CHAPTER THIRTEEN #2
I redirected. “Butthead. I believe entirely that you both needed each other. You needed her more than she needed you. And that hurts.”
“She still needs me,” he insisted. “Her husband is such an asshole. I could make her happy. When we were all alone, her smile lit up the fucking room. And she was a real person. She let her guard down. It wasn’t an act.
She wasn’t trying to get anything from me.
She wanted to be with me. And I don’t understand how that all went away. ”
I knew. She remembered how much money her husband had in comparison to what was in Scott’s bank account.
“You know what made it go away,” I said quietly. And I knew that it wounded his pride to hear me even imply it, but he had to know that it was true.
“Yeah. I know.” He leaned forward, his hands on his knees. “Look, I’m tired. I’m gonna go—”
“You don’t want to hear it, but you deserve better than Catherine.
” I couldn’t let him mope off to bed thinking I didn’t understand, because I did.
“You loved Lauren. And she fucked you over. And then you fell for Catherine, and she did the same thing. But I promise you, it’s possible to love someone that hard and have them love you back. ”
“Well, those types of women are thin on the ground, I guess,” he grumbled, getting to his feet.
“Yeah. They are. So are guys like that. How many times have I been engaged?”
His jaw visibly tightened. “Way too many.”
“And how many times was my world entirely shattered when those relationships ended?” It was purely rhetorical; he knew exactly how big a mess I’d been after every single one of my breakups.
“And what happened when I swore off ever looking for love, ever again?” I challenged him.
He looked me straight in the fucking face and said, “You got mauled by a bear.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. And that’s what he’d been aiming for, because if I laughed, it would destroy my pep talk.
“You’re such a dick.” I threw my hands up. “Fine. Yes. I got mauled by a bear. But I also found true love.”
“Gross.”
“Yeah, well, suck it up. Because it’s true god damn love with Charlotte. I promise, it’s going to happen for you when you least expect it.”
And hopefully, not with my sister.
* * * *
Scott and I played until we couldn’t keep our eyes open and decided to sleep much earlier than we would have twenty years before.
“Remember when we could stay up twenty-four hours in a row?” I yawned and stretched my arms to get some blood flow back into them. They’d been in roughly the same position, clutching a controller, for much longer than I was used to.
“I think if someone were to offer me a million dollars to stay awake that long, I still wouldn’t be able to do it,” he said grimly.
That was an interesting thing I often heard people say. “For a million dollars,” or “If someone offered me a million dollars.” Like that was some astronomical amount of money. I supposed it wouldn’t be such a popular point of reference for people if it wasn’t a lot.
That thought weighed on me as I trudged my way up to bed.
I’d already known that Charlotte and I were from vastly different economic backgrounds, and I understood the gravity of “one percent” to describe rich people.
But what about comfortable people? Was it possible to be “comfortable” with less than a million dollars in the bank?
When I found Charlotte still awake, scrolling social media, I almost questioned her about the financial situations of the people she knew.
Luckily, I had the good sense not to bring up a touchy subject.
Even among the ultra-wealthy, exact figures were volunteered—and in many cases, rounded up substantially—but never asked about outright.
It would be rude.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, pulling my t-shirt over my head. I’d bounced back from the food poisoning quicker than she had.
“So much better. But my sleep schedule is all messed up.” She’d spent the day after the accidental poisoning completely passed out, waking only for frantic dashes to the bathroom. “And my muscles are all still pulled.”
“What did Doctor Frankel say today?” I hadn’t been home when he’d made his visit to Charlotte and Holly. I’d shown Bill around town, Scott in tow. And by “shown around,” I meant I had looked at a guidebook guiltily two hours before we left for historical sites I’d never visited before.
“That we’re fine. We’re recovering. Not everyone gets back on their feet twenty-four hours later, like some lucky bastards can. Electrolytes, rice and oatmeal, the whole thing.” She bit her bottom lip. “I think your chef is getting bored with us.”
“I pay him enough that he can be bored.” I kicked my jeans aside and climbed into bed with her.
