First Class to Portland Read Online Free PDF

the
kitchen. His name was Matt and I tell you…”
    Janie didn’t hear another word she said. Her heart was
beating so fast and so loud she couldn’t concentrate on anything else. Her legs
got weak and sweat formed on her forehead. She stretched for the chair so she
wouldn’t fall.
    “Janie? Are you alright Janie?”
    “Fine,” she whispered.
    “Okay then. Well I’ll call you if I hear anything. Let’s
keep our fingers crossed, shall we?” Amanda chatted as she closed the front
door behind her.
    Janie sat, frozen, hand over her mouth, willing herself to
breathe. Matt? Here? Today? Why? She couldn’t wrap her head around Matt
being here in Portland, in her house, looking for her!
    A gift? She stood, steadied herself and walked to the
kitchen. Staring at the small blue gift bag, she chewed the inside of her cheek
and couldn’t bring herself to touch it, let alone open and see what was inside.
    She sat on the stool and gazed at the bag, not really seeing
it because her mind was filled with Matt. She had snapshots of him committed to
memory and they engulfed her now. She could picture him in his Yankee ball cap
at the game, laying on a deck chair cruising New York harbor with his friends
Ryan and Courtney, arm around her in the carriage ride, dozens and dozens more
flashing through her head like a PowerPoint presentation, all reminding her how
much she loved him. But she had left and he hadn’t made any effort to stop her.
He had still been seeing his ex-wife and that had turned her stomach and she
needed to remember that he was not available. She had to put him in the past,
but how could she do that if out of the blue he showed up at her house with a
gift? How did he know where she lived? Why was he in Portland?
    Janie stood and poured herself a glass of water, still
staring at the bag. Too many questions outweighed her curiosity so she turned
and left the kitchen, did a quick once over of the house, making sure doors and
windows were locked, and went and took a long hot shower.
    *****
    Matt sat in his room in the Hotel Monaco. The few times he
had traveled to Portland he had been comfortable in the 5-star downtown hotel,
but today he paced, checked his phone every five minutes and tried to work, but
nothing could keep his mind from Janie. He had been all prepared for a lengthy
speech when he’d arrived at her house. He had rehearsed what he was going to
say over and over and he had been incredibly frustrated that she hadn’t been
there. Why hadn’t Katy told him that on the phone? He had wanted to go straight
over after he’d hung up the phone with her last night but thought that eight
o’clock on a Friday night might not be the best option. Maybe he was really
just stalling; afraid that Janie would not be as receptive to his declaration
of love as he hoped she would be.
    Now, he just had to wait, hoping she realized the gift was
from him, as he didn’t attach a card and wasn’t confidant in the ditzy realtor
that he had left it with. He pulled a bottle of water from the mini-bar and
checked his phone again.
    *****
    Janie sat at the island in her kitchen, her wet hair swathed
in a towel, wrapped in her new pink satin robe from Victoria’s Secret, staring
at the small blue gift bag. In the shower she had decided that she may as well
open the present from Matt. Letting it sit there wasn’t going to be an option. Taking
a deep breath, she picked up the bag and opened it, revealing a small blue box
wrapped with a white ribbon. She gasped and gently removed the box from the bag,
holding it carefully in her hand.
    “Tiffany’s,” she whispered, not quite sure how she was
feeling. Her stomach was tied in knots and her heart was pounding but she was
also wary, scared, annoyed maybe. She had been heartbroken when she left New
York and all she had needed was one word from him and the last two weeks could
have been very different. But he’d told her there was no future for them after
she left and he had held true