by Bonnie Dee
Except she didn’t yet. Not until she’d seen the video. Damn, she could hardly keep herself away from Deb’s office, she was so desperate to see the footage that went with those taglines.
After lunch there was another slow spell, and Ava took a break. She’d left the video loading, and it was ready to play back at last as she sat in Deb’s chair. Halting and occasionally freezing, the video was poorly lit, and the audio was horrible. The camera phone occasionally focused on the backs of nodding heads rather than on the man on the stage. Fresh Water for Thirsty Souls the banner above him proclaimed. A preacher paced back and forth expounding about God and Jesus, guilt and forgiveness, and then he welcomed a special guest.
Ava leaned forward, studying the man walking onto the stage. It was definitely Mason. Well, he’d told her he’d worked for a revival show. Ava had only assumed it was as a roadie.
In the footage, he sat quietly on a chair while the minister continued to work the crowd into a hallelujah frenzy. Mason wore a plain dark suit, white shirt, and tie. His hair was very short. He appeared neat and unassuming while the reverend talked about God’s spirit moving through certain chosen individuals. A single spotlight hit Mason, providing a golden aura, a suggestion of saintliness.
From the size of the crowd and the enthusiasm of the amens, Ava guessed word about the amazing healer had already spread. They’d all come to see the magic. As the preacher’s sermon built to a climax and collection baskets were passed, Ava held her breath in anticipation. Her heart beat faster as the first of the faithful was wheeled onto the stage.
The girl was young, perhaps middle school age, skinny and hunched over in her wheelchair. The preacher spoke to her and announced to the congregation what her illness was, but Ava couldn’t hear what he said. It didn’t matter. Either the girl was really ill or she was a fake planted in the audience. But because of what she’d witnessed between Mason and Nash, Ava guessed the girl was truly crippled.
People hushed as Mason rose from the chair and walked toward the girl. He knelt in front of her, and the light hit him from a new angle. Every plane of his face shone in the bright light. This was a face Ava had touched, kissed, held between her hands. She inhaled as Mason spoke to the little girl for a few moments before reaching out to take her hands in his.
There was a soft murmur through the crowd, and the person holding the camera muttered, “Praise Jesus.”
Ava searched for a flash of light or anything to indicate a healing was taking place. Maybe those present could feel a vibration in the very air, but from a distance, the conclusion was rather anticlimactic. Mason stood, touched the girl lightly on top of her head and stepped out of the spotlight.
The child in the chair leaned forward. She rubbed her hands over her thighs as if there was a new sensation in her weak limbs. She tilted her head to speak to the woman standing a little apart from her. The mother, no doubt. The woman hurried forward, hand covering her mouth and tears streaming down her face. She leaned to put an arm around the girl and help her to stand on wobbly legs.
Amens and Praise Jesus erupted from the congregation as the frail girl straightened her spine and took a single step…then two before her legs buckled. Her sobbing mother helped her back into the chair and then surged toward Mason. The spotlight followed her as she grasped his hands and pressed her forehead to them, crying out her gratitude.
“God’s spirit working through His vessel,” the preacher reminded the audience. “Mr. Reed is but a conduit for the Lord’s power.”
How Mason must have hated that—not the sentiment, but the preacher’s slick tone that reminded Ava of a carny’s patter, words spoken by rote. It seemed such traveling shows were more about collections than spreading the Word. Mason didn’t seem like the type to be involved with something like that.
After a second viewing, Anna forced herself to leave the site. She sat for a moment, staring at Deb’s screensaver of her cats and her girlfriend, Suzanne.
Her perception of reality shifted as if she were caught in a dream. Did Mason actually possess some healing gift, or was the healing on the video a sham? Perhaps a plant in the audience to whip the people into a frenzy of faith—and giving.
Except, Ava had witnessed Nash’s unblemished skin with her own eyes. She half believed already, and the video tipped her over the edge. As impossible as it might seem, someone she knew personally had a paranormal gift.
