“Okay. What’s the point of this show?” Mason asked. Currently, seven couples comprised of sunburned twenty-somethings were running around a villa in Fiji trying to take care of a bunch of screaming baby dolls.
“You just have to find love and, basically, the most popular couple wins a hundred thousand dollars.”
“You mean I could have gone on a T.V. show instead of marrying you?”
“Har har, shut up.”
Mason tried to figure out who was paired with who, but gave up trying and just observed in silence for a few minutes.
“What’s your stance on kids?” He probably shouldn’t have asked. The answer didn’t matter much, as far as their non-existent future was concerned, but it just came out of his mouth.
Xeni sighed and shuffled on to her back. Mason kept his arm draped over her waist. She kept her eyes on the screen. “Not for me, I don’t think.”
“Another thing we have in common.”
She turned and looked at him. “Really?” Her voice sounded hopeful, like that information changed something for her.
“I love kids, don’t get me wrong, but after Palila was born, I seriously consider getting a vasectomy.”
“Real eye opener, huh?”
“I think the older I get, the less important it seems to me. I’m not hung up on carrying on a family name, which, I know, blasphemy, but you have to raise a person. Seems like a lot of pressure.”
“I was pregnant before, twice.”
“Wait, can we pause this? I want to hear you and the fake babies screaming is a lot to compete with.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Xeni laughed before she rolled over and paused the show. Some guy on the screen was in the midst of tossing his fake baby a good twenty feet in the air. “Better?”
“Much. I can actually hear you.” Mason couldn’t resist pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. Xeni sighed and inched closer.
“So, yeah. I’m sure it’s got to be some sort of reproductive abuse when your partner refuses to wear condoms whether you’re on the pill or not. Anyway, I miscarried the first time before I figured out what I wanted to do and then terminated the second time.”
“Neither sounds fun,” Mason replied, gently caressing her forearm. Xeni smiled a little before she looked back up at him.
“I was grown or whatever. It was my senior year of college and I was afraid to tell my mom, but I felt like I had to tell someone, so I told Sable.”
“How did she take it?”
“Great. Like always. She was the cool aunt. She flew out to L.A. and took me to the clinic and we had a little staycation at her hotel until I felt better.”
Mason watched the emotions playing over her face. He wondered what that must have been like for her, the fear, the stress. What must be going through her mind now, knowing that her birth mother had been with her in that moment all along. He thought about everything he’d been though in his early twenties, what it would have been like to have any family members to rely on.
Xeni reached down and toyed with his knuckles before she spoke again. “After she left, I felt—I felt strange. I didn’t regret it or anything, but I felt stupid. Like I knew better than to get pregnant in the first place, especially when I knew I wasn’t ready.”
“Doesn’t sound like you got pregnant alone.”
“Sure didn’t,” Xeni said with a mirthless laugh. “But yeah. There was this period of time where my brain couldn’t really process it ’cause my ex didn’t want to talk about it and no one else really talks about it. Like, way later, I found out a few of my friends had also had abortions, but we still only just kind of acknowledged it. We didn’t talk about it. So, I became weirdly obsessed with pregnancy and childbirth.”
“Trying to understand it all better?”
“Yes, I think that was it. I think I wanted actually know what would happen if I decided to have a baby ’cause no one really talks about that either. After I watched, like, four hundred home births on YouTube, I was fascinated by childbirth and kinda realized it wasn’t for me, but it also kinda made me want to be a doula.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I wanted to help pregnant people with everything surrounding childbirth. Pregnant people and new parents need more support.”
“You never thought of doing that instead of teaching?”
“Well, I can’t now. I’m an heiress. I have to spend time designing and constructing my money bin.”
“Ahh, Scrooge McDuck. A true Scotsman among ducks.”
Xeni looked at him for a moment, her eyes narrowing. “Your energy really fucks me up.”
“I’m sorry?”
“It’s so easy to talk to you. And it’s not just how you react. It’s being close to you. Your energy really, like, soothes me.”
“I’m glad to be of soothing service,” Mason said before he leaned down and kissed Xeni on her beautiful lips. In a little more than a week, she’d be out of his life and they’d serve out the rest of their marriage requirement with three thousand miles between them. As she rolled toward him and slid her tongue against his, he wondered if the distance would be enough to help him forget that he was falling in love with her.
“I don’t want to sweat anymore!” Xeni cried out. They were almost done packing up Sable’s things, but there was no air conditioning in the office. Mason had found a box fan to help with the situation and they’d opened the back door and windows to get a cross breeze, but it barely put a dent in the stifling heat of that particular room.
“Let’s take a break,” he said. “Come.”
“Ugh,” Xeni whined as she followed him into the kitchen. It was much cooler in there. Too bad they’d already put away all of Sable’s personal things from that part of the house and that Sable hadn’t sprung for central AC. They both grabbed something to drink and while Xeni was going back for a refill, Mason wandered into the living room. Xeni followed and watched him as he sat down at the piano.