When she snuggled down beside me and leaned her head on my shoulder, it felt right in a way that affirmed the universe in my soul.
This was what Scott wanted. It’s what he deserved. And for some reason, it’s what he wanted with Catherine.
“I think I’m going to talk to my sister. About Scott.”
Charlotte pushed herself up. “I think that’s a terrible idea.”
“What? Why?”
“Because it’s meddling. Meddling never works,” she warned.
“Your brother meddled. Look at us now,” I pointed out.
“But I’m not your sister. I’m not anything like her.”
“It would be weird if you were.”
She took a deep, long-suffering breath. “So, you go talk to her. You, what, convince her to leave her rich husband for my middle-class brother and then what? She ends up breaking Scott’s heart all over again when she can’t stomach living in a world where she has to load the dishwasher by herself.”
I supposed that was a good point. “I still have to try. I feel like I ruined his life—”
“Why?” She sat all the way up, even scooted back to sit against the headboard. “Why did you ruin his life?”
“The wedding was a disaster,” I said helplessly. I’d liked it much better when we’d been snuggling.
“The wedding was a disaster because his fiancé made it a disaster. Did you make her leave him at the altar?” Charlotte demanded.
“Obviously not.” I sat up, too, because lying down felt like putting myself at a disadvantage during a debate.
“And did you attack yourself with a bear?” She gestured to my ruined leg, hidden by the blankets. “Was that something you chose to do because it was such a good time? Did you selfishly choose the pleasure and excitement of almost dying, instead of giving my brother a future of newly wedded bliss?”
“Again, obviously not.”
“Then stop feeling responsible. It’s selfish.”
That wasn’t the take I was expecting from her, especially after I’d just announced my plan to get Scott and Catherine together, somehow.
That wasn’t exactly what I’d said, but I knew myself well enough to know it was the outcome I’d hoped for.
And it wasn’t realistic. Charlotte was right; even if my sister loved Scott with all her heart, as deeply as I loved Charlotte, she would never be able to get used to living without an obscene amount of money.
I didn’t think her fingers had ever touched dishwater a day in her life.
Still, I failed to see how my intervention could be deemed self-serving in some way. “How is it selfish of me? I mean, besides the fact that if she did leave her husband for your brother, I would never have to see the smug bastard—”
“It’s not about her husband. It’s about you,” Charlotte corrected me sternly.
“Matt, you have this thing about making everyone’s wildest fantasies come true.
And when we’re talking about a sex island, sure, that’s exactly what you should be doing.
But you can’t fix everyone else’s lives, and especially not because you feel guilty about some pivotal role you’ve cast yourself in.
Scott doesn’t perceive you as being the reason his marriage never happened.
You’re the one putting that importance on the part you played. Really... you were a background actor.”
Ouch.
“I guess you have a pretty good point there.”
“But I still don’t see how my meddling is any different than his meddling.”
I realized how petulant that sounded as it ejected from my mouth, but I couldn’t do anything to stop it.
“It’s different because Scott did play a part in the reason I took off,” she explained. “Was he the sole cause? No. But he played a much bigger part in our near-breakup than you did in his. You didn’t even know about the thing with your sister until it was over.”
Also a good point. I wasn’t a fan of the number of those she was having.
“How about this,” she began. “How about you’re allowed to intervene only if Catherine asks you to.”
“She’s never going to ask me to,” I argued.
“Exactly. Which shows you how much she’s willing to fight for my brother.
” Charlotte scooched down and punched her pillow as if to make it more comfortable, but she wasn’t fooling me.
My pillows were top-of-the-line and needed no punching.
I assumed she was picturing Catherine’s face being so aggressively fluffed.
“You shouldn’t want your best friend to be with someone who’s going to hurt him. ”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I agreed.
But hadn’t that been Scott’s argument against me dating Charlotte? That she would just hurt me?
“I won’t do anything unless Catherine asks me to,” I promised.
I didn’t plan to break that promise.
Now, I had to find a way to make Catherine want my help.