Page 5 of The Master

“I don’t really like a lot of music,” Jacob confessed. “But I like baseball. Do you know any baseball players?”

“That depends. Who do you follow?” Unless things had changed in the years I’d been gone, we were a Yankees family. If Jacob said the Mets, he and I were going to have a serious uncle-to-nephew discussion before we even got to the cake.

“The Indians.” He managed to make me believe him for a few seconds before he grinned. “Yankees, who else?”

“I get tickets from time to time.” I bobbed my eyebrows up and down. “Perks for the label, for my artists. Box seats, behind the dugouts, behind home plate, all the best places. Next time I get some, I’ll ask your dad if I can take you.”

The way the kid’s face lit up, I hoped my brother would let him go with me. If I had to, I’d let David and Jacob go on their own. I didn’t want them to think I was trying to buy their affection, but if I could make them happy with the things I could give them, I’d do it without a second thought.

Catherine grabbed my hand, capturing my attention again. “Where’s Ashlee?”

My smile froze in place. Of course, Catherine would want to know where Ashlee was. My niece had latched onto Ashlee the two times they’d met. My mom had probably figured out that something was wrong, but the kids hadn’t yet gotten to the points in their lives where they’d learned to read other people’s body language to know whether or not certain questions should be asked.

“She couldn’t come today.” I offered the truest statement I could give them that wouldn’t make them sad or make me utterly miserable for the rest of the day.

I wasn’t going to ruin my nephew’s birthday party because things with Ashlee had imploded. Eventually, I’d have to tell them why she wasn’t around anymore, but not today.

Four

Ashlee

The weather was absolutelygorgeous today, and it was finally warm enough for Mom and me to have our Sunday brunch outside. Except I was sitting at our usual outside table, and she wasn’t here yet. I looked down at my phone and tried not to worry. With it being such a nice day, there was probably a lot of foot traffic and issues with parking spaces.

“Do you want a refill?” Our usual waitress, Tiffany, came over. “Your mom caught in traffic? I heard there’s some new construction out her way.”

“I’m good with what I have,” I said, my smile genuine despite my concern. “I haven’t been able to get ahold of her, but she doesn’t answer when she’s driving, so that makes sense.”

“All right,” Tiffany said. “I’ll keep an eye out for her. Flag me down if you want something before then.”

“Thanks.”

Mom and I generally talked to her a bit, checked in to see how things were going. Well, more Mom than me. She’d always been the more social of the two of us. I’d never been good at small talk with people I didn’t know well, especially not when I was by myself.

Another problem of me being by myself at the moment was that I had no one to distract me from wondering what Nate was doing today. This past week, I’d kept myself busy intentionally because no matter how pissed I was at him, there hadn’t been much I’d found that could get me to stop thinking about him. Pretty much,Lord of the Ringswith Gary and Perry had been the only thing that’d helped so far, and I didn’t want to spend my life lost in the fantasy world of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Fortunately for me, we still hadReturn of the Kingto get through. Maybe if I picked up some food on my way home, I could talk them into watching it tonight. I’d have to deal with this myself at some point, but I wasn’t there yet. I wanted to be. I wanted to move past him and start the part of my life that had nothing to do with him.

And I needed to stop thinking of him in pronouns. The man had a name.

I shot off a text to Gary and Perry and wondered if they’d have any advice for how I could do just that. I’d never had to deal with this particular issue before. The biggest problem wasn’t coming up with a solution, however. It was the fact that I was pretty sure I had something that would help.

I needed to find another job.

And before I did that, I needed to talk to both of my parents.

There was a phrase I never thought I’d say again.

When Mona Wadsworth had walked out on Mom and me, I still hadn’t made the decision to look for my biological father. Even after I’d decided to find him, I hadn’t thought of my search actually resulting in having two parents in my life.

Once Mom got here, I’d swallow my pride and tell her about what happened with Nate. I couldn’t let my fear of disappointing her keep me from telling her the truth. Besides, what was the point of having a close relationship with my mother if I didn’t take advantage of her wisdom? If anyone knew how to get past an awful break-up, it was her.

After I had a plan in place, I’d talk to my father. I’d come to Manhattan Records to get to know him, but now that he knew about me, I didn’t need to stay. He and I would continue to build our relationship no matter where I was employed. If I was being completely honest with myself, it might actually be easier for Finley if he could keep Nate and me in separate worlds. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt my father.

I finished my tea and considered ordering something light I could munch on while I waited for Mom. I wasn’t really hungry, but maybe food could be a distraction from all the ways Nate and I were awful for each other. We should have known it from the very start. We might’ve both been raised in middle-class New York City, but that was where commonality ended. We came from two totally different worlds.

“Let me refill that,” Tiffany said as she appeared at the table. She set a plate of French fries in front of me. “They’re on the house. Someone changed their mind, but Manny’d already made the fries.”

“Thanks.”

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