Page 104 of Take Me
“Beats me.Your cousin is very tight-lipped about her love life.”
“You think there’s something going on?”
“Maybe.”I’ve got my suspicions something happened between them, but Hazel’s not saying a word.“Guess we should go get in line for food.”
“Actually, do you have a sec?”He tips his head toward the spot where the construction crews dropped off the lumber last week.“I wanted to run something past you for the house.”
“Now?”
“It’ll just take a minute.”He watches his siblings line up at the buffet table.“I told Jake and Kaleb I’ll punch them in the junk if they eat all the food before we get there.”
“That’s funny,” I murmur.“I told their wives the same thing.”
He laughs and leads me through the trees toward the homesite.Ourhomesite, the place where we’ll start our lives as a married couple.We’re planning a simple wedding for ourselves, something small in the church where my parents got hitched so long ago.No froofy bridesmaid dresses or unity candles, but we do plan to plant a tree like Sam and Maxine did.
I assume that’s why Mason’s walking me toward the spot where we talked about putting it.We haven’t decided where it should go yet, but the edge of the house seems right.
“How’s the ring fitting?”he asks.
“Great.”I glance down at my finger and smile.“I’m liking the flush set.”
“That sounds like a toilet brush.”
Laughing, I hold up my hand.His grandmother’s diamond catches the light, tucked safely inside the bright band of rose gold.“My hand looks too pretty for cleaning toilets now.Guess that’s your job.”
“Sounds fair to me.”
We arrive at a clearing where Mason stops walking and turns.At first, I don’t see it.This seems like an odd spot for planting a tree.“I wonder if maybe it’s too close to the—oh.”
I spot the door propped against an old pine.The ancient brass doorknob looks battered and worn, the wooden slab peeling with ribbons of old paint.It’s charred on one corner, and I know in an instant what I’m looking at.
“Your grandparents’ door,” I breathe softly.“The one I have the key for.”
“Yeah.”He touches the edge with a reverence I see in his eyes.“Somehow, it survived the fire.”
“I can’t believe it still looks the same.”The faded red paint is a different hue than when I first used my key.Touching the lock, I turn to see Mason watching me.“It’s yours now?”
“It’s ours.”He smiles and takes my hand.“I thought we could refinish it and use it for our place.It’s still sturdy and strong—solid maple.They don’t make ’em like this anymore.”
“They don’t, do they?”I’m not just thinking about doors.Touching the edge, I’m taken right back to the earliest days of my friendship with Mason.I can picture my eight-year-old hand twisting the knob, opening the portal to family.I smell chowder and homemade bread, hear laughter in his grandmother’s kitchen.“It’s perfect.”
“I thought so, too.”Letting go of my hand, Mason steps around the side.“Want to see if it works?”
“Uh, what?”He lost me there.“What do you mean?”
“Go on, give it a try.”He ducks behind the door, then peeks out to grin at me.“Knock knock.”
I laugh and play along as he drums his knuckles on the old wood.“Who’s there?”
“Baby Yoda.”
I haven’t done this one before.“Baby Yoda who?”
Mason peers around the doorframe, grinning with his dimple on full display.“Baby, yo da one for me.”
I giggle and groan at the same time, which turns into a yelp as he pulls me in for a kiss.I’m surrounded by so much sensation.The tingle of his touch, the sounds of birdsong and laughter from the distant crowd.The smell of smoked salmon and muddy lake shore.The ripple of wind in my hair.
But the thing I feel most is Mason’s lips on mine.That, and a love so consuming, I almost can’t breathe.
He’s smiling as we draw back and look into each other’s eyes.“Lock the door, Gentry.Let’s test out the bed.”
“You’re a nutjob, you know that?”
“Yep.”Grinning, he kisses me again.“Yournutjob.”
I’m so fucking grateful for that.“Forever and ever, huh?”
“Think you can tolerate me that long?”
I pull him back down for another kiss.“You bet your ass I can.”
