Chapter 34
Mason
My eyes felt like sandpaper had been rubbed over them. It was from too many nights in a row of no sleep. That combined with the stress of it all left me feeling like I had been hit by a truck. It wasn’t a good combination. I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything. I had ordered some groceries and a lot of beer from the local market to be delivered. That was how lazy I was feeling. I had zero energy to do anything except sit on my couch, drink beer, and be angry. A little angry and a lot disappointed.
While sitting there, drinking my beer, I heard the doorbell. I didn’t want to see anyone and ignored it.
“Mason, it’s me, Brian. Open the door, man.”
I groaned. The last thing I wanted was a confrontation with Lara’s big brother. It wouldn’t go well. I was in no mood to be nice or try to keep the peace. If I didn’t have Lara in my life, there was no point in me trying anyway.
“Go away, Brian.”
“Open the door, Mason.”
“No. I don’t want to hear it.”
He rang the doorbell over and over and over.
“Dammit!” I shouted and jumped off the couch, unlocked the door, and yanked it open. “What? If you’re here to bitch at me, punch me, or laugh at me, just get it done and go away.”
Brian smiled and held up a case of Heineken beer. “None of the above. Come on, let me in.”
I stood to the side and he went straight into my kitchen, placed the case of beer in the fridge on the shelf next to what I already had, and grabbed out two cold ones.
“What’s going on, Brian?”
“We need to talk.”
I groaned. “Man, I already told you, I’m not in the mood for a lecture. Say what you have to say and then go. Take your beer with you.”
“It’s not like that. Kali told me what’s been going on the past couple days. I believe you, and I am really happy you were there for her.”
I nodded, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was sure he had to know about the pregnancy as well. “Thanks,” I mumbled.
“I also heard Lara got a positive pregnancy test and you may have had a hand in that.”
I nearly choked on the beer I had just guzzled. “Um, that’s a long story, and I really can’t talk about the specifics. You’ll have to get the details from her. That is her business.”
Brian shook his head. “I did. I think. I had no idea what she was doing.”
I looked at him with confusion. Did he know about the fertility treatments, or was he referring to me purposely trying to get her pregnant? This was dangerous territory. “She wants a baby.”
That was a safe statement. I was sure Brian had to know that much. I didn’t want to divulge how she was going about getting that baby.
“So I figured out, but damn, I had no idea she was willing to pay so much money to try to get pregnant. That little fucker Mitchel really did a number on her. I’d like to beat his ass one day.”
I shrugged, not wanting to admit my real part in the potential pregnancy. “He isn’t a nice guy, that’s for sure.”
“Is it yours?” he blurted out.
“Is what mine?” I asked, trying to play dumb.
“The baby. Is she pregnant with some random donor’s kid or is it yours?”
I shrugged my shoulders. I truly didn’t know. “I don’t know. I assume you know she hasn’t actually seen a doctor for that. It was only a positive test. Right now the goal is to get her through the food poisoning. By the way, how’s she doing?”
“Much better. Kali stayed with her last night. I stopped by this morning and hung out while Kali opened up the shop and got the employees set up for the day.”
“Good. I’m glad she’s on the mend.”
“She booted me out and said she didn’t need a babysitter.”
I smiled. “Sounds like she is definitely feeling better.”
He released a long breath, and I braced myself for the coming lecture. “She’s making a mistake. I know that and told her so, which is probably why she kicked me out, but I tried. I believe you when you say there was nothing happening between you and that Sally girl. I got your back, man. I do, and I will keep trying to persuade her to see reason.”
“Thank you, Brian. Really. I want you to know I would never, ever cheat on Lara. I think she knows that, or at least part of her does. But she is so convinced every man is like Mitchel, she won’t believe it. I want to beat the guy’s ass for fucking her up so bad that I get to pay for his mistake,” I grumbled.
“Let her think on it. Once she starts feeling better, she may come around. It is woman code that she make you miserable at times. She needs to make sure you really want her, and I guess by treating you like total shit, she’s testing you. If you keep coming around, she’ll know you really do care.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun.”
He laughed. “Yep. Thankfully, Kali isn’t like that. Not yet, anyway, but then again, I am the perfect boyfriend and I don’t get caught kissing other women.”
“I didn’t kiss her!” I protested.
He slapped a hand on my shoulder and laughed. “I know. Just kidding you. I couldn’t help but throw that in there.”
