Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty-Five

Ainsley

For a change, the chime of my phone wakes me up before the alarm clock does. I push the blankets and stretch my limbs as far as I possibly can before checking my phone. My parents can wait, assuming they are the ones who texted me.

Mase: Remember my wishes? The ones I never told you what they were? I should have.

The picture is the silhouette of a couple with a caption.

Wish #1: To kiss you.

I cover my eyes with my forearm.

This isn't happening. Why is he doing this to me?

The second chime makes me groan, and as I check on the text, the image of the restaurant where we went on our first date appears.

Wish #2: Be your first date.

Before I can reply, the picture of a scribbled note appears. It reads, ‘Do you want to be my girlfriend yes or yes' Both are underlined and circled.

Wish #3: To be your boyfriend.

Nine: What are you doing? No, actually, stop what you're doing.

Another picture arrives: a calendar.

Wish #4: To be with you every day.

Wish #5: Make love to you.

Wish #6: Have you in my bed every night.

Wish #7:Make you fall in love with me.

When 7 happened, I blew 8 and 9…

I gasp as a sliver of hope is delivered in the form of our usual e-junk. My heart isn't tap dancing, but it stops sobbing.

Mase: I'm lost without my friend. Can we talk?

Now my heart is back to sobbing. Friend? He misses his friend. I'm such a sucker for romance that I believed he wanted something else… like talking about us and getting back together. Not to recover his fucking friend.

My brothers telling me that Mason was sobbing had me going for a few seconds, wishing that he'd come back.

Mase: Nine, talk to me.

Nine: No, sorry. I'm not at that stage of our breakup where we can be friends. Please stop texting me.

I follow my usual routine to get ready for work. During the routine, I add cooking for my brothers, who are asleep in the guest rooms. I prepare a frittata for breakfast and leave a note for them.

Morning,

Breakfast is inside the refrigerator. Warm it up in the oven. Three fifty for ten minutes. There's juice, cereal, milk, and mostly everything in the pantry. If you plan to stay for dinner, text me.

Love,

Ainsley

Today has to be a better day. I won't think about him for the next hour. Who am I kidding? Toby meows when I approach the staircase. He gave me a cat, he treated me like a queen, and then he dumped me. It's all my fault for creating an illusion based on a relationship he never offered but I wanted badly.

"Be nice to your uncles, sweetheart." I crouch and pet him.

"Meow."

"I'll miss you, too."

I open the back door and notice that the garage door is open. Wearing a plain white T-shirt, a pair of jeans that hug his muscular legs, and his industrial boots, Mason leans against Eleanor. His face sports a four, maybe five-day stubble, and his weary eyes are in urgent need of sleep. I fight with myself as I want to take his hand and put him in bed. Nourish him until he's rested.

Stay strong, Ainsley.

"Didn't you receive my last text?" I question him, wondering how I can climb inside my car and scoot away without having to listen to him.

"Five minutes. I only need five minutes and if in that time I can't convince you that… I just need one chance." He shows me his hand and points at each finger.

"Two, and you already wasted one."

"I was scared." He doesn't ask for more time, instead gets right to the point. "All my life, I've been moving from one home to another. I learned to be a nomad. It's easy to adapt to a new place and move on to the next one. But to stay and be rejected?"

He looks at me, almost terrified. "I was pushed and pulled by my parents. It's always been easier to leave instead of setting roots."

I force myself to listen and remain quiet, ordering myself that I shouldn't hurt him with my words. Poor thing, he looks worn down, and clearly, he's already hurting.

"I didn't realize what we had until Mom showed it to me and I panicked." I cross my arms, creating a shield between his words and my heart. "She called this my house , assuming we were together-together. The woman wanted to teach you how to cook. She wanted to take you with us to Vancouver. Mom asked me if we planned on having children. Too much too soon."

Children? I frown because we were together for only six months. Not even living together, and definitely not in love. Well, I was, he wouldn't let himself love.

"Too much too soon, what?" I growl, tipping my head to the side as I observe him. Mr. Logic is making no sense this morning.

"Too many things happened within days—hours," he explains, closing his eyes. "I feared that we'd end up like my parents, who had this tornado affair that ended as fast as it started. I'd be mourning for you for the rest of my life like I thought Dad was doing with Mom."

"That gave you the right to try to break my heart so viciously?" He closes his eyes and shakes his head. "You said we'd try it together. The relationship, the flying away, and loving each other. Instead, you let me create some Utopia inside my head and then you left me." I can't continue when he doesn't have any response—physical or verbal.

