Page 92 of Hypnotized By Love

“What are you going to do about Bridget?” Sierra asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you mind if I talk to her?”

“Why would I mind? She’s your friend, too.”

She pointed out, “You minded that I was friends with Mason.”

True. But, again, those two situations were very different, as I’d discovered. “Your friendship with Bridget is your business.”

“Wow, look at you. Do you see that?” she asked. “That’s what we like to call growth. And speaking of growth, how do you feel about Mason?”

Those two things were not related, but I said, “I’m still figuring that out.”

“It puts you in kind of a weird position with him, doesn’t it? You were so mad about something he didn’t even do.”

“I should have listened to you and talked to him a long time ago,” I said.

She considered this information. “I don’t know if that’s necessarily correct. I’m a big believer in things working out when they’re supposed to.”

“Like how?”

“Let’s say you knew it was Bridget who spread the rumor in high school. You would have hated her, and we never would have gotten to know her and her mom and what an amazing person she is.”

She had a point, and I nodded.

“And if you and Mason had started dating, you two went to colleges on opposite sides of the country. What are the odds that your relationship would have worked? He was pursuing literary fame, and you were figuring out who you were and what you wanted to do. You might have broken up. But now you’re in the right place at the right time for both of you, when things can work out and last.”

“Maybe,” I agreed. “Or he and I might be married by now and giving Nana those great-grandchildren she wants so badly.”

Again, this thought didn’t terrify me as it had in my previous relationships. In the past, the second things looked like they were getting even remotely serious, I ended it.

At least now I could admit that it was because of the feelings I’d always had for Mason. Despite how furious I had been with him, deep down I didn’t want to be with anyone but him.

Sierra said, “Well, if you’d talked to him about this situation, like, at that first hypnosis session, you wouldn’t have believed him when he denied it.”

“That’s true.” I wouldn’t have. I had to be in the right frame of mind to hear it and believe him. I had already decided that he was the one who’d started the gossip, and I would have taken his denials as further evidence that he’d been responsible.

Those hate-filled goggles of mine really would have skewed my perspective. I hadn’t been emotionally ready to hear the truth.

“So, if you can picture yourself married to Mason in some alternate timeline ... you do love him, too, right?” It shouldn’t have surprised me that Sierra was going to hone in on this point, even though I’d just told her I was still figuring things out.

Probably because she knew me too well.

“What makes you say that?” It wasn’t an outright denial.

“Mason is a great guy. He’s caring and kind, smart, fun, protective, loyal, and he makes you a better person.”

“He makes me a better person?” I repeated. “How?” Because I had not been my best self since he’d come back home.

“You like that he’s competitive with you. You couldn’t stand guys who didn’t challenge you constantly.”

“That ...” Was that right?

“You like that Mason keeps you on your toes. That he doesn’t act the way you expect him to. And the banter. Even while you were mad at him—I overheard the banter! You two are the cutest.”

When had she overheard us? “Have you been eavesdropping?”

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