by Mia Madison
My words were mostly fabricated—I had truly been too young to even notice such things—but they did what they were intended to. They did it a little too well, actually.
Because I hadn’t expected her stalk forward and feel the flat of her palm connecting with my cheek. I gasped and clutched at the stinging flesh—beyond shocked that she had actually slapped me. If she was this upset, maybe something had been going on between Dad and Maria. Maybe it was all true.
“You’re delusional! I want you out of this house!” she screamed, stomping her foot on the marble floor. “You ruined my life! I was happier before I ever got pregnant—before I ever met your father!”
“And if you hadn’t met him you wouldn’t be able to afford all your Botox and plastic surgery,” I said between clenched teeth. “So who’s really delusional here?”
Without another word, she spun on her heel and walked toward the hall closet. She grabbed her purse and started walking past me, not bothering to turn back as she said, “You and your shit better be gone by the time I get back tonight. Anything you leave is getting thrown in the trash.”
It was a strange feeling to be equally happy that my plan had worked and in a sheer state of disbelief that this woman was my fucking mother.
It was true what they said. Not all people were meant to be parents.
She stormed out and I waited until I heard her car tearing down the driveway before I numbly walked up to my bedroom. I sighed as I looked around the room at all my stuff, knowing that my closet was going to be the worst part.
I dug my phone out of my back pocket and went to my contact list. After the call connected, I held the phone to my ear and listened as a gruff voice greeted me.
“Hi, this is Layla Harrison. We spoke yesterday.”
“I remember. Are you ready for us?”
“Yeah. But uh...” I trailed off as I glanced around my room one more time. “I think I’m going to need more boxes than the number I gave you yesterday.”
“Not a problem. We’ll put together a few more and be at the address you gave us in about forty minutes.”
“Sounds good. See you soon.”
I ended the call and let out a heavy sigh. I told Mason I was going to be back to have our serious conversation around three, but I had a feeling this was going to take me a lot longer than I expected. I powered down my phone—something I never did—and tossed it to the bed for the time being so it wouldn’t distract me.
“Let’s get to work.”
12
It was just past seven when I pulled into Mason’s driveway and a lump formed in my throat when I noticed his Jeep was gone.
I had been so focused on getting finished and out of there before my mom got home that I completely forgot to turn my phone back on. I was still sitting in the driver’s seat of my car when it powered on and my stomach dropped when I saw all the text messages and voicemails I missed.
I was scrolling through the texts—my guilt rising with every worried message—when I heard the roar of an engine coming up the road. I hastily got out of the car and rushed down the driveway as the Jeep pulled in.
“I am so, so sorry,” I said as Mason hopped out of his vehicle and practically ran to me.
His arms wrapped around me and dragged me close as he mumbled, “I was so fucking worried.”
“I’m only a few hours late.”
He pulled back, giving me an incredulous look as he said, “You told me you never turn your phone off, Layla. What the hell was I supposed to think?”
“You went looking for me?” I asked, feeling rather warmed by the fact that he was so concerned, though guilt was still the most prominent emotion.
“Yeah. I drove around to a few places I know you like hoping to spot your car in a parking lot and not a ditch somewhere. Where have you been?”
“I went to see my mom.”
His entire body filled with tension and I nearly laughed when I felt him clutch me tighter like he was worried she had somehow poisoned my mind against him.
“Guess that explains why I couldn’t find you. I thought you didn’t want to see her.”
“I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t put it off any longer. Not if I wanted to clean up the mess she made for us.”
Mason let go and looked down to study my face closely, his head tilting to the side as his hand reached up. I felt his fingers trail over my cheek and while I knew there wasn’t a bruise, there had been a visible red mark from the slap the last time I looked. It probably would have faded if I hadn’t irritated it by working so hard that I ended up sweating like I had gone for a jog in the midday sun.
“What happened?”
“It was just as unpleasant as I expected,” I said as I gently peeled his hand away from my face. “But I did what I needed to do.”
“Did you convince her to—”
“No, and I didn’t try. Even if she realized she was wrong, she’d never admit it. The damage has already been done. You were right when you said you’ll never work in this town again.”
His face fell and I felt even more guilty about the obvious pain I was causing, but a moment later, I heard the distant hum of a large truck trudging up the road and I couldn’t fight the smile that started to tug at my lips.
“Which is why I got this.”
He frowned and followed my line of vision, watching as the moving truck pulled up over the hill and slowed down, pulling to a stop by the curb after the driver saw me waving. Mason looked between me and the truck a few times before realization began to hit.
“You’re moving in?” he asked and I stifled a laugh when I saw that he had yet to fully put it together. He looked back at the truck and winced. “Jesus. How much stuff do you own?”
“It’s not full,” I assured him. I could tell just by the look on his face that he was calculating how much of the stuff would actually fit inside his small home. “Well, it’s not full yet.”
“I don’t—” Mason abruptly cut himself off, sending me a pleading look. “I’m not quite following you here.”
