With another light push, she held her hand on his chest and looked up at him. “And I know when you’re lying.”
He gave her a quizzical look.
“What you told me about what’s going on between you and Ben is bullshit.”
His eyes narrowed and she caught that same glimpse of anger before he glanced up the stairs. “What do you think you know?”
“I think I know that ‘borrowing something without asking’ is a load of crap for the way you keep looking at him.”
Matt blinked. “Well it’s true.”
“Well did he give it back?” she shrugged to point out the simple solution.
“Drop it, Liz.” His warning tone made her flinch. He took a breath and stepped away from her.
She watched him for a short moment. “It’s not that simple, is it?” She raised an eyebrow.
He turned back to her. An unreadable expression, “No.”
“Okay. I’ll drop this,” she agreed, and stalked past him up the stairs.
Chapter 29
MATT
Matt had a bad feeling about what Liz meant by droppingthis. What was he doing wrong? All he wanted was to protect her. He only wished she trusted him. Most of the time, she did. Other times, she would gaze at him with doubting eyes. Either way, he needed to be more careful. He couldn’t have Liz remembering all the wrong things. Not yet.
The doctors’ voicemail kept playing back in his head as they sat down to join the rest of the family at the table. Keeping her away from all things that could trigger memories of her being with Ben was all he wanted to do. Including Ben himself.
“This all looks so good, Francis,” Liz commented.
His mother raised both her eyebrows. “Let me know if you like it.” They all knew Francis had made Liz’s favorite dish without letting her know it. Eggplant rollatini wasn’t something his mother made often, but when she did, it was typically at Liz’s request. Matt looked at his mother thoughtfully. Apparently, she had decided to do a memory experiment of her own.
“This is delicious,” Liz beamed. “Do you usually make vegetarian dishes?”
“No, we’re all meat lovers here. But…once in a while…” Francis shrugged and dug into her own plate.
Ben and Megan were quietly sitting across from Matt and Liz, barely looking around the table, much less each other. He spotted Liz lifting her glass as if she was about to toast.
“Thank you so much for having me over,” he heard her say. “I was beginning to think I wasn’t welcome here, I mean after that fourth of July weekend.”
The color drained out of Matt’s face as his eyes shot to his wife. She bothered with nothing more than a simple innocent glance at him, but held an overly enthusiastic grin as she waited for an answer. She didn’t seem to be addressing anyone particular at the table.
Ben coughed.
Megan set her fork down and put her hands on her lap.
But the one person who didn’t seem surprised by Liz’s sudden interest in the last time they were there—was his mother.
Matt tilted his head towards his wife. “Liz why would you want to talk about that weekend right now?”
“What’s the matter? I’m simply stating the last time we were here and pointing out that no one had asked me to come visit since,” she paused. “Why is that?”
Matt’s eyes shot to his mother, who caught his glare and lifted an eyebrow in question. His mother was never the type to feel guilty about anything, especially when she was the one telling the truth.
He set down his glass and snuck a glance at his brother, who had his jaw clenched and staring at the rim of his own glass. Matt took a silent breath and let out a short laugh, “You’re always welcome here, Liz.” It was all he could think to say at that moment.
“Mmm-hmm, well I know that now.” Liz smiled at her in-laws.
