by Natalie Ann
“Not at all. I’m cleaning up now. Everything okay? You don’t normally call me.”
No, she didn’t because she got fed up with always feeling like she’d never measure up. This might be the first time she’d called to give good or exciting news that didn’t have anything to do with school.
“I wanted to tell you something.”
“What’s that?” her mother asked. Jessica could hear the pots rattling in the background. Her mother couldn’t even stop what she was doing to pay attention fully.
“I’ve got a boyfriend.”
A pan crashed down loudly. “Really?”
Jessica smiled. “Yes. He’s so nice and sweet. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before.” Her voice rose a little higher and she had to rein it back in before she started to squeak. It probably wouldn’t have gone well with the urge to dance around the room too while she was trying to talk.
“I’m so glad you found someone. Is he in one of your classes?”
Here goes nothing. “No. I met him at work.” Deep silence. Crickets chirping which would have been welcomed over the eerie dead air of wondering if her mother was holding her breath or not. “Mom, are you there?”
“Yes. Sorry. Was he on a tour?”
“No. He works at the brewery.”
“Does he work in the office?” It was starting.
“Actually he does part of the time.”
“Meaning what?” her mother asked.
“I’m dating the owner. Mason Fierce.” There, she said it and it felt good to get it off her chest. It sounded even better. “Yep. I’m dating Mason Fierce,” she said a second time, just to hear it again.
“Jessica Ann,” her mother said. “I thought I raised you better than to fall for your boss. He’s probably just using you right now.”
“What? Of course he isn’t. Why would you think that?”
“Because he’s most likely older than you and you’re in college. He has more experience and just wants a plaything and you fell for it. I thought you were smarter than that.”
She felt her eyes fill with tears. Was it possible? Was that really what Mason thought of her?
No, she refused to believe that. He told his brother. His father guessed it and Mason didn’t deny it.
Her mother was wrong. She had to be. “It’s not like that.”
“You keep telling yourself that. He’s probably some guy that’s covered in tattoos with greasy hair and a beard down to his chest.”
Jessica opened and closed her mouth a few times, then felt her face fill with heat. “Why would you think that? If you looked up their company online, you’d see what he looks like. You’d see how successful he and his family are.”
“They make beer, Jesse. I know what kind of people they are.”
“I never realized how snobby you were. Or even why you are that way.”
“Don’t take that tone with me,” her mother said sharply like she was scolding a pupil in her class. “I have a right to my opinion. You’re my daughter and I’m concerned. Maybe I need to come for a visit.”
“No. You don’t. Stay there. And keep your opinion to yourself too,” she said, hanging up.
She wasn’t sure if she’d ever hung up on her mother before. Ever had a fight with her like this either. It was gut wrenching and she burst into tears.
Why couldn’t anyone ever be happy for her?
***
When Jessica didn’t answer his text or call, Mason got concerned and decided to drive to her house.
She’d only been gone an hour and though he had work to do, he just wanted to talk to her. Tease her a little about his father’s and brother’s reactions, make sure she was okay since she bolted away so fast.
He pulled in the parking lot and saw her car there and no lights on in the front of her apartment. He got out and went to the door and rang the doorbell. When she didn’t answer after the first time, he rang it again, then knocked. “Jessica? It’s Mason. Are you there? Are you okay?”
There was more silence, then he heard the lock turn. He was unprepared for her to pull it open looking like she’d been crying since she’d left work.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, moving in and shutting the door behind her.
“Nothing.”
“Your red eyes say otherwise. Not only that, you sound nasally. Are you sick?”
“Gee, thanks,” she said, walking over and grabbing a tissue to blow her nose. “No. I’m not sick. I feel fine.”
“Then why are you crying?” He pulled her into her living room and sat her on the couch, then took his jacket off and sat next to her. “Talk to me. Is it because of my father and brother?”
“No,” she rushed out to say. “It’s not that.”
“Did you do badly on a test?”
She laughed, or at least he thought that was the sound of laughter. “I don’t cry over bad grades.”
“Did I do something?” When she hesitated, he asked again. “Did I?” He was trying to think but couldn’t imagine anything that happened today to make her cry.
“No.”
“I don’t believe you.”
She burst into tears on him and he looked around the room trying to figure out what to do. He’d never had this happen before. Ella hardly cried at all. Not unless she was hurt and even then she was tough and barely wanted anyone to see her in a moment of weakness.
He pulled her close and held her because it was the only thing he could think to do at the moment.
“Are you using me?” she asked him suddenly.
He pushed her back and looked at her face. “What? No. Where did that come from? Do you think that?”
“I didn’t. I don’t. But I called my mother to tell her about you. To tell her I had a boyfriend and she got mad at me and said you were using me. She made it sound like you’d only want me for sex because I was younger than you.”
He felt his blood boil and wanted to put his fist through a wall. Holy shit. For a guy that hated violence so much he was feeling a lot of it lately.
