“Thanks.” Matt turned and hurried down the hallway into Arwen’s cubbyhole office, which was even smaller than his. She looked up from her laptop as he entered, and it struck him that she looked a little haggard and pale. What was up with her anyway? She’d been grumpy for the last two weeks. “You need me for something?” she said in a less-than-welcoming tone.
“Yes. I need you to get up and leave this office.”
“What?”
He took two steps into her cubbyhole, gently snagged her by the upper arm, and gave her a tug. “You need some fresh air. Besides, there are more important things than the next divorce case. Get up.” He yanked her out of her chair.
“Matt, stop. What are you talking about?” Arwen dug in her heels.
“Have you read the Winchester Daily today?” he asked.
“Uh, no. Why?” She shook her head.
“Because the front page is an exposé of Bill Cummins, his high-handed tactics, and his cushy relationship with GB Ventures.”
Arwen’s eyes grew round. “Oh my God. Did you give our file to the Daily?”
He shook his head. “No. I followed the advice of a very smart woman. I gave our file to Linda Peterson. She’s out there in front of city hall right now.”
Arwen grinned. “I knew I liked you, despite your reputation. Does your father know you did this?”
“Not yet. But he will eventually. Come on, let’s go join the fun before he rains on my parade.”
Matt took Arwen by the hand and pulled her down the hallway, through LL&K’s front doors, and out onto the sidewalk in front of city hall. Along the way he stopped at a newspaper dispenser, where he purchased a copy of the paper for Arwen.
She took one look at the headline—JEFFERSON COUNTY COUNCIL CHAIR HAS CUSHY DEAL WITH GB VENTURES—and squealed.
“Oh my God. I love you. Thank you for not giving up on this. Especially since I’ve been so out of it these last few weeks. I’m happy someone had a little courage.” And then she threw herself into Matt’s arms and kissed him right on his cheek.
A mixed bag of emotion slammed into Courtney’s chest as Arwen threw her arms around Matt’s neck. The sound of Arwen saying “I love you” to Matt Lyndon traveled across the space between them like a nuclear missile.
Courtney froze where she stood amid the protesters. Fury, jealousy, confusion, shame, and a healthy dose of self-loathing combined into a toxic brew that buckled her knees.
It was almost as if God had decided to punish her for something.
A moment ago, Sid had announced that he and Leslie were going to elope to Vegas and then move to Phoenix. He’d seemed so proud of himself for arguing Leslie out of her foolish last stand at Dogwood Estates.
Courtney had been searching for something nice to say about this news when she’d seen Arwen and Matt giving each other intimate face time.
What an idiot she’d been. All that tender lovemaking. All those words whispered in the dark. The flowers. The cupcakes. Dinner at the Red Fern. All of it was a sham. A game. The usual BS that any Hook-up Artist knew how to manage.
The pieces of the puzzle suddenly locked into place.
Poor Arwen. She was so hungry for romance that Matt’s flowers and cupcakes had probably turned her head. And she was probably too ashamed to admit it. No wonder she’d been avoiding Courtney. She probably didn’t want to hear any lectures about sleeping with a player.
Who did?
And, of course, since they’d hardly spoken the last few weeks, Arwen didn’t have any idea that Matt had moved in next door or that Courtney had broken her own set of rules when it came to Hook-up Artists.
An icy pain lanced her heart. How could she have been so stupid? How could Arwen have been so stupid?
“Hey, hon, are you okay?” Sid asked.
She shifted her gaze. Unable to speak, all she could do was shake her head.
“Honey, don’t be sad. Please. For the first time in more than a year, I feel as if I have something to look forward to.”
And Sid looked that way too. He carried a poster board sign bearing a picture of a bulldozer with the red circle-and-slash symbol superimposed on it. Dressed in a pair of madras shorts and a Grateful Dead T-shirt, Sid bore no resemblance to the ghost of a man he’d been just a few weeks ago. Leslie had changed all that. And Courtney was happy for them, even as her own heart shattered into a million pieces.
“I’m fine. I’m glad you found a reason to go on living.” She turned away from him so he wouldn’t see the tears welling up in her eyes.
“No, you’re not fine. What is it?”
She brushed the tears away with the palm of her hand. “I should have brought my sunglasses,” she said. “Maybe I should go home and get them.”
“Courtney,” Sid said to her back, “don’t be sad.”
“I’m not,” she said in a watery voice as she took off across the street, giving Arwen and Matt a wide berth. Not that they would have noticed her. They were holding hands and smiling as they came down the walk from their office building.
By the time she got home, her tears had dried up and her reeling emotions had settled into a stone-cold fury. She scoured her apartment collecting the stuff Matt had left there—a T-shirt, a pair of socks, a UVA sweatshirt, and a David Baldacci paperback. She dumped them in a heap in front of his door.
Then came the hard part. Would she give Doom back to him? Or would she keep both cats?
She spent the next thirty minutes consuming a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy ice cream as she considered this question.
No. For this betrayal, Matt had to lose his cat. There had to be consequences.
Besides, Melissa, who had hand-raised these kittens, wouldn’t want Porthos to end up with someone who would name him
