidgeted a little nervously as she wondered how to broach things with him. How could she talk about something like menstruation with someone like Alf Stewart? And was it really her place to talk to him about it? She was just so worried about Roo that she wasn’t sure what to do. She wondered if she could find a way of hinting to him about it without actually telling him outright?

“Well, you’ve got my attention now, woman…” growled Alf, getting more and more impatient, “Out with it!”

“Um… Alf” she said, staring at the coffee table and blushing a little with embarrassment, “I’m just a bit worried about Roo… She was pretty upset last night…”

“Has that young fella done something to upset her?!” asked Alf, jumping to conclusions and turning a deeper shade of red than he already was.

“No no no… nothing like that!” exclaimed Leah, shaking her head at him, “Matt isn’t the problem…”

“Well, spit it out then!” said Alf, finding it hard to hide his frustration, “Why do people make such a song and dance about things all the time?! Say whatever it is that you have to say, woman!”

“Roo’s got some medical problems…” said Leah, just blurting it out but beginning to wonder if she’d made a huge mistake and whether Roo would ever forgive her for breaking her confidence like this. “Um… women’s problems…” she continued.

Alf’s face drained of colour and he looked away from Leah in a worried sort of way. “And she told you this?” he asked, in a much softer and more patient tone of voice, “She told you there was something wrong?”

Leah nodded and gave an anxious little half-smile. “I just think she could use a bit of support at the moment” she said, hoping that Roo wouldn’t be too angry with her for telling her father like this, “And I think she might need you to go a little easy on her for a while.”

“Is she sick?” he asked, looking decidedly worried, “Is it… Is it… cancer?” He could hardly bring himself to say the word.

“Oh God, no, Alf! It’s nothing like that!” exclaimed Leah, realising the mistake that she’d just made. The way that she’d worded it had made it seem like something much worse than it was. “No, it’s just…” she said, leaning in and dropping her voice to a very quiet whisper, “It’s just… she thinks she’s… she’s going through ‘the change’.”

Alf’s eyes widened and he blushed a bright shade of red. “Oh… I see…” he stammered, unsure of what to say to that. On the one hand, it struck him as very odd that he had a daughter old enough for that to be happening to her, but on the other, he shouldn’t have been surprised at all. She was 50 years old and this was yet another reason why he’d been so against her relationship with Matt. No wonder she was so upset! Still, he really wasn’t sure how he could ever talk to Roo about it. He wasn’t the type of father that was comfortable discussing those sorts of issues. He’d always left that sort of chat to the women folk.

“Thanks, Leah” he said, giving her a nervous little smile, “I reckon it’s time I pulled my head in.” He felt a little bad for how gruff and grumpy he’d been with everyone in the house and made a resolution to try to be a little more pleasant to be around. “I’ll go a bit easier on her” he sighed, nodding slowly at Leah in a thoughtful sort of way.

“Thanks, Alf… I just think she’s a bit fragile at the moment” she said, getting up and lifting the plates she’d been in the process of clearing before she’d sat down. “I’ll check in on her later.” she said, before leaving him alone to get back to his paper.

He sighed and shook his head at himself. ‘I’m a self-centred old coot’ he thought to himself, feeling decidedly guilty. Maybe he’d give the fishing trip a swerve and head back to the house in the afternoon. It was about time that he and Roo had a bit of a heart to heart. As he picked up his newspaper and folded it up, he started to make a move to leave, but jumped a little when he heard his mobile phone ring. He reached in his pocket and pulled it out. Furrowing his brow when he saw the word ‘Unknown’ displayed on the screen, he wondered who could be calling and dithered about whether to answer or not. Maybe it was something important though? He sat back in his chair and answered the call. “Strike me roan!” he exclaimed, smiling as he realised who was on the other end, “I never thought I’d hear from you again!”

 

*****

 

“He knows!” sobbed Maddy, sitting at the table with Evie and Brody, and choking down the glass of water that Kyle had poured for her, “He knows what we were talking about!... And now he hates me!”

“Who are we talking about?” asked Brody, frowning at Evie in a concerned sort of way. He wondered what kind of trouble she was getting herself into with this girl.

“Babe… Can you give us a minute?” she asked, motioning with her head for him to leave, “I just need to talk to Mads on my own.”

He raised his eyebrows at her in disapproval but then shrugged his shoulders and got up. “Okay, I’ll just be at the bar if you need me” he said, giving Maddy a sympathetic little smile. He walked over to the bar and sat down on one of the stools shaking his head at Kyle in an exasperated way and rolling his eyes a little. Kyle opened two bottles of beer and handed one of them to Brody. “Women, eh?” he said, rolling his eyes in sympathy.

“Mads” said Evie, leaning down to look Maddy in the eye, “How did Matt find out? I mean… who heard us?!”

“I don’t know!” she whined, shaking her head at her and sobbing in despair. She was shaking and shuddering and finding it hard to breathe. “He just knows!”

