Page 22

As I pushed the green beans across my plate, the heaviness of attending this dinner seeped into my bones. The anger and resentment on this table was thick. Matty’s dad was belligerent, but blaming it on the alcohol like Matty did felt too kind. I clearly didn’t have the full picture, but Matty constantly needing to defend himself didn’t feel right either.

His father berated him at any opportunity, and Matty could never win. Everything he did was scrutinized and thrown back in his face like it was a deliberate slight against Ben. Why he left. Why he never came back. Why his mom deteriorated toward the end. It was always Matty’s fault.

Meanwhile, my confident and goofy friend was a shadow of himself. Matty just sat there like an abused dog and took all the insults his father threw his way. He was so used to being let down by that man that he took it. He was never the loudest person in the room, but his demeanor tonight explained a hell of a lot more about his situation than I could have anticipated.

Matty was trapped in his own guilt and misery because his father couldn’t deal with his own.

“Oh, Brittany,” Ben said brightly. “Did Ben ever tell you about the time he tried out to be a quarterback?”

I looked over at Matty’s dad, reluctant to engage but feeling like I had no other option. It would no doubt be another story about how pathetic he thought Matty was. I was tired of it. Yes, Matty had made mistakes, but he was loyal, committed, and the smartest man I knew. If Ben couldn’t see that, that was his problem. Matty didn’t need to change, and I never wanted him to either.

“His arms were like noodles, and he could barely throw a pass five yards.” Matty’s dad chuckled to himself, shaking his head. “He’d throw, and every single time without fail, the ball would trickle to the ground.”

Once again, Matty didn’t respond. He took his dad’s words at face value.

I hated this.

I hated sitting here listening to the man of my dreams get cut down. He might have fucked up with Olana, but at no point did he give up on me. Could I say the same thing?

No.

I’d given up on Matty the minute Olana rubbed her belly in front of me. I was watching my best friend slowly cower into himself and doing nothing about it. Matty’s past was crippling his future, only now realizing why he was so hell-bent on pushing Olana away.

“Honestly, I don’t even know why he thought he’d be good enough to play football. The kid has the coordination of a newborn giraffe and the knobbly knees to match.”

Looking between them, my heart hurt. Matty deserved more, and I couldn’t stay silent.

I unclasped my hand from Matty’s and dropped my fork to the side. Then I wiped both of my palms on the napkin on my lap to give myself a little time to gain composure.

“Mr. Mathieson,” I said calmly. Then I wet my lips. “With all due respect, your son is—”

“Excuse me.” The waiter from earlier stepped into the room. “Your other guest has arrived.”

Other guest?

I looked at Matty, but as usual, he was staring at his empty plate like it held the answers to all of life’s problems.

“Matty,” I whisper-shouted, and he lazily drew his head up. Then my heart broke.

His eyes. So much pain was hidden behind them, and all I wanted to do was get him out of there and tell him that none of this mattered. All I wanted was him.

“Don’t listen to him,” I whispered. Although I heard the footsteps of the new guest walking in, the only person important enough for all my attention was Matty.

“Kind of hard not to when everything he’s saying is right.”

“Well, isn’t this a lovely surprise?” Ben wasn’t a good actor; he didn’t sound surprised at all. He sounded like someone who had gotten everything he’d wanted. When I looked up and saw Olana standing there impeccably dressed in a large scarf covering what I could only assume was her now burgeoning bump, I wanted to vomit.

“Mr. Mathieson.” Olana came walking in, not even giving us a second glance. The only person she was focused on was Ben. Matty pushed his chair back, taking his ex in, and I felt like cowering in a corner.

This couldn’t be happening.

Why was she always there?

Olana kissed Ben on the cheek and, leaving her hand on his shoulder, she asked, “How has the rest of your week been? Sorry I couldn’t catch up with you, I’ve been busy.”

“Great. Thanks for asking. Such a nice girl. You care more about me than my own son.”

“Dad,” Matty gritted out, drawing Olana’s attention.

“Matty, and…” Olana’s face fell when she saw me sitting next to her somewhat estranged fiancé. “What’s Britt doing here?”

