They took a short nap after their shower, their nude bodies cuddled up close against each other as they slept. It was late afternoon when they rose from the bed, and pulled on some clothes - Matthew a pair of cotton drawstring pants and a colorful luau shirt, and Sasha one of the sundresses he’d bought her, this one of blue chambray with a lace-up neckline and embroidered bodice. Since they were having dinner brought to the suite this evening, neither of them bothered with shoes.
As he placed a call to his kids, Sasha walked out to the veranda to give him some privacy. Matthew had spent very little time checking his work email or returning any business related phone calls, but he’d made it a point to call Hayley and Casey every day since they had been away. It didn’t bother Sasha in the least that he did so, and she had actually been the one to encourage him to call each day. As for herself, she realized somewhat guiltily that she hadn’t once checked her own email or voice mail, and quickly retrieved her phone to do so now.
She was relieved to see that there were only a handful of emails to reply to, one each from her parents, Chad, Julio, and Tessa, all of them asking how she was enjoying her vacation. While Matthew continued to talk to the kids, Sasha quickly replied to each email, keeping her responses brief for the most part. To Tessa, however, she typed out a lengthier reply.
Thanks for checking in. We’re having a wonderful time, and everything you told me about this place is 100% true! I’ve never stayed in anyplace even half as nice as this resort, and the suite is like some sort of tropical palace. As for Kauai itself, well, it sort of feels like home here. I know that might sound odd to you, given that I’ve never been anywhere near Hawaii before, but the minute I stepped off the plane everything just felt familiar.
The week is going by way too fast, and I wish we could stay a month! But Matthew is already going to have a whole lot to get caught up on when we return, and Serge and Morgana wouldn’t be too happy if I was away more than a week. So we’ll be returning to San Francisco on Sunday, and I’ll be back in the studio to teach class on Monday morning.
My best to you and Ian and thanks again for arranging this stay for us. It’s been truly magical.
Matthew finished his call a few minutes later, and came to join her on the veranda, carrying a glass of chardonnay for each of them. Sasha had admittedly been indulging herself far more than usual this week, having a glass or two of wine or a mai tai, eating sugary breakfast pastries, and enjoying dessert after dinner. Matthew had dismissed her concerns when she’d fretted about her unhealthy eating habits, insisting that both of them deserved a break from their usual daily routines.
“Mmm, this is good,” she told him after taking a sip of the perfectly chilled wine. “Everything okay with the kids?”
He shrugged, taking a much more generous drink from his own glass. “Casey’s doing great, as usual, while Hayley is - well, being Hayley. I think I might have managed to pry a whole ten words from her.”
“I’m sorry,” she sympathized, wrapping an arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. “Hopefully she’ll come around sooner than later.”
“Hey, I’m not going to worry about it right now,” he declared. “Hayley knows how to get in touch with me if she needs anything, and we’ll be home in three more days. So let’s forget about whatever teenaged drama is going on in her life and enjoy ourselves. Okay?”
Sasha nodded. “Okay.” She took another sip of her wine, then sighed with pleasure as she glanced up at the magnificent colors of the sunset. “I’m not sure what the best time of the day is over here - sunset or sunrise. They both have their appeal.”
Matthew brushed a kiss on her temple. “You really like it here, don’t you?”
“Oh, yes,” she agreed fervently. “I was just answering some emails a few minutes ago, including one from Tessa, and I told her that the minute we stepped off the plane it felt like I’d finally arrived home. Out of all the places I’ve been to in the world, Kauai is definitely my favorite. Thank you for bringing me here, Matthew.”
“My pleasure.” He bent and kissed her on the lips this time. “I’m happy that you like it here so much. And that it feels like home to you in some way. I don’t imagine you’ve known that feeling too much in your life.”
