Matt drove Karen home. Neither of them spoke during the journey. Once they arrived, Matt waited in the car until Karen went through the door and drove off.
The next day, he called his boss and told him what had happened and asked for the week off. After the boss agreed, he decided to visit Karen to see how she was doing.

He knocked on her door and waited for her to answer. When she did, he noticed a few things about her. She had a red nose, swollen eyes and wet cheeks. She had been crying. She invited him in and offered to make him a cup of tea. He refused and insisted that he make the tea and tells her to have a seat. They drank their tea in silence. Matt examined the room looking for anything to talk about, just to help get her mind off the death of her son. He noticed that her shelves were broken and offered to fix them.

"Do you know how?" She asked.

"Of course!" He replied.

He then went on to tell her stories about how children at the orphanage would always break his things and he would then repair them himself afterwards. As a result, he had become quite the handyman. He spent the rest of the day chatting to her and telling her more stories about life at the orphanage whilst fixing her shelves and even improving them slightly. She had already heard some of them from when he used to talk to her as a child. He also finally managed to make her smile with one of his stories.  

After finishing her shelves he stood back and admired his handywork. She stood next to him and smiled.

"I've missed you Matt" She said. "Why did you stop visiting?"

"Well uh, you know" He said scratching the back of his head. "I kind of got caught up with schoolwork and I haven't really had much time since I started uni till now."

"Well I'm just glad my Barty had a friend as special as you." She said. 

Matt looked at his watch. It was 6pm. He didn't want to overstay his welcome so he prepared to leave. karen stopped him and insisted that he stay for dinner. They ate together and Matt ended up leaving at 7:30pm.
A few days later Matt recieved a call from Karen. She told him that her freezer was broken and was wondering if he could fix it. He felt bad for her. He knew that she was lonely and probably wanted company more than anything. As the months went by Matt and Karen had become really good friends. It started with her calling him to fix some of her things, but eventually, Matt was visiting her almost daily just to chat with her. He looked forward to coming over and she looked forward to seeing him.

One particular night, Matt noticed that Karen looked distressed and uncomfortable. He felt like he had done something so he asked her what was wrong.

"Tomorrow it will have been a year since Barty's death." She said.

Matt felt terrible. How could he have forgotton? He felt like he needed to do something to help get her mind of it.

"Let me take you out to dinner tomorrow night." He said. "On me."

"Oh I couldn't." She said wiping her eyes. "Where would we go anyway?"

"I know this great italian place just down the road." He said. "Come on, you've hardly left the house since you-know-what, it's unhealthy."

"Well I guess that makes sense." She said. "Ok fine, let's go to dinner tomorrow."

"Great!" He said. "I'll pick you up at seven. I should probably be heading off now anyway, it's getting late. See you tomorrow."

The next day Matt pulled into the drive at 6:59pm wearing a shirt and a pair of jeans. He rang the doorbell and patiently waited for an answer. When Karen answered the door, the first thing Matt acknowledged was how she looked. She was wearing a very short, grey skirt, an extremely revealing red tank top, red, open toe heels and giant ring earrings. She was obviously really excited about this dinner since she was taking it so seriously.

"You look amazing." He said to her. "I kind of feel underdressed now."

"Oh nonsense! It's just dinner after all" She said, stepping out of the house and closing the door. "In fact, I'm kind of regretting wearing these shoes, they're killing my feet."

"Do you want to change them?" He asked. "We still have time before our table reservation."

"No it's fine, I like how they look." She replied. "That's why I wore them.

At the restaurant, Matt noticed that Karen was having a lot to drink and was becoming quite giggly. He decided not to have any alcohol since he was driving, and also so he could monitor her. When they exit the restaurant, Karen was holding on to his shoulder for stability and was also giggling a lot. She was really drunk. As soon as he gets her home he places her on the couch and goes to make her some coffee to sober her up. As Karen drinks her cup of coffee she rests her head on Matt's shoulder. Matt eventually hears snoring. He looked at his watch, it was still early. He decided to stay for a while longer and see if she wakes up anytime soon. He switches on the television and turns the volume down.

After about an hour, Karen woke up. She was still drunk but was feeling slightly better. Matt switched of the tv and looked at her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"My head is killing me and my feet hurt." She said.

"I can get you some aspirin if you want." He said. "As for your feet, I've been told that I give great footrubs."

"Oh God no!" She said. "I couldn't possibly ask you to give me a foot rub!" 

"Please, I insist." He said.

She reluctantly agrees and places her feet on his lap. 

"Show me what you can do Matt" She said.

Matt got to work. He began with her toes. He worked on each individual toe and even rubbed the space between them. The first thing he noticed was that her feet were so soft. They were also quite wrinkly, but he wasn't surprised, considering her age. He feet were also slightly damp with sweat. He looked up at Karen, she had fallen asleep again. He slowly raised her foot to his nose, and smelled it. He could smell a hint of strawberry, probably from some lotion she had used before going out. But as the night had progressed, that smell had become overpowered by her natural scent. To him, it smelled amazing. He then stuck his tongue out, and tasted her foot. He leaned in to kiss her foot, then realised what he was doing.

"This is your best friends mother you sick twisted fuck!" He thought to himself.

He got up and placed her feet on the couch. He grabbed his coat and got ready to leave but heard karen call out to him. 

"Stay a little longer." She said with her eyes still closed.

"I-I-I can't." He said. "I've g-got work tomorrow."

"Oh please." She said. "Is that the best excuse you could think of? We've been seeing each other almost daily this past year, did you think I wouldn't know your timetable by now?"

"Uh-I-Uh..." He said.

"Nonsense." She said. "Now help me up." 

Karen sat up held out her hands for Matt to help her off the couch. Matt grabbed her hands and pulled her out of the chair and Karen instantly leaned in and kissed him on the lips. The rest of the night was a blur to Matt.