Page 31

Maddie slept most of the way to the winery owned by Matt’s parent, and for the time she wasn’t sleeping, she pretended to be asleep.

Either that, or she was looking at her cell phone, which Lucy had bombarded with messages since last night.

They were all similar: What exactly happened?

Call me. Now! or Oh, oh, you were kicked out of a restaurant?

You owe me so much info, Maddie! And you’re lucky Leon was caught urinating in public last night.

You two only got a small paragraph and he was on the front page!

Maddie ignored it all. First, because Matt probably wouldn’t approve if she revealed more details about their night together, and second, because she had read the tiny article about her being kicked out of Vie en Rose and dismissed it as unimportant.

And third, because things were already strained between her and Matt and she would only make things worse by talking about either topic.

It wasn’t strained because of the sex…but because of everything that had happened afterward.

She had lied. She knew Matt would have a problem with her telling Lucy and the others about their night together. She wasn’t stupid. She knew Matt. But she just didn’t know how to handle the situation!

She had woken up alone in Matt’s bed on Thursday, strangely content and dissatisfied at the same time. It was good that he had left. He had made a statement. And she...she had felt the need to make a statement, too. To show him that she could be just as casual about sex as he was.

Which was a lie, obviously, but Matt didn’t need to know that. And, yes, they didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. But how did you cope with a not-big deal, the details of which she had been rewinding and replaying in her mind for two days?

So, it had slipped out when Lucy had asked about news, because it was the only damn news she’d been thinking about all day! She’d hoped to portray it as a funny anecdote that they could laugh about someday.

But shit, Matt had not laughed.

She’d never seen Matt truly angry, especially not at her. There had been a vein throbbing in his forehead and he’d almost broken the steering wheel.

Yeah, she’d known he wouldn’t be happy about her sharing news of their night together with friends.

The thing was, if they kept it to themselves, it would become a dirty little secret, which made things even more contentious than they already were.

And, for forty-eight hours, she’d been trying desperately to remove meaning from that night.

To take the heat from it, so they could return to normal.

By the time they finally drove up the winding gravel road to the large, stone manor between two vineyard fields and she recognized Matt’s mother in the distance, running happily toward them, a lump rose in her throat.

Oh God. His mother. She would immediately realize that they had been doing it! Mothers had an eye for that, didn’t they? Or was it the opposite, because mothers didn’t want to know about that kind of thing?

How should they behave in front of his parents? What was normal ?

She swallowed the lump as her mouth went dry and her palms started sweating.

“Are you okay?” Matt asked tersely, looking at her skeptically. He was still angry. He’d barely spoken to her yesterday, and now this.

“Mm hm,” she said in a high voice.

“You’re not thinking about how you can tell Mom in great detail that her son bound you to his bed?” he asked dryly.

She laughed nervously. “No, no. I won’t tell anyone else, Matt. I promise.”

“Good,” he snapped.

She didn’t sense that everything was good .

Oh man, she hated conflict! She hated that things were strained between her and Matt. She hated arguments. She couldn’t stand it when someone was mad at her.

Everything was awful!

“Ah, it’s so wonderful that you’re here!” Matt’s mother announced loudly as Maddie exited the vehicle. “It’s great that you’re here too, Maddie. Matt tells us so little about his life, we really hope you can tell us some of his secrets.” She winked at her and hugged Maddie tightly.

Gallons of blood immediately rushed to Maddie’s head while Matt coughed loudly in the driver’s seat. She thought she heard don’t you dare .

Thank God she didn’t have to answer, because when Mrs. Payne had finished with her, she rushed right around the car to embrace her son.

Which was incredibly sweet to watch. She tried to pat his head, but he was eight inches too tall for that; the top of her head barely reached his shoulder.

Mrs. Payne was only five feet tall and wore sneakers with a baggy orange dress that swallowed up her round body. She looked…incredibly comfortable.

“Oh, Matty, it’s been far too long since you’ve come home,” she said in a hushed voice, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye as she pulled away from him. “Have you grown? You seem taller.”

Matt smiled crookedly and kissed his mother on the cheek. “I haven’t grown in a few years, Mom, so you must be shrinking.”

She laughed in relief. “That must be it! Did you have a pleasant trip?” Her eyes lit up and she turned back to Maddie, whose face immediately reddened.

Sure. Pleasant—not the word she would use to describe seven hours of uneasy silence.

“It was okay,” Matt replied, rescuing her. “Just…long.”

“You should have flown,” his mother said, clicking her tongue.

“Bad for the environment,” Matt replied, hurrying to the trunk to retrieve his duffel bag and Maddie’s small suitcase. “I already fly too much for work.”