“I can’t see how!” exclaimed Evie, staring at her with eyes wide and worried looking. “I mean… I didn’t tell him… and you didn’t tell him?”

“No, of course not!” said Maddy, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. She started to calm down a little as she realised that Evie hadn’t gone behind her back and told Matt what they’d been saying. Part of her had been worried that Evie had stabbed her in the back. “Maybe…” she started to say, wiping at her puffy eyes, “Maybe… maybe he doesn’t know then?”

“So he didn’t say that he did?!” asked Evie, starting to feel a wave of relief wash over her. Maybe he didn’t know, and Maddy was having some sort of meltdown over a misunderstanding.

“No… but he kept staring at me this morning… like he was angry with me” she said, still crying a little. “He said ‘You know what you did’”

“Could it be about something else?” asked Evie, shrugging at her in a questioning sort of way, “I mean… he couldn’t really have heard what we said, could he? He wasn’t there… Maybe you did something else to upset him?”

Maddy furrowed her brow and looked down at the table in a puzzled sort of way. After a moment a flash of understanding passed across her face and she put her hand up to cover her mouth. “Maybe it was the handcuffs?” she said, under her breath, not really intending for Evie to hear.

“The handcuffs?!” exclaimed Evie, so loudly that Kyle and Brody both looked across at them with interest, as well as a few of the other customers in the restaurant.

“Shhh!” warned Maddy, grimacing at Brody and Kyle, and shaking her head at them in embarrassment. She turned back to Evie and whispered to her as quietly as possible, “I gave Roo some handcuffs and I made a joke about them using them to spice up their love life…” She shrugged and blushed a little red at the thought of what followed that evening, “It was just a joke! I didn’t think they’d actually use them!”

“Sounds like he should be thanking you!” laughed Evie, shaking her head in amazement. “Why would he be angry about that?!”

“I don’t know…” she said, shrugging and looking lost and confused, “but I can’t think of anything else…” She started to look at lot more nervous as another worrying thought crossed her mind. “Unless it’s moving Dave over?” she said quietly.

“Maybe…” said Evie, nodding slowly as she considered that possibility, “Maybe he’s worried about you two taking over the house when he and Roo haven’t found somewhere to move to yet… Maybe he thinks you’re gonna make them homeless?”

She put her head in her hands and pulled at her hair as she tried to think what to do. Blowing out a big breath as slowly as she could she turned to look at Evie and said, “I’m gonna have to go talk to him!”

Getting to her feet and giving Evie a grateful little smile she made her excuses and left. She was about halfway back to the house when she heard her phone ringing in her bag. “Dave?!” she squealed excitedly, smiling from ear to ear when she heard his voice, “You have no idea how much I needed to hear your voice right now! I’ve missed you so much!”

 

*****

 

Alf walked back into the living-room at Summer Bay House and found Roo and Matt cuddled up together on the couch. They were watching some Disney film with little Alfie nestled comfortably between them, sucking his thumb, and half-dozing. They were every bit the image of happy family life. He stood and looked at them for a moment, seeing the look of contentment on his daughter’s face, and wondering whether to let them have this moment and wait till later to speak to them. He went to turn around, and leave again quietly, but Roo had obviously seen him before he could make his escape.

“Dad?” she called out to him, “Aren’t you gonna join us?”

He turned around again and gave her a little smile. “I didn’t want to interrupt” he said, walking over and taking a seat in the armchair. “Can we pause this for a moment?” he asked, trying to take the softly softly approach with them for once.

Matt lifted the remote control and pressed pause. Alfie stirred and began to make a frustrated moany noise as he realised that the movie had stopped. “Hey… It’s okay, mate” said Matt, stroking his hair in a soothing way, “We’ll put it back on in a minute!”

Roo looked at her father with eyebrows raised in curiosity. “What is it dad?” she asked, giving him an encouraging little smile.

“I got a phone call today. It was from a young bloke that I haven’t heard from in a long time… He’s a friend of Morag’s and he’s been trying to get in touch with you for weeks!” he said, shaking his head a little in a scolding kind of way, “He’s a big city lawyer now and he wants to help you both out… Says he has some kind of deal for you… Something to do with the cruise ship… but you two galahs keep hanging up on him before he can get a word in edgeways…” He gave a heavy sigh but a little half-smile formed on his lips, “I told him to come down here in the morning and we’ll all have a sit down together and try and sort things out.”

Matt and Roo glanced at each other nervously, wondering what this was all about, and dreading yet another rip-off artist trying to get their claws into them. They’d had enough of that since they’d been back and they were naturally wary of anyone approaching them about anything to do with the cruise.

“I know what you’re worried about” said Alf, registering the fear in their facials expressions, “But Morag would vouch for him… and so would I for that matter.”

“Okay” said Matt, sounding less than convinced but not wanting to offend Alf, “Okay, we’ll talk to him” he said, squeezing Roo’s hand in his and giving her an anxious little smile.

