Chapter 25
MATHEW
Mathew’s first instinct was to take on extra shifts at work just to get his mind off the whole debacle with River. But then he thought better of it. The whole point of making these changes was so he wouldn’t fall into bad habits again.
So rather than allow any extreme changes to his schedule, he spent his free time he’d normally give River with his mother. It only took four afternoons of being with her for his mom to alert his brother.
Of course, Jason would get wind of the problems.
Mathew had just been na?ve enough to believe Rose would be the one to out him.
But nope. Turns out that was his mom.
Jason showed up at his place with food from the café in hand.
Mathew frowned down at the to-go container, then up at his brother. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“You haven’t been coming around the café. I can’t get you to answer your text messages. And mom is worried.”
“Of course she is.”
“Because you never spend this much time with her. She actually asked me today if I thought you might have cancer and you’re just trying to get as much as you can out of life.”
Mathew balked at that, his eyes rounding. “Tell me you’re lying.”
“I’m not. And I think after losing dad, she was too scared to ask you.” Jason lifted the food. “What do you say? Want to chat about whatever is bothering you? Is it Victoria?”
Well, great. This wasn’t what he’d wanted to talk about. He’d been okay with bringing up River and the mess he’d made in withholding information. But if Jason was asking about Victoria, then there were good chances that she’d bumped into him this past week.
She hadn’t gone home like he’d asked. And it didn’t matter that he was avoiding her like the plague. She continued to hover outside the hospital and sometimes even drove by his place. He didn’t know where she was staying, but she simply wasn’t getting the hint.
Maybe a restraining order would help? Except she wasn’t doing anything that would warrant one. She wasn’t dangerous. And this couldn’t really be considered stalking, right? Or could it?
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Jason moved past him and entered the apartment. “She came to the café yesterday and asked me if you were seeing anyone.”
Mathew’s head whipped in Jason’s direction so fast that he winced from the pain. “Did you tell her about River?”
A subtle twitch at Jason’s lips was all the indication that he thought he had this whole thing figured out.
“I thought as much. And to answer your question, no. I didn’t tell her any specifics.
I told her that she could talk to you about it, and when she said she’d tried, then I knew something was up.
Between you hanging out with mom every day and Victoria?
You want to tell me what’s going on? Are you and River… ”
With a sigh of exhaustion, Mathew groaned. “It’s complicated right now.”
“Doesn’t seem complicated. You tell your ex that you’ve moved on and that it’s time for her to move on, too. Seems simple enough. I can’t imagine River would be disappointed in you for communicating that.”
The grimace said it all.
Jason’s easygoing body language shifted into something that resembled the way an animal prepared for a fight. His muscles bunched beneath his shirt. “You did tell Victoria to go home, right?”
“Of course I did,” Mathew said, exasperated.
“So why is she still here? She knows you’re with River?”
“I haven’t told her that exactly. She knows we’re friends at least, maybe something more. Maybe she thinks I’m lying. Maybe she thinks I have some unrequited attraction for someone else but it’s not serious so she has the green light to move in.”
Jason snorted. “Not even Victoria is that bad, right? What does River think? Or is that the ‘complicated’ thing you haven’t told me yet?”
Mathew couldn’t meet Jason’s eye.
“Oh, come on. We all know you two are good together. She brought you out of your shell. Why are you pulling back?”
“I’m not!” The words shattered the quiet in the apartment, and Jason lifted a single brow. Mathew took in a deep breath before expelling it and lowering his voice. “I never told River about Victoria. I never said I was married, and I never told her about the divorce.”
“What?! Isn’t that the kind of thing you mention early on?”
Mathew slumped onto the couch and put his head in his hands. “It never really came up. And I don’t think about my failed marriage that much.”
His brother snorted. “That’s a lie. Everyone compares their dates to their past mistakes. What on earth made you keep it a secret?”
“I don’t know, Jason. I didn’t think it mattered. It was in the past. I was ready to start a new chapter, and I never thought it would matter.” It was the best excuse he had.
And yet his brother didn’t seem to believe him. “You’re being evasive. You know that, right?”
“If you don’t have anything smart to say—”
“You want to know what I think? I think you should be groveling to the one person who’s been capable of making you smile again since shortly after you and Victoria got together.”
Mathew sent him a sharp look. It wasn’t a secret that Jason didn’t like Victoria.
And while everything had remained civil, neither of his siblings had anything nice to say about her.
Pushing that thought aside, Mathew focused on the bigger issue.
“I’ve tried. Don’t you think I’ve tried?
I call. I text. I email. I even snuck onto the farm last night when her guard dogs weren’t doing their job. ”
Jason lifted a brow. “Guard dogs?”
“Rose and Emerson. Though our lovely cousin caught me sneaking away from River’s apartment and probably woke up everybody with her rather loud lecture.”
“Well, Victoria isn’t going anywhere if she still thinks she has a chance to win you over. I don’t care how mean you are to her. She’s like a leech.”