It could have been a fun road trip if they had both acted normal, Maddie realized. Maybe that was why Matt hadn’t wanted to fly: Under different circumstances, it could have been a cool day in the car.

Oh God, had they ruined everything?

“Okay, that’s a valid argument,” his mother agreed reluctantly. “But, you’re here now! Your father expected you to cancel.”

They strolled along the gravel path toward the large double doors of the ivy-covered stone house. There was a small veranda gracing the front. It all looked so terribly charming and pretty that Maddie’s heart swelled a bit. That is, until Mrs. Payne fixed her gaze on her again.

“How are you, Maddie? I hear from Matt now and then, but we haven’t spoken in a while. Nell said business is hot right now? Is there anything else new?”

I slept with your son. And it was fantastic .

Matt’s eyes widened in alarm, probably because his mother’s choice of words was extremely unfortunate, so Maddie merely stared at Sandra Payne with her lips slightly parted, not knowing what to say. Finally, she shook her head.

“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true.” Sandra smiled warmly. “But you’ll have plenty of time to tell me!”

She hurried to the door. Maddie noticed that Matt was giving her the side eye. “Is everything okay?” he asked, irritated. “You haven’t said a word to my mother yet.”

Maddie didn’t reply, just stared at him for a second before glancing away. She had never felt so uncomfortable in her own skin in her life.

“Better take your things straight to the rooms,” Mrs. Payne called over her shoulder and waved them into a narrow hallway with a mass of jackets hanging on the coat rack, then on into a spacious living room with a light blue carpet, black fireplace, and lots of worn furniture.

A large wooden staircase led out of the room to the second floor.

“Maddie, your bedroom is next to Matt’s, the first door on the left after the stairs.

He can show you. Then come down and say a proper hello to everyone.

Your sisters are all here, Matty. They’re on the patio and in the garden!

The rest of the guests will be arriving in an hour.

We even organized a caterer for tonight because we didn’t want the stress of cooking.

There are gazebos and beer stations outside and…

oh, just take a look for yourself! Oh, I’m so happy!

” She clapped her hands joyfully, gave her son another quick hug, then pointed to the stairs.

She hustled through the living room toward the glass doors leading out onto the patio.

It was a beautiful house. That was great for focusing on everything but Matt.

“Maddie, it’s creepy how quiet you are.”

She swallowed. “I don’t want to say the wrong thing,” she finally whispered guiltily and started to heave her small suitcase up the stairs.

“Maddie.” Matt impatiently took the suitcase from her and carried it the rest of the way.

He sighed heavily and turned to her. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like you couldn’t talk at all .

I’m sorry, okay? I know I’ve been a little annoyed and angry the last few days. We should probably talk about what…”

“No,” she interrupted hastily.

He blinked in confusion. “But…”

“No, no,” she repeated, shaking her head. “We shouldn’t do anything.”

He laughed dryly. “Maddie, we need to talk about it.”

“No!”

“Yes,” he insisted harshly.

“I don’t want to argue, Matt. Whenever I argue, I feel bad.”

“But you argue all the time. For other people. Why not for yourself?”

“About that. We’ve already talked about it! It’s not worth it.”

“What?” he spat, his eyes darkening swiftly.

She narrowed hers. “That’s not what I meant. What I meant was that we don’t need to talk. Everything is great between us. Let’s just forget what happened.”

“Forget what?” he asked sharply. “The sex or the argument?”

“Both?” she suggested, pained.

He snorted. “Maddie…”

“No! I don’t like arguments, Matt!” she interrupted.

“I know, but sometimes you have to have one.”

“No!”

“Fuck, yes!” he said louder.

She had a different opinion. Right now, everything was cracked, but if they argued…what if it broke? “No,” she repeated urgently. “I need harmony.”

“But you won’t get that if you suppress your anger and feelings. You have to argue to restore harmony.”

“No!”

“Yes. That word is starting to get on my nerves.”

“I don’t care. I can still get harmony if I disappear without a word.” She smiled briefly, ducked into the room to her left, and shut the door.

“Are you serious, Maddie?” Matt called after her in disbelief.

She didn’t answer and he left, cursing softly.

Relieved, her shoulders sank.

Not only did she avoid confrontations — she was also bad at them. At least when it came to her feelings. What Matt apparently didn’t understand was that arguing for others was a safe bet. Acting confrontational on your own behalf ran the risk of ruining relationships.

If she hadn’t confronted Clemens back then, would they have gotten together properly?

She had no idea. The bottom line was that she didn’t want to argue with Matt. She wanted to sweep it under the rug and forget about it. Was that too much to ask?

Her phone vibrated with a message from Matt.

This conversation is not over .

Sighing, she sat down on the single bed and fell back.

Evidently it was.