Chapter Twenty-eight
Payton
Seven weeks and five days
I didn’t tell Mason good-bye. I didn’t care what he had to say. I didn’t want to hear it. I’d seen the look on his face the night before he’d left. I’d seen the emotion in his eyes as he watched me with Katie in that glider. And I’d seen the fear take root, the uncertainty. I’d told myself that things would be okay, that we’d talk it out in the morning. But I never imagined he’d be packed and ready to go when I’d walked into that living room. He was weak. He was a coward.
And he was gone.
It’d been three weeks since he left. Katie was almost eight weeks old now, almost two months. She was such a happy little girl. She had just learned to smile and she rarely cried. I sent him pictures, tons of pictures of Katie. Sometimes he’d respond with a miss you girls, or a give her a hug for me. But usually it was just a quick thanks. His calls to check on her where getting further and further apart. And when he did call, it wasn’t like it used to be. There was no laughter, no joking around. He was distant and he seemed almost uninterested or too busy.
I think that was what hurt the most. When Mason had been on tour before, he called me all the time and texted me randomly throughout the day. We always found things to talk about. We’d share our whole damn days. I knew that he was capable of that kind of communication. So basic radio silence meant he was avoiding us. Me and Katie. Maybe he’d moved on already. Maybe he was whoring it up on Groupie Island and we were already nothing but a distant memory.
My phone rang, and I couldn’t help but wish it was him every time, knowing it wasn’t. “Hey, Momma.”
“Hey, sweet girl. What are you up to today?”
I moved the stroller back and forth when Katie started to stir. She hadn’t been sleeping long enough for this to count as a nap yet. “Katie and I came to the botanical gardens for a little fresh air and beautiful scenery. What about you?”
“I have all three of you brothers coming for dinner tonight.” She sounded put out, but I knew that was all a front. She’d have the four of us living at home if it were up to her. “Why don’t you come? Bring that sweet baby you’re raising for that asshole.”
I took a deep calming breath, refusing to get into Mason bashing with my mother. It was quickly becoming one of her favorite pastimes. “We would love to come to dinner tonight, but we have plans.” We didn’t. Unless you included an Eagles greatest hits album and a glass of wine once I finally got Katie to sleep. I loved my family, and I loved seeing them. They adored Katie. But I just didn’t have the energy for my parents or my older brothers right now.
“A date? Do you need a sitter? You can drop her off here with me.” My mother sounded impossibly hopeful.
“Nope. No date. Sorry.” I knew she just wanted me to be happy. But if she tried to set me up with one more of her friend’s sons, I was going to go postal. No one in my family quite knew what to do with the fact that I’d taken a leave of absence in order to raise Mason Maxwell’s baby sister.
“Okay. But I’m sending Parker over tomorrow with leftovers.”
“Thank you, Momma.”
“You’re welcome, baby girl.”
We hung up and I sat down on a wooden bench. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to take a rest, but Katie was asleep and the air smelled like roses. I’d had worse.
“Hi.”
I looked up, somewhat startled. “Hi.” There was a man standing in front of me. He was wearing a collared button-down shirt and khakis. And loafers? He looked like he used to belong to a rich boy fraternity and now he sold stocks and bonds. I glanced at the phone in my hand. Had my mother sent him? Was she stalking me now?
The man standing in front of me had a toddler with bouncy blond curls gripping his finger. He held his free hand out. “I’m David, I think we go to the same pediatrician.”
I shook his hand, smiling warmly once I realized I wasn’t being ambushed. “You know, I think you’re right.” I bent forward addressing the little boy leaning against his leg. “Max, right?” He smiled.
The man, David, pointed to the stroller. “And that’s Katie.”
I nodded. “Yes. And I’m Payton.”
“Payton.”
He said my name with a grin on his lips. I wasn’t really sure what else to say. Small talk? The weather? “Have you guys checked out the butterfly exhibit yet?” Really? How did my family expect me to date? I couldn’t even have one casual conversation.
“We are on our way there right now.” His gin grew. “Would you like to join us?”
“We already walked through it.” I could have just said yes. I could have just gotten up and walked my sleeping baby through the damn thing one more time. What would it hurt? “Maybe next time?”
He nodded. “I’d like that.” The kid clutching his hand started to fidget, swaying from side to side, and obviously done waiting for his dad to finish talking so they could go. “It was nice running into you, Payton. I’d love to do it again.” His face was hopeful.
“Yeah, maybe.”
He walked away, looking back over his shoulder. I waved. “Bye, Max.” The adorable little boy turned, waving wildly. Is this what my life had come to? Meeting divorced men through well checks?
I sighed, peering into the stroller. “What’s wrong with me, Katie Bug? That guy seemed nice enough, right? He was cute. His kid was cuter, but still.” I rested my cheek on the hand that was holding her stroller in place. “What am I waiting for?”
I was waiting for Mason to come home. In the back of my mind, no matter how pissed off I was that he left, I was waiting for the day he walked back in the door. The tour went on for only three more weeks. What was three weeks in the grand scheme of things? Maybe he’d come home and sweep me off my feet. Beg me to forgive him and ask me to live happily ever after.