“What’s up with you, man?” Sebastian asked, one eyebrow cocked. Matt was saved by Evan’s arrival. “Where’s Whitney? And Paige got the invite, didn’t she?”
“Whitney is feeling sick, and Paige stayed to keep her company.” Evan didn’t remove his sunglasses, and Matt guessed it was so neither man would read the truth. But a moment later he yanked them off, saying, “Screw that, I’m sick of lying for her. The truth is, she pitched a fit that Paige was coming.”
“But Paige always comes,” Sebastian pointed out.
“That’s what Whitney said.” Evan shook his head. “So I told her to stay home if she was in such a nasty mood.”
Whoa. Now, that was different.
Matt tried to tell himself that Evan had worse problems than he did. He was married to his problem. But Evan had always been loyal, never talking Whitney down even when the rest of them had had it up to their eyeballs with her. Yes, Evan had made her apologize in the past when she’d been downright rude, but he never badmouthed his wife to his friends. Unloading now was totally uncharacteristic.
Maybe Evan had finally reached his limit.
Which only made Matt think of his own limits—and Ari’s too. Because she wouldn’t have left if he hadn’t acted like his father. Hell, if he hadn’t become his father the moment Noah had careened toward the gate on his bike.
“Whitney’s probably still pissed that Paige looked so good in that Cleopatra getup,” Sebastian said. “Even I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw her.”
Evan glanced at Charlie by the pool. “Don’t let your fiancée hear you say that.”
Sebastian smiled, and love seemed to ooze from his pores just looking at his woman. “Charlie was actually the one who first pointed out Paige’s Halloween hotness, so I’m good here.”
Running over, Jeremy interrupted in his loud, enthusiastic voice. “Can me and Noah go swimming?” The question was for the group at large, probably because Harper had sent him over to ask for permission.
Jeremy was the best big brother Matt could have asked for for Noah. He was extra careful, and he got down and played on Noah’s level because he was a big, sweet kid himself.
Matt pulled the water wings from Noah’s beach bag. “As long as Noah wears these.”
Noah’s bottom lip jutted out. “I don’t want them.” His voice was borderline mutinous. “Ari says they make it hard for me to swim. You never listen to her. That’s why you sent her away—because she doesn’t do everything you tell her to.”
The pool deck fell inordinately quiet as Jeremy—missing the undertones of the conversation—grabbed the water wings, then sat down on the edge of the pool and began to secure the flotation devices to Noah’s arms amid happy, exuberant talk.
Matt didn’t wait for his friends to say anything. Not when he knew it would all come out now. “She’s gone.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Evan and Sebastian shot each other a look, then Evan asked, “You mean gone gone?”
“What other kind of gone is there?” Matt snapped.
“Well, there’s gone and she’s packed her bags never to be seen again. And then there’s gone but she’ll be back soon, and then you guys can work through whatever happened.”
That was the gone Matt wanted. The one where Ari was there when they got home. The one where they could rewind to the way things were before this morning and none of it had happened at all.
He experienced a powerful urge to head home right now, just in case. But he knew she wouldn’t be waiting. Who would, after what he’d said? After turning all her enthusiasm and excitement to tears?
Will rose and joined them. “So where is Ari?”
Naturally, Daniel suddenly appeared on the terrace. “Looks like I’m missing something. What’s going on?”
“Ari’s not here,” Will explained.
Daniel glared at Matt, immediately jumping to conclusions—the right conclusions. “What the hell did you do to her?”
“We had a disagreement about how to handle some situations that arose with Noah.” He tried to keep his voice even and moderated. But he couldn’t pull it off. “So we parted company.”
He wondered if they could hear the translation: I lost my cool and yelled at her. I’m head over freaking heels in love with her…and I still couldn’t stop myself from turning into my father.
“I don’t get it,” Sebastian said. “Everything seemed fine this morning when we dropped off the dinosaurs.”
“And at the Halloween bash, you two were like this.” Evan twined his fingers.