“That’s not your concern,” Matty replied. “She was invited. You, however, weren’t.”

She clutched her chest, and something in me felt a little bad. Why hadn’t he told her about this mess? If they were about to have a kid together, then I would have thought they’d be on the same page.

“I was invited, and is that really how you’re going to talk to me?” She was talking to Matty like he was a child, not someone you wanted to build a life with.

“Why would it be any different?” His voice was disinterested and tired.

“You know why.”

Matty’s dad blew out a long whistle. “Oh, wow. I feel like I’m on an episode of Jerry Springer . Gotta admit, I didn’t think you could fuck up more, Ben, but marrying one girl while getting another pregnant has got to be the best thing I’ve heard you do.”

“Pregnant?” Matty’s brows furrowed as he glared at Olana, and her cheeks flamed. “Wait, did you tell my father I got you pregnant?”

“I think the more pressing question is are you already married?” She pointed at me. “To her? Because I can tell you right now that she’s been dating a hockey player for the last month.”

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even say anything. There was so much being thrown out that I just sat back, watching.

“ She’s my wife. She isn’t dating a hockey player.”

I hated that when he said my wife, a small thrill ran down my spine straight to my center. I understood that we were here to get the marriage certificate so we could get divorced, but my goodness, him owning me like that and claiming me in public in front of people was hot as hell.

Olana’s lip trembled, and her gaze flickered over his. “I-I-I don’t know what to say. I thought. I thought you were going to marry me?”

“Why would you think that? Because you told them you were pregnant with my kid?”

He was acting so cavalier about the entire thing, and I felt like something big was coming, but wasn’t entirely sure what.

She didn’t answer, her mouth just hung open like a gulping fish.

“Are you pregnant?” I asked her.

“If she is, it’s not mine.” Matty looked at me hard in the eyes. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to think this was all normal, but so much had happened I didn’t feel like I could. Not mine. He really just said that. Not mine.

“H-how do you know?”

He let out a humorless chuckle before narrowing his eyes at his father. He turned and leaned forward. “Because it’s been a hell of a lot longer than nine months,” he grumbled so only I could hear.

Longer than nine months? They hadn’t had sex in over nine months.

I pursed my lips, looking over to Olana for… clarification? I didn’t know, but her jaw was clenched, and her face was going red.

She’d lied that day, and I took her word for it.

“Ben.” Olana tried to reason with Matty, stroking his arm. He shook off her hold, glaring at her with more anger than I’d ever seen in him.

“No. My name is Matty and I don’t want to hear your explanation. You’ve been lying to me for years. Please don’t tell me the cancer is a lie too?”

“Cancer?” Matty’s dad blurted out, looking between the two of them. “You told him you have cancer too?”

Tight-lipped, Olana took a deep breath with her eyes closed. She looked like she was one step away from crying. “What else did you expect me to do? You wanted me to marry him. He immediately did the math when I told him I was pregnant, so I needed to come up with another reason.”

“So you came up with cancer ?” He shook his head and looked disgusted by it. “Like Evelyn.” The crack in his voice was the first thing I heard.

Matty swallowed. “Are you sick, Olana?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. No. I’m not. Okay? I just told you I was because I thought you’d care about me enough that it would make you marry me.”

“Why?”

Olana looked back at Ben, and I saw the warning look he gave her behind Matty’s back.

“I wanted her to. I figured you two were going to get married anyway. I needed someone to sign off on the house sale, and if you weren’t going to do it, I was hoping your wife would.” He pointed at Olana but immediately turned and looked at me. “Guess I banked on the wrong wife.”

Matty stepped back, his face paler than I’d ever seen it, and he sat on a chair, not acknowledging any of us.

I could hardly process it, and I was on the outskirts of the issue. I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling. She told him she had cancer and pushed me away by faking a pregnancy.

“I don’t know what to say,” Matty said. I could hear it in his voice. He was broken, and I wanted to be the one to pick him up and tell him it would be okay.

