CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
(Charlotte)
We didn’t see Elizabeth for the rest of the day. She took to her bed with a headache, an excuse that Matt assured me meant she was still pissed off at us. I was fine with that; as much as I’d liked her on my first visit, after this one, she could fucking choke for all I cared.
I sat on the sofa in Matt’s bedroom, flicking through the cable channels while he alternately paced the room and tried to read a book. He was currently in book mode.
“Am I bothering you?” I asked, absently pushing the button on the remote.
“No. The situation is bothering me, but you’re fine.” He sat up in his chair and propped the open book over the arm.
Since the situation was bothering him, I decided to engage in mindless small talk.
Not that either of us could be effectively distracted when our siblings were both.
.. well, we didn’t know exactly where they were or what they were doing.
“Live TV is so weird after you’ve gotten used to streaming.
Like, I have to sit down and watch stuff when the network says to?
Why are they allowed to push me around?”
“What about Vegas?” Matt asked, picking up his cane to resume pacing.
I turned my head to watch him over the back of the couch. “What, like go there?”
“No. I mean, yes, if you’d like to. But I’m thinking about Scott and Catherine. Maybe they eloped there?” He mused.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought of the possibility. It had been the first thing I’d thought of. I hadn’t brought it up because I didn’t want to cause further drama. If Elizabeth was freaking out at the prospect of a divorce, she wouldn’t be happy at all with the idea of a cheap, quick wedding.
Also, I had my own doubts. “That doesn’t seem like something Catherine would do.”
“Neither was leaving her husband,” Matt pointed out. He stumbled a little, and it took him a second to get his balance.
“Hey, why don’t you rest?” I suggested softly.
“Yes, why doesn’t the cripple sit down, since he’s so terrible at walking,” he snapped, then immediately chastened. “Wow. I’m sorry. That was anger that should not have been directed at you.”
“Who do you want to direct it at?” I asked as he came to sit beside me.
“Scott. My mother. This whole fucking system.” He shook his head.
I took his hand in mine and frowned at the deep red depression across his palm.
He tended to use his cane in whichever hand was most comfortable for the terrain, rather than in one static grip.
Today, he was only using his right hand, bruising it raw.
So, he must have been in a lot of pain and favoring his injured side.
I didn’t bring it up, since I’d offended him so easily before, but I did gently massage his palm as he vented.
“She never would have run off with your brother if she hadn’t felt trapped,” Matt seethed. “No. She never would have gotten married if she hadn’t felt trapped by all of this bullshit. I feel like I’m realizing I’m in a fucking cult.”
I could see where he’d gotten that feeling; they were isolated, surrounded by people who believed the same things, had their own strict code of behavior, who mistrusted outsiders and shunned those who broke the unspoken rules of conduct.
But he hadn’t come to that conclusion when he’d been seeking out “normal” friends or when he was eating coffee-maker ramen in the dorms.
His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You look like you want to say something.”
Cautiously, I said, “I wanted to agree with you, but I didn’t know if it would annoy you. I’m trying not to heap extra stress on you right now.”
He closed his fingers around mine and lifted my hand to his lips, brushing a kiss along my knuckles. “You’re not extra stress. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Even after I said all that horrible shit to your mom?” I flinched as the words came out. He didn’t need to reassure me again. My guilt was my own problem.
“I told you, that’s not an issue. It was something she needed to hear.” He dropped my hand gently into my lap and scratched the back of his head. “You still haven’t heard back from Scott?”
“No.” I picked up my phone, as if it would magically make a text appear. Nothing.
“Maybe they’re on a plane, then. Headed to Nevada to get hitched.
” His expression hardened. “You know what? I hope they are. I hope they’re on a plane to Las Vegas and they get married by an Elvis impersonator and my sister comes back and runs the photos with a wedding announcement in every important paper in Connecticut.
And New York. Fuck, I’ll help her take out a full-page ad in the New York Times to spite my mother. ”
I wasn’t used to him talking about his mom in such a negative way. It didn’t give me the satisfaction it might have earlier in our visit.
I shifted toward Matt and slapped a hand on my knee. “Okay. We’re talking Vegas, let’s place our bets.”
Matt raised an eyebrow.
“Who’s going to call first?” I held up my phone as a visual aid. “Will it be Catherine, or will it be Scott? And who will they call?”