“You never played for me the other night.”
“Well,” he effortlessly tapped out a short tune on the keyboard. “Let’s remedy that right now.”
Xeni leaned against the wall as he started to play in earnest. The slow, sweet melody sounded familiar, but Xeni couldn’t place it. She came from an intensely musical family and while she could carry a tune, she couldn’t imagine having such skill on so many different instruments. As she watched him, his large frame so perfectly at ease behind the baby grand, her traitorous brain couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to come home to this every day. To have a man by her side every day to play her beautiful love songs.
When he finished, he turned around on the bench and looked back at her, his expression blank. “You know what this thing needs?” He tapped the edge of the piano.
“What’s that?” For some reason, Xeni’s tear ducts picked that exact moment to rev things up. Luckily she was able to use pure willpower to hold them back.
“A tip jar. That was amazing.”
Xeni laughed and one stupid tear escaped. She was able to dash it away before Mason saw it roll down her cheek. “You’re right. It was phenomenal. What song was that?”
Mason crossed the room and put his arm around her shoulders. They were both still so hot and sticky, but she didn’t mind the close contact. Not from him. “It’s a classic called ‘My Romance.’ Originally recorded in 1935? I think. My mom loves the James Taylor version. I prefer Doris Day’s.”
“Never heard it, but I like the way it sounds on the piano.”
“You should give it a listen sometime. I think you might like it. Come on. Let’s get back to it.”
They walked back into the oppressive heat of the office and continued their torturous work. Xeni considered doing a little research to see if there as a quality spa anywhere in ole Kinderack country. She’d need a massage and some full body exfoliation when they were done.
“Books?” Mason asked. He’d been busy packing away all the little collectables Sable had on her shelves.
“Let’s just leave those. Makes the house look lived in if we decide to sell it.”
“We?”
“I can’t handle all this by myself. My mom is a lot, but when she listens, she does listen. I want to talk to her and my step-dad before I make any huge decisions. Besides, one of my eight hundred cousins might want to stay here. Anyway, it doesn’t seem right to just up and sell the place without talking to my family first.”
“Reducing the opportunity for another family feud sounds like a great idea. The record plaques?” He nodded toward the opposite wall. Sable’s singles “All Yours Now” and “Lover Boy” went gold and platinum respectively in the early eighties.
“Gonna ship those home, but leave them up for now. I need to get, like, a metric ton of bubble wrap from the store tomorrow.”
“Great.”
Xeni watched Mason for a moment as he opened a small chest of drawers near the window. He pulled out a handful of office supplies and added them to the random items box. She realized then that this was gonna take a lot longer if she spent the afternoon staring at him. She opened the second drawer of Sable’s desk and started looking through a stack of electric bills. On each one, Sable had handwritten the date it had been paid. Xeni shook her head, thinking about how her ridiculously rich aunt had gone to her grave resisting the ease of autopay. Those were going in the shred pile.
“Uhhh, love?” Mason suddenly said.
“Yes, dear.” Xeni looked up and saw he was holding one of the blue tins of Royal Dansk cookies. “What’s up?”
Mason crossed the room and handed her the tin. It was filled with jewelry. She looked up at him, her mouth hanging open. “You fucking kidding me?”
He shrugged. “Better than under her mattress?”
“She is so lucky she was never robbed.” Xeni carried the tin back into the kitchen, carefully set out each piece on the kitchen island and photographed them. Then she sent the pictures to her mom.
Is this what you were looking for?
She used it as an excuse to stand in the cool kitchen and chug more water. Finally her mom responded.
Yes!
Okay great.
I’ll figure out how to get them home.
Thank you, baby.
Your aunts will be thrilled.
“All good?” Mason asked as he went over to the kitchen sink and started washing his hands.
“Yes. I’m handing these off to my mom. She and her sisters can fight over them.”
Mason toweled off, then glanced at his watch. “I hate to leave you like this, but I have a standing engagement.”
“You seeing another bitch behind my back? Sorry, that was aggressive.”
“No, love. I would never.” He leaned over the kitchen island and pressed his lips to hers. “Every Sunday at sunset, I play bagpipes at the farm. It’s become an unofficial tradition. The farm will be closing, but some people stop by or park on the side of the road and just listen.”
“Can I come?” Xeni didn’t want to miss this.
“Me, miss a chance to show off in front of you? Again? Never.”
“Great. Um, I desperately need to bathe. Can I meet you over there?”
“You know what? I’ll text Liz. You should go over to their place. I’ve been told it sounds ‘hauntingly beautiful’ from their porch. Liz’s words.”
“Yeah, if she’s okay with that. Sure.”
Mason leaned over and kissed Xeni on the cheek before he backed out the door.