It wasn’t as if she’d discovered Mason was a serial killer or something. The ability to heal was a good thing. What she’d learned shouldn’t change her feelings about him. But she couldn’t deny the mixture of awe and unease that swirled inside her along with her attraction to him.
What next? Act as if she knew nothing, or tell him what she’d learned? A person couldn’t hide such an important part of himself. Maybe Mason would appreciate being able to share his secret with her.
But she didn’t have to say anything right away, Ava decided as she left the office. She’d wait for a while and adjust to the idea.
Back in the diner, she pulled her pad from her apron pocket to take a customer’s order. Pork sandwich with gravy and a side of home fries. She hardly registered the words she jotted, as her mind gnawed at her new awareness like a dog with a juicy bone.
Bryan. If Mason could heal a paralyzed little girl and utterly erase severe burns, maybe he could help her brother. But there was a reason he’d left the revival, a reason he was working a low-profile job in a quiet town. Clearly, he didn’t want people to know about his gift, didn’t want to use it. For her to ask would be invasive. She wouldn’t do it.
But Bryan! the insidious voice insisted. There must be a reason Mason ended up in Waller of all places. Maybe he’s God’s answer to your prayers, the miracle you’ve been hoping for.
Chapter Ten
Ava was avoiding him.
Mason felt a subtle shift in her attitude from the moment he first spotted her across the room and her gaze slid away from his.
Sex always changed things even when both parties agreed it wouldn’t. Maybe she regretted the act, or maybe she simply didn’t want anybody at work to know there was something between them. Or maybe she regretted revealing so much about her private life to him, telling him about her family. Definitely something was happening. He could feel it.
Mason started hauling stuff from the store room to the kitchen as Nash ordered, When he bumped into Ava in the hallway, she smiled at him. Maybe not so upset after all, he hoped.
“Hi.” She ducked her head as if shy to meet his gaze. But that adorable little smile still curved her pretty lips. God, he wanted to kiss them right now.
He shifted the carton of supplies to his other hip. “Hi. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you all day. Meet me outside on your next break?”
“Sure.” She started to walk past him, but added, “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you too.”
Sweet words were a good sign. A little day-after awkwardness was natural. Maybe he only imagined something else had happened or that her attitude toward him had shifted in some way.
Mason carried the box into the kitchen and started restocking the shelves and fridge. He held up a box of cocoa. “Where do you want this?”
“With the spices.” Nash flipped burgers and toasted buns without glancing at Mason. Come to think of it, he’d barely said hello, hadn’t offered his usual snide comment or dirty joke, and he wasn’t humming like he usually did when he cooked.
“Something wrong?” Mason asked.
“Nope. Nothing. Nothing at all.” Nash fell silent again, which was a bad sign.
“Look, if I did or said something—”
“No,” the cook interrupted. “No problemo, amigo.”
Now Nash looked up, met Mason’s eyes for a fraction of a second, and quickly focused on his grill again. What the fuck? Everyone was acting off today. Had Ava told Nash about their date? No. She wouldn’t. If she had, Nash would’ve been all over that topic, either teasing Mason or threatenin
g to kick his ass if he hurt Ava.
So what was it?
Suddenly Mason knew. The damn fire. He hadn’t been around Nash much since that day since he’d been scheduled on shifts when Deb cooked. Mason and Nash had barely bumped into each other.
Nash knew what had happened that day, knew that it wasn’t a fluke that the fire had burned his shirt yet not his skin. He knew about Mason, and he was freaked out.
Often people denied what they saw with their own eyes. Some fell at Mason’s feet and proclaimed him an angel sent from God. Others were frightened by the paranormal. But Mason wouldn’t have expected that reaction from down-to-earth Nash.
