Page 98 of The Home Game

Antoni turned to look at Matty. “I—I don’t understand. Bethany told me everything. Or at least, I thought she did.” His voice had a weird hollow sound to it. “We got together for coffee to chat once a month maybe. Usually just at home but sometimes I treated her to a coffee out when she had the time. Why wouldn’t she have told me about this?”

“I don’t know.” Matty reached out and squeezed Antoni’s shoulder, wishing he could do more to help him.

“When was this, exactly?” Antoni asked, turning back to Alexis.

“I dunno,” Alexis said, blowing her nose. “Maybe two weeks before the accident.”

“Oh God.” Antoni closed his eyes. “I … canceled on her. I was busy with school stuff and I—I canceled. I thought we’d reschedule but”—his voice cracked—”she died before we could make plans. I bet that’s what she wanted to talk about that day. Oh, I feel sick.”

He bent over, head in his hands, and Matty reached up to rub his back.

“I really thought you knew, Uncle Antoni,” Alexis said in a small voice.

He straightened, shaking his head. “No, I had no idea. I knew your grandparents were … not super supportive of Eli but I thought … I had no idea they’d done something like that.”

“So you see why Eli’s scared?” Alexis pressed. “Why I’m trying to protect them?”

“Of course I do! But that doesn’t mean it justifies lying! Look, I love how much you want to protect your sibling. You are so much like your mom sometimes, it’s spooky. But that doesn’t mean we should lie to the court about dating or God, getting married.”

Alexis scowled. “Mom would.”

Antoni opened his mouth but no sound came out.

“You know it’s true,” Alexis said with a toss of her head. “Mom would lie through her teeth to anyone if it meant keeping Eli safe. She would burn the world to the ground to do that. And don’t you dare lie to me and say she wouldn’t.”

“Oh God.” Antoni covered his face with his hands again and when he dropped them, Matty could see tears clinging to his lashes. “No, you’re right. She would.”

It made Matty sad he’d never meet Bethany. She sounded like someone he’d absolutely love. But at least he understood Alexis better now. At least he knew why she’d said what she did earlier.

Alexis reached for the stuffed fisher cat, hugging it to her chest. “Maybe I went too far today but this was the only way I could think of to fix it. I thought—I thought that if you and Matty were married, if the courts thought you were together forever—they would see that this is the best place for us.”

“Okay,” Antoni said slowly. “Okay, I understand why you lied now.”

“Am I in trouble?” She chewed at her lip.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Antoni said slowly. “You did something wrong, but for the right reasons. I—I’m going to need to think about it. Because lying—Alexis, that isn’t good.”

“I know.” She looked down.

“And you don’t need to take this all on yourself, Alexis. That’s what I’m here for. I understand why you feel like you need to do it yourself but I want to be here for you when you need me. We’re supposed to be working together.”

“We’re a team now,” Matty said and then he wondered if he’d crossed a line, including himself in that group. He opened his mouth to reword it but Antoni reached out and touched his hand.

Matty held on.

“Yes, exactly, Matty. All six of us, we’re a team. Matty and I”—he searched Matty’s face and Matty nodded, even though he didn’t know what Antoni was about to say—”we’re here for you. All of you. I love that you want to protect Eli but let Matty and I do that too, okay?”

Matty’s heart felt full, glad Antoni was including him in this. Glad he was finally acting like he believed how much Matty wanted to help him.

“I thought that’s what I was doing when I played up the idea of you being together,” she muttered, looking a little guilty.

“Uhhh.” Antoni sighed, his expression conflicted. “Well, I guess you did.”

“But maybe talk to us about it first next time?” Matty offered. “I don’t like lying either, Alexis. I want to help Antoni and all of you guys. I mean it when I say I’d do anything to protect you. But you really surprised both of us with the wedding thing. I had no idea what to say to Judy or how to word it so I didn’t make the whole thing worse. I don’t like being surprised like that and I’m sure Antoni didn’t either.”

“Exactly,” Antoni said, looking relieved. “We can’t have you spring stuff like that on us.”

“I’m sorry,” Alexis said in a small voice. “Really. But it worked, didn’t it?”

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