Matt closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers.
There was no easy way to say this and his mom would know soon enough now that Savannah was with him. Best she know now so she could get used to it.
“Mom, you should know… I’m at the island already…. And I’m not alone… Savannah is with me.” He said.
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end followed by thick silence. “I see,” she finally said.
“I guess inviting Leila is out of the question then.” She said.
Matt blew out his breath at his mother’s snippy tone. Leila Donavan was a woman his mom had been shoving at him ever since Savannah had disappeared.
Though his mother had never come out and said I told you so, she didn’t have to. It was there as plain as if she’d hung a banner.
She’d never approved of Savannah . Never liked that Matt was marrying her. She’d been polite, though.
Matt had demanded it of her. He wouldn’t allow any of his family to disrespect the woman he’d chosen to be his wife.
After what had happened with Enzo and Savannah, he’d expected his mother to be more smug; but she’d been oddly sympathetic. The last thing he wanted at the moment, though, was to bring Savannah to an awkward dinner where his mom would sit with that pinched look on her face and Enzo would say God knows what.
He’d wondered what would happen when the inevitable confrontation with Enzo occurred. Now he knew, and it hadn’t gone at all as he’d imagined.
“I think we’ll do dinner another time. Savannah and I aren’t up to it at the moment.” He said.
He said his goodbyes and hung up. He walked around aimlessly for a while before he returned to the house. He waved off his butler, Jansen’s question of whether or not he needed anything and shut the door to his room.
Then he flopped into his chair and swiveled around to stare out the window.
The weather had turned cold and gray, much more suited to his mood.
His cell phone rang, and he almost didn’t answer. It was Stefan, and Stefan would want to know what had prompted his departure from Moon Island. Matt was supposed to meet up with Stefan and Dash some weeks ago but he hadn’t really gotten the time since after David and Emily’s wedding, which he had left in a hurry with a flimsily uttered excuse.
Deciding not to delay the inevitable, he put the phone to his ear.
“hey, man. What’s up?” he said.
“There you are. Been trying to get a hold of you since God knows when. Where the hell have you been ?” Stefan demanded.
Matt sighed. “I’m sorry I have been moving our meeting. I have been kinda busy lately.. With work.. And urmmmm, My investigator called me when we were at David’s wedding. It’s the reason why I left so early. He found Savannah.” There was dead silence and then he heard Stefan murmuring to someone else. Probably Dash, he thought.
“And?” Stefan finally said.
“She was in New York. I left the wedding to go and see if it was her.”
“And?” Stefan asked again.
“It was. I brought her back to Paradise Island with me. That’s where we are now”
“You did what? Why the hell did you do that?” Stefan asked.
Matt sighed at the incredulity in Stefan’s voice. And then because he needed to unload on someone, he said, “I’m still in love with her, Stefan.”
“Oh, Christ. What is with you? I’ll ask you the same question I asked you when you told me you were looking for her. What makes you think she feels or felt the same way about you? She is just gonna hurt you again man”
“I don’t believe I said she was in love with me,” Matt said mildly. “What I said was that I’m still in love with her.”
“Uh-huh, and you’d just bring your ex-fiancée who cheated on you back to your island with you because you still have a thing for her? That doesn’t sound right. What you should be doing is avoiding her, not going after her for God’s sake”
“Don’t be a smart-ass. I know how ridiculous it sounds. You don’t have to tell me. The thing is, for some reason I can’t get her out of my head. I know it’s been a year but I can’t help how I feel. Are you seeing my problem now?”
“Man, I’d say you have a whole hell of a lot of problems that I’m glad I don’t have. What does she say about all of this?” Stefan replied.
“That’s just it. She’s pissed. At me. She acts like I’ve wronged her. I don’t get it. She hasn’t said anything about Enzo though
She hasn’t denied that she had a thing with him.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe this is just the way she is and she might never change?” Stefan asked dryly. “What if it wasn’t only your brother she had a thing with?”
Matt scowled and then pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers.
“Sorry, man, it had to be said. If she was sleeping with you and your brother plus God knows who else, you just can’t trust her not to do something like this again.” Stefan continued
“God, stop with the snark. You’re giving me a headache. Savannah isn’t some whore.” Matt said
“I never said she was.”
“You implied it.”
“Look, you’re getting pissed at the wrong person here. I’m just asking—as a friend—whether you’ve lost your everloving mind. But then again, I thought you were insane for hiring an investigator to find her.
Well, you found her and now you have to deal with the fallout. I don’t want you to get hurt again. Please, just move on and cut her out forever.”
“I don’t want it to come to that,” Matt said quietly. “Damn it, I just want to know what went wrong.” He broke off and shook his head. This was a pointless conversation to be having. Stefan was an unforgiving bastard on his best day. As soon as he heard what Savannah had done, he’d basically written her off. Stefan might be a hard-ass but he was a loyal hard-ass.