Page 80 of In at the Deep End
Owen wasn’t sure that was an apt description. “Isn’t that what you’ve done?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
Matt frowned. “I’ve only ever been me.”
“But that’s not true. You’ve been a schoolboy, a teenager, an undergraduate, a master’s student...” Owen shrugged. “You’re just doing it gradually.”
Matt considered that. “I never thought about it like that.”
“Most people don’t.”
He fixed his gaze on the sunlit water. “Do you think we ever stop changing?”
Owen smiled to himself. “I hope not.”
“Really?”
“If I’d been asked that at twenty-five, I’d have given you a completely different answer.” He glanced at Matt. “Life has a habit of introducing you to versions of yourself you didn’t know existed.”
Matt was quiet.
“Sometimes,” Owen added, “they’re exactly who you were supposed to become.”
Neither of them spoke for a while. The only sounds were the splash of Matt’s feet in the pool and the distant laughter drifting over the hedge from next door.
Owen picked up his book again.
He still didn’t read a single word.
Matt waited a minute before giving voice to his thoughts. “Can I ask you something?”
Owen chuckled. “You usually do.”
“You said after Ben died you decided relationships weren’t for you.”
He nodded.
“Do you ever think you might change your mind?”
The question hung between them. Owen didn’t answer immediately.
“No.” The word slipped out quietly. “I don’t think so.”
“Never?”
Owen smiled. “Callum says never say never, but…”
“But?”
“I’d need a very good reason.”
Matt nodded. His heart sank, not that he understood why. Owen’s love life had absolutely nothing to do with him.
He stood, shaking the drops of water from his feet. “Back to work.”
“I nearly forgot. I’ve booked the Savoy.”
