Chapter 15
They woke up looking into each other’s eyes, the way they had the last two mornings. “Is this pathetic?” she asked. “That we do this every morning?”
He laughed, pulled her to him, and kissed her forehead. “Probably. But I’m moving out today, so I’ll be waking up in my own bed from now on.” Hope gave him a look, and Matt laughed again. Although they’d both agreed that it was way too soon to be living together and that it would be best if he moved into Gracie’s place across the hall as planned—it was highly doubtful he’d be waking up in his own bed all that often.
“It doesn’t last forever, this looking into each other’s eyes every morning in wonder,” she said before nestling her head between his head and shoulder.
“No, it probably doesn’t. Not every morning, at least. Does that frighten you, that love becomes familiar?”
She stilled. “Love?”
Matt stilled, too. He hadn’t realized the word had snuck out. “Yes. Love. This is the beginning of it, isn’t it?”
“The stars-in-my-eyes-so-dazed-can’t-think-straight part?” she asked, not really admitting to anything. But he was encouraged that she had stars in her eyes, was dazed, and couldn’t think straight either. “No one can live like that forever,” she said on a sigh. “Neither of us would be at our best. I guess that’s why it probably needs to become familiar and mature. Like the couple waiting to sit in the minivan after us. They were kidding that he was no longer adorable, but there was love there, wasn’t there? And it was adorable in a life-tested kind of way.”
“It was.” He kissed the top of her head. “Last night, we didn’t even set the alarms. That’s how dazed we were. You almost got away from me,” he murmured, finding her mouth.
Hope shot up. “I sleepwalked?”
He sighed. “Yes. But you only made it to the living room before I noticed. When I move next door, I’m thinking of putting my bed right by the front door and sleeping with the door open,” he half joked.
She smiled her dazzling smile at him. “You won’t need to. I have a surprise for you after work!” And with that, she was out of bed.
He lifted an eyebrow. “A surprise? I can’t wait. But I’m helping Marty set up for the engagement party. Can it wait until we get home after the party?” She nodded, still looking excited, and he smiled and got up, too. “Catch you in the kitchen,” he said.
“Again?” she giggled. It wasn’t what he’d been thinking, but now that she’d mentioned it… He grabbed her just before she made it to the door, hauled her up, and dumped her back onto the bed, while she laughed and scrambled away. “I think we both need a shower, don’t you?” she asked, suggestively.
His heart nearly leapt out of his chest. “I do.”
* * *
Later, as they left the apartment, Matt again got that eerie feeling of being watched. He looked around and couldn’t see anyone, and Hope didn’t seem to be sensing anything, either. She was locking the front door and lifting her face up to his for a goodbye kiss, same as the last two mornings. He kissed her, looked into her eyes, and smoothed his thumb across her cheek. “I’ll see you at the engagement party tonight.”
He walked over to his car wondering if he was missing—or dismissing—something important. So much had happened in the last couple of weeks, he guessed it was normal that he’d feel apprehensive. But nothing concrete backed up his feelings, and it wasn’t as if he or his mom had anything to fear. Not anymore, at least. He was an adult and his mom was so strong now. Still…
He shook his head and started the ignition.
* * *
The moment Hope walked into the engagement party at Huffy’s Tavern, she was met with a hug from Marty. He looked behind her. “Is Matt still with the police and fire investigators?”
“Police and fire investigators?” she repeated, a little too loudly. Half the room turned to look, and her sisters, their boyfriends, and her grandmother were instantly by her side. She calmed herself, even though her stomach had dropped to the floor. There was only one reason she could think of for him not telling her that he’d be meeting with the fire investigators. Had they determined she was responsible for it? “I don’t know anything about that,” she said to Marty. “The last thing Matt told me was that he’d meet me here.”
Marty looked uncomfortable. “He called to apologize that he wouldn’t be able to help me set up because they needed to meet with him.”
Hope sent him a warning glance. “Marty, if there’s anything else, you’d better tell me.”
Innocent eyes met hers. “No, that’s all he said.” He reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Hope. It’s probably a routine meeting.” She gave him an appreciative smile, but the moment he left, she called Matt. He didn’t answer.
