Montana Dreams

by Anna J. Stewart

  “But I was taking pictures of you and your son,” she tried to argue again. “That should be an exception.”

  Matteo’s brow arched. “It would have been if that’s all you’d done.” He waved a finger in the phone’s direction, where it was shoved in her pocket. “You checked your email and voice mails. Don’t try to deny it. It’s my job to see everything, remember?”

  “I won’t forget it again.” She collapsed on the sofa, patted a hand on her stomach. “I’ve eaten more today than in the past month. Why does riding a horse make you so hungry?”

  “Because you’re spending a lot of mental energy keeping your animal focused.”

  “Fat lot of good that did,” Peyton scoffed. “Did you see the way Spock dumped me? He just dropped to the ground and let me roll right off.”

  “Oh, I saw.” Matteo had a front-row seat for her horse’s sudden desire to take a rest. He’d jumped off Bones before she’d even hit the ground, then cursed himself for not insisting either she or Gino wear a helmet for their ride. “You heard what Ty said, though. The high grass was tickling her belly. She just wanted a scratch.”

  “Well, it was just rude.” She didn’t sound nearly as irritated as she was pretending to be. “I suppose you want your bed, little man, huh?”

  Gino shrugged.

  “He’s not going to bed without a shower.” Matteo set his hat down and dived for his son, flipped him over and carried him, feet up, into the bathroom. “You stink, Gino. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

  “Conner said stinking means you’ve had a good day on the ranch,” Gino declared when he caught his breath from laughing and Matteo righted him.

  Matteo bit back a retort that would have had his son asking questions he wasn’t ready to answer. It had taken him years to get the stench of ranch work out of his nose. Early on in his Marine training, he’d signed up for every cleaning crew, anything that would have him inhaling the nose-curling smell of ammonia and bleach.

  “Doesn’t mean you carry it with you into the next day. Strip. Clothes by the door. I’ll bring in your PJs.” He reached over Gino’s head and turned on the shower. “Gino?”

  “Huh?”

  “This means you get in, stand under the water and wash yourself off.”

  Gino rolled his eyes. “I know.”

  “Just making sure.” His son had emerged from the bathroom last night with suspiciously dry hair. “Make it quick. Peyton and I need to clean up, too. And use soap.”

  He closed the door behind him, and found Peyton looking at her cell phone again. Without glancing at him, she held up a hand. “Relax. It’s not email. I’m sending you the pictures I took today.” She flipped her phone around to show him. “Thought maybe you’d like them. That’s my favorite.”

  He took her phone. She’d got a great shot of him and Gino, backs to the camera, with the sun hitting just right to cast them into shadow. They were standing by the lake, hand in hand, Gino’s face in profile—his smile was one of pure joy.

  “I like this one, too, though. I call this the Enabling Shot.” Matteo with Gino jumping on his back and Matteo laughing over his shoulder. “You knew I had my phone and still practically posed for it.”

  Matteo shrugged. “Just wanted to make you aware of your problem.”

  “It’s not a problem, it’s a necessity. Speaking of which, I need to send one email to Vilette. Just one. To let her know I won’t be checking in every day for the rest of the trip.”

  Matteo shook his head.

  “I can’t just not check in, Matteo. There’s a lot riding on the Olwen deal. I have to know if there are any issues cropping up.”

  “Fine. I’ll amend the bet to a half hour in the morning before breakfast. And you can leave it on to screen calls, but only answer if it’s an emergency or one of your sisters.”

  “My hero.” Peyton grabbed the phone back and began to dial. “You going in the shower after Gino?”

  “Unless you want to go first.”

  “I can wait,” she said. “Any idea what’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”

  “We can check the calendar of events when you’re done.” He already had his eye on the pumpkin-carving party tomorrow afternoon. One thing this unexpected trip was providing him was a lot of firsts with Gino. “You want wine?”

  “I’d love a glass of wine.”

  “I think I saw a bottle in the fridge. Go make your call.” He pulled his own cell out and set it on the counter as she stepped outside.