He’d been worried about her getting too attached to him and found he was the one that was more attached. That it seemed he was the one that wanted to spend more time with her and now he was wondering if this was the reason. Seeds planted in her head most of her life.
“First off, I’m not using you. Not at all. I’ve never dated anyone that has worked for me before and if I’m not handling it right, then I’m sorry.”
“You’re handling it fine. I didn’t want anyone to know either.”
“Then why do you believe your mother over me?”
“I don’t really. I don’t know what to believe. I’m just really unsure and insecure. I don’t have any experience with this at all. You’re so much older than me. Why would you want to be involved with a college student?”
He took a deep breath. “You’re twenty-two. So you’re in college. Who cares? You’ll be done in a few months. You’re more mature than most of the girls I remember in college. You live on your own. You’re very responsible. You’re not some flighty party girl out for fun. And I’m less than ten years older than you, that isn’t a lot.”
“Is that what you want? If I was like that, would you have approached me? Is that the type of woman you normally dated?”
Oh boy, he opened a can of worms here. What should he say? He opted for the truth. “I don’t want that. If that was how you were, I wouldn’t have gotten involved with you. Unfortunately, though, that is a lot of the type of women I was involved with before.”
She sat back quickly. “That makes no sense. It’s what you always looked for but yet you wouldn’t have approached me if I was like that.”
Now she was angry, though he wasn’t sure why. He was losing control of this conversation but didn’t want to admit the truth. That those other women were part of an act he’d been playing for years. His acting days were over now.
“I’ve never had time for relationships before. Never even wanted to put the time
into one. That is why I ended up with women like that. But I don’t want that anymore. I’ve watched two of my brother’s get engaged and I see how it’s changed them and I’m jealous and want to try to find that myself. I wasn’t going to find that with the type of women I was dating. And for years I was okay with that life. I’m not now.”
“So you’re trying your hand at something different. That’s what I am. A test of sorts?”
Her eyes were flashing fire now. How the hell had this gotten turned around on him? Was there a shovel for him around here to dig himself out?
“You aren’t a test. Get that out of your head. Damn it,” he said, running his hands through his hair. “I wish you hadn’t called your mother and had her put all these ideas in your head. Before you talked to her, did you feel this way?”
“Not really.”
“Which means you did a little. So what made you feel that way?”
“Just that I wonder what you see in me. Even though I am younger, sometimes I don’t think you see that when you look at me.”
“I don’t see that. I don’t see age at all. I just see you. I see what we have in common and I see how you make me feel and that is all I look at.”
“How do I make you feel?”
Pretty soon the floor was going to be littered with the worms from all the cans he seemed to be opening.
“Different, but in a good way. Like someone I’ve never felt like before, but wanted to. I can’t explain it fully. Just tell me what I need to do to make you realize I’m not using you for anything other than I want you to be with me.”
“Do you mean that?”
“Yes. I don’t see anything other than the woman who talks and laughs with me when I look at you. Who makes me not want to run in another room when someone asks me a question.” He smiled at her. “I’m sorry your mother made you feel this way about us. Why does she?”
“No. I’m sorry for dumping this on you. My mother just has ideas in her head of what I should do with my life and who I should end up with.”
“And I’m not good enough for her?” he asked, wondering why he cared when he told himself years ago he wouldn’t be bothered by other’s thoughts.
“You’re good enough for me. I shouldn’t have pushed my feelings on you. I didn’t really believe what my mother was saying, but it’s hard not to think it.”
He pulled her close again. “I get it. I do. I guess there is a lot we both have to learn. You aren’t used to this any more than I am. But if you have any questions or concerns, just ask. Don’t assume.”
“I don’t want you to think I’m clingy or anything.”
“I won’t think that. I guess I’m not used to spending this much time with someone either, so maybe I’m coming off as clingy and should give you more space.”
“No. I mean. We’ve been spending Friday through Monday together. That seems to be our thing. I was just going to go with that.”
“I know you’ve got school, so I was trying to give you time to do your work.”
“Then why did you end up here now?” she asked.
“Beats the hell out of me,” he said, then laughed. “When you didn’t answer my text or call I thought something was wrong.”
“I didn’t get any messages,” she said. She stood up and pulled her phone off the counter to look at it. “Oops, I silenced it after I hung up on my mother.”
“So if you responded to me I wouldn’t have known you were here having doubts?”
“No. I wouldn’t have said anything.”
He didn’t like hearing that. That maybe she wasn’t going to be forthcoming when he’d been more than he ever was before. “Don’t do that,” he said. “Don’t keep things from me.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
His Relationship
Wednesday morning Mason walked through the back doors into the kitchen and up the stairs for their weekly meeting. It’d been a nice day and he left his truck at the brewery and walked over.
It was an hour before the place would open up for business, but Ella would be working upstairs along with her staff. Not that he ever stopped in to see anyone but Ella or Cade upstairs. There was never any reason to.
