Sunsets and storms ✓

Chapter 50

MATTHEW

Louis comes running out of the door as soon as I turn off the engine. Mum is standing in the doorway with Lily, a big smile on her face. I haven't come to visit in a few weeks and I know how much she loves having everyone here. I pick Louis up and throw him in the air.

"You're getting too big for this young man. Soon you'll be as big as me."

"I know! I've been eating all my veggies!"

He runs to Megan as soon as she's out of the car and pulls her away to be backyard to show her the new tricks he learned. I can't believe how much he grew up in all those months. When they first met Louis was all shy, until he got his present of course, and now I'm wondering whether he was excited to see me or Megan. Can't blame the kid, I'm always excited to see her too. I walk inside and take Lily from mum. Ever since she started crawling mum has been even busier in the house. Luckily David decided to work a bit less so mum has some more time to herself.

"I can't believe that vegetables makes you strong still works on him. I didn't expect it to last more than a few weeks to be honest. You saved me a whole lot of arguing every night."

"Big brother to the rescue. How have you been mum, it's been way too long."

"I know, I miss having you around. What should I do with all this time when I don't have to chase your bum around?"

"I guess you have two more kids to do that for. Can we sit? I want to tell you something."

"Oh god, did you knock her up? Because I'm not taking care of another baby."

"God no! Damn mum, you raised me better than that. We don't even have jobs, we would be highly unsuitable to raise a baby."

"As long as you remember that."

"Actually, we've been talking about moving in together." It only made sense for us to consider it. My internship is nearly over and Megan will graduate within a few weeks so we'll both need to start looking for jobs and it just seems useless to pay rent for two places. Neither of us wants to do any more long distance so why not just eliminate the distance altogether.

"Oh, thank heaven. Well, I assume you talked about it, all the administrative stuff and so on. You know I love her Matty, I think it'll be good for you."

Glad to have that out of the way, I join Megan and Louis as he plays for a while. When he's making a drawing of the dog he saw at the park yesterday I fill Megan in on my conversation with mum, not that there's much to tell.

Once Louis is done with his artistic talents and David gets home from work we make dinner and set up the table for game night. Mom and I always had game night every few weeks when I was little and when she starting dating David he joined us as well. Now Louis is finally old enough to join us as well, even though he has a hard time understanding the rules and how he doesn't win every time. Sometimes I let him win just to see him dance around the room but I'm quite the sore loser myself and when it's between me and mum I will not give in.

Tonight Louis decides that his best chances for winning are in a team with Megan and I'll happily let them. The way he nestles himself on Megan's lap is way too cute not to.

It's weird to imagine that Megan never had these kind of things at home. I loved the nights when it was just mum and me watching TV or playing games. When I got older I's always complain about having to stay home but secretly I loved spending time with mum. It's sad that some parents can't do that for their kids. That they just let them be in the care of a stranger.

I'm glad I never got to meet Megan's parents though. I don't think I would have liked them very much and usually my dislike is very clear by the look on my face.

"Matthew, you're up. Next time you take this long to get your head back in the game we'll just skip your turn."

"Yeah, yeah. Even then I'd still win. Now, who do I have to beat first?"

I try not to let my thoughts wander too much. But looking at Megan is like living a dream. She always has me thinking about our future.

She always gets me through my lows and cheers me on all the way to the next high. Just by being herself she makes me want to be better. And not just by throwing my laundry actually in the hamper.

Since neither of us has a job yet for after May, we've decided to use our time off to discover new places. We both want to travel and what better way to start than discovering Europe by train. We talked about is months ago when we were in Greece and now seems like the right time to so it. Who knows where our jobs will take us next. We can end out trip by flying to Santorini and checking out Megan's new house which should be nearly done by then.

I've been applying to positions all over the country hoping that whatever I get offered is close to Megan's. She's been seeing a lot of jobs in the north of the country and she found a great company in Scotland that has a few positions open. I kind of like the idea of moving north. I've only been there twice when we went to visit David's family but I loved what I saw of it.

My thoughts are interrupted once again when David asks Megan about the remodelling.

"It's been going well. Two of my friends are helping me arrange everything and Colin has been checking in on the construction crew. He says everything looks good. We already ordered all of the furniture and appliances to be delivered early May and then everything should be finished a few weeks later."

"I can't believe you two planned a whole remodelling by yourself. I get overwhelmed just from walking into a hardware store."

"Well, if you ever want to flip the house, let us know. By now we know all there is to know. Except for how to do the work itself."