“Maybe the investigators already concluded the fire was started by that recalled electrical panel and they were simply meeting with him to close the case,” Paige suggested.
Hope shook her head. “He would’ve called me right away to tell me, to rid me of my doubts.”
“Then maybe he decided to tell you in person. Any moment now, he’ll walk through that door and give you the news,” Gracie said next. They all turned to look at the door. Matt didn’t magically appear.
Alex gestured across the room. “I see Sheriff Walker over there. How about I ask him if he knows anything?” Hope agreed and Josh went with him.
Her cell phone rang the moment they left, and Hope looked down at the screen, certain it would be Matt. But it was Maya. She turned and spoke in a low voice, guessing the reason for the call. “Hi, Maya, how’s my new dog?”
“Nicki Chopper’s fine, and I’m still set to bring her by later so she can get used to your apartment before you begin training her.”
“Nicki Chopper?”
“That’s what I’m calling her, but you can change it if you want. She likes it, though, so you’re going to have a real tough time of it. But I’m not calling about her, I’m calling about—”
“Hold on, I have another call, don’t hang up!” Again Hope looked at the screen, expecting Matt’s name to pop up, but this time the call was from Doggie Days, Zeus and Shakira’s doggie day care. Hope hit the “switch calls” button on her phone. “Hello?”
“Hello, is this Hope Piper?” a female voice asked.
“Yes?”
“This is Kathy from Doggie Days. Matthew Williams recently changed his emergency contact information to include you, and we’re calling because he hasn’t picked up Zeus and Shakira, and we’ve been unable to reach him or his first emergency contacts, Logan and Sabrina Rossi. He usually picks them up by six and tells us in advance when he needs extended care, but he didn’t mention that this morning and we close in fifteen minutes.”
Hope’s heart sped up. Matt would never forget to pick up the dogs. “I’ll be right there.” She switched back to Maya. “Maya, unless you’re calling about Matt, I have to hang up,” she said, as she dug her keys out of her purse. When her sisters and grandmother saw she was leaving, they went to grab their coats.
“I am calling about Matt!” A heavy sigh. “Okay. Listen. And don’t get mad.” A pause. “I told Matt a while back that I had taken a picture of that woman you met with, Mrs. Caputo, and that I ran an image search on her because I was trying to figure out what was going on with you. It’s the nosiest thing I’ve ever done in my life, and I felt horrible about it, but everyone at work was piling on about how you were hiding stuff, and I was desperate. You didn’t schedule the meeting through me, so I thought she was an executive from the company who wants to buy us—”
“I get it, and I forgive you, Maya, but please explain about Matt.” Hope was already out the door with her sisters and grandmother in tow, and now Ruby, Rosa, Alex, and Josh were behind them, too.
“Matt called today to ask me to send him the picture I took,” Maya continued. “I hadn’t told him who she was when I told him I’d done that image search, I only said that finding out who the woman was had helped me piece things together, but he told me it was important, and so I told him she was a private investigator, plus I sent him the picture.”
Moments from the past few weeks started playing in Hope’s head, and she thanked Maya and hung up. She turned to her family, to flesh everything out, but before she could say anything, Alex said, “The fire at Matt’s house was determined to be an accident caused by the faulty electric panel, Hope, but they met with Matt because a neighbor thought she saw a man watching his house the day of the fire. She said the man was old and looked very frail, and she wasn’t one hundred percent sure he was watching Matt’s house or just spaced out, so she didn’t say anything until investigators started going around asking questions. Because of your sleepwalking incident that night and the mystery man, the investigators took extra precautions to rule out arson. Still, they decided to tell Matt about the man when the police reviewed their logbook and saw a second neighbor had called about an elderly man who looked lost in the reserve behind Matt’s house a few days before.”
Relief over the fire being accidental barely registered. Her thoughts were stuck on the old man watching Matt’s house, his call to Maya to ask about Mrs. Caputo, and his forgetting to pick up the dogs. “Rosa, Ruby, can you get Zeus and Shakira from Doggie Days?” she asked. “They’re about to close.” Both women frowned and shrugged in agreement, their reluctance on missing out visible on their hangdog faces.
