Beautiful Mistakes

Smiling with false cheer, she said, "I can see how you would easily confuse me with your wife."

Ignoring the sarcasm, his gaze swept over her pregnant figure clad in a black and white polka dot dress with a red belt. "You look nice."

Grimacing, she said, "I look like a polka dotted whale."

Chuckling, he said, "No, you don't." Then, glancing past her, he said, "Are you going to invite me in, or…?"

Frowning a little, she said, "Aaron isn't here yet."

One eyebrow shot up. "We need a chaperone?"

"Both of our significant others say yes," she verified, bending down and putting Anna on the floor so she could go color since Matt didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

Rolling his eyes, he said, "It's not like they haven't hooked up themselves. We're all trapped in this tangled web."

"Speak for yourself, my web is totally untangled."

Unconvinced, he said, "How's my baby doing?"

"Anna's fine," she replied, intentionally misunderstanding. "She watched an episode of Spongebob that made her giggle, and she's been coloring most of the day. My fridge is completely covered."

"Is that so?" he murmured. Glancing at Anna, he said, "I think she's missed you."

"I was a little shocked when Emma called me, to be honest. I kind of figured if it came down to leaving Anna with me or leaving her home alone for the weekend, Emma would have preferred the latter option."

Nodding, Matt agreed. "I was a little surprised myself, but I guess now that you're with Aaron… Emma knows how he is, she knows he won't let you get far enough away from him to do anything wrong. My brother has big time trust issues, in case you haven’t noticed yet."

"I wonder why," she said, narrowing her gaze on him.

Shrugging, he said, "If you still believe all that, there's nothing I can do to change your mind. How are things with my brother, by the way?"

"Wonderful," Julie replied. "He's… really wonderful. Thanks for introducing us."

The dirty look he shot her bordered on a glare, but he eased up, shaking his head a little and said, "I guess I deserved that."

"At least," she replied.

"I really messed things up with you, Julie," he said on a sigh, looking regretful with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Well, I couldn't have really expected much more; I had an affair with a married man. It wasn't really a shining moment in my life."

"I know, but I still regret how everything turned out. My feelings for you were real, Julie. I mean… Emma's my wife, but… you were still special to me."

"Please don't," Julie said, shaking her head and glancing past him to make sure Aaron hadn't picked just the right time to come walking in.

Nope, still no Aaron.

"For what it's worth, I'm truly sorry," Matt stated.

"I'm really not the one you need to apologize to, Matt. I mean, yeah, you treated me poorly, but… Emma's your wife."

Scoffing, he said, "Don't be so naïve, Julie. My relationship with Emma…" He didn't finish his thought, he just shook his head.

"Well, Emma is difficult, yes, but you should have known that before you married her."

"She used to be different," he replied sincerely. "You obviously never knew her then, but… she wasn't always how she is now."

"Well, an unfaithful husband can turn most women into something new and different."