  When the water abruptly turned off in the bathroom, Matteo frowned. He walked back and knocked on the door. “Gino? You wash your hair?”

  “Um. Maybe?”

  “Want to try that again?” Matteo shook his head. What was it with this kid and showers? When he was that age, he’d have killed to have one every night.

  “All right.” The muttered response was almost drowned out by the water going back on. Satisfied, Matteo returned to the wine and glasses, caught the vibrating of his phone and the display on the screen. “This is Rossi. Detective Gillette, how’s the investigation going?”

  “Well, until today it wasn’t going anywhere.” The professional, firm female voice on the other end of the call sounded very optimistic. “One of your coworkers reached out to us this morning after he found something with Electryone’s client list.”

  “Oh?” Matteo glanced toward the door, wondering if his sequestered time with Peyton and his son would soon be coming to an end.

  “You asked him to look into everyone Peyton’s had professional contact with in the past few months. I’m not sure if he overreached, but he came across Peyton’s account with Mr. Emery Josiah. I believe he’s a professional matchmaker?”

  Matteo cringed. “Um, yeah.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “She signed up with him a while back.” Darn it! Peyton was going to strangle him when she found out he was poking around her personal life, however inadvertently. Unless... “Is there something there?”

  “Maybe. Three weeks ago, Mr. Josiah’s assistant reported a break-in at their office. Her laptop and a few others were stolen. A few days later, their tech guy found malware in their system which, even after they changed password access, gave whoever it was an in. The city’s cybercrime investigative unit was able to backtrace the malware and see what files were accessed.”

  Obviously Peyton’s name came up; otherwise the detective wouldn’t be calling. “Peyton’s?”

  “Among others, but it looks as if hers was the only one that got a deep dive. I thought it might be worth mentioning in case you wanted to let Ms. Harrison know. If for no other reason than to speak with Mr. Josiah and verify what information was obtained.”

  “Yeah, I will.” So, someone knew enough about Peyton to be aware that not only had she signed on with a matchmaker, they knew which one she’d used? That couldn’t be a coincidence. “Is there anything else? My background checks on Electryone employees haven’t turned up anything.”

  “Right, I got your email,” Detective Gillette confirmed. “Reno and I concur—we aren’t finding anything concerning there. Doesn’t mean we’ll stop looking.”

  “Okay, great.” He snapped his fingers. “Oh, one more thing. When was the last time Peyton’s data was accessed?”

  “A little over forty-eight hours ago. Right before the entire system was reset and cleaned. Those laptops are useless now, at least as a way to get into Josiah’s system. They’re keeping the trace on them active, but when last checked, they hadn’t been used to access the internet. Guy probably realized he’d worn out his welcome and destroyed them.”

  “Sure.” That uneasy knot he’d hoped he’d left behind in California tightened. “I’ll let you know if Peyton has any more information that might be helpful. Thanks for calling.”

  “You bet.”

  The bathroom door opened as Matteo hung up. Gino came out, a to
wel wrapped around him like a toga. “Daaaaad. You said you’d bring me my pajamas.” Gino stood there in the sitting room, looking seriously grumpy.

  “Sorry. Right. Coming up.” He patted his son’s head as he passed just to confirm he’d washed properly. “Get dressed in here so I can hurry up with my shower, okay?”

  Gino nodded. “Can I play with my video game before I go to bed?”

  “How about we find you something on TV instead?” Matteo didn’t want to charge that video system up unless he absolutely had to. After Gino was in his PJs and Matteo tossed the dirty clothes in the laundry bag in his closet, he found an old cartoon network featuring Matteo’s personal favorite crime-solving pooch and hit the shower and changed for bed.

  When he emerged, he found Peyton curled up on the sofa next to Gino, a glass of wine in her hand, watching cartoons.

  “What did Vilette say?” Matteo asked, scrubbing his damp hair with a towel.

  “She said you getting me off my laptop and phone for the rest of the trip might earn you another bonus.” She toasted him with the wine. “Congratulations. My turn?”