Hope turned to her family again and the thoughts running through her mind tumbled out. “I think something’s up with Matt. I can’t explain it all, but I’m going to his mom’s house because I think that’s where he went after he found out who Mrs. Caputo really was. I just want to make sure they’re all right.”
“Mrs. Caputo? The private investigator? What does she have to do with anything?” Josh asked, but Hope was already halfway to her car.
“Tell us the address! We’ll go,” Alex called after her.
Hope ignored him, knowing he was going to follow her anyway. Before she could peel away, her sisters and grandmother jumped into her car, and her grandmother yelled, “Paige will text you the address,” out the window to Josh and Alex as they left the parking lot. Alex, who had been yelling at Paige not get into the car with Hope, was already climbing into his Suburban with Josh.
Hope immediately called Mrs. Caputo to ask if she knew anything about Matt and his past, but the woman remained steadfast that she couldn’t discuss anything, with Hope or anyone else, period. But it was enough for Hope that Mrs. Caputo wasn’t denying anything. She was simply refusing to talk, and Hope was now convinced Mrs. Caputo had played a role in whatever was going on.
“I’ll keep trying Sabrina and Logan,” her grandmother said from the back seat.
“You have their number?” Hope asked, surprised.
“Of course. We became fast friends. We’ve been group texting since we met.”
“What about?”
Gracie put her hand over Hope’s. “Don’t ask. You don’t want to know.”
Hope sighed and focused on the road. It was the longest twenty-minute drive of her life because she wasn’t sure she was needed or if Matt was even at his mom’s house. For all she knew, she was being as overly suspicious as Alex and Josh. But at the same time, odd things were adding up, and she appreciated having them there as backup, just in case. It would be up to her to keep them in check. When she turned onto Logan and Sabrina’s street, she looked through her rearview mirror to see if Alex and Josh were still hot on her heels. They were. She parked a few houses up the street and got out.
Alex and Josh quietly got out of the Suburban and went to stand near Hope, her grandmother, and her sisters. “Can you all please wait in the car?” Alex requested, clearly annoyed. “Hope, what house is it? Paige didn’t text me the address.”
“That’s because I didn’t tell her. I don’t want you two getting fired for running around with your guns in the air all the time!”
“We do not run around with our guns in the air! We follow the law,” Alex hissed back, looking highly offended.
“Well, I’m simply going to walk up and ring the doorbell,” she said. “You two can stand behind me.”
Josh blocked her way. “Two people saw a man watching Matt’s house, and we’ve all felt Matt is secretive about his past. What if he and his mom ran away from some crazy dude who’s now found them? You can’t just go up and ring the doorbell!”
Hope crossed her arms. “They described the man watching the house as old, frail, weak, and lost.”
Alex gave her a look. “I’ve watched your grandmother, Ruby, and Rosa morph into frail, weak, and lost women with severe arthritis and osteoporosis before my eyes whenever they want to distract me or guilt me into something.”
Grandma Sherry shrugged one shoulder. “He makes a good point.”
Hope frowned. It was an excellent point. But still… “Matt wouldn’t have stayed with me if he’d have thought there was even a small risk of bringing danger into my life. I feel sure about that.”
Gracie gasped. “Hope! You trust him!” she exclaimed, looking ecstatic.
Hope smiled a little and shrugged. “I do.”
“When did you know?” Paige asked, equally thrilled.
Alex looked up to the sky and sighed. “Really? You three want to have this conversation now?”
“Right.” Paige nodded. “First things first. I agree with Alex and Josh. If you think something strange is going on, and those were your words, then you need to stay back and let the people with experience in law enforcement take over.”
Gracie crossed her arms. “I second that.”
Hope ignored them and began walking away, but she was quickly apprehended by her sisters and grandmother. “Oh no you don’t!” Hope growled as she tried to wrestle free.
“Payback, for when you sat on me,” Paige grunted as she struggled to hold on to Hope’s arms.
“Look! That’s the tail end of a red velvet pearl minivan over there,” Grandma Sherry exclaimed as she pointed to a driveway three doors down. Alex and Josh nodded and turned to each other, but before they could discuss how to proceed, the sound of a car approaching made them all quiet down and look back.
Josh blew out a breath. “Damn. It’s Ruby and Rosa. How’d they find us?”