[Guest]

Great chapter

I had a feeling Matt heard Maddy and Evie's conversation  the night before.

Liked family time with Matt,Roo and Alfie

Update again soon

 

 

[KittCatt]

Great chapter!

Really liked how guilty Maddy was. She should feel guilty, after all, she and Evie have made Matt feel so down. I liked that he stared at her though, something he hadn't been able to do much of before. Really well written. But i do wonder what will happen if Roo ever hears of this..

Roo, Matt and Alfie being together as a family was great. And I liked the romance between Roo and Matt.

Leah's chat with Alf about 'the change' was  funny  Glad Alf seems to be slowly accepting Roo and Matt and wants to help them in regards to a lawyer.

I look forward to more!  

[Suzza101]

Great chapter I love it. 

Hahaha Maddy and Evie feels guilty and I love Kyle and Brody's friendship yay I love it so much. Kyle and Brody are so awesome and the fact that they are friends is amazing ?.

glad that Alf is coming to terms with Roo and Matt. Awesome family time with Roo, Matt and Alfie

Please update soon ??

[Ludub]

23 minutes ago, Kristen said:

Great chapter

I had a feeling Matt heard Maddy and Evie's conversation  the night before.

Liked family time with Matt,Roo and Alfie

Update again soon

14 minutes ago, KittCatt said:

Great chapter!

Really liked how guilty Maddy was. She should feel guilty, after all, she and Evie have made Matt feel so down. I liked that he stared at her though, something he hadn't been able to do much of before. Really well written. But i do wonder what will happen if Roo ever hears of this..

Roo, Matt and Alfie being together as a family was great. And I liked the romance between Roo and Matt.

Leah's chat with Alf about 'the change' was  funny  Glad Alf seems to be slowly accepting Roo and Matt and wants to help them in regards to a lawyer.

I look forward to more!  

2 minutes ago, Suzza101 said:

Great chapter I love it. 

Hahaha Maddy and Evie feels guilty and I love Kyle and Brody's friendship yay I love it so much. Kyle and Brody are so awesome and the fact that they are friends is amazing ?.

glad that Alf is coming to terms with Roo and Matt. Awesome family time with Roo, Matt and Alfie

Please update soon ??

Thanks everyone!  Really glad you're enjoying the story so far! Evie and Maddy's chat was pretty horrible and they should feel very ashamed. Alcohol is no excuse really, although to be fair I think most people have probably found themselves being a bit bitchy when they're drunk. They were just unfortunate that Matt was there to hear it. 

I thought it'd be nice for Kyle to actually have a friend outside of his family. He never really did on the show. In terms of personality I think he and Brody might actually get on. They're the two boys out of their families with their heads most screwed on, and the most desire to make something of themselves. (Okay, Mason obviously wants to be a doctor but I can't stand his character so he's not in this story)

Also glad you enjoyed the cute family scene. They do love each other, and being alone with Roo and Alfie is when Matt is at his most comfortable. I wanted Alf to see how happy they are together and take it on board for once.

Thanks for reading everyone, and for taking the time to comment. Much appreciated! 

 

[Inactive User]

Great chapter, Ludub

Oh dear! I wonder if Matt had oveheard what Maddy and Evelyn the night before.

And I loved the family time between Matt and Roo, Alfie

Update soon please xx

[Red Ranger 1]

I did think Roo and Matt were a bit premature hanging up on that guy, hopefully he's on the level.Maddy needs to have a chat with Matt and try to clear the air, but it'll be very awkward if Roo finds out.Lots of nice interaction, especially Brody teasing Evelyn.Looking forward to more!

[Ludub]

7 hours ago, ~JarlieFanEver~ said:

And I loved the family time between Matt and Roo, Alfie

Thanks Jarlie! I did think this was kinda cute. I was thinking how quickly things would normalise for a two year old. He's watching cartoons and running about the house wearing clothes like he'd never known any different. I think family time as a little unit, just the three of them, is the time when they're all most at ease. 

3 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I did think Roo and Matt were a bit premature hanging up on that guy, hopefully he's on the level.Maddy needs to have a chat with Matt and try to clear the air, but it'll be very awkward if Roo finds out.Lots of nice interaction, especially Brody teasing Evelyn.Looking forward to more!

Thanks Red! Glad you're enjoying it! Roo and Matt have just been in 'isolation mode' for so long that their instinctive response is to say no. Being chased by the newspapers when they first got home has left a sour taste and they're probably right to be cautious. You'll just have to wait and see what the lawyer wants  Glad you enjoyed Brodes teasing Evie. I love the scenes in the show where he and Justin tease Tori, and I thought he might be like that with a girlfriend too. It's always so nice to see that mischievous grin and the twinkle in his eye, so I wanted to include a bit of that. Maddy has made a bit of a mess for herself though, hasn't she?! 

 

[hward]

Great chapter, I loved Matt deliberately kiss Roo in front of Maddy - she deserved it!

I'm still reckon Roo's pregnant though.