surprised him by not flinching, by looking at him just as steadily, as seriously, as trustingly. “And if I were to say that I love your red hair? That I love everything about you? What would you do, Matthew? Would you dump me? And...and Veronica and Rafael and Artie and Teague? Would you dump them, too? Because I—they—we—all love you! How could we not, when you push and pull us to do things we never would otherwise? The baby you’re giving me, for starters.”
“I told you—that’s for me.”
“Then what about the time I couldn’t afford the airfare to Sydney for Frankie’s wedding, and lo and behold, a ticket materialized.”
“Air miles—it cost me nothing!”
“And Artie—the software that would have stayed in your heads if not for you. You made him rich.”
“Made me rich, too, and it wouldn’t have happened without his brain.”
“Then what about the Silicon Valley tech hub you set up and dragged him into.”
“That’s a partnership, benefiting me, too.”
“You pushed Rafael into entering that international writing competition, which he won.”
“He didn’t take much pushing.”
“You got Veronica the gig with the university’s Student Healthcare Outreach program because she needed a good deed on her CV.”
“Stop!”
“And Teague only snagged a spot crewing in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race because of you.”
“Teague almost drowned!”
“He loved every minute of it! And he loves you. Like a brother. He’s told me so.”
“Goddammit, Romy.” He looked away from her, because that shook him. Teague. Teague, who’d seen more than the others, who’d guessed it all, who fucking knew. Teague might be the closest anyone had come to sainthood, but he wasn’t stupid enough to want a brother like Matt. Romy was deluding herself. He brought his eyes back to her. “You’re wrong. All those things...they’re nothing. I’ve done other stuff you wouldn’t congratulate me for, believe me.”
“What stuff?”
He had to force himself not to look away again; to do so once was barely acceptable; twice would give too much away. “Stuff you don’t need to know.”
“Why can’t I know?”
“Because you’d back out of this deal if you did.”
For a long moment she just looked at him. And then she sighed. “How am I supposed to understand why it’s so hard to accept that people love you if you won’t tell me?”
“You don’t have to understand, you only have to accept that to me, love is nothing but an overused word,” he said. “I love ice cream, oysters, pizza. I love cooking, sailing, camping. How’s anyone supposed to take that word seriously when it’s thrown out about anything and everything? So I’m asking you not to say it, the way you haven’t said it for ten years.”
“I must have said it before.”
“Not to me. And I figure if you were ever going to say it, you’d have said it by now. I don’t want to hear it, Romy, so don’t say it now.” He stopped to take a calming breath. “There are other words for what we have. More meaningful words. Words that can’t be desecrated. Words like friendship, camaraderie, affection. Be as creative as you want. Just don’t call it love.”
“Okay.” She held up her hands, palms out, surrender. “This is me not calling it love.”
“Good.”
“I hereby promise not to love you.”
“Great.”
“I refuse to love you.”
“Okay, I get it, Romy, give it a rest.”
“It’s not like I was going to propose marriage.”
“Fucking fantastic. Go you. Now, moving on!”
She snatched up the page on top of her pile. “Visitation,” she announced. “My lawyer thinks—”
“Not interested in anything your lawyer says,” Matt interrupted irritably. “I’ll just tell you what I want—access without restrictions when I’m in London.”
“I’m sure we can come up with a form of words to that effect,” she said, all business now. “You’re only in London for one week a year, so give me advance notice and I’ll make sure I’m not out of town.”
“It’ll be more than once a year. I’ll be over in four months’ time to look at premises, and then again two months after that to sort out tenancy agreements.”
“Premises? What have I missed?”
“Artie and I are opening a tech start-up hub in London similar to the Silicon Valley one. He’s taking the lead so he’s already over there, but once it’s up and running, I’ll be there on and off for the first year at least.”
“Okay. No problem. Like I said, advance notice, and I’ll make it easy for you to see the baby.” She shot him a curious look. “If that’s really what you want.”
“Why wouldn’t I want it?”
“You indicated on the phone you were looking for a no-strings godfather role. It’s a little...confusing, I guess, to hear you talk about unrestricted access. And I...I just think it’s a good idea to start as you mean to go on.”
“What does that mean?”
“That you don’t keep changing your mind—like, one year you decide to come every month, the next year you come once in the whole year. Children need certainty.”
“Okay then, how about we leave it at once a year, scheduled, and you decide whether or not to allow other visits on a rolling basis.”
“Fine. Then let’s move on to—”
“I’m not finished.”
She waited, watching him warily.
“The kid’s going to be half-American,” he went on, “so if I’m only going to be guaranteed one visit a year, you need to bring it out here once a year. For...I don’t know...heritage purposes.”
“Easy! I’m already here once a year—and I’ll be over more often if I land Suzanne Plieu as a client. She’s keen to open a fine dining restaurant in New York and we’ve had a preliminary chat about what I can do to help her find a partner.”
“New York is Teague’s territory, not mine.”
“Well, yeees.” That same curious look, as though she were trying to work
