Her eyes went wide. “Seriously?”
Nodding again, he said, “Seriously.”
“Why? Why would you do that? I thought…”
He held up a hand to stop her. “Yeah, I know what you thought.” There was no malice in his tone, only a hint of sadness. “We’ll talk about it later.” Looking at his watch, he frowned. “I should have left here an hour ago. I need to get back to the office and make some calls.” Sliding from the booth, he smiled and held out a hand to help her out. Once she was standing in front of him, he seemed a little hesitant to let her go. After a minute, he asked, “So, you’re sure seven is okay for you?”
“Definitely. I’ll be back from Happy Tails by then.”
He turned to walk away and then looked back at her. “Your usual order?”
Scarlett felt herself blush. “Um…yeah. Add a pint of egg drop soup if you don’t mind.” Her hand went to her stomach without her even realizing it. Mason’s gaze narrowed again but he simply said he’d see her later and walked back to the kitchen to presumably talk to his sister and Gramps.
Unsure of what she was supposed to do, Scarlett had no choice but to follow so she could at least say goodbye to her grandfather. She hadn’t gone more than five steps when he came out of the kitchen with a smile on his face. When he was standing in front of her, his smile grew.
“Don’t think for a minute that I believe you stopped in here to see me,” he said lightly, but in a hushed tone.
Why deny it? “Okay, fine. I was on my way to help out Ed and Christine and saw his car here. What’s going on, Gramps?”
He waved her off. “Just working through some stuff. But I’ve got to tell you, Mason’s a really nice guy. I think you misjudged him.”
And yeah, she rolled her eyes. “Gramps…”
“What? I’m serious! I figured he’d be some smart-mouthed punk who I was going to have to put in his place, but…” He shrugged. “He won me over. Why? Because he’s a smart businessman and he reminds me of Zeke.”
“You mean the guy who swindled you out of your livelihood?” she asked, unable to hide her sarcasm.
His expression fell. “Scarlett, is that really what you think?”
And something in his tone made her realize just how wrong she possibly was.
And just how much she may have cost herself.
“Well…it just seems like…”
Tommy wrapped an arm around her and led her back to the same booth she had just vacated with Mason. When they were both seated, he reached across the table and took her hands in his. “Zeke was the fairest man I’ve ever met. He did nothing but try to help me, Scarlett. I was the one who messed up. Me. No one else. No one swindled me. No one took advantage of me. If anything, you could say that I was the one who took advantage–mainly because I thought he would keep giving me chance after chance after chance…”
“Gramps…”
He squeezed her hands tight. “No, you listen to me–I said a lot of things in the heat of anger, but the only one I was mad at was myself.” He turned and looked over toward the kitchen. “That man in there is doing something he doesn’t have to do. He could have had me out of here months ago and had this place bulldozed to the ground so he could sell the property. And he would have been one hundred percent right to do that. But look at him back there–walking around my filthy kitchen with his sister trying to find ways to make this crazy ol’ place work. He could have a big, fat check in his hand by now if he really wanted it.”
Sighing, she looked at him sadly. “He really is a great guy…”
“Then maybe cut him some slack, okay?”
“I’m going to see him tonight for dinner to talk about this campaign…”
Tommy squeezed her hands one more time. “Sure. You keep telling yourself that,” he said with a wink.
Eleven
Confidence was never a problem.
Then he started spending time with Scarlett Jones.
Mason sat in his car and stared at the long driveway that led up to Scarlett’s house and wondered–not for the first time–if he were crazy to be doing this.
They were done–as she had so clearly told him not so long ago. So why was he here? Why was he sitting here parked on the side of the road contemplating driving up to her house, bringing her dinner, and pretending he actually gave a damn about the social media campaign she could come up with?
Okay, the last one was a lie because he really was curious, but tonight being here in her house and talking to her with no distractions was going to be the worst form of torture for him. And he had no idea how he was going to get through it.
Had he ever stepped away from a challenge?
Maybe a time or two.
Was he ready to step away from this one?
Not on his life.
As he put the car in drive and made his way closer to Scarlett’s house, he called himself every kind of fool. She had the potential to break his heart like no one ever had. Again. But it didn’t matter. The bottom line was that he’d be willing to do it all again because she meant that much to him. She’d captured his heart, his mind, and all his attention the night at the concert whether she knew it or not.
And she still had them.
But he really hoped she didn’t stomp all over them again.
“Man up, Bishop,” he murmured, parking the car. Grabbing the bag of food, he climbed from the car and walked up to her front door. It felt a little weird to be knocking, but…here he was. Hand raised, he was just about to knock when the door opened and…his heart kicked hard in his chest.
It didn’t matter that he had seen her only hours ago. When he looked at Scarlett, he saw everything he ever wanted in a woman.
“Hey,” she said, her smile a little nervous. Opening the door for him to come in, Mason noticed she gave him way more space than he needed.
He didn’t take it as a good sign.
Refusing to dwell on it, Mason walked in and began unpacking the food at her kitchen table. “How were the dogs today?” he asked.