“She’s not that bad.”
One look from his brother indicated that perhaps Mathew still wore his rose-colored glasses.
He didn’t, though. Whatever softness Victoria still had under all that armor, it hadn’t been enough to save their marriage.
The two of them weren’t a good fit, but Victoria still deserved to find love. She deserved to be happy.
Jason wagged a finger in his face. “I know that look. You need to cut it out.”
Mathew scowled at his brother. “I’m not doing anything.”
“You’re falling on your sword, and for what? A woman who was toxic when you two were together? Come on. You can’t honestly be thinking that you want to get back together with her.”
“Of course I’m not thinking that. I just don’t like making anyone out to be the villain.” He sighed. “I want to see River. But I can’t exactly force her to see me when she doesn’t want to, now, can I? I’ve already done what I can. I don’t want to push her any further than I already have.”
His brother groaned with exaggeration. “No one understands the need to step back and let the dust settle better than me. You were there. You saw the person I became when I thought I was doing right by Isabelle. But this situation is nothing like that. You know what you want, and I’m pretty sure that River does too.
This is all a big misunderstanding. You’re not being pushy. You’re fighting for her.”
Mathew’s irritation won over and he jumped to his feet to pace. “I lied to her.”
“You withheld information.”
“Like that’s any better!” He stopped and faced his brother. “Whose side are you on anyway? Aren’t you supposed to support the person who’s been wronged?”
His brother chuckled. “I might not agree with what you did, but I’m not going to leave you lying in the ditch on the side of the road.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Jason slapped his knees and got to his feet.
“It means that I’m not as blind as you and Penny seem to believe.
I can tell when you guys are hurting. I can tell when you’re happy.
And even though I know my opinion doesn’t matter all that much, I don’t want to see either one of you suffer unnecessarily.
You love River. I don’t know if you’ve admitted it to her or even yourself, but you do.
And you made a mistake. You’ll make more.
But the important part is to do something to fix it.
Don’t give up just because she’s giving you a run for your money. ”
Mathew soaked in his words. He wanted to argue that Jason’s opinion mattered but thought better of it. He didn’t want to detract from what Jason was doing for him. “So, what do you suggest?”
“Open up. Be honest. Don’t be afraid of showing her the damaged side of you.”
That wasn’t an issue. River had seen how his father’s death had affected him. She’d helped him through it and been there when he wanted to make a change. He merely needed a chance to talk. “And how exactly do I do that when she won’t give me the time of day?”
For a moment, Jason seemed to consider the predicament at hand. He pulled his mouth to the side with contemplation, shook his head a few times, then his eyes sparked. “I think I have an idea. You said that Rose and Emerson are blocking your attempts to see her?”
Mathew nodded. “She doesn’t head out to town often, from what I’ve heard, and when she does, someone is with her. Besides, I don’t want to make a scene if she decides that she doesn’t want to hear me out.”
“Okay, so what if we find a way to get her out of the house, off the property, and free of her secret service?”
Snorting, Mathew shook his head. “Good luck with that.”
Jason scratched his cheek, mischief in his eyes. “First we need to get Emerson off the premises.”
“Emerson isn’t going anywhere. Ever since this whole thing started, he’s been glued to her. I don’t know how he gets any work done when he’s helping with the farming and she’s working on the equipment.”
“I bet Penny could get him to meet her for coffee or something. She’s not dating anyone.”
Disbelief rolled through him. “Penny is hardly someone who would go along with this just to get to River. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was on River’s side as it is.”
Jason shrugged. “Like I said. We’re family. And even if she’s on River’s side, she’ll be on board with it if we tell her it’s about closure. Because let’s face it, that’s what this whole thing is about anyway.”
That was a good point. Penny was all about getting closure.
“Okay, so if she’s on board and gets Emerson off the property, then what?
Rose will still be there. They’re harvesting something this week.
Uncle George called to see if I could help out, but I declined, so I wouldn’t risk making River uncomfortable. ”
“Yeah, I’m aware. That’s why this week is going to work perfectly. Rose will be distracted. Emerson will be gone. And we’re going to lure River out to the café.”
“How?” Mathew hedged, not sure he liked this part of the plan.
His brother grinned. “Maybe my truck is acting up, and I can’t get it to start. She’ll have to come out to the café to take a look at it, and we can corner her then.”
Mathew grimaced. “Don’t say it like that. I don’t want to corner her.”
“Okay, we’ll invite her in for some coffee and conversation.” Jason chuckled. “It’ll be fine. You’ve given her some time to cool off. Now’s your chance to explain yourself, apologize, and beg for forgiveness like your life depends on it. What do you say?”
At this point Jason’s hair-brained plan was better than anything Mathew could come up with. He sighed, then nodded. “Yeah, okay. Call Penny and see if she’s on board. Then we’ll go ahead with it.”