Vivi flipped through them then turned them over one at a time, making note of the names written on the backs of two of the pictures. “These are definitely of Haiti,” she said, holding up several of the pictures. “You were right about that. I was there. I was also in New Orleans and again, you’re right about these being taken after Hurricane Katrina. But these?” She held up the two pictures, the locations of which Matty had also been unable to identify. “I have no idea where these were taken. Definitely not a disaster site, judging by the people in the background.”
“I was thinking it might be some kind of sporting event, given the structures around the main subjects. But where or what event, I haven’t a clue. Maybe a racetrack, considering that Brad left a racing form for me, but . . .” Her voice trailed off.
Vivi held the pictures up again and examined them more closely. After a few minutes, she sighed, restacked them all, and handed them back to Matty. “I think you may be right, but without more detail, it’s hard to know where they are. The other two are disaster sites, so you would think the last group would be of the same, but there haven’t been any major incidences at a sporting event in years—certainly nothing on the scale of Haiti or Katrina.”
Matty was musing over this point as she put the pictures away. Both women jumped when the dogs suddenly went berserk again.
“Another visitor?” Vivi asked, heading to the window. “But one I think you’ll like, this time,” she added with a smile.
Matty joined her at the window and saw Dash’s truck pulling up. “Yeah, I kind of like this one, though I liked your visit, too. It was just the first two that threw me.”
“First two?” Vivi asked.
Matty hadn’t meant to let it slip that someone else had been by before Mai, she had intended to keep Mr. Traynor’s visit quiet until she figured out what was going on with him and Brad. If she could figure out what was going on.
“Just an old friend of Brad’s that stopped by earlier,” she said as she turned and headed out of the room, ignoring the look of curiosity on Vivi’s face. Thankfully, her friend followed, and soon both women were greeting Dash on the patio.
If Dash was surprised to see Vivi, he didn’t show it. In fact, he acted like it was completely normal for Matty to have visitors, even though she’d only been in town a little over a week. But within minutes, Vivi was in her car, driving away, and Dash was getting a proper hello.
“I thought you were on a call,” Matty said, pulling away from the kiss.
“I was. It’s an older horse, a brood mare that isn’t expecting this year. I did all I could for her and now we’ll just have to wait and see how she does through the night.”
“As in, she could die?” she asked, leading Dash inside.
“Yes, unfortunately. Given the structure of the horse’s digestive system, they are more delicate than they look. She could pull through, though. But her case is severe enough that she might not ever make a full recovery.”
“So that means no dinner tonight?” Matty asked, not altogether displeased. The day had been a strange one and the thought of spending a few hours exorcising the demons in bed with Dash didn’t sound like a half-bad idea, even though she hadn’t had a chance to eat since breakfast with all the visitors coming by.
“Actually, I should have a little bit of time. I think we could still hit that sushi place in Massachusetts I was telling you about. It’s a bit of a drive, but the food is good and they can be quick once we get there.”
She hadn’t thought to find a sushi place this far away from a city, not to mention the water, but as soon as he mentioned it, her stomach growled, making him laugh.
“I guess that’s a yes, then,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.
“I guess it is.” She rose up on her toes to place one more kiss on his lips. “Just give me five minutes to change.”
True to her word, ten minutes later they were heading toward the state border for dinner. On the way they passed the spot where the body had fallen into her truck, which reminded her of Vivi and the missing persons report she’d filled out earlier. Thinking of Brad, Matty’s mind wandered to Alexander Traynor and the pictures. She’d had every intention of trying to go through the computer but just hadn’t had the chance. She also wanted to look through Brad’s files again and maybe even have a look through some of the other rooms in the house she never went into, including the basement.
“Matty?” Dash’s voice cut into her thoughts.
“Hmm?” she responded, turning from the road to look at him.
“Are you okay?”
She frowned. She was fine. She just wasn’t sure Brad was, and not knowing was starting to worry her. But she didn’t want to share this with Dash. She told herself she didn’t want to say anything because she didn’t want him to worry, and it was probably just her overactive imagination anyway. But even as she shook her head “no” and told him she was fine, a little niggling of something crept into her mind. The reason she was keeping everything close to the vest wasn’t really to protect Dash from worry, it was just what she’d always done—handled everything on her own because it was easier that way.
Dash didn’t look like he believed her when she said she was fine, but whatever he might have been about to say was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing.
“Do you need to get that?” Matty asked after Dash glanced at the number then didn’t answer. “Maybe it’s about that horse?”
He shook his head. “It’s not about the horse. It was my mom. It is my mom,” he added with a sigh when the phone rang again.
“Maybe it’s important,” she pointed out. Dash gave her a look that clearly expressed his doubts about that but hit the answer button anyway.
“Hi, Mom,” he said.
“Hi, honey. How are you?” a woman’s voice responded on the truck’s speakerphone.
“I’m fine. And you?”
“We’re fine,” she answered. “Your dad and I are just fine. Just leaving Stockbridge, as a matter of fact, and thought maybe you’d want to meet for dinner. We haven’t seen you in a while,” she added.
