Page 149 of Fierce-Matt

“Nope. She’s good at keeping her emotions locked in on the fly. You should have remembered that from when she was a kid. Like I never knew when she was upset over my jokes.”

“You’re right. I’m wrong. I should have asked you if you brought it up and how she reacted.”

“Or you could have stayed out of it, but it’s hard for you to do,” he said.

“Ouch. I deserved that.” She sighed.

“Mom. You’ve always had my back. More than anyone else. But I’m an adult and have been doing well on my own with Anya.”

“Until now.”

“Yep. I made a mistake and I’ve got to fix it. I’ll own that.”

“Just like I’m owning this.” She moved toward him. “Can I have a hug?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I learned from my mother to make it right when you mess up.”

She smiled and patted his cheek. “The good with the bad, Matt. We all make mistakes. Learn from this. You’re never too old to admit you're wrong.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Let me handle this with Anya. If I need help, I’ll come to you.”

She nodded her head. “You have my word.”

41

BOTTOM OF THINGS

“Your shiner is all gone,” Jolene said to Matt in the parking lot of the Fierce Brewery the next day.

Grace had called and said that she’d messed up and should have stayed out of it. Jolene got nothing out of her friend and knew enough not to ask. But it was the call stating that Grace was done getting into the middle of Matt and Anya.

She had no plan on interfering like Grace had, but since she’d put the little bug in Grace’s ear, she felt responsible for whatever was going on now.

Her plan was to chat with Anya and see if she could feel the situation out and give some advice.

“It’s been long enough,” he said. “I’m sure you’re aware of how I got it.”

“I am,” she said. “All my boys would have done the same thing. Just horrible to think that a man would hit a woman, least of all his sister.”

“My mother told you, didn’t she?”

“No. It was Ben,” she said. “I was here dropping the kids off the next day to Jessica, and Ben was telling Mason. He might have been busting on you a little.”

She held her fingers up in a pinch.

“More than a little,” he said. “He told me I had it coming for all the pranks I played on people in the past. That karma was a bitch.”

Thankfully Matt was smiling while he said that. “My boys would have said the same thing to each other. And they would have tackled any guy who tried to touch their sister and not worry about the consequences.”

“I wanted to,” he said. “But cooler heads prevailed.”

“That’s where you’re more mature than the hotheads I birthed,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“I’m not sure the last time someone said I was mature.”

“Don’t be hard on yourself,” she said.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be hard on yourself to get to the bottom of things.” He looked at his watch. “If you’ll excuse me, I want to catch Anya before she starts.”