I finished my beer and got up to grab a couple more. “How’s it going with you and Kali? Lara told me she’s pregnant. That was fast. Didn’t anyone tell you how to prevent that?” I teased.
“I may have heard something about that. The truth is, it was just that one time and there was no time to grab anything. The woman is amazing, and when she wants something, she takes it. I just happened to be what she wanted. I’m not complaining. I have never been with someone so fiery, so physical, and so kind.”
I envied him. He had stumbled into a relationship with a woman he clearly felt strongly for, and the feeling was mutual. “I can’t believe you’re having a baby. I always thought you would be the consummate bachelor until you were sixty and then marry a woman half your age.”
“I think I did too, and then boom, one day there she was. Oddly enough, we had met before but nothing ever clicked.”
“Sounds like you are hooked. You going to marry her?”
The grin on his face told me he had thought about it. “First steps first. She’s moving in today.”
“What? Wow! You weren’t kidding about her being the one for you. Damn. Congratulations.”
He was grinning like a fool. “Thanks.”
“You’re moving at the speed of a freight train. Aren’t you worried you’re moving too fast?”
“Nope. Maybe that’s weird. Hell, usually I don’t even let a woman know where I live until we’ve gone out a couple times, but Kali’s different. Something clicked. It was this strange feeling when our eyes met in the shop one day, like there was a light shining down on her and I just knew.”
I rolled my eyes. “Geez, man, you’ve been watching too many chick flicks with her.”
He laughed but didn’t take offense at my comment. “You don’t feel like that with Lara?”
I leaned back against the couch, propped my feet up on the coffee table, and mulled over the question. “Actually, I knew twenty years ago.”
He looked instantly remorseful. “Sorry,” he said, gulping his beer.
“It’s okay. Honestly, I don’t know if it would have worked out back then. We were both young and had a lot of living to do. When we found each other again a few weeks ago, it was right. It felt like the right time in my life for her to come waltzing back in. Little did I know she’d have a giant chip on her shoulder and a lot of emotional trauma from some other piece of shit. That’s a lot to swallow.”
“If she’s the one, you have to fight for her. I won’t stop you. I will encourage her to give you a second chance. I think she wants you, but she’s just terrified of getting hurt again. Maybe the timing of you two meeting is a little off. If you could have waited a couple months, it would have been better,” he lectured, as if I had any control over that.
“That’s on her. She showed up in my office.”
“I know. I still can’t believe she did all that without telling me what she was doing. They aren’t joking when they say a woman can hear her biological clock ticking.”
I started laughing. “You have no idea, man. Truly. That biological clock is what keeps me in business.”
“It seems to be a very lucrative business judging by this place. This is one of the best buildings in the area. I tried to get in here a year ago, but the wait list is ridiculous.”
“You have to have connections,” I teased him.
“Dude, do you know who you’re talking to? I’m a celebrity. I have connections.”
“Obviously not the right ones.”
We both chuckled, and fortunately, our conversation switched to happier topics. We spent the afternoon drinking the entire case of beer and talking about the good old days and his plans for the future. I wanted nothing to do with talk about the future. I couldn’t see past tomorrow, let alone five years down the road.
“I better get going. Kali and the movers are supposed to be to my house at four. If I’m not there, she’s likely to toss out all my stuff and replace it with her fluffy girl stuff. I’m not quite ready for that step,” he joked.
“Thanks for coming by. I appreciate the support, and I am going to keep trying with Lara, but I don’t want to push her. She’s a stubborn woman. If I push, she’s just going to push back.”
Brian agreed with me. “Stay positive. Kali is on board with you two getting together as well. You’ve got allies. Lara needs to come to her own decision, but I am confident she will see that it’s okay to love again.”
The ‘L’ word freaked me out a little, but I knew that was what Lara and I had been dancing around for weeks. We had loved each other back then, even if we had been young. Seeing her had rekindled that flame for me, and I had a feeling she felt the same way. It wasn’t just sex. I knew that. She wasn’t the kind of woman who did the just sex thing.
After he left, I grabbed my phone. I had said I wasn’t going to push, but a quick phone call wasn’t pushing. I was truly concerned for her health. I called her number, but of course she didn’t answer. At least the voice mail had been checked and emptied. That had to be a good sign. Hopefully she had actually listened to my messages before deleting them.
I left another message, this one focused only on how she was doing. I didn’t apologize, and I didn’t mention the Sally situation. I was done apologizing for that. If she didn’t believe me the first twenty times, she wasn’t going to believe me now.
The ball was in her court. I hoped she would play ball.