* * *
An hour later, just as the sun was starting to go down, Xeni pulled up in front of Silas and Liz’s house. It was quite the scene. Liz sitting on the porch swing in the company of three of the dogs while Silas and Palila were playing in the grass with the rest. A couple of the dogs barked, but this time they managed to restrain themselves from ambushing her car. Xeni hopped out and instantly realized she hadn’t brought anything for Liz. She made a mental note to make up for it before she left town.
“Just in time for the show,” Liz said from the porch.
“Hi Xeni,” Silas said in his flat monotone way, which she was getting used to. “Say hi to Miss Xeni, Palila.”
“Hi Xeni,” Palila said before shoving her thumb in her mouth.
“Hello to you both. Thanks for having me over.” Xeni climbed the porch stairs and gave Liz a hug. “Sorry I’m the worst guest. Show up last minute empty handed. I should have brought you some non-adult beverages or something.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. Come sit. Honeycrisp, move.” The dog blocking Xeni’s way just rolled on its side and not out of the way. Xeni careful stepped over it and took a seat next to Liz.
“I can’t get over this view.” The yard seemed to stretch on and on, and beyond the grass, the orchards began. She could see the top of the main barn way off in the distance and she knew that just a few hundred yards beyond that was the cannery and the cafe.
“I fell in love with Silas here,” Liz said, gently rubbing her pregnant belly. Xeni looked over at her rugged ass husband.
“Don’t blame you one bit.”
“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to kill him or keep fucking him, but one night we were sitting here and Mason started playing and it all kinda made sense.”
“It’s not gonna work on me.”
“What?” Liz laughed.
“You’re not gonna trick me into falling for all this. Your beautiful farm life with a hot buff husband and two-point-five kids and seventeen dogs. Not me, bitch.”
Liz laughed even harder. “Girl, I was just taking a walk down memory lane.”
“Mmmhmm.” Just then, the first notes floated through the air. Xeni could have sworn they were a smooth half mile away, but she could hear the music perfectly. No wonder he suggested she join Liz. After a few seconds, she realized he was playing the same song he’d played for her on the piano. ‘My Romance.’
“Oh, he’s switching it up a bit tonight?” Liz said.
“Oh yeah?”
“He usually plays hymns, patriotic jams. Ends with Amazing Grace. This is a bit different.”
“He played it for me earlier today.” Xeni didn’t mean for her voice to have such a dreamy touch to it.
“How are things going for you and him? I know it’s only been a few days, but you’ve been spending a lot of time together.”
“Good, I guess. This will definitely be a story for my journal or an attention grabbing thread on Twitter.”
“And that’s all?”
“That’s all.”
Xeni was grateful that Liz let the conversation die then. In the morning, she’d be back to dealing with complicated family affairs. For now, she just wanted to enjoy the moment. The song came to an end, but not two breaths later he started up another tune. It took Xeni a moment, then she recognized the early seventies love song by Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose.
“Wow, he’s really laying it on thick tonight,” Liz teased before she started singing along quietly. “It’s too late to turn back now…” Xeni knew the words too. She recited them in her head, reminding herself they meant nothing. Mason wasn’t falling in love with her. She wasn’t falling in love with him. They were just your average married couple who were growing closer and closer, feeling more and more comfortable opening up to each other. They also couldn’t keep their hands off each other, which also meant nothing. Before it ended, her phone started going off in her bag. It was her mom’s ringtone.
“That’s my mom. I should get that.”
“Go ahead.”
Xeni pulled out her phone. “Mommy, hold on one sec.” She stepped over the dog and made her way back down the porch steps. “Hi,” she said when she made her way around the side of the house.
“What is that sound? It’s awful”
“Uh. Actually—” For some reason her mom’s comment set her on edge, made her feel defensive of Mason and his craft. A voice in the back of Xeni’s head told her to shut the fuck up right now, but her poor judgement kept her m
outh right on moving. “I have to tell you something and I know you’re going to be hot pissed, but I promise I got it under control.”
“What did you do? You’re not pregnant are you?”
“No, mom. What you’re hearing? It’s bagpipes. It’s my husband actually. He plays the bagpipes.”
“What do you mean, your husband?”
“I got married.”
“Sable put you up to this, didn’t she? She said she was gonna find you a man and look—”
“Mommy, no,” Xeni lied. “It just kind of happened. His name is Mason, he works at a farm cafe in the next town over.”
“Dante, come in here. Your daughter is on my phone saying she got married to some man who plays the bagpipes?”
“What now?” she heard her dad grumble in the background.
“She got married.”
She heard the ambient noise that let her know her mom had put her on speaker. “I thought you went out there to take care of the house,” her step-dad said.
“I know it sounds crazy. It was crazy, but he’s pretty great.”
“This isn’t funny, Xendria,” her mother said. “I know you’re upset with me, but this isn’t how—”
“No, mommy. Mommy! None of this happened because I was upset with you. Was it a rushed, spur of the moment thing? Yes, but you have to trust me, okay? He’s a good egg.”
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