He stepped closer. “No, please. Don’t blame yourself, it was…really no one’s fault. I know I always tease you about your driving, but only because…well, I love you. You’re like a sister to me, always have been.” Ben eyed her thoughtfully, then began to step back.
A short beat went by before the door flew open. Her husband froze at the door. He glanced at them but said nothing. He waited by the door, his expression unreadable.
Ben turned back to Liz, disappointment in his expression. “Again, I just wanted to see how you were doing. Please don’t worry about Megan. She’s fine. We’re all just…” He trailed off glancing over at Matt. “We’re just happy you’re both okay.”
Ben shot Matt a look before reaching past him for the door handle and stepping out.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Megan?” she asked as the door closed.
Matt stared at her, his expression still blank. This was a new one for him. His expressions were usually sympathetic or concerned, she’d never seen him look this serious. At least not for the day and a half she had known him.
He pushed off the side of the door and crossed to the middle of the room. “I’m sorry, I was a little preoccupied with my own wife to…” He stopped himself. Clearly, to rethink his words and tone.
None of which, Liz decided, she would truly believe anyway.
“I was very concerned for you,” he continued calmly after a deep breath. “Liz, what’s going on with you…is scaring the hell out of me and I don’t want to overwhelm you with any extra information that could wait till later.”
“How much later? Why do you decide who or when or what detail I learn about?” she snapped.
He raised his voice slightly and took a step toward her. “It’s not up to me, Liz. I’m following doctor’s orders. And that’s not to overwhelm you. You should do the same. He told you not to stress over anything and try to relax, take deep breaths—”
“I’m tired of sitting around and breathing, Matt. I want to know who I am. I’m sorry this has been hard on you, but I’m not exactly having a quiet day at the beach.”
“Do you even know what a quiet day at the beach feels like?” he asked, visibly perplexed.
She burst out laughing, then immediately felt like kicking herself for it. She shouldn’t be laughing with this man who was keeping things from her. How would she recover this way? Liz should have been told about the other passenger. She looked up at him. He was smiling. And it was a beautiful smile.
“What?”
“It’s just that we’re fighting like a married couple. And I never realized, how relieving that would ever be for me.”
“Oh.” It was all she could think of saying.
He continued to smile at her. “Well, I just called Marcus, your brother. He lives in Richemont, which is about an hour away.” His lips twitched suggesting he may have wanted to say more but didn’t.
Liz frowned. She wondered why no one had mentioned her parents. She’d heard of Matt’s parents and caught a glimpse of them outside the night before. But nothing about her own or why they hadn’t come to see her. Maybe if someone called them, she might remember them. She decided to touch on that at a later time. She was tired and still trying to make her way to the bathroom before Ben had come in.
“I’m excited to meet him.” She forced a smile. Then glanced at the bathroom door and back at Matt.
He followed her glance and pursed his lips before heading to the door. “I’ll let you know as soon as he gets here.”
Chapter 9
MATT
Matt walked out of Liz’s room and planned to head into Megan’s. Hell, if Ben wanted to waltz in to see Liz whenever he felt like it, then so should he with Megan. He truly wanted to see how she was doing, but selfishly needed to ask her questions about the accident. Depending on how she was feeling, he may hold off on the questions.
He spotted his brother coming out of Megan’s room. Ben glanced at him and then brushed past Matt and headed towards the elevators.
“The hell’s up with you?” He’d just about had it with the cold and bitter anger he was sensing from Ben, as if Matt hadn’t been the one who was betrayed.
“Not now,” Ben mumbled.
Matt snickered. “We’re in a hospital with no place to go until the doctors say so, so now seems like a pretty decent time for me.” He waited for Ben to respond before continuing. “Oh, that’s right, I forgot—you have your own timing system of when to tell people things they probably have a right to know.”
Ben shot his brother a look as two people in the hall chose to get up and walk away at that very moment.
Matt wasn’t fazed by it. With everything going on around him now, he didn’t have time for this bullshit.
