Matt threw his brother a dirty look. “You’re not helping.”
“Maybe you imagined it.”
Aiden could be right, but his gut told him otherwise.
“Or maybe she’s having a bad day and what you heard was related to that and not you. If you’re that worried, call her back and ask her.”
“She has a meeting with a client. That’s why she had to go.”
“Since you can’t do anything about it now, don’t stress about it. And when you talk to her later, ask her.”
Not that he’d tell him, but Aiden was right again.
“Mrs. Lawson and Mrs. Reed will probably spend all morning with Mom. Are you up for a round of golf?” Aiden asked.
Matt would never find himself on the PGA Tour, but he was a better-than-average player.
“Don’t want to admit I’m right, do you?” Aiden asked.
Some questions didn’t deserve an answer.
“Hey, if you’re afraid you’ll lose, we can skip it.”
“You beat me? That’s funny,” Aiden scoffed.
“If that’s a yes, I’ll call the club and reserve a tee time.” Despite not being around much, Matt maintained his membership at Skyview.
Aiden nodded. “And after you lose to me, you can admit that I was right not once but twice this morning.”
He’d played golf with Aiden enough to know their skill level was the same. “Sure, but if I win, we skip Covert and go indoor rock climbing.”
“You should pick out what you’re going to wear now so you don’t have to waste time tonight,” Aiden said as he stood.
Rather than respond, Matt picked up his phone and followed his brother back into the house. Before he could find the country club in his contacts, though, the device rang and his agent’s name appeared on the screen. He had left Matt a voicemail the night of the harbor cruise. Between Adam’s wedding and his mom’s accident, he hadn’t gotten around to calling him back.
“What’s up, Ryan?”
“Did you lose my number? I called you four days ago.”
To an outsider, Ryan’s question would seem inappropriate, considering he worked for Matt, not the other way around. However, while Ryan was indeed his agent, he was also a close friend.
“I know you were in Virginia for a wedding. I saw the pictures. But you’re not there now. How long are you here for?”
He hoped Ryan was referring to the pictures from the dinner cruise, because if he’d seen some of him at the wedding, it would mean Theo had ignored the conversation they’d had before the ceremony.
The last part of Ryan’s comment registered before Matt got a syllable out. Ryan represented some of his friends, but he hadn’t seen any since he’d arrived.
“How do you know I’m in California?”
“Don’t you ever check CHAT?” Matt could hear the guy shaking his head as he spoke. “There were some pictures of you and a woman I didn’t recognize getting into a car. The person who posted it said they’d just seen you leaving Omakase. Anyway, are you sticking around for long or heading back to Florida soon?”
They hadn’t spoken since May, so Ryan didn’t know of his plan to make Orchard Harbor his full-time home.
“I’ll be here a few more days at the most. As soon as my mom is discharged from the hospital, I’m heading back to Maine.”
“Oh, man. What happened? Is she okay?”
Matt added his coffee mug to the dishwasher and then leaned against the counter. “She was injured in a car accident Saturday, but she’s going to be okay.”
