Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
MATT
T he past week has been rough.
I haven’t heard from Zoé in seven days, except for her brief response to the twenty texts I sent asking where the hell she was. “At the Butterfly Inn, as planned,” she said, but then asked for space to figure things out, telling me to focus on my sister.
Which I’ve been doing. But her silence has me worried sick.
The evenings are the hardest. She’s always on my mind. What is she up to? Does she miss me as much as I miss her? I can’t count the number of times I’ve driven to the hotel, only to turn around, respecting her demand.
Daphne has been asking me where Zoé is—why she’s not coming for dinner, why I look so damn sad—and I don’t have any fucking answer for her.
“Matt?”
I glance up at Lola, who’s watching me, her lips tugged down in a frown. “Sorry, what?”
“Where did you go?”
I tilt my beer to my mouth, sinking deeper into the Adirondack chair. “I’m here,” I mumble.
She gives me a kick.
“ Ow !”
“Can you at least pretend like you’re happy to see your friends? We haven’t had a Friday night dinner in forever.”
Since Oli has been traveling so much with Charlee lately, working on their next docuseries, we’ve done a shit job of keeping up with the tradition we started a decade ago. So tonight, I dropped my sister off with my parents and took the night for myself. But my head hasn’t been in it.
I tighten my hold on my beer. “No, I’m glad to see you guys. I’m a bit distracted, that’s all. Sorry.”
Oliver watches me with narrowed eyes, his hair tousled by the light breeze. “So I’ve heard. Wanna fill us in?”
Brow cocked, I nod at Lola and James. “These two haven’t told you everything already?”
He shrugs. “The basics. How you guys met and the whole… fake dating stuff for Emile’s land. And last week’s town hall…”
“I can’t believe I wasn’t here to see you pretend to date someone.” Charlee breaks into a smile, adjusting her position on Oli’s lap. “The one time you do something wild, and I miss it.”
“Thank god you weren’t,” I mutter. The teasing would never have ended.
“So… did she lie?” Oliver hedges. “About the project?”
I snap my gaze to him, anger flooding my veins. “Of course not. Don’t you know what an asshole her dad is?”
“We all do,” James says, rubbing the back of his neck.
With a sigh, I shake my head. “He set her up real good. His own fucking daughter. And the whole community lost it on her last week.”
Leaving me with an impossible choice: my sister or Zoé. In the end, she made it for me, but it’s the decision I would’ve made myself. And knowing she understands that only makes me love her more.
My head falls. “Daph defended her in front of everybody. I’ve never seen her like that, and it broke my heart. She had a meltdown, and while I was calming her down outside, Zoé left. You have no idea how much I want to pay a visit to her dad.”
Charlee bundles herself closer to Oli. “That man is the scum of the earth.”
Lola and Char clink their bottles in agreement.
“Where did she go?” James asks.
I take another swig of my beer, staring out at the horizon, where the sun has finally set on the lake. “She’s at the Butterfly Inn. She asked me to give her some time. Told me to focus on Daph. She’s probably moving heaven and earth to find a way out.”
“And you listened to her? You didn’t insist on being with her and helping her through it?” Oli looks at Charlee. “What is it that you say all the time, sweetheart? That Matt is—”
“A hot piece of ass.”
That pulls a laugh from me, at least. The first in a week.
“No, not that,” he mumbles. “The other one.”
She leans in and kisses his cheek. “Oh. An idiot.”
With a grin, Oli snaps his fingers. “Exactly that. What are you doing, man? Go fucking get your girl. She needs you now more than ever.”
Guilt eats at me, twisting my gut. “But she said she needs space. That she wants to fix this alone. I have to respect her wishes, don’t I?
” I rub my temples, feeling the weight of it all.
“And what if she’s mad? I did choose to comfort Daphne rather than stand beside her.
I left her to face the town’s fury all by herself. Maybe she’s done with me.”
“Matt.” Lola dips her chin, her expression flat. “The woman’s working her ass off for the town that all but strung her up a week ago, for god’s sake. You think she’s staying because she liked it? She told you she loved you.”
“She what ?” Oliver and Char scream at the same time. They look at each other and burst into laughter, Oli brushing his lips on her cheek in a faint kiss.
“Did you say it back?” Charlee scoots to the edge of Oli’s lap, her expression full of anticipation.
I rub a hand down my face. “Yes.”
She mumbles something that sounds like “What a hot-ass idiot.” Louder, she adds, “Then, go!”
Oli rests his chin on her shoulder. “I can’t believe you’re still here talking to us. You really are an idiot.”