“No. I mean, there were several places that were familiar to me, where I visited regularly - my dad’s family home in Brazil, my aunt’s flat in Paris, the little apartment my mother and I had in New York for a few years. But it wasn’t until I moved in with Linda that I had a permanent place, somewhere to leave all my belongings and know I wouldn’t have to pack them all up again in a few weeks.”
“It must have been something of an adjustment for you, though,” commented Matthew. “Especially attending a regular school for the first time.”
“You have no idea,” lamented Sasha. “I didn’t know much about American customs or fashion, or how to go about making friends or talk to boys. And while I spoke English fluently, I had a noticeable accent, sort of a mesh of Russian and Portuguese. Fortunately, the high school I went to included students from a wide range of ethnicities, so I never completely felt like an oddball. Still, it was hard fitting in for the first year or so.”
He regarded her curiously. “Now that you mention it, I do detect traces of an accent every so often. I’m not sure I would have really noticed unless you mentioned it, though.”
“I worked on perfecting my English a lot during high school,” she acknowledged. “But my accent still appears from time to time.”
“It’s charming,” he assured her. “Just like you are.”
They were interrupted then by the ringing of the doorbell to their suite, and Matthew hurried to open the door for the wait staff. Dinner was set out on the veranda with quiet efficiency, complete with the lighting of candles and torches.
“Enjoy your evening, sir, madam,” said one of the waiters as he discreetly exited the suite.
Matthew held out a chair for her, and Sasha smiled her thanks as he took the seat across from her. The wait staff had already filled their water glasses, and left the bottle of wine chilling in a metal bucket. Matthew topped off both their wine glasses, then clinked his against hers.
“Here’s to night number four,” he toasted. “Each one has been equally special, equally memorable.”
“I agree.”
Matthew picked up his salad fork, but paused a moment before taking a bite. “I hope you know,” he told her quietly, “that you’ll always have a home with me, Sasha. I know you get along well with your roommates, but that place isn’t really your home.” He squeezed her hand. “Have you given any further thought to moving in with me?”
She gave a small nod. “I actually have, believe it or not. But I’m afraid I’m no closer to a decision now then I was the first time you asked me. I - I will think about it, though, Matthew. I promise. And thank you - for what you just said. About always having a home with you. That’s one of the kindest things anyone has ever told me.”
He picked up her hand and brought it to his lips. “Then take me up on my offer, Sasha. Move in with me. I know the condo isn’t really your style, but I’d let you redecorate it however you pleased. And I don’t plan on making that my permanent home, you know. One of these days, hopefully very soon, I intend to look for another place, a real home. A home that I hope you’ll share with me.”
Sasha fought back the sudden surge of panic that threatened to choke her, reminding herself to practice what she preached and take deep, calming breaths. The idea of making such a commitment to anyone, even to Matthew, wasn’t something she felt capable of dealing with just yet.
But he looked so hopeful, so happy, that she didn’t have the heart to completely dissuade him tonight. Instead, she merely gave his cheek a fleeting caress, and murmured, “I’ll keep giving it some thought, okay? I promise. Now, let’s eat. I see that you ordered way too much food again, so we’d better get started if I’m going to finish even half of this.
”
It was a deliberate distraction, and Sasha knew that Matthew was well aware of her diversionary tactics. He tactfully didn’t press her further for an answer, but she knew it would only be a matter of time before the subject came up again. And the next time he would expect an answer.
Chapter Fifteen
Late April
“Hey, boss. Sorry that I have to make such a lousy day even shittier, but your ex is on the phone and trying to say it’s an emergency. Now, I can sniff out a load of bull a mile away and I say she’s full of it, but she’s continuing to be a major pain in my ass. Which considering how big my butt is, you can imagine how much that must be hurting right now.”
Matthew didn’t know whether to laugh at Elena’s outlandish remark, or throw up his hands in frustration. It had been a really, really lousy day, one of the worst in recent memory, wrought with one crisis or problem or delay after another. And no matter how many times he’d reminded himself to take deep breaths, or to practice the various relaxation techniques Sasha had taught him, nothing really seemed to help. He’d barely picked at the lunch that Elena had unceremoniously plunked in front of him, and was admittedly well over his modest quota of coffee for the day, which wasn’t helping his stress level one bit.