“Thanks for the invite, Mom, but I’m headed to dinner at the sushi place in Great Barrington with a friend,” he answered, casting a glance at Matty that she felt more than saw. Even though the conversation was happening over the speakerphone and filled the truck’s cab, Matty was trying to give Dash the impression of privacy by keeping her eyes turned out her side window.
“Oh, that sounds great. Why don’t we join you?”
Matty knew she should be more subtle, but her eyes shot to Dash. He gave her a sardonic look.
“Nice of you to offer, but we’re going to be quick. I may have to take a call, so I can’t actually promise we’ll even be there when you get there.”
“Nonsense. We’re ten minutes away. We’ll head there and grab a table. If you can come, come. If you get called away, just give us a call.”
Dash cast Matty a look telling her he’d lay down the law if she wanted him to. And part of her wanted him to. Not because she didn’t want to meet his parents, but because she’d been looking forward to a relatively quiet dinner. But another part of her really didn’t mind if his parents joined them. She wasn’t all that caught up in what it may or may not mean to meet them, so dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Kent felt more like it would be dinner with new acquaintances than potential family members. And so she looked at Dash and shrugged.
He raised an eyebrow.
“It’s fine, really,” she mouthed.
His eyes searched hers for just a moment before he refocused his attention on the road and answered his mother. “Fine, Mom. That’s sounds fine. We should be there in twenty minutes.”
“Excellent. Drive safe and we’ll see you soon.”
Matty watched Dash press the “end call” button and then couldn’t help but laugh. “I really don’t mind either way, Dash,” she said. “You look a little green around the gills. If you didn’t want them to come, it was fine
with me too.”
He cleared his throat. “It’s just that, well, I’m pretty sure they know who you are,” he said.
“Know who I am?” she repeated. And then she got it. She felt her eyes widen and her mouth form a little “o” before the word itself escaped her lips. “Oh, I see,” she added. “And how might they know this?”
She saw Dash’s Adam’s apple bob. “That first day I met you, I kind of panicked and called my sister. I have no doubt, judging by the tone of my mother’s voice, that my sister mentioned something to her.”
Matty mulled this over before letting out another little laugh. “I think it’s kind of cute you called your sister. It’s sweet.”
Dash scowled at her. “It’s not sweet.”
“Okay,” she faux conceded.
“And so you know what this means, right?”
“Spell it out for me,” she responded. Dash shot her a look that made it clear he was not as amused as she was. “Seriously, Dash, I’m fine with this,” she added.
He let out a breath. “Even when you know that when you meet her she’ll be looking at you as her future daughter-in-law?”
Matty lifted a shoulder. “That is a bit weird, but we’ve had this conversation before, Dash. Whatever we do or don’t do is going to be decided by us, based on what we do or don’t want to do. And given that we’ve known each other such a short time, I’m not really focused on what your parents might think of me. As far as I’m concerned, what’s more important is what you and I think of each other, and that is something that can only develop over time.”
Dash’s eyes flicked up from the road to meet hers and in just that split second she knew he saw only her honesty and sincerity. With a sharp nod, he turned his attention back to the road.
“Now, do you want to tell me what was on your mind earlier, since we are no longer going to have a quiet dinner to ourselves?” he asked.
Matty stilled. She thought she’d swept everything under the rug when he’d first asked her. Apparently, it wasn’t going to be that easy. And feeling a little caught out in her efforts to avoid the topic, she did what a lot of writers do very well, she made something up.
“It was just a busy day. I thought I would have plenty of time in the afternoon to write, so I took the morning off to work in the garden. But then Mai came by, and then Vivi, and then she and I got to talking, and next thing I knew, the afternoon was gone. It’s not a big deal, but I’ll have some catching up to do. I suppose I was just mentally rearranging my work schedule.”
Matty didn’t examine why she’d held back from telling Dash the truth about everything; she didn’t have the time or space to do so at the moment. But more to the point, she didn’t have the inclination and suspected she wouldn’t like what she discovered if she went down that path.
She saw Dash frown. “Do you have time for dinner tonight?”
And that tiny kernel of guilt she’d felt got just a little bigger. “Of course I do. With the odd exception here and there, I don’t write much in the evenings. In general, I find that after five or so, my mind just doesn’t work the way I need it to. So yes, I have time and it’s actually perfect because this way I won’t be sitting around the house ruminating on the fact that I didn’t get anything done today.”
“Ruminating?” Dash repeated with a grin.
“Yes, it’s a big word us writers like to use. The word ‘think’ isn’t grand enough and the word ‘ponder’ sounds too whimsical. And ruminate has more syllables,” she shot back making him laugh.
“So, you’re sure?” he asked again, pulling into a parking lot.
“Yes, I’m sure,” she answered.
“Good, because we’re here.”
Even without ever having met Dash’s parents, Matty spotted them right away. Dash’s facial features were identical to his father’s, as was his build, which she noted when the tall man—who was still lean, even in his late sixties—stood to greet them. Unlike Dash, his mom was rather short, but she had her son’s dark brown hair, which was stylishly streaked with gray, and the same dark eyes.
