Frenemies

“But she’s a sweet kid, and I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“Why would she get hurt?”

“In case we make the wrong decision.”

“Then she will learn a very valuable lesson that sometimes, not everything works out the way you planned or wanted it to.” He stepped even closer and slid his hands up my neck so he was cupping my face. “But listen to me right now, okay? And I’m about to say this with one thousand percent confidence.”

I swallowed.

“You will never be the wrong decision, Imogen. You weren’t six years ago, you aren’t right now, and you won’t be in sixty years. Even if this doesn’t work out in the long run, I will never regret choosing you.”

“But what if you do?”

“Then I didn’t deserve you in the first place.” He brushed his thumb across my cheek. “I fucked up back then. I made a stupid fucking choice that hurt us both, and I’m not going to do that again.”

“But Maya—”

“The fact you care about how she feels as deeply as you do only reinforces that I know I’m making the right choice. I want to try this; me and you. Even if that’s bickering at the sight of each other or prank wars or whatever else it is. If I’d told you I loved you in college, everything would have been different.”

“You weren’t the only one who kept that a secret. We both know that.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “I’m not going to do it again. I don’t think I ever fully got over you. But all I want you to do is think, really think about it, and decide if you have room for Maya in your life. She doesn’t need a mom, Immy. She’s got a damn good one of those if that’s what you’re worried about. You’re not gonna wake up tomorrow and she’s gonna start calling you mommy. She needs you to be her friend. Someone fun who’s gonna teach her to throw water balloons and blow up whoopie cushions and paint and draw. And if we ever reach a point where you’re going to be in her life forever, then I promise not to throw you and her in a pit and leave you to figure it all out yourself. There’s a good chance neither of you would come out alive.”

I slapped the side of his arm at that. “Oh, I am so teaching her the water balloons and whoopie cushions. You’re gonna have to watch your back now.”

“Not if she throws the way you do. I’ll have to watch whatever’s ten feet to my right.”

I hit him harder. “I’ll walk out that door, Mason.”

“I’m sure you will, Imogen. Then you’ll come right back in like you did last night and just now.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but fuck it.

He was right.

“God, I hate you.”

“Ah, see, that one I believe now. I was right. You hate it when I’m right.”

“I don’t hate it when you’re right. I hate it when I’m wrong.”

“Same thing.”

“Not even close.” I opened the fridge and pulled out my bottle of wine. “There have to be rules about Grandma being here, though.”

“I’m not hosting book club,” he said quickly. “No way. One of those was more than enough for me.”

I grinned. “Was it educational?”

“It was something.” He took the wine bottle from me and pulled down a glass, then poured. “I’m not sure my heart can take another one of those, so please don’t put me down as a returning member.”

“Too late. I think Evelyn is getting you a t-shirt. Besides, I’m not the president, Grandma is.”

“She should be grateful to me. She won’t have to sing her favorite song over and over now there’s a chance you might get married before you’re thirty.”

“I swear to God, I will kill this relationship before it even gets off the ground.”

Dolly came skating into the kitchen, almost sliding into the cupboards before she stopped, panting, and looked at both of us.

“She’s hungry,” Mason said.

“She’s your dog,” I replied.

“I amuse your grandmother for twenty minutes, and you can’t feed my puppy?”

“Actually, I think she amused herself more than anything. She’s weird like that.”

“At least I know where you get it from.” He passed me the wine and, with a grin, dropped a kiss on my cheek.

“I’ll send Grandma back.”

“Go ahead. At least she’ll get the answer she wants, and now I can ask her for cheesecake whenever I want.”

I frowned. “Why do I feel like you’re getting a really good deal out of this?”

“Because I am,” he replied. “Sex with you and cheesecake on tap. It’s going to be fucking glorious.”

“We’ll see.”

EPILOGUE – IMMY

Kittens and Water Balls

One Month Later

“Like this, look. You put it under the tap and fill it with water.”

Maya frowned but did as I’d shown her. “Like this?”

I turned on the tap so the water was gently coming out of it. “Uh-huh. Now, wait until it’s full… right… now.” I turned the water off and took the balloon from her. “I’ll tie it up, and here we have a water balloon.”