“We share a cell phone plan. They must’ve been tracking me using the ‘find my phone’ feature,” Grandma Sherry explained.
Alex signaled for them to back up and park behind him, but next thing anybody knew, Ruby opened a window, and Zeus and Shakira jumped out. The two dogs ran up to Hope and began barking up a storm. Hope swooped down to grab a hold of their leashes, but after one sniff of air, they bolted and yanked her along with them. She tried digging her heels in but the two of them together were too much for her and she had no choice but to fly down the sidewalk with them. Everyone took off after them, with Alex and Josh shushing them and telling them to stay back, while they all tried to shush the dogs. But Zeus and Shakira were scratching and barking at Logan and Sabrina’s door before anyone could catch up.
The moment the door began to open, guns were, to Hope’s exasperation, once again drawn. She tried to haul the two dogs back, but Zeus and Shakira burst through the door the moment they saw an opening and Hope tumbled in behind them, with Alex and Josh, and the rest of her family and friends, at their heels.
Still holding on to the leashes, Hope looked up. Logan, Sabrina, and a frail-looking old man were staring, wide-eyed, down at her. Matt was at the door. Zeus and Shakira began aggressively barking at the old man, and Hope scrambled up to hold them back, this time with Matt’s help. She’d never seen them acting so aggressively.
“What are you doing here?” and “Put your guns down!” were the first words out of Matt’s mouth. Guns were put away as Sabrina and Logan tried to help them calm the dogs down, but Zeus got too close to the old man, and he pulled back his leg to kick him. Before anyone could stop the man or get Zeus out of the way, a new dog flew through the air and butted the old man in the stomach, making him fall back onto his seat and miss Zeus. When the old man flung his fist back to punch the new dog, Hope grabbed her heel, aimed the stiletto, and threw it at the man’s knuckles.
The man screamed in pain, and Alex yelled, “Enough! Everybody freeze!”
Nobody froze. “What are you all doing here?” Logan asked. Both he and Sabrina looked perplexed and worn out.
Everyone began speaking at once, and Hope’s limbs gave out. Never had she thought she’d hurt an old man with her heels. Matt was immediately beside her. “Hope? Are you okay?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt an old man.”
“He’s a mean son of a bitch who never fought fair. Don’t worry about it,” Matt whispered in her ear as he helped her up. The new dog began nuzzling Hope.
“One at a time!” Logan yelled again, but before anyone could start explaining what they were doing there, Maya came running up to them, wearing a silver gown with sequins, and panting. “I’m sorry, but Nicki Chopper got away from me.”
“What are you doing here?” Matt asked, looking as confused and drained as his mom and stepdad. “And who’s Nicki Chopper?”
“Hope’s service-slash-therapy dog,” Maya explained. “When Hope hung up on me, I called Ruby to ask her what was happening, and she told me she didn’t know but that you were all heading up I-70. I got in my car ’cause I was heading up this way too and I needed to deliver Nicki Chopper before going to my sister’s anniversary party. Ruby texted me this street name about five minutes ago.” When she was finished there was a slight pause before everyone started talking again.
One voice stood out among the rest. The weak old man suddenly didn’t look so weak or old anymore. He stood up to his full height and began yelling at Sabrina, his entire body shaking with anger. “You took my grandson away from me, Sarah Beth, after everything I did for you! You filled his head with lies and now this. You sic dogs on me and call those men in here with their guns!”
Everyone went quiet. Hope exchanged looks with her grandmother, who exchanged looks with her sisters, who exchanged looks with Alex and Josh. They were in the middle of a family dispute that was none of their business. It was time to leave. Maya said a quick “oops” and “sorry” and was already halfway out the door. Everyone else awkwardly tried to do the same as Matt got into the man’s face. “Stay away from her! You know why we left—”
“She filled your head with lies, Mark! Can’t you see? Don’t you remember?” the man cut him off.
“Enough!” Sabrina said, her voice tight and her hands shaking. She stepped toward the man. “We’ve asked you to leave over a dozen times since you got here, you’ve refused, and you continue to insult me. This is your last chance. Leave right now or I will call the police and everyone here—and that includes an FBI agent and the county prosecutor—will be a witness to the fact that you’ve been asked to leave private property and you’ve refused.”