He tried not to worry about Nash’s silence as he concentrated on his job. He should be used to stuff like this by now. Very few people learned about Mason’s ability and took the phenomenon in stride. They usually treated him like a freak of nature, which he supposed he was. So, this was going to be the new normal with Nash—no more banter, no more easy friendship.
“Hey, Mason.” The big guy suddenly loomed over him.
Mason nearly dropped a carton of eggs. “What?”
“I wanna thank you for what you did for me.” Nash touched his stomach. “I know it was you. I saw the videos about you. I know who you are.”
“Videos?” Mason clutched the egg carton.
“Yeah. They show you healing some people at a revival.”
His heart beat fast, but he tried to appear cool. “Oh, that. I wouldn’t make too big a deal of it. It’s just a show.”
Nash rested his folded arms on his big belly. “No, it ain’t. I didn’t imagine I was burned, and I felt what happened when you touched me. So, thanks.”
“Well…” Mason said again. He never knew how to answer people when they thanked him. It wasn’t as if he did anything. The healing was almost beyond his control.
“Anyway, I got this friend, Carl Butcher. He hurt his back real bad, slipped a disc or something. He’s been off work. He’s a self-employed handyman and woodcutter. Without his income, times have been real tough for Gloria and the kids. She works at the lumberyard, but it ain’t enough, and Carl hasn’t been able to get disability yet. They’re really caught between a rock and a hard place. Do you think…?”
Mason shook his head. “No. I don’t do that anymore. You didn’t tell this guy about me, did you?”
Nash shrugged. “I couldn’t make sense of it. I knew I’d been burned, and then I was okay. So, yeah, I talked to Carl a little bit.”
Mason set the eggs down. “Who else knows? Did you talk about it or show that video to other people?”
“I only talked to Carl.” Nash paused and squinted his eyes. “And I, uh, showed Ava the video. I know you been seeing her. I figured she had a right to know.”
“Goddamn it, Nash! What about my right to privacy? It’s up to me to tell Ava in my own good time, if I ever want to. You had no right. And if I help your friend Carl, he’ll tell someone. He’ll have ‘just one friend’ who needs a favor, and pretty soon everybody around here is going to be all over me. I can’t do it. I’m sorry.”
He’d left quiet behind at the last bus stop. By the end of his rant, Mason was practically shouting. Here he’d found a place where he was content to stay for a while, and now he was going to be forced to move on again.
“Then don’t help,” Nash said. “Just say no, if that’s what you want to do. No need to make a big thing of it.”
Mason leaned against the big refrigerator, the vibration of the motor purring against his spine. “Sounds easy, but it’s not. When people come around all messed up and miserable, it’s kinda hard to say Fuck off. I’m not in the mood.”
Nash nodded. He turned back to the range and his frying pans.
For a moment, Mason stared at the man’s broad back, straining his T-shirt at the seams. “Oh, all right. Fine! Take me to your friend’s house when I get off my shift tonight.”
The cook glanced at him. “You sure? I mean, if you really don’t want to…”
Mason clicked his tongue. “I said I’d do it, and I will. But your friend and his family have to promise to keep their mouths shut about it. Understood?”
“Yeah. I get it.” Nash paused. “About Ava. I’m sorry I showed her the video, but she’s been my friend a lot longer than you have. I felt like I had to let her know what she’s getting into.”
“What is she getting into?” Mason asked. “Maybe you could fill me in too.”
An anxious prickling snarled his guts and stabbed holes in the buoyant mood he’d started the day with. Things are changing. Something’s coming, his inner voice warned. Should’ve known nothing good could last.
That brief sublime day he’d shared with Ava was over, and his life was about to get complicated—again.
*
As Ava came out of the storage room with napkins to refill the holders, she met Mason in the hall carrying out the trash. The moment their eyes met, she knew he was aware she’d seen the video. Nash must have said something.
“We should talk.” His voice was barely more than a mumble, as it had been during those first few weeks she knew him. A barrier had gone up that was almost palpable.
