The Matchmaker

Chapter 8

The sound of the door slamming shut made Amy jump. She angrily wiped her tears away, picked up the washer and removed the rest of the makeup.

She wanted Shannon’s friendship more than anything but she was scared. Her family had always been rich but her parents were considered to be snobs. No one likes snobs so Amy never had any real friends. She had been home schooled and only ever had interaction with children when she was much younger and her mother would take her to day care. She was only four years old then and couldn’t even remember what it was like.

When she was old enough to start learning, day care ceased also. Amy often begged to have friends, asking if she could have a birthday party each year but her parents always said no. By the time she was a teenager she had been so deprived of interaction with other people her own age that she had become painfully shy. Moving to the Gold Coast had been a last minute move and Amy was petrified. Meeting Shannon though had changed everything and Amy felt happy for the first time. She chided herself for ruining what could have been a good friendship.

Standing up from the vanity table, she threw herself onto her bed. She hated who she was. She hated being shy and worst of all, she hated how she looked. For the last ten years she had dreamed of having a friend who would be willing to help her. When Shannon came along she had convinced herself it was just that – a dream. The fact that Shannon was so forthright and blunt had thrown her. She had always imagined having a friend who was giggly and easy-go-lucky but Shannon was far from that. She was frank, serious and from what Amy had seen, didn’t have much of a sense of humour. But for some reason Amy was drawn to her and liked her.

Another factor that stopped Amy from having friends was due to her family. She was embarrassed of them and didn’t want her friends to know who they were. Introducing Shannon to her mother at the wedding was not planned. It would have been rude to not introduce them since her mother was right there. Amy had also accidentally mentioned to Jane she had met someone and Jane wanted to meet her. When Shannon passed by, Amy had little choice.

She didn’t want people, especially Shannon, to know that she was an only child that lived with her mother who couldn’t even make her own marriage work. Yes that’s right. Her parents separated two weeks ago, hence the relocation. The reason for the separation was one of the main reasons for separation. Her father had walked in on her mother sleeping with another man. Whilst Amy had never been close to her father, she would have preferred to have stayed with him than with her mother. Unfortunately when they were organising the separation, he made it quite clear he didn’t want Amy living with him. Apparently he was embarrassed at having a 25-year-old daughter who still lived at home. Despite the fact that he had made a valid point, Amy was still hurt by his comment. Yet she would still prefer to live with him.

Yes of course Amy was old enough to live by herself but she never had the confidence to do so and didn’t want to think about it. Living with her mother, as embarrassing as it was, was better than living by herself. It also meant she had the luxuries of living with a rich parent. Money never meant a lot to her but it gave her security in knowing she had a roof over her head. Although she knew that after her parents had been separated for a year, the divorce would go through and it was likely that Jane would lose most of her money and quite likely the house. The house belonged to her father anyway. Jane was determined to fight for what she was entitled to but she knew it would be limited as she was the one in the wrong.

Amy hoped that within a year she would have changed enough to have the confidence she longed for, a confidence that would allow her to want to move out of home once and for all. If she could stay friends with Shannon, it could happen. She realised that it would mean being open to Shannon about her family and as much as it scared her, she would do it. Even though she had never had friends, one thing she did know was that friends had to be honest with each other. Sometimes knowing about each other’s past was the only way to get to know someone.