He knew by the few cars in the parking lot that Ella was the only one of his siblings in right now so he went to talk to her first. He didn’t feel like announcing it at the meeting...his relationship with Jessica.
He knocked on Ella’s doorframe, and she glanced up from where she was talking to one of her employees. The younger woman looked at him, sent him a smile, then left the room.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“No problem. She’s in here all the time asking silly questions that she should know the answers to.”
“You’re a tough boss,” he said, smirking at her.
“Not any tougher than you or the rest of us.”
She was probably right. They all had ridiculously high expectations of their staff and they compensated them well for that. “Do you have a few minutes before the meeting?”
She was grinning at him. No, smirking...because she had the smirk mastered better than them all. The one they got from their mother. “I do. Want to talk to me about Jessica?”
“Did Aiden tell you?”
“Of course not,” she said. “I figured it out.”
“How? You aren’t at the brewery that often to see us.”
“No, but she was here helping out when the vendors came in for the token machines. It was the way she talked about you, or how her eyes changed when your name came up.”
“Like what?” he asked.
She laughed at him. “I’m not telling you if you can’t see it yourself. But if you’re asking if I’m okay with it, the answer is absolutely. Just like I was with Brody and Aimee and Aiden and Nic. This is no different.”
“I didn’t think so. I didn’t really think I needed to say anything on a business front. Not in the meeting.”
“No. But we’re all close and it’s nice to be told on a family front if someone has a girlfriend. I’m assuming this is more than casual since you’ve never brought up another woman to us that I can remember. Not like this.”
“Yeah, it’s different.” He’d dated before, but Ella was right. It was only dating before and not much more. Had he brought women around to family parties in the summer? Sure. But this was different. Jessica was different. How or why he couldn’t really explain it more than what he felt and he was just going to go with it.
“You look happy.”
He tilted his head. “I’m always happy.”
“Not like this, Mason.”
She was probably right, considering he was thinking along those same lines for weeks now too. “I’ll get out of your hair. I hear footsteps coming now, so my guess is it’s Brody.”
“He’s always walked the heaviest. I don’t get that,” Ella said, shaking her head.
“It’s Brody. He is always announcing his presence in a room.” Which was why Mason was just the opposite and walked the lightest. The quietest.
“Got a second?” he said, following Brody down the hall to the conference room.
“Sure. Going to tell me about you and Jessica?”
Mason just sighed and wondered why he bothered when it seemed everyone already knew. “Did Aiden tell you?”
Brody laughed. “No. I was in the room when you were looking at her weeks ago while she was here sampling the apps with you. Looked to me like she wanted to gobble you up instead of the food Aiden had on the table. I told you back then to go after it. Looks like you’re still listening to me.”
Mason shook his head. No use arguing with Brody or commenting on Jessica wanting to gobble him up. He was sure she wouldn’t have had the first clue on what to do back then. She was catching on pretty damn fast now though.
Aiden came in a minute later and the three of them were just talking about life in general when Ella walked in. They were waiting for Cade again.
“Why is he always late?�
� Mason asked. “His office is here too.”
“He’s never in the office,” Ella said. “He’s always running around town meeting with people and doing crap.”
“His assistant is here though,” Brody said.
“She’s always here bright and early, but never Cade. He probably just rolled out of bed twenty minutes ago,” Ella said.
Mason wanted to jump in and defend Cade but then decided not to. Cade did his fair share of the work that the rest of them never wanted to deal with. If he worked fewer hours, then more power to him. He pulled his weight when it counted and that was all that mattered. Maybe in a small way, Mason was jealous of Cade and how he seemed to have more of a life than the rest of them did.
“Sorry I’m late,” Cade said, walking into the room. “Traffic was a bitch this morning.”
“If you got into the office when it opened you wouldn’t have that problem,” Brody said. The two of them went at it the most, entertaining the rest.
“I get more work done at home. You know that,” Cade said.
Since they’d all been in Cade’s place and had seen his home office, they knew he was telling the truth. He had more files and stuff home than he did here, just carrying his laptop everywhere with him.
“I’ll start,” Mason said before anyone could jump in.
“That’s a first,” Cade said, elbowing Aiden next to him.
“It has nothing to do with business,” Mason said. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m dating someone.”
“Really?” Cade said, his eyes lighting up. “Damn. Where did you meet her? You never go anywhere but work or home.”
“He met her at work,” Ella said. “Mom found her.”
Mason turned to look at Ella. It was the way she said “Mom found her” that had him frowning. “Mom thought it’d be a good idea to hire someone to do tours rather than pulling the guys off the floor. She suggested a woman to relate to the kids and women and started vetting everyone out, then narrowed it down to three.”
Ella laughed but didn’t say anything else. He’d have to find out what that was all about.
“Really?” Cade said. “What the heck is with you guys finding women at work?”