Serenity (Inevitable #5)(117)

He couldn't even count on Elena these days to provide some much needed comic relief or sympathy here and there, considering how pissed off she was with him. Matthew shuddered to recall the day he'd fessed up to his terrifying PA that he and Sasha were over, and that he had moved back to Hillsborough temporarily. Elena had gone off on him, but since the entire rampage had been delivered in rapid, furious Spanish, he could only assume that she'd called him twenty different kinds of a fool. But nearly a month later, her displeasure was still evident, her attitude frosty and impersonal, and he basically tiptoed around her most of the time.

Not that he blamed her, thought Matthew with a sigh. He'd expected too much from Sasha, just assumed that she would always be gracious and understanding and supportive of all the demands on his time. But even someone like her had a breaking point, and his decision to move back to Hillsborough had been it for Sasha. Over the past few weeks, he had tried to imagine how he would have felt if the situation had been reversed, and knew that he would have reacted exactly the same way. No matter how many times Sasha might have insisted that she felt nothing for her ex, and that their relationship was definitely over, Matthew would have still been furious at the mere thought of her cohabitating with a man she had once had an intimate relationship with.

He longed to call her, just for the sheer pleasure of hearing her soft, melodious voice, but had stopped himself every time he pulled out his phone. And he'd fought off the urge to ask Tessa about Sasha, especially since he was well aware that both she and Ian weren't exactly happy with him at the moment.



       
         
       
        

His parents, too, hadn't been able to hide their dismay when he had called to tell them the news, and his father had come right out and asked Matthew if he'd thought this move out carefully. His mother, on the other hand, had inquired about Sasha, and expressed her disappointment that she and Matthew weren't together any longer.

It seemed that no one was especially happy about his current status, including himself. In fact, the only person who seemed blithely unconcerned about the havoc she'd created was Hayley herself.

Matthew frowned as he took the freeway exit for his office, thinking again that something just felt  – well, off  – about this whole pregnancy issue. For one, both Hayley and Lindsey were being extremely secretive and uncommunicative on the matter. He'd pushed for details about Hayley's visit to the doctor and what had been said, only for her to stammer and stutter uncertainly. Lindsey had answered for her instead, stating that Hayley was simply embarrassed to be discussing such personal details with her father, and that the doctor had given her a clean bill of health.

But it was when he'd insisted on accompanying Hayley on her next doctor's visit that she and Lindsey had both gone off. Hayley had been visibly startled, and looked at her mother in something of a panic, and then both women had babbled almost incoherently about all the reasons why that was a bad idea. Hayley had reiterated what Lindsey had mentioned earlier, insisting that she would be mortified to have her father along while she was being examined and talking about "female stuff" with the doctor. She'd practically begged Matthew to drop the subject, and very reluctantly he'd agreed  – at least for the moment. He had vowed to himself, however, to pay much closer attention to what was going on with his daughter, and that very soon she was going to have to answer some tough questions about her future.

The office was nearly deserted when he arrived, and he was able to plough through a considerable amount of work - answering emails, reading over some reports, making notes for a speech he would be presenting at a conference next week - all before Elena arrived. He communicated with his pissed-off PA largely by electronic means these days, since she barely spared him a word. Even when she grudgingly deposited his morning coffee and breakfast on his desk  – plopping it down hard enough for the coffee to slosh over a bit - she didn't say a word or smile. Matthew thanked her profusely, telling her how much he appreciated it, but all he received in response was a glare and a grunt.

His workday was as busy and stressful as usual, and since there was a lunch meeting with his staff scheduled, he didn't leave the office all day. By the time four o'clock rolled around, he was exhausted both mentally and physically, and was more than eager to head out to watch Casey's baseball game. 

Matthew hoped like hell that Lindsey wouldn't decide to make an unannounced appearance at the game, as she had a couple of times so far. Normally she disliked attending the kids' sporting events, and had invented multiple excuses over the years to avoid them. And he knew it was a deliberate move on her part to all of a sudden take an interest in such things. Lindsey was taking full advantage of his presence at the house to try and insinuate herself into his life, and thereby convince him to reconcile. On more than one occasion, she had tried to act as though they were all one big happy family again.