Ex Games

“Vermont. Super blue-collar town in Bennington County. I’d say the name but you haven’t heard of it, and it’s nothing to know about anyway,” I smiled a bit sheepishly. “And I didn’t stay there long. It was just the last place I lived with my mom before she sent me off to some poor relative who really couldn’t afford me more than she could.” I looked up to catch Mason’s reaction to the fact that I hadn’t grown up in the upper middle class dream that people always assumed I came from. I expected to see him wrinkle his nose a bit like Aaron had when he heard I’d once lived in a trailer home. But there was nothing of that kind of expression, no flinch at all in any of Mason’s perfectly symmetrical features. All he did was nod and keep his attention fixed gently on me so I’d continue talking. “Anyway, I bounced around to other relatives before she got someone to take me in for good. It was nice because I got to spend my high school years in White River Junction, which is a small town where you kind of have to make your own entertainment, but it was a good community. It made up for the fact that I was with Aunt Joy, whose name I think was… some kind of cruel joke,” I laughed to myself, quiet as I thought for the first time in ages about the woman who used to spend entire days chain smoking in the living room and watching all the conspiracy theory documentaries Netflix had to offer. “She worked part-time at the grocery store before I moved in but once I came around, she quit and made me pay seven hundred dollars a month in rent and utilities… which for a fifteen-year-old was kind of difficult. But if I didn’t, I had nowhere else to go.”

Mason frowned. “So you managed to do that?”

I took a sip of my wine, letting the bitter tannins coat my tongue. “With two jobs after school. Didn’t leave much room for a social life but at least I got to fantasize a lot about how I was going to leave the second I graduated. Which is exactly what I did.”

“Pretty fucking impressive.” Mason nodded with approval. “Especially considering you moved straight to one of the most expensive cities in the country.”

I blushed. “Trust me, it probably wasn’t the smartest move, and I struggled for awhile to get a job. No one wants to hire you in New York unless you have New York experience, but you can’t get New York experience unless someone hires you. It was definitely a struggle, and I wouldn’t have found anything if it weren’t for my math teacher from high school. She was the one who’d see me walking into her homeroom like a zombie because I could never start studying till I got home from work, and considering I had to go several towns over to find my second job, that wasn’t till ten, eleven at night. So she was the on

e who helped me make a template so I could know how much to set aside and save for myself so I could move.” I shook my head at myself, holding my wine glass against my bottom lip as I thought about how bullheaded and foolish I was as a kid. “She tried so hard to convince me to go somewhere besides New York, but I was so young and dumb and I’d watched so many movies where I saw Fifth Avenue or the Empire State Building. And I was just set in my mind, so when I graduated, I came here and floundered cluelessly for about eight months till I was almost out of money.”

Mason had a hand thrust in his hair as he processed my story thus far. “I can’t believe this is you. I don’t know why, but I just assumed you’d started out differently here.”

“I know. I can’t believe either when I think about it. I used to survive on peanut butter or grilled cheeses all week, so it definitely feels like I’ve come pretty far,” I said quietly.

Mason shook his head, looking stunned. “You have and you should be proud. You did it all on your own.”

“Well. Not quite,” I admitted. “I called my math teacher when I was back to unemployed and wondering if I could really make it in this city. She could hear the desperation in my voice, so she wound up calling…” I squinted. “I believe it was her mother-in-law’s church friend’s goddaughter…” I laughed at Mason’s face of pure astonishment. “I know. She called that person to see if she’d be willing to give me an internship. And from what I understand, she called her every week for two months until she gave in and contacted me for an interview at this crazy famous restaurant group I couldn’t believe I even had a connection to. And even crazier than that, I actually got hired. I started as a paid intern and it took two years to become an assistant, and then another two before I became an official event coordinator for Vandermark Restaurants.”

Mason was grinning at the improbability of my story. “Fuck. That title at the age of twenty-three is pretty unbelievable,” he said, putting a glow on my face. “And the fact that this woman believed so fiercely in you certainly says something about what a hard worker you were from the start.”

“I hope so,” I nodded, smiling to myself. “Her name is Lori.”

“Your teacher?”

“No, the woman who hired me to Vandermark. I consider her one of my best friends now, too,” I said, thinking guiltily about how I hadn’t updated Lori at all regarding my “fauxmance” with Mason. But now there was so much to explain that I figured I’d just wait till I got back to work.

“That’s amazing,” Mason remarked, his blue eyes glimmering as they traced the pride curving the edges of my lips. “What was your teacher’s name?”

My smile faltered a bit. “It’s going to sound weird, but I don’t really like saying her name aloud.”

Mason looked confused. “Why?” he asked.

“Um… hard to explain but I’ll just say it. It’s Mrs. Nolan.”

“Is she still here? Why is it hard for you to say?”

“She’s still here. In her early sixties now. But I just don’t like mentioning her name and I’m kind of begging you to avoid it from here on out, too,” I murmured hastily, feeling like a crazy person. I knew Mason was curious to press on about the reasons for my restrictions, but all I had to do was flash him a bit of a pleading look and with a nod, he mercifully dropped it, changing the subject.

“Can I make you a plate?” he asked, gesturing toward the food.

“I’m okay for now. But you can answer me a question,” I replied.

“What is it?”

I brainstormed. “I don’t know. I have to think of one. I just figure you owe me some stories from your own life considering how much you just heard about mine.”

Mason smiled. “Fair enough. What do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with how you grew up. I know a little from Aaron, though,” I smiled, taking a baby sip of my wine. “Born and raised in New York. Grew up in the Upper West Side. You went to the Wharton School of Business and then Columbia for your masters.”

Mason raised his eyebrows. “That’s more than I figured you’d know.”

“You seem to underestimate your little brother’s obsession with you.”

“No, we’re all been well versed on Aaron’s jealousy issues. I just didn’t think he’d subject you to them,” Mason laughed.

“Who’s ‘we’?” I asked, letting him pull my legging-clad legs onto his lap. “You and your parents?”