Scarlett walked over and together they worked to finish setting the table. “A litter of puppies was dropped off this afternoon and we were scrambling for supplies for them.” Sighing, she placed a pitcher of sweet tea on the table. Straightening, she looked at him. “It breaks my heart how people do that–how they can just walk away without even trying to take care of them.”
“You don’t know that for sure…”
“They were left in a box on Christine’s porch,” she said sadly. “They didn’t even knock to let her know they were there. It’s not the first time it’s happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. It just sucks.”
Nodding, he walked over and pulled her chair out for her. She looked at him oddly before a small smile played at her lips.
Lips he wanted desperately to kiss.
“Thank you,” she said.
Sitting beside her, he watched as she placed the smallest amount of food on her plate and then filled a bowl with the egg drop soup. She clearly wasn’t fully over whatever ailment she had since she was eating so cautiously. He was about to ask her about it but figured it probably wasn’t the best dinner conversation.
“What kind of puppies were they?” he asked, scooping some shrimp and broccoli onto his plate.
“I’m pregnant,” Scarlett blurted out quickly, her eyes a little wide and wild.
The spoon clattered to the floor as he stared at her for what felt like a solid minute. He couldn’t even be sure he blinked or breathed. “Um…what?” His heart was hammering hard in his chest and he couldn’t feel his hands.
She nodded and then looked away. “Uh…yeah. So…”
A million thoughts raced through his mind and it was hard to form even one coherent word. He tried. Multiple times. But his throat was dry and his tongue felt like it was the size of his fist. Out of all the things he imagined he’d talk to Scarlett about tonight, this totally wasn’t on the list. Hell, he hadn’t even thought of it being a
possibility in weeks. In his mind, it was a crisis-averted type of situation.
And now my chest hurts…
Reaching for the pitcher of tea, he poured himself a glass–spilling a good portion of it–and quickly drank it down.
“Mason…say something,” Scarlett prompted, jumping up to grab a towel to clean up his mess. “I know this is a shock…”
He took several long breaths and carefully placed the glass back down on the table. Staring up at her, he could see the panic on her face and knew this couldn’t have been easy for her.
“When did you find out?” he finally forced himself to ask.
“Last week,” she said, and he heard the hesitation–and possibly regret.
With a curt nod, he stood and began to pace. His first thought was how he was glad he hadn’t eaten anything yet because he certainly felt like he was going to be sick. Then he looked at Scarlett and…
He couldn’t help it–the look of utter panic on her face had him walking over and wrapping her in his arms. Holding her tight, he kissed the top of her head. “Are you okay?” he asked after a moment of letting himself simply enjoy the feel of her there–where she belonged.
Her body trembled slightly as she burrowed in close to him. “I’m getting there,” she said quietly. So many questions raced through his head, but he knew they both needed this moment to come to grips with everything together.
After several minutes, Mason guided Scarlett back to her chair and they both sat down. He immediately missed the feel of her and reached for her hand. Letting out a long breath, he offered her a small smile. “Okay, so…now what?”
She was about to answer when her phone rang. He was hoping she would ignore it–and it looked like she was going to–when his phone began to ring too.
“That’s a little freaky,” Scarlett commented, standing to reach for her phone.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, Mason looked down and saw Peyton’s name on the screen and was about to ignore it, but Scarlett had walked out of the room to take her call and he figured he could make this quick.
“Hey, Peyton. What’s up?”
“There’s a fire at the bar!” she cried. “Come quick! We’re waiting on the fire department!”
Jumping up, he said, “I’m on my way” just as Scarlett ran back into the room looking a little wide-eyed. Reaching for her hand, he said, “Let’s go!”
It wasn’t until they were in his car and he was speeding out of the driveway when Scarlett asked how he knew what was going on.
“My sister called,” he said, both hands gripping the steering wheel. “She’s been helping Tommy with the kitchen and we had an inspector come in to talk about what was needed.”
“Oh, God,” she groaned. “How outdated was everything?”
“It wasn’t that bad,” he replied, “although…you wouldn’t know it from looking at the stuff. He gets inspected every year and has kept up with any repairs he’s told to, but…” He shrugged. “Who called you?”
“My brother, Dean. He was leaving the garage when he heard an explosion.”
“An explosion?” he cried. Why the hell hadn’t Peyton mentioned an explosion? “Did he say what happened?”
She shook her head. “It sounded like pure chaos! It’s going to be crazy when we get there. I just know it!” She paused. “What if people got hurt? What if my grandfather is hurt?”
Mason could hear the near hysteria in her voice and reached over and grabbed for her hand. “We have to think positive, Scarlett.” As much as he tried to sound calm, the truth was that he was a bit of a mess himself. His sister could be hurt and he was the reason she was there. Tommy could be hurt, customers…and he owned it all. This could all possibly be his fault.
They drove the rest of the way in silence and when they got close to the scene, it was already littered with fire trucks, ambulances, and dozens of spectators. Mason pulled over to the side of the road and threw the car in park. Scarlett was out and running toward the building which was seriously engulfed in flames. He chased after her, banging people out of the way as he went.
