Mason prayed the news wasn’t all bad. He saw the way Tommy looked when he came out and there was no doubt his age would factor into the length of his recovery, but he sincerely hoped he was going to be all right.
“Okay,” Scarlett was saying. “Thanks.” Sighing, she listened for another minute. “Yeah, I’ll come by tomorrow after lunch then. Thanks, Dad. Goodnight.” Turning her phone off, she placed it on the table and looked up at him.
“How’s he doing?”
“He’s got second-degree burns on both his arms and his neck along with a concussion from wherever he must have fallen in the kitchen from the explosion.” She paused and he could see her fighting back tears. “He’s sedated and on oxygen and he’s going to be hospitalized for at least a week.”
“But…”
She swiped a hand over her cheek, wiping away some stray tears. “But they expect him to make a full recovery.”
“That’s great news, Scarlett,” he said, walking over and crouching down beside her. “He’s going to be okay.”
She nodded as more tears fell. “I know, I know…I just hate how this happened to him.”
There wasn’t much he could say to that. Instead, he straightened, took her hands in his and led her back into the house. “Come on, you need to get some sleep.”
Scarlett went willingly but when she was next to the bed, Mason wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. It would be easy to just move in close, kiss her, and crawl under the blankets with her, but…he couldn’t. They couldn’t.
Could they?
Completely oblivious to his internal thoughts, Scarlett kicked off her sandals, slid her shorts off and walked in nothing more than her panties and tank top into his bathroom. Mason stood rooted to the spot wondering just what the hell was happening. He was about to strip down and climb into bed when his conscience hit him.
Hard.
With a sigh, he walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him. He locked the doors and then went about setting up a spot on the sectional for him to sleep. It wasn’t ideal, but it was only one night so…he’d live. He had everything set up and pulled his shirt off when he heard Scarlett clear her throat from the bedroom doorway. Turning, he looked at her.
“What are you doing?” she asked, leaning against the doorframe, looking confused.
“Uh…going to sleep,” he said slowly.
“Out here? Why?”
Slowly, Mason moved away from the sofa and walked toward her. “Um…I didn’t think it was right…I mean…I wasn’t just going to assume…”
“Mason?”
“Hmm?”
She pushed away from the door with a bit of a sigh. “Look, I know this is weird and not the way things would have gone if circumstances were different tonight, but…”
He didn’t let her finish. “I don’t want to be the guy you settle for because you don’t want to be alone.”
“Mason…”
“No, I’m serious. I understand why we didn’t get to talk and why the time wasn’t right to hash things out, but I’m not okay with just passing the time with you! You mean more to me than that!” When he saw her start to argue, he cut her off. “And it’s not because you’re pregnant. This is the way I feel about you, period!”
He was a little breathless and afraid he’d said too much. He knew he had no choice but to let her speak now.
“Are you done?” she asked, almost sounding bored.
Letting out a long breath, he nodded.
Then, to his surprise, she moved in close and took both his hands in hers. “You’re not some guy I’m settling for, Mason Bishop, so let’s get that out of the way first. I’m here because I want to be here,” she explained. “I’m here because I suck at this sort of thing–at saying how I feel and what I want.” She paused. “But mostly, I’m here because I missed you.”
And damn if those words didn’t nearly bring him to his knees. Gently pulling one hand from hers, he reached up and caressed her cheek. “I missed you too.”
She yawned loudly right before she gave him a sleepy smile. “Okay, then. Can we please go to bed now? Together?”
Like he was going to say no…
This wasn’t about sex–he knew Scarlett needed her rest–but once they were under the blankets together and she was snuggled up against his side, Mason knew he’d do whatever it took to make sure they talked everything out and were back on track. Kissing the top of her head, he knew he wasn’t going to lose her again, no matter what.
There was a smile on Scarlett’s face even before she opened her eyes. Mason’s arms were around her and she slept better than she had in weeks. Her cheek was against his chest and even though they had done nothing more than sleep last night, she couldn’t resist placing a soft kiss on his skin.
“Good morning,” he said sleepily, hugging her a little closer. “Did you sleep okay?”
Nodding, she said, “I don’t think I moved all night.”
“And how do you feel this morning?”
It took her a minute to realize what he was asking, and she actually had to take a minute and do a bit of a silent exam. Do I have to pee? No. Headache? Gone. Do I need to throw up? Um…as if on cue, her stomach rolled a little but she willed it to relax. Going still, she waited to see what would happen.
“Scarlett?”
“Just…give me a minute…” And yeah, everything was staying put for now. “Okay, whew! This is the first morning in weeks I haven’t…”
Spoke too soon.
She was out of the bed and running for the bathroom and feeling all kinds of mortified. Slamming the door shut behind her, she made it to the bowl just in time. As much as she was getting used to this being the way she started her days, she would have loved to skip it just this once.
A few minutes passed before Mason softly knocked on the door. “You okay?”
There was a snarky comeback on the tip of her tongue, but she kept it to herself. “Uh…yeah. Just…give me a minute.”
