Page 65 of Hypnotized By Love

As Mom and I went down the stairs, I reminded myself that it didn’t matter. Even if in some alternate timeline Mason and I wanted to be together, he was a client, and the last thing I needed was for gossip that we were dating to get around town and for Vivian to mention it the next time she talked to her brother.

Mason might be hot, but I wasn’t willing to risk my career for him. Anger was my weapon of choice, a feeling I understood all too well. I had to keep it close by, use it, so that I could control myself around him.

We went into the family room, and everybody was sitting on the couch. Nana was in her favorite armchair, which my dad usually occupied when he watched sports. She smelled the flowers that Mason had given her and then told my mom to put them in some water.

Heather came over to hug me hello. I hugged her tightly and said, “Is everything okay?”

“Just a bit of a health scare,” she said. “I think I’ll be fine, though.”

No one else was paying attention to us, as they were all talking, but I still looked at Sierra to see if she’d overheard. I wondered if she knew what was going on.

Heather took her seat again, and I went over and kissed my grandma on the forehead. “How are you, Nana?”

“No news is good news,” she said. “How are you, one of my favorite granddaughters?”

Sierra and I were her only grandchildren, but it still made me smile.

“I’m good,” I told her, lying through my teeth. Nana would definitely be on Mason’s side. Especially after the flowers.

“Have a seat,” she said, and it was then that I noted that Sierra must have engineered the seating arrangements, as the only empty spot was next to Mason.

I wasn’t going to fall for that trap. I sat down on the couch in between my sister and my father, even though there really wasn’t any room. Sierra protested, but this was her fault. She could go sit by Mason.

“Did you see my flowers?” Nana asked, and I nodded.

“They are pretty,” I said.

She reached over to pat Mason on the knee. “Such a good boy. One of you should marry him and give me some great-grandbabies.”

“Sierra’s not dating anyone,” I offered, and my sister frowned at me. She didn’t like being thrown into the lion’s den any more than I did. Nana, who’d only had one baby, my father, later in life, had always wanted a large family. We fed that need for her for a little while, but once we’d turned twenty-one, she had basically decided we were old enough to start popping out great-grandchildren for her, and she talked about it every Sunday.

She turned back toward Mason. “You should really be passing on those genes of yours.”

“Well, if I find the right girl, I’ll do just that.”

Of course he was staring at me when he said it, and I felt like everyone in the room noticed.

“I didn’t bring my readers. Can you go outside and grab the newspaper and tell me what the headlines are? Then I can tell you if I want you to read the article,” Nana said to Mason.

Newspaper? We hadn’t had one of those delivered since I was in elementary school. Nana usually brought her own—why did she think we had one here?

“You forgot your paper, Mom,” my dad reminded her.

Mason grabbed his phone. “I could read you some of the headlines that Google recommends.”

“That would be fine,” she said.

“Okay. The first one is an article about how to wake up every day at five o’clock in the morning. I’m guessing it involves an alarm clock.”

I twisted my lips together so that I wouldn’t laugh.

“Not that one. Next.”

He scrolled a bit. “Here’s one about seven ways to not die from a rattlesnake bite. I would bet the first recommendation will be to not get bit.”

I couldn’t help it. A short laugh escaped, and his eyes lit up when he heard it.

Mad. I was mad at him. Why couldn’t I remember that? Why was it so hard to conjure up those feelings?

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