Now wasn’t the time to remember how he had chased her through a crowd once before…
There were barricades already up and someone grabbed her before she could break past them. When he caught up to her, he heard Scarlett cursing at whoever was holding her. It took Mason no time to realize it was one of her brothers. The resemblance was that strong.
“But he’s still in there!” she screamed, wriggling in her brother’s arms. “We have to get to him!”
Mason’s eyes instantly began scanning the scene looking for his sister. He was growing more and more frantic by the minute. Even though she called him and didn’t mention being hurt, he needed to see her to be sure. He was about to turn away when…
“Ow! What the hell, Scarlett?” her brother yelled. Mason turned and saw her take off again, but this time he was closer and reached out and grabbed her before she could go more than a handful of feet.
“Put me down, Mason!” she cried out. Her back was against his chest and she was doing her best to elbow him in the stomach and kick him at the same time.
She succeeded more times than he cared to admit.
“That’s enough!” he snapped, his arms holding her like a vise. “You can’t go in there!”
“He’s still inside! Someone has to get to him!”
“There are firefighters all over the place,” he argued heatedly. “They are going to get Tommy out! You going in there isn’t going to help anything!”
The curses that flew out of her mouth were enough to make most people blush. Her brother stormed over and looked ready to kill him for manhandling his sister, but Scarlett merely kicked at him too.
“I’m…just…” Kick. “Going to…” Elbow jab. “Help him!” Headbutt to the chin.
Mason’s arms loosened as he saw stars from her last blow, but as soon as both her feet were on the ground, he reached out and spun her around–done with being assaulted.
Grasping both her shoulders hard, he gave a quick shake. “That is enough, dammit! You are not going in there!”
“How dare you…?”
“Not only are you endangering your grandfather by running in there–because you’ll be distracting the firefighters from doing their job–but you’ll risk hurting yourself, Scarlett!” Another shake. “You’re pregnant, for crying out loud! I’m not going to allow you to risk yourself and our baby over this!”
Her eyes went wide at his words and Mason suddenly felt several people close in around them.
“What?!”
Uh-oh…
She stilled instantly and stared at Mason in shock.
In every scenario she played out in her head about telling her family she was pregnant, not once were they standing in front of a burning building while Mason blurted it out there for all the world to hear!
Her eyes never left his, but she knew Dean and her father were behind her and she spotted Peyton standing there looking shocked too.
Dammit.
Mason was instantly pushed aside as her brother and then her father stepped in front of her. “Is this true, Scarlett?” her father asked. “You’re pregnant?”
“Um…”
“Is that why you were sick?” Dean asked, his brows furrowed as he stared down at her.
Looking between the two of them, she felt herself starting to panic because she wasn’t ready to talk to them about it yet. Hell, she hardly had time to talk to Mason about it! “Can we please focus on the real issue here? Gramps is trapped inside the bar!” she cried out, pointing toward the building. “Doesn’t anyone care that they haven’t brought him out yet?”
As if on cue, there was a flurry of activity by the building as the paramedics met a team of firefighters who were carrying her grandfather out of the building. Scarlett went to run toward him, but three pairs of hands held her back. Tears and smoke stung her eyes and when she was pulled in close to someone, she instinctively knew it was
Mason.
“I’ve got her,” he said to her family, and she was mildly surprised when no one argued. He held her close and she just wanted to collapse to the ground. This was all too much–everything. It was hard to focus on which situation was causing the most stress, but right now all she needed was to know her grandfather was okay. Straightening, she shifted in Mason’s arms and looked toward where the paramedics had taken Gramps. Looking up at Mason, she said, “Please.”
With a curt nod, they began making their way toward the ambulance with her father, Dean, and Peyton hot on their heels.
Tommy was on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on his face, but he was awake and coughing. Scarlett almost sagged with relief. They loaded him into the ambulance and she couldn’t find her voice to ask if he was going to be okay. Watching the doors close and the paramedics run around climbing in, she could do nothing but watch them drive away.
“We need to go!” she demanded, looking up at Mason. “C’mon! We’ll follow them!” He looked toward the building and could tell he was torn.
“Dad,” Dean said authoritatively, “take Scarlett and go to the hospital to make sure Gramps is okay.” He looked over at Peyton. “You should probably go get checked out too.”
Shaking her head, Peyton hooked an arm through Mason’s. “I will in a little bit. I need to make sure everyone else is okay.”
Scarlett didn’t know Mason’s sister at all, but in that moment, she had a lot of respect for her. Looking up at Mason, she said, “I have to do this. I need to make sure he’s okay.”
He was so tense and so serious and for a minute she thought he was going to tell her no. Instead, he leaned in and gave her a fierce kiss. “Go. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Relief washed over her and she cupped his face and kissed him again. “Thank you.” And then she looked over at her father and nodded. “Let’s go.”
Making their way quickly through the crowd and then across the street, neither spoke as they climbed into her father’s truck and began maneuvering through the traffic along the main road. It wasn’t until they were driving the speed limit that Scarlett realized she was going to have to be the one to break the silence. Dominic Jones was a man of few words as it was, and when it had to do with anything emotional, he said even less.
In Case You Didn’t Know Page 16