Counting the Kisses (Counting the Billions 3)

When I got into the living room, though, following the sounds of Zach’s voice, I found that Matt was down on the carpet playing cars with his two children. He glanced up at me and grinned. For a second, I saw the flicker of a frown on his face, and I knew that whatever smile I had shown him, it hadn’t been convincing. But then, he was scooting over on the floor to make space for me.

“Which car do you want?” he asked me.

I slowly sank down next to him. “You must be feeling better,” I said. Matt had been pretty lucky with his accident, all things considered. Some asshole had run a red light and crashed sidelong into Matt’s car, crumpling the whole thing. He’d ended up having to go into surgery due to internal bleeding, and he’d been moving pretty slowly ever since. This was the first time I’d seen him down on the floor playing with the kids since then.

I hadn’t realized how good it was to see him feeling better again. Matt was normally so vivacious and charismatic that seeing him in the hospital, half asleep and in pain, weak and pale, had been a shock to the system for sure. This made things seem normal again.

I just wished I could be in a better mood to actually enjoy the change.

We played with the cars for a while, zooming them around the whole living room while Zach narrated the action excitedly. Normally, I’d be making up funny commentary of my own to add to his, but tonight, I just couldn’t get into the game. Finally, Leanne poked her head into the living room and told the kids to go wash up. They darted off, and I started to follow them. But Matt caught my wrist before I could go.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, his eyes searching my face.

I tried that fake smile again, but it felt brittle. “Sure,” I told him. But when I saw the way his eyebrows knit together, I sighed, knowing I needed to come clean about everything. It would probably make me feel better to confide in someone, anyway. “Daniel and I had a fight. And I don’t need you to tell me that you told me so, but I guess he just wasn’t the guy I thought he was.”

Matt shook his head. “I would never say I told you so over something like that,” he said gravely. “What do you mean, though? What happened?”

“I made a mistake at work,” I finally confessed. “When I was standing in for him as CEO, during the trial. It doesn’t matter what it was. I don’t really want to talk about it. But anyway, I made a mistake.”

“What did Daniel say?” Matt growled, and I could hear the protective edge to his voice.

“It wasn’t so much what he said.” I sighed. “It was more just that he yelled at me. I already felt stupid enough about making such a rookie mistake and overstepping my role. But then to have him yell at me on top of that, I don’t know. I knew that I wasn’t ready to take over for him as CEO, even temporarily, and I guess the only way that I had convinced myself that it would be okay was because I told myself he would cut me some slack. But then he didn’t.”

“That’s such bullshit,” Matt said, shaking his head.

I shook my own head. “I don’t know if it is,” I said. “That’s sort of the way that things happen in the business world, Matt. It has to be. Mistakes in business can cost a company tons of money, or employees.”

“I’m sorry, but if you’re tel

ling me that Daniel favors his company over you, then he’s more of an asshole than I thought,” Matt said succinctly. He paused and then shook his head. “But to be honest, I just don’t see that. I’ve seen the way the guy looks at you. And the way he talks about you, as well as to you. The guy’s head over heels for you.”

I shrugged. “So what?” I asked unhappily. “I should just give him a free pass to yell at me whenever he wants to?” I shook my head. “It just seems like there’s a pattern there. Punching Gerrard at the bar, yelling at me now. I don’t know what else he’s done; the internet has a thousand stories, but I’m just not sure he’s the kind of guy I really want to be with.”

Matt was frowning, but I could practically see the gears turning in his head as he carefully selected his next words. “This trial couldn’t have been easy for Daniel,” he said finally. “I’m not sure that yelling at you is establishing any sort of pattern of anger; I’d say that it’s probably more that he’s been under a lot of pressure between the trial and work, then unhappy with the way that things went. And he lashed out at you. It’s not fair at all, but sometimes, people can’t help it.”

“I’m surprised to hear you defend him,” I told Matt. Because even though he and Leanne had come around to Daniel at the hospital, thanks to how helpful he had made himself during that hard time, I still had sort of expected both Matt and Leanne to say good riddance when they found out about the fight.

Matt shrugged at me. “Abby, I can tell how happy he makes you. And like I said, it’s easy to see that he adores you. I’m not saying that the guy is perfect or that you’re wrong. I’m just saying that if you haven’t already talked to the guy again since you had your fight—and I know you well enough to know that you probably haven’t—you should at least give him a chance to explain himself.” He grinned at me. “I’m sure you know exactly how many stupid things I’ve said to Leanne over the years. We’ve had our fights.”

“I know,” I said. The two of them were good about not coming to me during their fights, realizing how awkward it would be for me to be caught in the middle of the two of them. But Leanne had told me about a few of them afterward, when their tempers had both cooled off a little. I knew how much work it took to maintain a relationship.

Wasn’t that something I had reminded Daniel of, once upon a time when we were first starting this thing? That the relationship would be work and that we were going to have to put in some effort to try to make things okay between us? Maybe I really was just running scared.

My phone rang, as though I had summoned his call with my thoughts. I glanced down at it. Daniel again.

I knew that Matt was right, that I needed to talk to him and at least hear what he had to say. If he wanted to fire me, then so be it. But maybe he just really wanted to apologize. If so, it wasn’t fair for me to continue ignoring him.

I thought back to that text message he had already sent me, in which he had already apologized. Suddenly, I felt horribly guilty, knowing that I should have called him back sooner, no matter my myriad reasons for not doing so. They were all just excuses. I was so afraid of falling for the wrong guy again that as soon as I had an excuse, I ran.

“Is that him?” Matt asked.

I nodded. Then, I sighed. “You’re right,” I allowed. “I need to talk to him. To at least give him a chance to say whatever it is that he wants to say. Then I can make my decisions from there.”

Matt nodded approvingly. “If you want some privacy, the kids are probably already at the table, and I’ll join them and let Leanne know what’s up.”

I shook my head, knowing that I was chickening out again but unable to help it. “Nah, let’s just have dinner,” I said. “I don’t want to disrupt the whole night. But I’ll call him back later.”

“If you’re sure,” Matt said, nodding at me.