Page 26 of Hammered and Nailed
He nodded and sighed. “Fair. But you need to talk to your parents before you let yourself get all bent out of shape. There might be a perfectly reasonable explanation for why they never told you about him.
“So, what? I just call and ask, out of the blue?”
Mason reached over and brushed a strand of stray hair from my face. “What elsecanyou do?” He took a slow breath. “Listen. It’s not like you know the entire dating history of both of your parents, right?”
“This wasn’t just dating,” I pointed out.
He shrugged. “Maybe you’re just freaking out because Stuart is a guy. There’s probably no big story here. Your dad has a past partner he never mentioned.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Do you think you might be reacting like this because of… us?” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple moving as he did.
I opened my mouth to protest but a cold wave rushed through me. He was probably—exactly—right. “Maybe.”
He nodded. “Okay, then.”
“But—” Mason’s eyebrows shot up as I spoke. I took a deep breath. “I just mean, my family’s so close. Why wouldn’t he have mentioned this?”
“I guess if that’s what’s bothering you, you should ask him that.”
I nodded and reached for my phone, hands shaking and Mason reached out to stop me.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m doing what you said. Calling to ask.”
“Now?”
“No time like the present.” I found the number in my contacts and tapped on it, heart racing, beating hard in my chest. It rang a couple of times before Mom answered.
“Hey, Em. What’s going on?”
“Hi, Mom. I was wondering if you and Dad had a few minutes to jump on a video call.”
“Yeah, of course honey. You sound upset. Is everything okay? You’re not in the ER or anything, are you?”
I laughed weakly. “Not in the ER. Still in the cabin, safe and sound.” A moment later, the video turned on and my phone lit up in my hand with the prompt to allow the video call to begin.I propped my phone against the safe and smiled a little as Mom and Dad both crowded into view.
“Oh, hi, Mason.” Mom gave him a little wave.
He nodded at her. “Mrs. Wilson. Nice to see you again. Same to you, Mr. Wilson.”
Their smiles were so genuine, so unsuspecting, and I hesitated to speak. Mom broke the silence. “What’s the update with you boys?”
Mason jumped right in. “Emery saved me from heat exhaustion today. I’m doing better now, but I was pretty sick there for a while.”
“Mason!” Mom fussed. “You have to take better care of yourself. What if you’d really gotten hurt?”
“The heat can be brutal this time of year, even at the lake,” Dad pointed out.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I promise, I’ll do my best not to let it happen again.”
We were both quiet for a quick moment before I found the courage to speak. “I found a safe in the back bedroom.”
My dad’s smile froze immediately. Mom nodded slowly. “Did you… open it?”
“I did.”