“There’s a new toothbrush under the sink and mouthwash if you want it.”
It would be foolish to take offense, so she simply thanked him and forced herself to get up off the floor.
It took ten minutes for her to feel well enough to leave the bathroom. Without any remorse, she grabbed the robe Mason had hanging on the back of the door and slid it on. She padded out into the bedroom but…he wasn’t there. She looked longingly at the bed and felt a pang of regret that they weren’t both still lying there tangled up together. Reaching out, she ran her hand along the cool fabric of the comforter when she heard someone banging on the front door. The bedroom door was closed, so she pressed her ear against the wood to listen for who was being so damn loud this early in the morning.
“Mom?” Mason said incredulously. “What are you doing here?”
“How could you not call me and tell me your sister was almost killed last night thanks to you?”
“What?!”
That was Scarlett’s reaction too. Was this woman for real?
“Like it’s not bad enough you find the need to hold on to that awful bar, but then you have to drag your sister into it and force her to work there?”
“No one forced Peyton to do anything, Mom!” Mason snapped and Scarlett could hear the frustration in his voice. “And we both know if I called Peyton right now, she’d tell you that!”
“Whatever! The fact still remains that because of this ridiculous project of yours, your sister could have been hurt!”
“A week ago, you were on board with the north end project and praising my work!”
“That was before I realized how dangerous it was and had to hear how my daughter nearly got trapped in that filthy place!”
Reaching out, Scarlett’s hand was on the doorknob ready to yank the door open and give this woman a piece of her mind, but she waited.
And it was harder than she thought.
“Okay, enough with the theatrics!” Mason yelled. “You do not get to barge in here a
nd start yelling at me about things you know nothing about! What happened yesterday was an accident and–in case you didn’t realize it–Tommy Flynn is in the hospital after suffering second-degree burns, a concussion, and smoke inhalation! He made sure Peyton and everyone who was in there got out rather than trying to save himself!” He let out a string of curses and Scarlett imagined him pacing back and forth. “Peyton was looked at by the paramedics and didn’t require a visit to the ER! She was frightened, but so were all the people who were there!”
“You should be looking out for your sister rather than endangering her!” Georgia Bishop cried and Scarlett had to roll her eyes at the woman’s dramatic tendencies. “Where were you when this was going on? Why was Peyton there and you weren’t?”
Uh-oh…she didn’t like the direction this conversation just went in.
“I didn’t need to be there, Mom,” Mason stated, trying to calm them both down. “I didn’t know Peyton was still there. She told me she was leaving just a few minutes after me when I saw her earlier in the day.”
“Why did you leave her there?”
Oh for crying out loud…
“Mom, I had to get back to work and then I had…I had a date last night,” he said.
“Oh…that’s right,” Georgia said with a lot of distaste. “You went out with Scarlett Jones again. I heard she’s claiming to be pregnant with your child. Well if she thinks…”
“Enough!” he bellowed and Scarlett actually jumped. “You don’t get to have an opinion on this! You don’t get to tell me what you think or how you feel because I don’t care! And you most certainly don’t get to stand here in my home and say anything bad about the woman I love!”
Say what now?
“Now I suggest that you leave,” he went on. “And I would think twice if I were you about what you say about Scarlett or about anything else where I’m concerned because if I hear that you so much as tried to say something slanderous about her, I swear to you we will never speak again!”
“Mason!” Georgia cried. “You’re not being rational!”
“Say one more thing against Scarlett and watch how irrational I can be,” he challenged.
In the bedroom, Scarlett held her breath and waited to see what was going to happen. It took a solid three minutes before she heard the front door open and then close, and another minute or two before she heard a car pull away. Her heart was beating wildly and she had no idea what she was supposed to do. Did she just walk out into the living room and pretend she hadn’t heard the argument? The way his mother spoke about her? Or the fact that Mason had said he loved her? For all she knew, he had said it just to shut his mother up, but…now she really wanted to know if he meant it.
Now would be a really inappropriate time to ask that, right?
There was no way she could hide out in here all day, so with a steadying breath, she opened the door and the sight before her made her want to cry. Mason was standing with his hands braced on the granite kitchen island and his head was bowed. He looked completely defeated.
Wordlessly, she walked up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders, unsure of what to do or say.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice low and gruff.
Her eyes went a little wide. “What are you apologizing for?”
“That you had to hear any of that.” When Scarlett started to deny it, he straightened and looked at her with disbelief. “This is my life, Scarlett,” he went on. “This is what I’ve been dealing with. The night we met? When we were talking about why I had to reclaim my life? That’s why. She’s why!”
“Mason…”
“I can’t believe she came here and would say all that! I don’t know why she’s so damn hateful!” Now he was pacing and Scarlett had no choice but to stand back and let him. “I honestly don’t know what else to do or say to make her understand! She takes everything and blows it out of proportion! And when I get my hands on my sister…”
“Okay, okay, okay,” she interrupted. “There’s no reason to get upset with your sister. She was traumatized by what happened yesterday. It’s only normal she’d talk to her mother about it.”