  “Yeah. It’s all yours.” He backed up against the wall as she passed. “When you get out, we need to talk about something.”

  “Oh?” Her eyes sparked a bit as her lips curved.

  “About the reason we’re really here.” He hated seeing the humor fade from her face.

  “How about you tell me now so I don’t overthink and obsess about it in the shower?”

  Matteo looked back at Gino, who had that dazed I’m lost in the story look in his eyes.

  “Okay.” He took her arm and pulled her into his bedroom. “I spoke with one of the detectives on your case.”

  She touched a hand to his chest. “Tell me they’ve figured out who it is and that we can go home.”

  “Afraid not.” He shouldn’t feel quite so good about that, should he? If he was smart, he’d be as anxious as she was to get back to real life, so Gino could get used to his home and school, now that he’d filed for full custody of his son. He could feel the warmth of her touch through his shirt—a shirt he’d purposely worn to avoid any repeat of the other night’s kiss when he’d had to admit he saw Peyton as far more than a client he was protecting. “When was the last time you spoke with Mr. Josiah?”

  Whatever she’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. “The day we got here. He called to let me know he didn’t appreciate me taking off unexpectedly when he’d already lined up another three dates.”

  “He didn’t say anything else? Nothing about his system getting hacked?”

  Her eyes went cold, and in an instant, he saw the woman he’d met all those weeks ago. Cool, detached. Controlled. “No. He didn’t mention anything about that. But that might have been because I offered to double his fee if he’d keep me on as a client.”

  “He threatened to drop you?”

  “Yep.” Her fingers gripped his shirt. “Did the hack have something to do with me? It must have—otherwise you wouldn’t be telling me all this.”

  “I’m not one for coincidences. The system’s been reset—”

  “I know all about reset systems. If they got in once, they can get in again.” She pushed away, began to pace. “If whoever it is read my profile, the questionnaire I filled out, they know about me. A lot about me.” She stuck her thumb in her mouth, began to chew on her nail. “There were a lot of personal questions I had to answer.”

  What kind of questions, he wanted to know, then backtracked. None of that was his business. “I have no doubt Mr. Josiah forgot about all that when you threw more money at him.”

  “Money solves a lot of problems, doesn’t it?”

  “Actually,” Matteo said, and that earned one of her glares, “I’ve found it ends up creating more problems than it solves. But moving on...”

  “Moving on is exactly what I’m going to do.” She started to move away, then pivoted back. “Tell me you’ll suspend the bet and let me make one more phone call, please.”

  “Only if you’re going to fire Mr. Josiah.” Matteo struggled to keep a straight face.

  “Fire, sue. Tomato, tomahto. Stay tuned.”

  * * *

  WHO KNEW A simple evening spent on the sofa munching on popcorn, sipping wine and watching goofy, nostalgic cartoons could cheer her up?

  Peyton looked down at Gino, who had conked out shortly after bowl number two of popcorn and around the same time the old lighthouse keeper was revealed as the latest episode’s villain. The little boy’s head was in her lap, and he’d stretched out, his feet on his father’s. Soon, Gino’s mouth was open, and he was snoring, little puffs of air that made Peyton grin.

  “He’s so cute when he’s asleep.” She drew her fingers through Gino’s hair, felt her cheeks warm when she glanced up and found Matteo watching her. “What?”

  He shrugged one shoulder. “You continue to surprise me. A few weeks ago I wouldn’t have thought you had a way with children. But you do.”

  “Like I said before, I like kids.” Despite how difficult it was at times to have four younger siblings, she wouldn’t have traded her life with them for the world.

  “But you don’t want any of your own.”

  She eyed the nearly empty bottle on the table. This conversation was going to require more wine.

  “Sorry.” He shifted Gino’s feet and leaned down to scoop up his son. “None of my business. I’m going to put him in my bed for now. How about another round?”