Dealing with Lindsey and her drama was the very last thing he needed right now, but it wouldn’t be fair to expect Elena to deal with his ex. Sighing in resignation, he instructed Elena to put her through.
He hadn’t even said hello when Lindsey’s frantic, almost hysterical voice filled his ear.
“Matt, you have got to do something about Hayley!” she pleaded. “She is so out of control these days that I have no idea what to do anymore! Swear to God, I’m ready to ship her out to a boarding school. Or a convent. Can you please come over tonight and talk to her, see if you can get her straightened out? I just can’t cope with her by myself any longer, Matt.”
Matthew rubbed his right temple, where a headache had begun to throb nearly an hour ago. “Can you calm down and stop yelling for a second?” he begged. “Now, is there something in particular Hayley has done to set you off? Considering that she’s been a major pain in the ass for the last few months.”
“What hasn’t she done?” exclaimed Lindsey. “She argues with me over the tiniest thing, ignores me when I try to ask her questions, laughs at me when I tell her she needs to be home at a certain hour. She’s secretive and rude, and is hardly ever home these days. I tried taking her car keys away more than once, but the little witch just has one of her friends pick her up or calls Uber, and then sneaks out one of the back entrances. She’s cut classes at least five times this month, and I’m getting a little tired of taking calls from the school. And then of course, there’s all the stuff I found when I went snooping in her room the other day.”
The headache was quickly beginning to spread to the other temple as well, and he started searching around in his desk for some Advil. “I won’t even ask why you decided it was a good idea to search around her room,” he replied wearily.
“Well, it was a damned good thing that I did, Matt!” Lindsey burst out. “Not only did I find a packet of birth control pills and a box of condoms, but a plastic baggie of marijuana, too! I know she’s been sneaking out of the house late at night, too, and stays out till all hours on the weekend. And she disabled the Find My Friends app on her phone so I don’t have any way of tracking her. She is totally and completely out of control, and I’m not sure how much longer I can take this.”
“Have you confronted her about what you found in her room?” he asked patiently.
“Are you out of your mind?” asked Lindsey in horror. “She’d freak out if she thought I was snooping around. And we already spend so much time fighting, that the last thing I want to do is set her off. Can’t you talk to her, Matt? Tell her that this has to stop, that she needs to start obeying the rules and being more respectful? I’m so stressed out by all of this that I’m hardly sleeping at night. It - it’s hard being solely responsible for two teenagers, you know.”
Matthew ignored Lindsey’s very pointed dig, refusing to let her make him feel guilty. “When we separated, I offered right from the start to let one or both of the kids live with me,” he reminded sternly. “And I’ve repeated that offer multiple time, Linz. You were the one who fought me on that, who insisted that the kids wanted to keep attending their schools and be near their friends, even though we both know they would have made the adjustment easily.”
“It wouldn’t have been as easy as you think, Matt,” she argued stubbornly. “And now I’m stuck here taking care of them while you’re free to do whatever you like.”
He was incredulous at her self-centered attitude. “Should I remind you that I work twelve to fourteen hour days, and often six days a week, so that I can support you and the kids in the very lavish lifestyle you all enjoy? And I seem to recall that I’m still paying the bills every month for a full-time nanny - who the kids certainly don’t need any longer - so that you can go to Pilates or the spa or out to lunch with your girlfriends whenever you want. I’d say that between the two of us, Linz, you’ve got a helluva lot more free time on your hands than I do.”
“I’m still the one who has to deal with all of this crap on a daily basis,” she pointed out.
“I talk to Hayley and Casey every single day, no matter how busy I am or where I happen to be,” he reminded her in a tight voice. “Plus, they know darned well they can call or text or email me whenever they need something and I always respond almost immediately. I have dinner with the two of them once a week, unless I’m away on business, and they’re with me every other weekend. Or at least Casey is, since Hayley would rather party with her friends or get her nails done than spend time with me.”