“Didn’t you say that you were long overdue for a trip back home?”
His jaw went slack with disbelief as he glanced at the truck then back to me. He blinked a few times, waiting for the ‘but’ that never came.
“You want to move to Florida?”
“Like I said—I love the beach.”
“Baby, I... God, I don’t even know what to say. This is completely unexpected.”
The nagging doubts I had started to flare up and I wrung my hands together nervously.
“Is it a good surprise?”
Mason laughed and the sound filled me with joy. I made the right call.
“Best fucking surprise ever,” he assured me, pulling me in for another hug and surprising me by lifting my feet off the ground and spinning me around in circles. “God, I love you so much.”
“I love you, too,” I told him, laughing until I saw the driver of the moving truck hesitantly approaching. “Put me down. We need to sign for the truck.”
Mason introduced himself to Robert—one of the men who had helped me pack up my belongings and load the truck. I signed the paperwork stating I was liable for the truck while Mason and I finished packing it and once that was wrapped up, he told me to give him a call when we were ready to have them drive it down to Florida. We waved goodbye as he got into the pickup that followed him to the house.
Mason and I moved our vehicles onto the lawn so he could back the truck into the driveway before we locked it up and went inside for the night. As soon as the front door was locked, Mason turned to me with a smile full of uncertainty.
“Are you sure about this? I don’t expect you just to pack up your whole life and move to another state just to make me happy. I’d never ask that of you.”
“That’s one of the reasons I didn’t mention it to you last night,” I said with a knowing smile. “But you said yourself that your clients were the only thing keeping you here.”
“I
’d stay for you as well. You must know that.”
“I do, but you shouldn’t have to. And let’s be real—Ava and Charlie are the only ones keeping me here and they’re both growing up and moving on with their lives. It’s time I do the same.”
“They’re your best friends, sweetheart. You shouldn’t have to give them up for me.”
“They’ll still be my best friends no matter where I live. But my place in the world is by your side—preferably lying on a beach somewhere.”
Mason silenced my laughter with a kiss. It was a lot like our first—hungry, longing, passionate—but with one very distinct difference. The way he cupped my face and the way his hands lightly shook spoke of his deep gratitude for my decision.
He was right after all. This was definitely better than okay.
13
It took us four days to get the truck loaded with his stuff. Partially because it was slow with only the two of us packing and loading up the truck and partially because it was the soonest both Ava and Charlie were available to make it over to the house.
Mason pulled down the roll up door and set the lock, shooting a sad smile to where I stood on the lawn, bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet.
“It’s not too late to back out.”
“Are you high?” I asked incredulously as I pointed at the truck. “There’s no fucking way I’m unpacking all that shit unless I can see sand out my back door. We’re going to Florida.”
Mason chuckled. “You’ve got some high expectations.”
“And a hefty trust fund that I’ll only be using a fraction of to buy us a badass house.”
“You know, it’s not a great feeling for a man to let his girlfriend buy them a house.”
“Look at it this way. If you asked me to dinner and took me to an expensive restaurant I didn’t even want to go to—would you expect me to pay?”
Mason blinked a few times before sighing heavily. “No. I get your point, but it really doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“You can reassert your dominance and masculinity by making me scream in every room of our new house. Sound good?”
He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and bent down to bite my earlobe before he growled, “Sounds fantastic.”
A car started coming up the road and I held my breath, letting it out in a heavy gust when it went flying past the driveway. They were already ten minutes late and I was starting to get the feeling that I was going to miss them a lot more than they would miss me.
Mason must have sensed my growing sadness because he hugged me tighter and rested his chin on my shoulder.
“When are the movers going to be here?”
“Twenty minutes.”
I could practically feel his eyebrows raise. “You only left half an hour to say goodbye?”
“I didn’t... It’s just sad, you know? Even though I’m excited, it still hurts to be leaving them. I figured if I didn’t drag it out, it’d feel more like I was going on a vacation. It’s not like I’ll never see them again.”
“That’s true. You can see them as often as you like.”
“Exactly. Which is why I wanted this to feel more like a ‘bon voyage’ instead of a ‘have a nice life’. Does that make any sense?”
“It does. You probably should have explained that to your friends, though.”
“You’re right,” I admitted, sucking in another breath as I heard the familiar hum of an engine. “That sounds like Owen’s truck.”
Mason held me as we waited and I broke out into a wide smile when my hunch turned out to be correct. Charlie was flying out of the truck as soon as it stopped and Ava was struggling to keep up. Her pregnancy was barely beginning to show, but I knew she had been feeling more worn out as of late.
Mason let me go when Charlie got close and I rushed forward to meet her for a hug. When I saw Owen and Trent pulling out a massive assortment of balloons and flowers from the back of the truck, all the feelings I had of not being missed faded away.
“That’s why you guys were late?”
Charlie shook her head and let me go while Ava stepped forward for a more tentative hug.