Chest constricting, I glance at James.
He raises his eyebrows and tips his beer to his lips as if to say, “I told you so.”
“Go!” Charlee insists.
“Fuck it.” I get up and head straight for my truck.
“Bring her back here,” Oli shouts from the deck. “Maybe we can help.”
If she wants to talk to me, then yes, I’ll bring her back here. I’ll introduce her to everybody.
She’ll be part of the family. A real one, for once.
“Oh, Matt, wait.” Charlee scrambles off Oliver’s lap and runs toward me. “I have something for you. Here.” She digs in her pocket and pulls out a keychain with a rooster dangling from it, flashing me a smile. “For the cocklection.”
I swing by the store and throw together a bouquet of her favorite flowers. The whole time, my heart doesn’t stop racing.
At the Butterfly Inn, I jog inside and head straight for the front desk.
“Hey, Ruth.” The owner of the Inn, a petite woman in her sixties, sits in a large armchair, knitting needles in her hands. “Can you tell me which room Zoey Delacroix is staying in, please?”
She peers at me over the pink glasses perched at the tip of her nose before she looks back at the cardigan she’s working on. “Guest information is confidential.”
“Ruth, please.” I bounce on my toes, literally shaking. With a frustrated groan, I pluck a pink rose from the bouquet and thrust it at her. “ Please .”
She puts her needles down, sighs, and takes the offered flower. “Fine. Room 203.”
“Thank you.”
I dash down the dim hallway and fly up the stairs, taking them two at a time. When I get to her door on the second floor, I rap twice on the wood.
There’s some clattering on the other side and then the faint brush of the peephole cover against the surface. After a moment’s pause, the lock rattles, and finally, Zoé appears in front of me.
“Hi,” I croak.
“What are you doing here?” Her voice is soft, fragile. Like she might break if she speaks louder.
“I got a new cock, and I need help fitting it into your cockiness order,” I blurt out in one breath.
Her eyes widen, and then she bursts into a laugh. “ What ?”
“My cock!” I yank my new keychain out with a little too much force.
“ Oh ,” she whispers, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. She leans in, squinting. “Definitely not very cocky.”
I exhale a sharp laugh, but it dies when I take in her bloodshot eyes. Her rumpled shirt. Her oversized sweatpants. My sweatpants.
She’s wearing them.
I swallow tightly and settle on her face again, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, the hair she’s crammed into a sad bun on top of her head.
She looks like she’s barely slept since I last saw her.
Fuck .
I scan what I can see of the room. The twin beds that have been pushed together. The piles of papers, the discarded clothes, the leftover food.
Fuck, it kills me that I let her go through all of this alone.
“Can I come in?” I ask.
With a nod, she moves out of the way.
“Ruth gave me the worst room,” she says. “Though at first, she refused to let me stay at all, so it’s a win, I guess.”
My stomach drops. I can’t believe she’s been living like this for a week.
“These are for you,” I say a bit hoarsely, handing her the bouquet, then sit on the edge of the bed, wincing when it creaks under my weight.
“Thank you.” She takes the flowers and inhales deeply, then sets them on the other bed.
My legs jiggle relentlessly, my pulse hammering in my ears like it’s desperate to reach her. I don’t know why I thought I could sit down for this. I get up, raking a hand through my hair.
I’m about to speak, but she beats me to the punch. “Matt, I—”
“Please, let me go first,” I cut in, urgency in my tone, despite my best efforts to stay calm.
Her lips stretch into a ghost of a smile, and she nods. “Go ahead.”
“I’m sorry for not running after you after the town hall. I should have picked up Daphne and followed you to Oli’s. We’ve been miserable without you. We miss you so much.”
Zoé takes a step closer and lays her hand on my forearm. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I asked you for space, and you gave it to me. He’s my dad, and he tricked me .” Her voice wavers on that last part. “I needed to figure this out myself.”
I deflate, some of the anxiety flooding out of me. My fingers ache to curl around her face and bring her to me.
“You did. But you needed me, and I know how easy it is for you to clam up. I should have done more to keep you safe. I should have at least fought for you that night.”
Her eyes fill with tears, and I brush them away as they crest her lashes.
“I’m sorry too,” she says, her voice shaking. “For putting us in this situation. I should have known he’d pull shit like that. And for hurting Daphne. God, her screams still haunts me. Is she okay?”
I tangle my fingers in the softness of her hair, pushing it away from her face. She leans into my touch. “She will be once you come back home, honey. She misses you.”
She smiles, finally, then tilts her chin to the side, pressing her lips to my palm.