My Favorite Souvenir(53)

“No, actually. I met someone in Vail. She and I ended up traveling together.”

“Really.” Brady smirked. “Was she cute?”

Matteo glanced at me. “Very.”

“Where is she now?”

He paused, closing his eyes and looking frustrated, as if he wanted to answer Right fucking here.

“We went our separate ways,” he finally said.

Brady smacked his hand on the table. “This is why I love this guy. Only Dunc could get some random chick to go on a road trip with him. He has balls. While the rest of us sit around working our nine-to-fives, my man here does the things everyone dreams about.”

“Believe me, it’s not as fun as you might think being me.”

That hurt.

“Whatever happened to her—this girl? What’s her name?”

I cringed.

The waitress set a beer in front of him. Matteo took a long swig and slammed the bottle on the table. “Maddie. Her name was Maddie.”

“So, any plans to meet up with her again? Or was it just a one-time deal?”

His eyes darted toward mine. “Pretty sure now that our trip was the end of the line.”

That message reached me loud and clear. My heart was breaking. There was an undertone of anger in his voice that was unfamiliar to me. I hoped he wasn’t mad at me. How could I have known this was going to happen? This was like some kind of nightmare.

While it now made sense why he’d been in Vail—for my wedding that never happened—I still had so many questions.

Did he ever suspect who I was?

If not, how did he not put two and two together after I told him I’d been dumped by my fiancé? It never occurred to him that I could have been Brady’s ex? Something was missing.

Then again, we never did exchange names.

Matteo.

Matteo Duncan.

I had to get used to that name.

What killed me about this whole experience was that I could tell Matteo was really hurting, and I couldn’t comfort him. His body was rigid. His fists were closed. That told me he never saw this coming and very likely had no inkling who I was.

We were both the apparent victims of bad luck.

Very back luck.

He downed the rest of his beer in one long drink and shoved his chair back before standing up. “I’m gonna let you guys have a romantic evening. I’m pretty tired anyway. Gonna go check into my hotel and call it a night.”

Brady’s forehead wrinkled. He was definitely confused by his friend’s behavior. “I thought you were staying with me?”

“Yeah…that was the original plan, but I decided to get a hotel at the last minute.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive, yeah.” He lifted his bag off the ground and threw it over his shoulder.

“Maybe we can hang tomorrow night?” Brady said.

“Yeah. Sure.” Matteo looked over at me. “Hazel, it was a pleasure.” He reached out his hand, and when I took it this time, he squeezed even harder than before.

Then he turned around and never looked back as he disappeared out the door.

I stared blankly at the exit for what seemed like minutes on end, and Brady finally turned to me.

“Duncan seemed a little off. Something must be up with him.”

My heart still reeling, I exhaled. “Yeah…”

“He’s fun as all hell, but he’s been through his share of shit. His girlfriend died a few years back in a skiing accident. Not sure I ever mentioned that when you and I met. It happened before you. Anyway, I wonder if seeing us together again reminded him of her or something.”

I shut my eyes tightly.

“He’s never really been the same since that happened. Duncan was so full of life before Zoe died. He used to sing—perform at clubs. You can imagine he had no problem getting women.” He chuckled. “But once he met her, it was like he’d met his match. They started performing together. It seemed he’d found his soulmate, until the accident.”

I swallowed. “That’s so sad.”

Brady stared off. “I should’ve been a better friend to him all these years. We lost touch a bit. He fell into his own world, and I should’ve made more of an effort to be there for him. It’s hard to do that from across the country, but I didn’t try hard enough. Despite the fact that we’d grown apart, when it came down to choosing a best man, he was still the first person who came to mind.” Brady took my hand. “Maybe he’ll still have a chance to stand up for me if I’m lucky enough to marry you.”

I wanted to vomit—not only because of this conversation, but because someone I cared about very much was out there hurting, and I had no idea how to get to him. I didn’t have to even imagine how he was feeling. Because I was feeling every bit of it, too.

Brady looked around the room. “I think our waitress got lost. I’m going to go up to the bar and grab another beer. You want another drink, babe?”

I nodded. The lump in my throat made it difficult to push words out. “I’m going to go to the restroom while you do that.”

After Brady disappeared into the crowd, I sat at the table alone for a minute, feeling completely shell shocked.

What the hell was I going to do?

I needed to talk to Milo in the worst way.