“Matty,” Dash said, “these are my parents, Mary and Will Kent. Mom, Dad, this is Matty Brooks.”
Matty shook hands with them both and didn’t miss the curiosity lurking in their eyes. But their expressions were open and friendly and as they all sat, Mrs. Kent kicked off the conversation.
“So, Matty, how are you liking the area?”
“It’s beautiful, really. I hadn’t ever been here before and though my half brother Brad used a bit of false pretense to get me up here, I’m glad I came,” Matty answered. “How long have you lived in the area, Mrs. Kent?”
“Please call me Mary,” Dash’s mom responded as the waiter brought water to the table. “We’ve been here since before the kids were born. William’s family is from this area. I’m from Boston, but we met in college and wanted to settle here since we thought it was a great place to raise a family.”
Matty hid a smile at the look Dash gave his not-so-subtle mother. “I know Dash has at least one sister, are there others?”
“Oh yes, Dash is the second of four, two boys, two girls. Jane, the eldest, lives in New York City, and Sam and Nora, our twins who are several years younger than Dash, are in Chicago at the moment, both starting their last year of medical school.”
“You must be very proud.”
“Of all of them,” Will interjected. “We’re lucky to have such great kids.”
“I imagine luck may have had something to do with it, but certainly not everything,” Matty countered. Then something dawned on her. “Wait a second . . . Jane Marple, Dashiell Hammet, Nora Charles, and Sam Spade? Tell me that wasn’t an accident.” Matty asked about the possibility that all the kids were named after famous literary detectives, or in Dash’s case, a writer.
Mary laughed. “She’s good, Dash,” she said to her son. Then, turning back to Matty, she answered, “I’m a little bit of a mystery fan.”
“Just a little,” Will emphasized.
“So yes, it was all planned,” Mary finished.
“But you have three characters and one writer, how did that work?” Matty asked.
“I picked Jane, Sam, and Nora,” Mary started.
“And I had no say in those, but since we were obviously stuck with the mystery theme, I argued that we should have at least one writer in the mix. So I picked Dashiell, one of my favorites,” Will added.
Matty laughed, it was hard not to like a family that named their kids after classic characters and again, in Dash’s case, one of the most iconic writers of the genre.
“Matty is a writer,” Dash said.
“Oh really? What do you write?” Will asked. She got this question a lot and for some reason it always amused her. Because writers, in general, weren’t as publicly facing as their books and, for the most part, people never knew what their favorite author even looked like. And when people asked her that question, their faces inevitably held both hope that she would be someone they had read and doubt that she could be someone they had read.
“I write political thrillers,” Matty answered then added, “under the name Hilde Brooks.” Judging by the looks on Dash’s parents’ faces, both had heard of her, read her, and, even better, liked her.
When the waiter came by to take their orders ten minutes later, Matty, Mary, and Will were still talking about her novels. She always loved talking to her readers and having the chance to spend some time with two who were so well read was such a pleasure that she all but forgot that they were Dash’s parents—and everything that might entail.
Until Dash’s phone rang, catching everyone’s attention.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he rose and excused himself. When he returned to the table a few moments later, Matty could tell it wasn’t good news.
“We have to go, don’t we?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes, the mare has taken a turn for the worse and they’ve asked me to come talk over the options.”
> Matty didn’t like the sound of that and she could see from the look on Dash’s face that this was his least favorite part of the job. She rose from her seat, not wanting to delay him.
“Stay, Matty,” Mary said. Then, turning to her son, she said, “We can take her home, if you all don’t mind. That way at least she’ll have eaten.”
Dash turned to Matty, a question in his eyes. Did she want to be left with his parents? Her eyes darted over to Mary and Will, and though she could see they were eager for her to stay, it was also clear they weren’t going to press her. If she left with Dash, he would drop her at home where she’d be alone and eating leftovers. If she stayed, she’d not only eat good food but she’d have a chance to get to know two people she was beginning to like. Pushing aside the loaded issues of just who she was or might be in Dash’s life and just what his parents might be thinking, she made her decision.
“I’ll stay, if you don’t mind?”
For a moment, Dash’s eyes searched hers. Then he answered, “Of course I don’t mind. At least this way, like my mom said, you’ll get to eat.”
“Do you want me to bring anything back for you?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, I’ll grab something while I’m out, but I’ll swing by later?”
She liked the sound of that, even if the look on Dash’s face made it clear that he wasn’t done pressing her about what had been bothering her earlier. She had great faith in her ability to distract him, so she nodded. He bent down and kissed Matty’s cheek before saying good-bye to his mom and dad. She watched him leave and when the door closed she turned back to his parents. His very eager parents.
“Now,” Mary said, leaning forward, “where were we?”
Where they were and where they went was a long conversation over a leisurely dinner. Matty found Dash’s parents to be a lot like him in many ways—laid back, smart, interested in life, and interesting. They were easy to talk to, even if they dropped more than a hint or two about her role in their son’s life.
By the time they brought her to Brad’s, Matty was actually feeling a bit tired, though anxious to see Dash. Thankfully, he called to say he was on his way less than ten minutes after she walked in the door.
These Sorrows We See Page 14