Hope looked imploringly at Alex and Josh, but the looks they gave her told her they couldn’t yet act.
“You ungrateful child! This is how you treat the father who raised you on his own, who paid for your schooling and took care of your bastard after you got knocked up, who—”
His rant was cut short by Sabrina, who was on the phone, saying, “I have a trespasser at 56 Ventor.”
Before she could say another word, the older man raised his hand as if to hit Sabrina, but both Matt and Logan were quick to hold him back. The man then spit in Sabrina’s face and tried to knee her stomach. He didn’t connect, but both Matt and Logan tried to turn the man to face them at the same time, Matt with murder in his eyes and Logan with his fist drawn back, but their collective momentum simply pushed him back, where Alex caught him and said, “You’re under arrest for assault,” before slapping handcuffs onto his wrists. The man began to protest while Alex rattled off his rights and Josh called the police, too.
Sabrina’s eyes widened as she locked eyes with Josh. “It won’t stick—he didn’t hit me this time. And he’ll be back. Again and again.” Matt and Logan went to her, to try to calm her, while Josh shook his head and said, “The definition of assault on the federal level includes the attempt to do harm, and you have plenty of witnesses.”
* * *
Later, when Logan, Sabrina, Matt, and Hope were finally alone, Hope went to Matt’s mom, blinking back tears. She had just called Mrs. Caputo and told her everything that had happened, and the woman was horrified. “Sabrina?” Hope began. “I’m so sorry. This was all my fault. I used a private investigator to find someone and, well, long story short, she recognized Matt from an age-progressed photo that a man she had met a few times at missing-persons conferences carried with him. She had no idea he was…” violent, she wanted to say, but it suddenly didn’t feel appropriate. This was Sabrina and Matt’s past. A past they had tried to keep private.
Sabrina took Hope’s hands in hers. “What was your fault? That a federal officer was here to arrest my father? That this time, I had the county prosecutor as one of over half a dozen witnesses?” She shook her head and looked down for a moment before meeting Hope’s eyes again. “It’s been twenty years. He can no longer have Matt taken away from me. And I’ve grown. I’d rather deal with him than run away now. I’ve even learned to manage the guilt it all causes.” Her throat worked. “I don’t want him in jail, but I do need the restraining order. I see this as a chance to finally put the past behind us, Hope. Matt can explain. You have nothing to be sorry for. To me, this was all fate.”
Hope nodded and they all hugged before Sabrina and Logan called it a night. Matt led Hope to the sofa, sat down, and settled her onto his lap. Zeus, Shakira, and Nicki Chopper lay down in front of them. “Three dogs. The cowrie shells called it.” He smiled.
“How can you be making jokes? What an awful evening for you and your mom. And I’m unworthy of your smiles. I lied to you about Mrs. Caputo and that led to all of this. If I had told you the truth, you’d have put two and two together, and maybe all this would’ve been prevented.” She looked away, unable to understand why he wasn’t angry at her.
“You didn’t owe me the truth back then, Hope. And didn’t you hear what my mom said?”
“Yes, but that’s because it all ended well. I don’t know how violent he is, but for him to attack your mom in front of all of us, and for you two to have had to run away and change your names all those years ago…” She swallowed hard. “What if he would’ve found her here alone?”
“Don’t, Hope. Don’t.” Matt turned her face so she would look at him. “I could say the same thing. If I’d opened up to you more, you would have had better context to tell me who Mrs. Caputo really was. But I became an expert at keeping this one, big secret from everyone from such an early age, that I didn’t know I could open up. My mom’s right. In some crazy way, both our pasts, including everything in them that was awful and everything in them that was good, led us to this moment, and in its way, this moment will lead to peace. Peace my mom hasn’t ever truly had. Do you know how much guilt her father has already piled on her, for life? She feels responsible for my burns and the resulting scars. She’ll never get over it. But it’s all on him.”
Hope stilled. “Did he…?” Again, she couldn’t continue. In her heart, she knew he wanted to let her in, but she didn’t know how to ask private questions.