Lindsey sniffed. “It’s because of that - that girlfriend of yours, you know. Hayley doesn’t like to stay with you because she feels you care more about your girlfriend than you do about her and Casey.”
“Bullshit.” Matthew ground the word out fiercely. “Complete and utter bullshit. Sasha is more than willing to give me time alone with my children when they visit. And she never spends the night, as you already know after grilling Casey on the subject multiple times. And Hayley is well aware of that fact, so don’t be using Sasha as an excuse. Now, look, I’m having the day from hell here, and I have to get back to work. I’ll give Hayley a call tonight and have a long talk with her.”
“That’s not going to do any good,” warned Lindsey. “But maybe if you came by the house after work you could spend some time with her. You could have dinner with the three of us, then take Hayley aside afterwards and lay down the law to her.”
He hesitated before replying, not wanting to admit that he was supposed to be having dinner with Sasha tonight. “I guess I could come by,” he agreed reluctantly. “But don’t plan on my staying for dinner. I’m going to be here at the office for hours yet, so I might not get down there until eight at the earliest.”
Lindsey’s tone instantly brightened. “That would be great, Matt! I think it would really do Hayley some good to have you remind her of the rules. You are still the man of the house, after all, and I think she’ll respect that. Thank you, Matt, you have no idea how relieved this makes me.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to correct her, to remind her that he was not the man of the house in any way, shape, or form. But that would have provoked another argument, and he was so exhausted and stressed out already that continuing to fight with Lindsey was the last thing he wanted to do. He grudgingly told her he’d stop by the house this evening, and to make damned sure that Hayley stayed at home tonight.
He buried his face in his hands for long seconds after he ended the call, wondering wildly how much crappier this day could possibly get. A quick glance at his schedule showed that he had a conference call starting in less than ten minutes, followed by two more meetings, so he had precious little time to talk to Sasha.
Fortunately, she was
in between massage appointments and picked up his call on the second ring.
“This is a surprise,” she told him. “I usually don’t hear from you during the day. Is everything okay?”
“No, it’s a veritable nightmare, actually,” he admitted. “I was already having one of the lousiest days on record when I got a phone call from Lindsey.”
Briefly, he filled Sasha in on what had transpired during the call, while she quietly let him vent.
“Knowing Lindsey, she’s blowing all of this way out of proportion, but I feel like I need to see for myself what’s going on,” he explained. “And I really, really hate to do this, especially since it’s the one thing that’s been keeping me going all day, but I’ll have to bow out on dinner tonight. I’m so sorry, Sasha. I feel like a rat for cancelling at practically the last minute like this.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she replied calmly. “It’s just dinner, after all. And I agree that you should pay Hayley a visit and try to find out what’s wrong.”
He was instantly relieved - and deeply grateful - at her easy acceptance, but he’d already known that Sasha would be understanding and supportive. Matthew wondered if she even had an angry bone in her body, or if she was capable of uttering a single nasty word.
“Have I told you lately what an amazing woman you are?” he told her tenderly. “Or how much I love you? I don’t deserve you, you know.”
She laughed softly. “That debate could go both ways, you know. Honestly, though, I do understand. Besides, Serge and Morgana need someone to substitute one of the classes tonight since the regular teacher has food poisoning. They’ll be relieved when I tell them I can do it after all.”
Matthew felt slightly less guilty at canceling their dinner date at this news, since it meant she wouldn’t be alone the entire evening. “Would you still be willing to spend the night at the condo? I shouldn’t be back too late, especially since the kids have school tomorrow and I know I’m going to be dead on my feet sooner than later. But it would sure mean a lot to know you’d be waiting at home for me after what’s probably going to be an ugly scene with Hayley.”
Serenity (Inevitable Book 5) Page 25