Page 89 of The Secret
“Mason, seriously, this is incredible. When you suggested living here rent-free in exchange for fixing the place up, I’d sort of expected you to slap some paint on the walls, maybe peel off that hideous paper MoonFlower liked in the kitchen. This is hardcore.” It wasexcessive.
“Realtors are gonna salivate,” Victoria said, stepping into the room.
“Victoria,” Mason said in a warning tone.
Lauren, her husband Chris, and Leandra stepped in, too, along with Constantine.
“What’s up?” Leandra looked worriedly between me and Mason. “Oh! Are you doing thisnow? I thought you said you’d wait until spring. Jared’s outside alone with all the kids.”
Mason sighed and gave me a guilty look. “Iwasgoing to wait. Until the work was done.”
“Why wait?” Victoria stepped forward and wrapped her arm around Mase’s waist. “Why not get it all settled right now?”
“Get what settled?” I demanded, looking from Mase to Leandra. “Why am I going to need a real estate agent?”
My eyes met Constantine’s and he crossed the room to stand at my side.
“I’m thinking I’ll move out next summer,” Mason began.
“Or sooner,” Victoria said.
“Christ,” Leandra muttered, rolling her eyes at Victoria.
“I was imagining…Wewere imagining,” Mason said, waving a hand to indicate Lauren and Leandra. “That you’d want to sell.” He shrugged. “You hate this place more than any of us, and you only bought it from MoonFlower so we’d have some stability—”
“Still can’t believe you actually called her that,” Con said in my ear.
I laughed shortly. “Still can’t believe the names are the part that shock you,” I mumbled back.
“So, yeah,” Mason said, looking from Con to me. “That’s all.”
I nodded. “Okay. Where do you think you’ll go?”
“Ah. Not sure,” Mason said. “Not too far, but—”
“Somewhere with an art museum and faster broadband,” Victoria said. “The city. Or the suburbs.”
“Both of which Mason always hated,” Lauren said. “I’ll never live anywhere but a small town.Isn’t that what you always said?”
Mason sighed. “Things change, Lauren. The move would be good for business.”
Leandra fumed. “At least when Micah left, we knew exactly why he was—”
“Enough!” I held out a hand and everyone quieted. “Nothing’s being decided today. Mase has a right to do whatever he wants. Let’s go enjoy the party.” I reached for Constantine’s hand.
But when everyone else had filed out, including Victoria—who rolled her eyes as she left—Mason put a hand on my arm to hold me back. “You mad?”
“Mason, why would I be?”
“I dunno. Feels a little weird. I know you bought this house for us, so we’d always have a place to call home. It was such a big deal. Such a point of pride. And now everyone’s moving on.”
“It was never about thehouse. It was about stability. As long as you’re moving on for the right reasons, it fulfilled its purpose, I guess.”
“Yeah,” Mason agreed. He summoned a smile and held out a hand for Constantine. “Sorry, we haven’t even been formally introduced. I’m Mason, the cause of all Micah’s gray hair.”
“Nice to meet you,” Con laughed, shaking it. “I’m Constantine, the cause of my mother’s grays.”
“We can trade stories sometime,” Mason said. “Did Micah ever tell you about the time I used a construction chute and a giant vat of coconut oil to make a slip and slide off the roof of my high school?”