“No. He didn’t hurt me that way.” He sighed heavily and shook his head, as if he didn’t know where to begin. “My mom’s mother died when she was young, and her father raised her alone. He was strict and exacting, and knocked her around and yelled at her when she didn’t live up to his standards. It took a toll on her self-esteem. He also wouldn’t let her go anywhere or have friends, said all the other kids were bad influences… I can only imagine what he did when he found out she was pregnant at sixteen. She doesn’t talk about it.”
He was quiet then, and Hope felt a deep sadness as she imagined a young, lonely, beaten-down Sabrina. “She must’ve felt very alone.”
He nodded, thoughtfully. “She met the man who fathered me when she was fifteen. He was in her grade, and her father was a visiting professor from Dubai. They were both peer tutors at their high school. He’d seen more of the world than my mom ever hoped to, she loved hearing about it all and dreaming with him, and he treated her more kindly and gently than anyone had ever treated her. He’s the one who gave her the book of poetry I told you about. They were both just kids, both felt out of place, and neither really knew what they were doing. They made each other feel like they had someone. But he moved back to Dubai and never even knew my mom was pregnant. She thinks they may have misspelled his last name in the yearbook because she’s never been able to find him. His first name was Masoud, though, and it’s why she wanted to name me something that started with M.” He blew out a breath. “Mark Watson. It doesn’t feel right anymore.”
He was silent again and Hope nestled against him, trying to offer what comfort she could as he absentmindedly played with her hair. After a while, he said, “My grandfather never physically hurt me, but he’d get on my mom so much and yell at her and pull her by the hair and threaten her until she became so small, that I’d try to help with her chores, to minimize the tension. She had school and a waitressing job and had to do everything around the house and yard. I found out later she was always planning on leaving and had been putting her waitressing tips away, which wasn’t easy because he always checked her pockets and took her checks, but she wanted to finish her associate’s degree first, to support us, and she knew he hadn’t hurt me so far. It was taking her longer, though, because he made sure she couldn’t take too many classes, telling her she had to spend time with me at home or he’d accuse her of neglect and sue her for custody.”
He stopped playing with her hair. When he spoke again, he sounded as if he was far away. “She fell asleep one day over a textbook while she was supposed to be making dinner, and I decided to help. My grandfather caught me standing on a chair in front of the stove, boiling water for pasta. He yelled at her to come into the kitchen, and I turned to tell him to stop. My hand accidentally hit the handle.” He paused and blew out a long breath, as if the memory was painful. “A few days later at the hospital she asked me how much pain I was in and I told her it was like the pain I felt when Grandpa yelled at her and hit her, only the pain was on my skin and not inside my chest. That was the moment she decided to leave.”
He paused and stared intently down at the carpet. “That night, my mom called this domestic abuse hotline she kept hearing on the radio. Her case didn’t qualify, and they didn’t have very many resources, but they helped us anyway. They even sold us the Vega for peanuts, basically, and they advised her to change our names legally and helped with that, because they knew if he found us we’d end up right back where we started. His threats to sue for custody scared her too much, and he had my burns as ammunition…” He shifted and looked away.
“You don’t have to say anything else.” Hope took his hand in hers and kissed it. “You don’t ever have to tell me any of it unless you want to, Matt.”
“I want to. Not all in one night, but little by little. The same way I’ll learn all about what made you you.” He met her eyes. “But you need to believe that my mom would go through it all again, except the parts that hurt me, if it would lead her to this life and to Logan. And that I would go through it all again, except the parts that hurt her, but even the parts that hurt me, if it would lead me to this life and to you.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “I once told you that I thought it would be nice to have half a town worry about me, and tonight, I did. And it turns out it was crazy. But it was nice, too.” His beautiful golden eyes glowed and he looked happy for the first time that night. “You know I love you, Hope, don’t you? I love everything about you, even Bessie White, the ghost who haunted me for months.”
At that moment, Hope knew peace. She kissed him softly on the lips, feeling closer to him, the man and the boy, scarred and whole, than she’d ever felt to anyone. “I think I understand now. I know it’s not the same, but I no longer care if I sleepwalk every night for the rest of my life, as long as it always leads me back to you. I love you, too, Matt. Your heart and my heart are very, very old friends.”
He gazed into her eyes and must’ve seen the truth of it there because he smiled and kissed her with more tenderness than she’d ever known.