“I get a break in another half hour if we’re not too slammed. Meet me outside?”
He dipped his head and went on toward the rear exit.
Her heart thumped like a rabbit’s hind foot. After what she’d seen on the video, she was on edge and had hoped to be able to process a while before talking with Mason. But now it was happening. What would he tell her about his ability, and how should she react? Pretend it was no big deal and didn’t affect anything? That would be a lie. Torn between strong attraction to Mason and fear of getting involved with him, she didn’t know what she felt or what she should do. Maybe it would be safest to cut this thing off before she got any deeper.
Over the next half hour, she couldn’t focus and her day was off-kilter. She mixed up orders, dropped dishes, and spilled a carafe of coffee.
Stella eyed the brown puddle Ava wiped off the counter. “Lady Jane, get your head out of the clouds before you hurt someone. Go on and take your break. I know why you’re in such a hurry. See that boy and get it out of your system.”
Ava didn’t question how Stella knew about her and Mason, but did as she was told. Outside she found Mason waiting for her, again leaning against the wall, arms folded.
The sight of him filled her with crazy excited eagerness. She couldn’t stop reliving what his hands and mouth and other parts of him had felt like the other day. But that thrill was tempered by gnawing unease. He was more than just some average guy who happened to kiss really good. He was something outside the realm of normal, and she was about to find out why.
Mason pushed off the wall and walked over to her. “Let’s just get it right out there. Nash told me he showed you some video he found online. Shocked me. He doesn’t seem that computer literate.”
His echo of her own reaction startled a laugh from her. She pressed her fingers to her mouth. Laughter hardly felt appropriate when they were about to discuss something so serious. Her fingers brushed her lips, the light touch reminding her how Mason’s mouth had felt against hers just yesterday, when they’d been as close as two people can be. This business about him being a healer didn’t have to be a big deal. He hadn’t suddenly become a different person.
“Sorry. I’m nervous,” she said. “Yes. He showed me footage someone took at that revival show you were with, and told me that you healed his burns. I honestly wasn’t too surprised. I saw Nash that day. There was no way he could’ve walked away without a mark on him.”
Mason’s arms were folded, his body stiff. Wary. “You never said anything.”
“Nash just showed me the video.”
“No. I mean after the fire.”
She spread her hands as if offering her helpless feelings. “I didn’t know what to think. Now I know you have a special gift or power or whatever it is.”
“Special gift.” Ma
son scoffed. “Yeah. That about sums it up.”
“How long have you been able to, um, heal people?”
He gazed at the garbage bin as if memorizing the graffiti on the side. “Since I can remember.”
Ava took a step toward him, wanting desperately to bridge the gap between them. “Please don’t tell me you’re an alien. That’d be just too much.”
Mason smiled, tension thawing, and looked at her. “No. Just the foreign planet of Arizona, but I sure felt like I was from outer space sometimes.”
“And you were just born with this ability? How does it work?”
He chewed his bottom lip, considering. “You know how they have those thermoscanners that can zero in on a living thing inside a building? When I focus, I can see sickness like that, scan a person and locate the source of their trouble.”
Ava studied the little scar along Mason’s jawline, the lock of dark hair that fell over his left eye, the shape of his parted lips. Every detail seemed significant. She barely breathed as she waited for him to continue.
“Energy builds in me like clouds before a storm, and when I touch the person, it flows out of me and into them. Sometimes it’s only a partial healing. Other times it’s total. I have no control over it, and I don’t know how it works. After all these years, I’m still completely ignorant about why I’m a freak.” He frowned.
“You’re not a freak,” she protested. “To be able to help people like that is amazing.”
Mason rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, it’s awesome having a superpower, but why not flying or invisibility or something fun? Why’d I get the one that zaps my energy and leaves me with a headache?”
He joked in typical Mason fashion, but Ava understood his ability hadn’t made his life easy. There was so much more to discuss, but her break was already over.