“Sounds about right for you,” Olana said, looking at Matty with disgust. “You were always a fuckup, after all. Not surprised you fucked this one up too.” What the hell? How did she turn this around on him? “It’s because he’s been obsessed with that girl for years.” Olana pointed her thumb in my direction and took her time to look at me. “And if you’re thinking by being married to him you’re going to get an ounce of that inheritance, then I’m sorry to disappoint you, but his trust doesn’t mature until he’s twenty-five. Doubt you’ll be together long enough to see it.”

I fell silent. I still had no idea what the heck was going on, and this sure felt like a conversation these three should have had without me present.

“Britt’s not after my money,” Matty said.

Olana laughed. “You sure? It’s the only thing you have going for you, considering you’ve got the personality of a rock. Still can’t believe you wouldn’t marry your sick girlfriend so she could get better health insurance. What kind of monster are you?”

“You weren’t sick, Olana. I was buying you a fucking house and ready to pay for your medical bills without that.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me?” Another hearty chuckle from Ben. “You fell for the cancer line? Why didn’t you check anything?” Matty’s lips curled and his fists clenched, but he didn’t respond.

“I should have,” he muttered.

“Funny though. You’re buying her a house and paying for her nonexistent medical bills, but you won’t give up what’s rightfully mine?” He shook his head, doing nothing to hide his amusement. “How the hell are you even paying for all of that? Did you get access to Evelyn’s inheritance early?”

Again, no response from Matty. “Unbelievable,” Ben said. “Honestly, I can’t understand why you’re in college because it seems like you’re dumber than when you started.”

“He’s selfish and manipulative,” Olana started. “Always kept me on the back burner while he swooned over her. I was willing to put all of your asshole behavior to the side and marry you anyway. Looks like you got played just as badly. How pathetically into someone do you have to be that you’re willing to marry them and let them have a boyfriend on the side? Pathetic.” Olana was letting out all her rage about getting caught by Matty, who again, just took it like he always did.

He deserved none of this. These people were selfish and bitter, and I hated that they’d been fueling him with all these insecurities for so many years.

“Stop saying such horrible things about my husband.” I swallowed down all my pride. Who needed it? Not me. Not after this. “Matty is perfect, and he has more integrity in his little finger than either of you have in your entire bodies.”

Crap. Did I just call him perfect? It was true. Even with all this shit going on around him, he somehow remained this positive force in his own life. He succeeded where many would have failed.

“Wow.” Olana shook her head. “You’re really gone for him, aren’t you? You might think you’re his number one, but just remember, no matter what you do, he’ll always come back to me. How could he not? I’m the one that was there for him when his mom died. Do you even know that he has her ring and wants to give it to his wife one day?”

She looked down at my ringless hand, and it took everything in me not to cower away from this woman. “Yes. It’s being resized for me as we speak, and I have no intention of taking it off the minute we get it back.” I’d lied and I wasn’t sure how Matty would take it, but I was tired of them. He didn’t deserve any of this. I pushed my chair out and walked over to the folder by Ben, knowing the marriage certificate was in there. Ben didn’t move when I grabbed it.

“If you’re staying married to him, why do you need the papers?” That smirk. “Or are you just talking big game to make Olana jealous? Seriously, what has my son done to you?”

“I need the papers so I can change my last name.”

That was all I said before walking over to Matty and holding my hand out to him. “You coming?”

“Where are you going?” Ben asked.

“I’m waiting for my husband to take me home, because frankly, I’d rather drink gasoline than sit here for another minute and listen to either of you talking about him like he’s dirt.” For the first time in ten minutes, Matty looked up at me.

“Husband,” Olana mocked bitterly. “I wouldn’t sound so proud of that fact if I were you.”

“Why not? Matty is the kindest, smartest, and funniest man I know.”

All eyes were on me, including the waiter’s, who had walked in during my speech. Okay, so I might have been a little more fired up than usual, but I was so tired of listening to these two talking.

Matty took my hand, and I looked back at Ben and Olana. “My mother always told me it was polite to say ‘It’s nice to meet you,’ even when it wasn’t. However, I can’t do that for either of you.”

With that, I guided Matty out of the room and away from the restaurant in silence.

What a shitshow the night turned out to be.