“That was my bad,” Ava apologized. “I started feeling sick halfway here.”
“Morning sickness still?”
She was quiet for a few seconds before she whispered, “I don’t think so. Not this time, at least.”
I knew she was holding herself back just in case she smelled bad, but I couldn’t help but clutch her tighter. Charlie eased herself into the hug as well and I cursed the fact that I could feel my eyes tearing up. So much for ‘bon voyage’.
“I’ll miss you guys,” I said quietly. “But I’ll come back to visit so often that you’ll be wishing I’d just stay in Florida for good.”
“I don’t think that’s possible. You’re more than welcome to come crash with us whenever you want,” Charlie said.
“Same here. But I doubt you’ll want to stay with me once this baby is born. Hell—I might not even want to.”
We all laughed as we broke apart and I jokingly said, “Well, Charlie does have a hot tub and no screaming children.”
Owen approached from behind and placed a hand on Charlie’s shoulder as he said, “Whenever you want. Seriously—our door is open. Just don’t fucking lay on the horn in our driveway.”
“Nah. I’ll just fly up and make you drive me around everywhere. That’ll be even more annoying than the horn,” I joked.
It might have been nothing more than a defense mechanism, but everyone present seemed relieved that we were just joking around like there wasn’t a giant pink elephant in the form of a moving truck sitting ten yards away.
It wasn’t until Mason and Trent came face-to-face for the second time ever that the tension returned.
“Trent.”
“Yoga guy.”
Mason blinked a few times before he burst out laughing and Trent was quick to follow. They shook hands amicably and I heard Trent quietly greet Mason by name before apologizing for the last time they met.
“No worries, man. I just wish we would’ve had a chance to grab a beer or something before we left.”
“Well, when are you guys leaving?” Ava asked, looking between the two of us. “We could go have lunch and get a drink or something.”
“The movers will be here any minute,” I said sadly, feeling horrible when I saw her eyes immediately became glassy. “You know I’m not a fan of long goodbyes.”
“But... But I made us late. I didn’t mean to, I—”
“It’s okay, Ava. Seriously,” I rushed to assure her, but the hormones had already taken hold and the tears began to fall. “Oh fuck, please don’t—”
“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” Charlie suddenly said, her voice shaking. I watched in horror as her bottom lip began to wobble. “Who’s going to drag me to awful night clubs and be the buffer at our family dinners?”
Maybe it wasn’t the hormones after all.
“Char, please don’t—”
It was too late. I could feel my own tears welling up just as all three men started worriedly honing in on us—no idea how to stop what was about to happen. Before they could figure out what to do, the three of us were locked in an awkward, sobbing mess of a group hug.
It was exactly what I had been trying to avoid, but I took a small bit of comfort in the knowledge that I would definitely be missed.
“I love you guys,” I mumbled. “I’ll come back for every family dinner that involves lasagna, Charlie. I swear.”
“You better,” she said between sniffles.
“It works both ways, you know,” Mason chimed in from somewhere behind me. “You’re all welcome to come visit us whenever you want.”
I gasped, my eyes widening in excitement at the thought. I pulled away and hastily wiped away my tears before I started gushing in excitement.
“Yesss! We can hang out on the beach and get tans and go shopping and dancing and—”
Charlie
covered my mouth and slowly shook her head while Ava laughed. I knew Charlie wasn’t as fond of my own personal ideas of fun quite as much as Ava was, but I’d get her down to Miami eventually. Even if I had to nag the shit out of Owen to arrange it.
There was a honk as a familiar pickup truck came up the road and pulled to the side. Mason waved and jogged over as the two guys who were driving the truck down got out and reached into the bed for their bags. They exchanged a few words and I saw the guys nodding before he came back to us.
“They’re going to make sure the truck is locked up properly and hitch up the Jeep. Then they’ll be ready to roll.”
I could see in Ava’s eyes that she thought it was too soon—that we needed more time to say goodbye—but I think she understood that it was time to rip off the band-aid. I gave her a tight hug and one to Charlie while Mason shook the guys’ hands. We traded spots and I heard Ava quietly whisper to Mason.
“Please take care of her.”
“I will. I swear.”
As we all broke apart and paired off into our respective couples, I only had to glance at my best friends once more to know that we’d all be okay. Just like Mason would take care of me, their men would take care of them and vice versa.
We really had grown up.
“I love you guys,” I somberly repeated, hoping they could hear just how serious I was.
There was a loud clatter from the moving truck before Robert shouted, “We’re good here! Whenever you’re ready!”
Charlie turned her face against Owen’s chest so I cast a final glance to Ava. She pursed her lips together and nodded solemnly.
“Go. Just promise you’ll come back.”
“I promise.”
She made a gesture toward my car and Mason took the flowers and balloons and loaded them into the back. My friends stayed standing in the yard as we got in the car and buckled up and I turned to face out the passenger window, pressing my hand against the glass.
