39. Mattias

Everett looked like he'd been hit by a car, the way he was breathing deep and staring into the distance, not quite present in the moment. "Everett? You okay?"

He looked back at me. "This is... seriously, Mattias, this estimate? That would cover everything Peter and I need for... for years. More than one of them."

I looked back down at the number on the page and took a deep breath. "I hear you. I... honestly, I feel like we're playing monopoly. I know he's buying half the inn, technically, and we're just putting the money into repairs and upgrades and changes, but the amount of money is just—it's breathtaking. And he hasn't even blinked." I leaned in, glancing around to make sure no one else heard me, and whispered, "I worry sometimes that he's going to realize I'm a dirt-poor country bumpkin and get the hell out of here as fast as his feet can carry him. Not that I—That is, I don't care about the money, but how can he just..."

I didn't even know how to finish the sentence. How could he drop tons of cash on a money pit like the inn? How could he want to stay here with me in the middle of nowhere? How could Connor Darling be a real person?

"It's because he's got his priorities straight," a voice announced from in front of us, and I whipped my head up to find that an older man had joined us in the inn's foyer. "You must be Mattias, from the slightly dazed look on your face. We used to call it ‘he got Darlinged' back when the kiddo first took the helm after his father passed."

I blinked in shock, then cocked my head, considering. It seemed like a fair descriptor, really. Connor Darling had swept into my life, turned it on its head, and now he was cleaning up the aftermath, painstakingly and with great care, as he seemed to do everything. Shaking myself free of reverie, I nodded. "I am Mattias. And you're..."

"Wilson Baker," the man said, sticking his hand out to shake.

Fuck. The lawyer who'd come to oversee the paperwork, and what was more, Connor's godfather. The closest thing I was ever likely to meet to Connor's family, considering his father was gone and his mother, as he'd put it, was "less likely to come to rural anywhere than to become a rapper, and she couldn't carry a beat if her life depended on it."

Baker chuckled at what had to be a look of horror or fear on my face, shaking his head. "Don't you worry, Mattias. He's got your back. And that means so do I. His mother might not be thrilled about this, but she's got different goals in life than he has. Con's always been a family man in the making, and it's about time he settled into something like this." He leaned against the counter, stopping a moment to give Everett a nod before turning back to me. "Not that we didn't all love Trevor, but he and Con? That was never the right match. Better friends than forever. Trevor got him to come out of his comfort zone, and that's good. But a man can't live outside his comfort zone."

"Spreading horrible lies, I hear, Uncle Wilson," Trevor said, coming down the stairs, a smile on his face. He winked at the guy, then turned to me. "Honestly, Mattias, I love Connor's mother, but this guy"—he lounged against the end of the counter a few feet away, leaning in toward me—"he'll keep you from falling face-first into old-money society when you inevitably have to visit New York. I've almost missed him more than Connor these last few years."

"Well, that's what you get for making yourself a stranger, boy," Wilson said, sounding almost like a cowboy rather than a New York corporate lawyer. "You and Connor aren't married anymore. Doesn't mean we're not all still family. Same to your new man, and Mattias here. Gotta hold on to family. It's all you've got in the end."

I blinked in shock as he and Trevor caught up, Trevor introducing his boyfriend, Xavier, a gorgeous professional dancer in his twenties. This was... best-case scenario didn't even cover this, frankly. Not only was he okay with me, he was still being kind to Connor's ex, who it seemed, was a pretty nice guy.

He and Connor just had different goals in life, which made sense to me. It was the same reason I'd never even gotten into a real relationship with anyone in New York: I didn't have the same goals as the guys I met there. Trevor wanted that fast-paced New York life, with clubbing and dancing and being painfully fashionable—the envy of everyone who saw him. It sounded amazing, but also, exhausting. It wasn't the life I wanted.

Or, apparently, the life Connor wanted.

I worried about that sometimes, but really, if Connor said he didn't miss Zumba classes, who was I to tell him to get to the gym already? I loved him just as he was, and I did not love Zumba.

But none of that made Trevor any less part of our lives, oddly enough. He was a nice guy, and he clearly loved Jessie, even if he was flummoxed by how they seemed the same five-years-old they'd disappeared at. Honestly, I generally knew how it'd happened, having discussed it with Peter and Jessie, and I was still confused by it. Fairies in the woods kidnapping children to play forever didn't feel like a thing that could happen, even though I'd very nearly experienced it myself.

But there was Peter with his pointy ears and house-fixing magic. And Jessie, still five after being missing for three years.

"Now Connor said something about a barbecue," Wilson said, turning back toward me. "I hear that this part of the country is mighty proud of their barbecue, and this old Texas boy is interested to see how it holds up."

Trevor rolled his eyes. "Grilling would be what you care about. What you need to try is Mattias's beef bourguignon. It's hell on the diet, but I've never had anything better in my life."

Xavier gave a little sigh, leaning on Trevor's back. "The peach ice cream. I'm going to dream of it when we get home."

I blushed and ducked my head, but nodded. "I'd be happy to make it all again before you go back."

"Deal," Trevor agreed instantly. "Too bad you're not willing to move to New York. Though also... not. My waistline would never forgive me."

Wilson Baker, on the other hand, grinned. "This old man'll eat anything that doesn't eat him first, and I'm the next best thing to retired these days. Gotta keep up visits with kiddo junior, too. Can't have Jessie growing up without a grandwhatever."

Connor had said his godfather, a lawyer from the city, and I'd pictured a guy like Edward Finke, buttoned up and stiff, assuming the worst about my intentions toward Connor. This? Well, just like Connor, this was unexpected, and frankly, a goddamn delight.