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I had no clue how I was supposed to say goodbye to Matteo or how I was going to deal with the Brady situation. But once Matteo went back to Seattle, I needed to make some real decisions about how I wanted my future to look.• • •That afternoon, I paid Felicity a long-overdue visit. I hadn’t seen her since before Matteo came to town, so she knew nothing about his connection to Brady. The thought of explaining everything to her had been daunting, which is why I’d put it off.
She was finally recovering well from her accident and was now up and about, cleaning the kitchen as I sat at her table with my feet up on a chair.
Even though I knew she was completely biased—Team Brady—I needed to confide in someone about this situation. And I knew I could trust Felicity.
She looked me up and down. “You look like you’ve lost weight.”
“Yeah…I’ve been under a lot of stress the past several days.”
“What is it? Did something happen with Brady?”
“Indirectly, yes.”
I told her the whole story about Milo being Duncan. She had to stop what she was doing and take a seat across from me.
“Are you kidding me? Tell me you’re kidding.”
“I’m not, unfortunately.”
She sat there silently pondering for a long time. “It kind of makes sense, if you think about it—him being in Vail at the time. Pretty crazy that he didn’t figure out it was you.”
“Well, remember, we never told each other our names…”
“That’s right. But still.” She shook her head. “Are you going to tell Brady at some point?”
“I honestly don’t know what’s best. I know you’re rooting for me to get back with him, but I’m just not sure anymore.”
Next I told her about my time with Matteo last night and how connected I felt to him.
She smirked skeptically. “Nothing happened?”
“No. We took Abbott for a walk. Then he came back to my place, and we just hung out. We ended up putting on the funniest movie we could find and watching it from opposite ends of the couch—quite intentionally.”
I didn’t need to tell her about our couple of close calls or the fact that I’d sucked Matteo’s fingers. I was pretty sure Felicity already looked at this whole thing as a betrayal to Brady. But I didn’t. Both Matteo and I were victims of bad luck and timing, which had put us in this situation.
“Poor Brady. If he finds out about this… God, I just can’t imagine.”
I sat up, placing my head in my hands. “No one meant to hurt anyone.”
“The more I think about it, the more I feel like you shouldn’t tell Brady. He’ll never look at you the same, and it can only hurt him.”
“I haven’t worked that out yet. A lot of it depends on how Matteo feels. Their friendship is on the line, too, and no matter what, this is going to have to be a decision Matteo and I make together.”
“You sound like you’re a couple or something. Don’t get ahead of yourself here. This is your road trip fling. You need to do what you feel is best for you and for Brady without anyone else guiding your decisions.”
Once again, I found myself regretting opening up to her. She’d never see both sides.
“Do you have a picture of this guy?” she asked.
I searched through my phone and scrolled down to a photo of Milo and Maddie Hooker taken on Bourbon Street. To be honest, I was surprised she hadn’t asked to see a photo sooner.
“Okay. I can see why you’re smitten. He looks like something out of a movie. Love the mop of hair, too. Wow. And those lips.”
“He’s so much more than that, though, Felicity. You have no idea. I know you fully support me getting back with Brady but—”
“He’s a fantasy, sure,” she interrupted. “But I would be willing to bet if you spent even a week with him back in—is it Seattle?”
“Yeah. Seattle.”
“I bet you’d find things to be a lot different in the real world.”
“Maybe. But we did spend an awful lot of time together on our trip. I feel like I know him enough to trust him.”
“Doesn’t matter. You were on vacation. You know how it is. Everyone is carefree on vacation. You weren’t worrying about finances or your job or anything else. You were just living in the moment. But that kind of thing can’t last forever.”
Despite her trying to convince me what I had with Matteo wasn’t real, I refused to believe it.
“Here’s the problem, Felicity. I can’t stop thinking about him. Say what you will about what seems wrong or right, but from the moment I met him, I’ve thought of little else—both before and after I found out who he really was.”
She sighed. “Well, the issue is… You would be taking a very big risk in assuming things would work out. You’ve never spent a single day with him when you weren’t either on vacation or hiding something from your fiancé.”