"Well, your minute is over, Mason."

He opens his eyes and straightens his stance, taking a few steps to where I am. The whiff of Mason's scent drags a heavy sigh out of me.

I miss him.

"One more chance, Ainse." He pins me down with those stormy eyes. "Please, Nine. After I had left the house, I realized the mistake I'd made. I was an idiot."

"On that much we agree, Mase." I duck and step to the side, opening the car door. "Look, Mason, things didn't work out, and you called it a day. I'm this intense, impatient woman who can't change the way she loves to accommodate your fears."

I pause for a few breaths.

"One day," I return to my rant. "One day, I'll want a house with the man I love… and who loves me . A promise of forever and four or five children, maybe a dog. That's not you. It'll never be you. You look better with a…" I bite my tongue because I won't insult him.

I won't hurt because I'm hurting.

"Ainse, please, I lo?—"

"Shut up." I raise my voice loud enough for the neighbors to hear me. "Do. Not. Do. This."

Yep, the neighbors are about to come over and check on me. Thankfully my parents aren't in town, or they'd jump to the rescue.

"Don't you dare say those three words right now. I waited too long for you to say them, and they never made it out before."

He opens his mouth, but I shake my head again.

"You have no right to say them," I demand him to stop. "Not after you crushed my heart. Not after you proposed that I become your fuck buddy. Not after you said I was making up the entire relationship and pressuring you."

Mason's stony eyes reflect hurt, and I stop because maybe there's another version. Not one I want to hear, though.

"This scene, I lived it years ago," I grudgingly remind him about it. "Porter asking for another chance after hurting me. I watched the movie, and it wasn't worth it the first time."

He flinches, his jaw tightening. "If you gave me a chance to tell you how I feel." He scratches his chin, his eyes hardening. "Explain to you what…"

Before he can say the words, I stop him once again, taking a big gulp of air to let the irritation, hurt, and confusion out. It doesn't work, everything is pressing against my chest. It won't go away unless I say something.

"FYI, if you ever say those words, you have to mean them. In fact, show them. Anyone can spit shit, but what matters, in the end, is the way you treat the people you care about. A piece of advice from your old friend: if you ever let yourself fall in love, show her. Show her that she means everything to you."

I jump inside Eleanor and leave him staring at me, mouth agape and eyes wide.

My heart shakes with anger, sadness, and a bit of joy as Mason almost said something I yearned to hear for so long. Too bad it's too late, and I'm not sure why he wants to say it now. A thought crosses my mind. What if he persists and stays at my house until I forgive him?

Would I forgive him?

A car behind me honks as the green light changes. As I continue driving, I daydream about the thousand ways Mason could ask me for a second chance.

Mason

Ainse holds my stare for a few seconds before jumping in Eleanor and jetting off from the house. I deserve what she said. If only I had spoken out loud.

"Our exact words were, ‘wait, we'll talk to her,' when we left you in the penthouse." Jacob walks through the door that connects the attached garage to the house. "Were you that drunk when we ordered you to stay put?"

No, I wasn't, but they don't get the urgency. I have to fix things between us. My lungs and my heart are about to give up because she's no longer with me.

"Dude, you already sang the story several times. I know you love her—everyone knows."

That's a given. "You believe me?"

Jacob puts a hand on my shoulder. "She's your true love, your soul mate. Remember, the Colthurst-Decker clan believes in all that magical shit."

True, they do, and if someone knows about finding that magic, it's Jacob. Sadly, he found it too soon and lost it that fast.

"Tell me what happened just now," Jacob questions.

Skipping the texts, I recite everything she told me up to the moment she scurried away from me and jumped into her car, leaving me cold.

"A miracle, my friend. That's what you need. The key is finding it," he suggests and closes the garage door, prompting me to follow him inside the house. "What do you have up your sleeve, loverboy?"

Toby pounces from the couch where he was curled up only seconds ago and walks to me, meowing. I bend down and pull him to me. He purrs when I gently scratch behind his ears. "Yes, baby, I missed you, too."

"Fuck, why can't I get a decent night's sleep after being up for almost two days?" Matt treks down the stairs. "Oh, you came before we told you to. I bet my little sister sent you right back where you came from, didn't she?"

I exhale loudly and nod.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Breakfast," Jacob points to the kitchen. "Then we'll try to help loverboy fix his shit. Let me tell you the complete story, bro. He's buried in a deep pile of shit. Maybe the parents will have to interfere, too."