Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson Read Free Book Online Page A

never been with anyone like that,
     never experienced such intimacy with another person.
My God, why not?
she asked herself.
    She kind of missed Matt already. It was insane, completely ridiculous, not
her;
but she
did
miss him.
My God, why not?
    When she got to her office that morning, he was already there, waiting for her. Her heart nearly stopped.
    “We’d better do some work,” she said. “Seriously, Matthew.”
    He didn’t say a word, just shut her office door, and kissed her until Katie felt as if she were melting into the hardwood
     floor.
    He finally pulled away, looked into her eyes again, and said, “As soon as I left your place,
I missed you.
”

T HE DIARY

     
    Nicholas,
    I remember all of this as if it happened yesterday. It’s still vibrant and alive. Matt and I were riding on the Edgartown–Vineyard
     Haven road in my Jeep. Gus went along for the ride. He sat on the backseat and looked like one of the lions that guard the
     front of the New York Public Library.
    “Can’t you drive any faster?” Matt asked, tapping his fingers on the dashboard. “I walk faster than this.”
    I am by my own admission a slow and careful driver. Matt had found my first flaw.
    “Hey, I got the safety-first award in my driver’s ed class in Cornwall on Hudson. I hung the diploma under my medical degree.”
    Matt laughed and rolled his brown eyes. He got all of my dumb little jokes.
    We were driving to his mother’s house. Matt thought it would be interesting for me to meet her.
    Interesting? What did that mean?
    “Oops, there’s my mom!” Matt said just then. “Oh, man. There she is.”
    She was up on the roof of the house when we got there. She was fixing an ancient TV antenna.We got out of my old blue Jeep,
     and Matt called up to her.
    “Mom, this is Suzanne. And Gus the Wonder Dog. Suzanne . . . my mother, Jean. She taught me how to fix things around the house.”
    His mother was tall, lanky, silver-haired. She called down to us, “Very nice to meet you, Suzanne. You, too, Gus. You three
     go have a seat on the porch. I’ll only be a minute up here.”
    “If you don’t fall off the roof and break both your legs,” Matt said. “Fortunately, we have a good doctor in the house.”
    “I won’t fall off the roof.” Jean laughed, and went back to her work. “I only fall off extension ladders.”
    Matt and I took our seats at a wrought-iron table on the porch. Gus preferred the front yard. The house was an old saltbox
     with a northern view of the harbor. To the south lay cornfields, and then deep woods that gave you the impression you were
     in Maine.
    “It’s gorgeous here. Is this where you grew up?” I asked.
    “No, I was born in Edgartown. This house was bought a few years after my father died.”
    “I’m sorry, Matt.”
    He shrugged. “It’s another thing we have in common, I guess.”
    “So why didn’t you tell me?” I asked him.
    He smiled. “You know, I guess I just don’t like to talk a lot about sad things. Now you know
my
flaw. What good does it do to talk about sad things in the past?”
    Jean suddenly appeared with iced tea and a plate heaped with chocolate-chip cookies.
    “Well, I promise I won’t give you the once-over, Suzanne. We’re too mature for that sort of thing,” she said with a quick
     wink. “I would love to hear about your practice, though. Matthew’s father was a doctor, you know.”
    I looked over at him. Matt hadn’t told me that, either. “My dad died when I was eight years old. I don’t remember too much.”
    “He’s private about some things, Suzanne. Matthew was hurt badly when his dad died. Don’t listen to him on that. I think he
     believes it might make other people uncomfortable to hear about how much he hurts.”
    She winked at Matt; he winked back at her. I could tell they were close. It was nice to see. Sweet.
    “So, tell me about yourself, Jean. Unless you’re a private person, too.”
    “Hell, no!” she said with a laugh. “I’m an