“Catherine isn’t going to call mother,” Matt said firmly. “And she damn sure isn’t going to call me.”
“So, you think Scott is going to call first?”
“I think so.”
“Who will he call?”
Matt considered for a long moment. I was interested to hear his answer, because while I hoped Scott would call me first, since I was his sister, I wondered how Matt would feel about communication from Scott.
“You, I think,” Matt said. “Yeah. He’s going to call you, first.”
“What if he calls you?” I couldn’t imagine that Matt would freak out over an outcome he’d been rooting for, but his emotions had been high all day.
Even when he was actually high.
“I don’t know. I don’t think I should congratulate someone for falling in love with my sister. It’s a horrible thing to happen to anyone.”
I poked his side. “Stop joking.”
“Fine.” He let out a long sigh. “I want my best friend to be happy. I’m not psyched over the fact that he had to be persuaded into feeling happy for me, especially since the circumstances are so different. You weren’t married with two children when I decided to fuck your brains out in that pool.”
“Technically, it was on the patio,” I reminded him. “And you were pretty blase about your sister cheating on her husband when I caught her.”
“Yeah, but that was when she was cheating on someone I didn’t like.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and squinched his eyes shut. “I’m getting such a headache.”
“I’ll get you some ibuprofen.” As I stood to go to our overnight bag, my phone rang.
It was Scott. I knew it before I even looked at the screen. I didn’t know many people who used the phone like an actual phone, except for my brother and my parents. Well, and Matt. I hated to lump him in with the group of elderlies, but it was what it was.
Matt gestured toward the door, silently asking if he should leave.
I shook my head, swiped the screen, and greeted my brother with, “Matt’s here with me and you’re on speaker. Explain yourself.”
“Wow, okay, Holly ,” Scott responded.
“Is Catherine with you?” Matt asked, betraying his worry. He acted like he didn’t care about his sister, but for all of their very real personal issues with each other, I knew he would be devastated if something happened to her.
“She is,” Scott confirmed. “She’s not in the room at the moment.”
I strained to see if I could hear slot machines in the background.
“Are you in Las Vegas?” I blurted.
“No…” he replied, audibly perplexed. “Do you want to keep guessing cities or do you want me to tell you where I am?”
“Matt thought you were eloping,” I said, ignoring the sharp look he sent me.
“How? She’s still married,” Scott reminded us.
Matt and I exchanged a sheepish glance that I was glad Scott couldn’t see. Neither of us had thought of that important legal detail.
“Let me guess, you two are—”
“At mother’s house, yes,” Matt interrupted him. “Trying to smooth things over for the two of you.”
“No one asked you to do that,” Scott said firmly. “No one asked you two to meddle in this at all.”
Meddle? Me? Meddling? “We’re not meddling. In fact, I told Matt not to meddle in anything between you and his sister a long time ago.”
“Maybe I should have,” Matt muttered.
“No, you shouldn’t have. You should have minded your business.” I took a deep breath. “Scott. Is this happening? Are you and Catherine like, forever?”
“I hope so,” he said softly. “But I think you’re both aware that there are… issues.”
The money. I knew it. I knew she would balk at the thought of giving up all her luxuries to be with my brother. Which meant she didn’t deserve him. Which was something I would have told him if he’d bothered to ask for my advice.
I was smart enough to keep those thoughts to myself.
Matt was not. “Let me guess. She’s not willing to sacrifice the bank account.”
“She’s leaving her husband and dividing up custody of her children, I think she’s giving up enough!” Scott snapped.
“Whoa, whoa.” I held out my hands as if I were keeping the guys apart more than geography was. “Matt, I need to talk to my brother. Alone.”
I expected him to argue. Instead, he gave me a chastened nod and said, “Okay. Look, Scott. We’ll talk later.”
“Yeah.” That was the harshest way my brother ever ended a conversation. This was a serious rift.
Matt left the room, which was nice but unnecessary, considering I’d taken the call off speaker. I watched him move painfully to the door and bit my bottom lip to physically stop myself from telling him to sit down and rest.
“Catherine is really leaving her husband for you?” It wasn’t that I didn’t believe Elizabeth. She’d been convincingly hysterical. But I needed to hear it from my brother.
“Seems that way,” he said, his feathers still ruffled.
“You’re talking to me now, not your bullshit macho guy friend,” I reminded him.
“You’re dating that bullshit macho guy friend.”