  Of wine or popcorn? She decided to go for both as Matteo disappeared into his bedroom. She clicked off the TV and set the air popper to popping as she uncorked another bottle and topped off their glasses.

  “Kid’s going to snore like a buzz saw in another few years. Thanks.” Matteo toasted her with his glass when he joined her in the kitchenette. “Extra butter this time.” He retrieved a stick from the fridge and set it in the microwave to melt.

  “Your arteries,” she said with a shrug. “About your question.”

  “That was out of line.” He seemed to be avoiding her gaze, and she wasn’t sure why. “Sorry.”

  “No, it’s fine. I love kids. I suppose for a long time I felt as if I’d already raised my family, but the truth is, while I was definitely a big part of my sisters’ lives, Rudy and my mother did all the heavy lifting. It wasn’t their fault I felt responsible.”

  “And maybe a little guilty?”

  She let out a long breath. “Wow. You just cut right to it, don’t you?” Suddenly extra butter on the popcorn didn’t seem like a bad idea. “Okay, maybe a little. Or a lot. Turns out lies of omission are more damaging than the ones you flat-out tell. For a lot of years, I overcompensated, trying to make up for the fact that our real father wasn’t around, even though they didn’t know that. I think I felt I owed it to him as much as to them.” She sipped her wine, plucked a kernel out of the bowl. “It’s difficult, knowing one of your parents chose to walk away from you, from the family, and never looked back.”

  “You can’t be certain of that.” Matteo covered her hand with his.

  “No, I can’t.” She kept her gaze locked on their hands. “But I do know what it feels like to be left behind, and while he might not have left me alone, he still left. And that hurts.” She pressed her other hand to his. “It’s a difficult lesson to learn when you’re seven. That the people you love can hurt you so much. It’s easier not to get invested at all.” She drizzled the butter over the freshly popped popcorn and carried the bowl back to the sofa, this time setting it between them as he joined her.

  “Relationships are meant to be messy, Peyton. That’s what makes them so rewarding.”

  “Is that what yours was with your ex-wife? Messy?” She expected pushback, defensiveness. Irritation. Instead, he gave a brief hesitation before he answered.

  “Complicated and messy,” he confirmed. “
I met Sylvia right after I got out of the service. There was a lot of attraction, obviously, and it was such an escape from what the years before had been. She was smart and driven and, well, to be honest, we had absolutely nothing in common. Whatever affection we had for each other was already dwindling when she got pregnant. Marriage just made sense. She had a good job. I’d only started in private security, so I was still finding my footing. Then her job got more and more demanding, and she got more ambitious. It wasn’t long before Gino and I were little more than a pit stop in her life. She barely saw him those first two years. Next thing I know, she’s offered a job in Japan, and she wants a divorce. Gino was only three. It didn’t sit right with me to fight for custody then. Something I regret now. Three months later she’s on a plane with our son, and I—”

  “You were left alone.” Her heart broke for him. Not over Sylvia. She didn’t hear any affection in his voice when he talked about his ex-wife. But the love he projected for his son? There was no mistaking that devotion, even if she hadn’t been witness to it the past few days. “Again,” she murmured, thinking of his childhood, “I’m so sorry.”

  “Marriages die. Especially marriages that were doomed from day one,” Matteo said with a sad smirk. “And kids get abandoned. That’s what’s been the worst thing about him being so far away these last few years. I never wanted him to feel as if any of this was my choice. But he’s here now. And I’m going to do everything to make sure he stays here.”

  “Will she fight you for custody?”

  “She already is.” Matteo drank some more wine. “I haven’t been in a good financial position to fight the way I need to.” He rubbed his thumb and index finger together. “And she has enough money to keep me in court until Gino’s of age. Good custody lawyers are expensive. And so are good schools, which she can afford to keep him in, and I can’t.”

  Peyton bit her lip, reached for a handful of popcorn.

  “What?” he asked, ducking his head to look into her eyes. “What’s that face?”

  “Well.” She’d been waiting for the right time to spring this on him. “You know me. When I see a problem I like to tackle it head-on and...”