Page 181 of In at the Deep End

“See you.”

“See you.” Matt stepped through the gate. He kept walking until he reached the road before he let his smile disappear.

It wasn’t anything. It couldn’t be.

Nothing had happened. Nothing Matt could point to, at any rate, or even name. And yet, as he walked home, the thought he’d been trying not to entertain followed him all the way there.

Maybe the Isle of Wight had changed everything.

Just not in the way he’d hoped.

By the middle of the week, Matt had almost convinced himself he’d imagined the awkwardness.

Owen was still Owen. He made coffee exactly the way Matt liked it, and laughed at his jokes. He asked about the dissertation and listened when Matt talked through a problem he’d just encountered with the final chapter. Nothing had occurred that Matt could point to and say, There. That’s different.

Except there were all the things Owen wasn’t doing.

The touches that no longer happened without thought. The kisses that had become shorter, rarer. The invitations that no longer seemed to materialise just because Owen wanted another hour with him. Little things, individually meaningless, but impossible to ignore when Matt remembered how naturally they’d once happened.

So maybe I’m not imagining things after all.

It wasn’t a comfortable thought, and he was still turning it over in his head when he got home that afternoon to find his dad sitting at the kitchen table.

“Hey.”

Dad looked up from his phone. “There you are.”

Matt dropped his bag by the door. “That sounds ominous. Even more so because you’ve got your serious face on.”

“I have several faces.”

Matt smirked. “Not according to Mum.”

His dad laughed, and the sound went a little way to easing some of the tension that had made its way into Matt’s shoulders.

“Why aren’t you in the city?”

Dad huffed. “Wow. You’re clearly not as observant as I thought. I’ve been cutting down my days at the office, trying to ease myself into retirement mode.” He got up. “Tea?”

“Please.” He filled the kettle, and Matt watched him for a moment. “Is everything okay?”

Dad twisted to gaze at him. “Why wouldn’t it be?” He went back to his task.

He bit his lip. “You’re being weird.”

“I’m your father. Being weird is part of the job. You don’t get to be a parent without it.” He glanced over his shoulder. “They make you sit a test first, just to check.”

Matt grinned.

Dad poured boiling water over the tea bag. “How are things with Owen?”

His tone was casual enough, but the question caught Matt off guard.

“Fine.”

“Just fine?”

Matt frowned. “Yeah. Fine. Why?”