“Don’t defend her,” he snapped, but Scarlett knew he wasn’t really mad at her.
“Look, if you know your mother has a tendency to overreact and embellish the truth, then you know she took whatever it was that Peyton told her and completely blew it out of proportion.” She paused and saw he was looking a lot more relaxed. “You should probably call your sister and talk to her before you let this fester.”
Groaning, he raked both hands through his hair. “This really wasn’t how I envisioned our morning going.” Then he gave her a lopsided grin and her heart squeezed.
“Yeah, this totally wasn’t my dream morning either. Running from bed to vomit and then…well…this…”
He groaned again. “How much did you hear?”
Ugh…did she really want to answer that?
“Scarlett?”
“All of it?” she said weakly.
He muttered a curse before growling with frustration. “Well that’s just great!” he snarled. “Leave it to her to ruin something else for me!”
“Um…what?” Now she was a little confused. Georgia had no idea Scarlett was there so how could she be ruining anything?
He was back to pacing again. “I mean, she shows up here uninvited and the first time you hear that I love you, it’s while I’m screaming it at my mother in the middle of an argument! How freaking fair is that?”
It would be easy to let him keep spiraling here, but she knew she needed to do something to calm him down and get him out of this funk. Stepping in front of him, Scarlett reached up and cupped his face in her hands and forced him to look at her. “Say it.”
He frowned. “Say what?”
Rolling her eyes dramatically, she gave him a sassy grin. “Say it now when you’re not yelling at anyone.”
He blinked several times before he finally understood what she was saying. “You’re pretty bossy. You know that, right?”
“Damn straight I am. C’mon, Bishop. Say it.” It was crazy how her heart was so jittery and that she was trembling as she waited. A trickle of fear and doubt crept in as she worried he might not be able to tell her he loved her because he hadn’t meant it. Now queasiness began to kick in and she prayed she wasn’t going to vomit right here in the middle of his living room.
Reaching up, Mason covered her hands with his and slowly dragged them away from his face until they were resting over his heart. “Scarlett Jones, I thought you were pretty and a bit of a badass when we were lab partners in middle school. And you were all that and more when I saw you at the concert. One look at you and my entire life turned upside down even as it fell completely into place.” He paused and smiled at her. “That’s what you do for me. And I know we still have so much to talk about, but you need to know that I’m so in love with you. Every day we were apart was torture for me.”
“For me too,” she admitted.
He looked ready to say something–or at least like he was ready to lean in and kiss her–when he suddenly pulled back.
“Mason? What’s the matter?”
“We need to do this right,” he said after a long pause.
A nervous laugh was out before she could stop it. “I think we’re a little beyond that, don’t you agree?” She put one hand on her stomach for emphasis.
Shaking his head, he laughed with her. “That’s not what I meant. Well…sort of.” Stepping away, he walked to the kitchen and poured her a glass of orange juice. “There are some things we need to clear up first–I need you to understand the situation with my inheritance and how I ended up with The Mystic Magnolia.”
Before he could say anything else, she was in front of him, placing a finger over his lips. “It doesn’t matter,” she said emphatically. “It wasn’t my place to get involved.” Then she groaned and moved away. “In case you haven’t noticed, I tend to speak first and think later.”
“Well…”
She shot him a look before continuing. “The whole situation seemed a little unreal to me–a little too coincidental.” Then she sighed and almost hated the words she was about to say, even though she couldn’t stop them. “And even right now all I’m thinking is how you still got your way! The bar is gone! Now you can bulldoze it to the ground and sell the property and make lots of money and be done with it!”
His expression turned fierce and then sad. “Is that seriously what you think?”
“I…I…don’t know. I honestly don’t know anymore, Mason! I can’t help where my mind automatically goes! For years this is how I saw the world–how I saw people like you! And I…” She paused and fought the urge to walk away and cry. “I’m afraid to let myself believe…that maybe…”
He didn’t let her finish. Walking to her, Mason wrapped her in his arms and held her as the tears began to fall.
“Dammit, I am so over all this crying!” she said weakly, even though she stomped her foot to make her point. “It’s the worst.”
Chuckling softly, he kissed the top of her head. “I think it’s cute.”
She groaned and wanted to be mad at him for making fun of her, but she couldn’t. Pulling back slightly, she looked up at him. “What is wrong with you?”
Brows furrowed, he asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean I am a horrible person and yet…you just keep putting up with me! Why?”
He looked at her like she were crazy. “Do you say some really mean things? Yes. Do they bother me? Sometimes. But here’s the thing, Scarlett, I also know you and who you really are. And part of who you are is this mean girl who speaks her mind, but would also give someone the shirt off of her back. You’re someone who likes to look like a badass, but you volunteer at animal shelters and build little houses for dogs who are waiting for their forever homes. You are fiercely loyal to your friends and family and would do anything for them.” Then he reached up and cupped her face. “All those things–the good and the bad–make you this incredible woman. And I happen to be crazy about you.”
Well damn.
“But…”
In Case You Didn’t Know Page 18
