I pushed open the door to the office and looked around. It was a fairly large, but mostly empty, office with another door that led out to the garage. The walls were covered with pictures of street racing cars, but were otherwise unmarked. Mason was sitting behind a grey, metal desk with his fingers perched together. I remember him always being a pretty happy-go-lucky guy, but at that moment he looked seriously pissed.

He was still ridiculously handsome. Hell, he barely looked like he had aged at all since the last time I saw him. If anything, he might have even looked better in just his plain white T-shirt and tight fitted jeans, a couple days’ stubble scattered along his face.

There were two padded chairs sitting in front of his desk. I sat Travis in one, and I took a seat in the other.

Mason closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Why’d you do this to me, Layla?”

“It takes two people to get pregnant, Mason.”

Mason snorted and shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. Why did you run off and keep the pregnancy hidden from me? Did you think I’d want you to get an abortion?”

“No. I didn’t feel like I had a choice.”

Mason rolled his eyes. “Didn’t have a choice? Give me a break.”

I was starting to get a little annoyed. I didn’t feel like I should be taking all the heat. “My Dad sold the house, and the day I found out was the same day I saw you cheating on me.”

Mason’s face twisted. “What the hell are you talking about? I’ve never cheated on anybody.”

“Don’t lie to me, Mason.”

Mason clenched his fist, and pounded it on his desk. “I’m a lot of things, but one thing I’m not is a cheater. When I was with you, you were the only girl I had.”

“The day before I left, I went to your home and I saw you with Samantha… kissing.”

“Kissing Samantha? What?!”

“I saw it with my own two eyes.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking…” Suddenly Mason’s eyes flickered and he turned his head slowly. “Wait a minute. Was I standing right by my garage door? Right after the crash at the Bluff?”

“Then you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Mason groaned. “I wasn’t kissing Samantha. She came back here and threw herself on me in an attempt to get me back. There was nothing mutual about that kiss. Didn’t you see me send her away?”

“I didn’t stick around to see what else happened. I saw you kissing and I ran.”

Mason chuckled and shook his head again. “So that’s why you left? Because you thought I was cheating on you with Sam? Unbelievable…”

“Like I said, my Dad sold the house, and I had nowhere else to go. I didn’t want to go with him to Miami, but I had no choice. When I saw you and Sam, that gave me every incentive to not put up a fight.”

“And to think, I thought the whole time you left me was because of the crash, because maybe you thought I had something to do with Freddy’s death…” He let out a deep sigh. “So why now? Why after 4 years would you show up now?”

“Because I was scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“Scared that Travis wouldn’t have a father. It took me four years to realize that I couldn’t sweep you under the rug his entire life.”

Mason gulped and looked at Travis who was spinning his head around the room, staring at all the cars. “Hey, little man,” Mason said. “So your name is Travis, huh?”

“My name Travvies!”

“Well alright.” Mason stretched across the desk and held out his hand. “My name is Mason. It’s nice meet you.”

“Niceza meet you too!” Travis grabbed Mason’s hand before jerking away and putting his attention back to the cars on the wall.

“Damn, he looks just like me,” Mason muttered.

“I know.”

“Wow, this is so weird.” Mason gave an awkward shrug. “Can I like… hold him or something?”

It was the first time I had smiled since I got there. “I think we need to check with him.” I turned to Travis. “Do you want to go sit on Mason’s lap? He wants to know you better.”

Travis looked at me and crossed his brow.

“Go on. It’s okay.”

He slid out of his chair and pranced around the desk then approached cautiously twiddling his fingers the whole time.

“What’s up, man?” Mason cooed as he got closer.

“Sup man!” Travis answered back.

Mason lifted Travis up into his lap, and looked down at him in awe. “How old are you?”

“3 years old!” Travis pointed his finger towards the desk and Mason’s eyes followed.

“What is it?”

“I want dat!”

Mason reached for a small, replica Dodge Challenger that was sitting on his desk. It looked a lot like The Beast. “You want this?” he asked.

“Yeah! I want!”

“Okay, okay. You can play with it.” Mason picked up the car and handed it to Travis. He immediately started inspecting all the ins and outs of the vehicle. “It’s pretty cool, huh?”

“Shallenga!”

“Challenger? How’d you know that?”

“He loves cars, Mason. He loves them more than anything. I think he got it from you.’

Mason chucked a little and watched as Travis played. I could see him growing slightly tense and his face turning red. A single tear suddenly fell out of the corner of his eye. He turned to me, and seeing my son play with his father and Mason showing emotion about it was enough to get me choked up.

“How could you, Layla? I didn’t get to see his birth. I didn’t get to see his first steps. How could you steal that away from me?”

“I really thought you cheat—“

“I didn’t cheat on you, dammit, and if you thought that was the case, you could’ve said something to me. Why’d you have to run?”

I threw my face in my hands, feeling the tears starting to creep up. “I was only 18, Mason. I was so young when I got pregnant. I didn’t have all the answers.”

“It kills me… It really kills me.”

“Can you forgive me?” I wailed.

“I want to,” he said. “I really want to, but I just don’t know.”