Chapter Twenty-Four

Mason

By the time she’s managed to get the bird head completely off, she’s staring at my sweaty, smiling self. My hair feels damp, and I can tell my face is reddened from having my head stuck in this damn thing for over an hour. They couldn’t have outfitted Benny with AC?

“Hi,” I say with a tentative smile, hoping she won’t just up and slug me.

But she just stares at me, bird head in hand.

“What the hell are you doing here? Dressed as Benny?” she asks in a tone that should make me want to run fast and far. But I’m not budging.

“Well, I didn’t mean to be Benny, it just sort of happened…”

I can tell she thinks I’m lying, but then Kyndall walks up.

“Oh, hey! You did a great job. And I can’t thank you enough. I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t been such a good sport. Here, let me unzip the back of that for you…”

It takes her only a minute to extricate me from the yellow carcass. When it’s nothing but a sad puddle of feathers on the floor at my feet, she scoops it up, relieves Walker of the head, and takes the remains with her somewhere into the bowels of the birthday bonanza.

“Seriously?” Walker huffs at me.

“Well, you wouldn’t answer any of my calls or texts. So, when your sister invited me—”

“I’m sorry, my sister invited you? Which sister?”

“That’d be me,” Henny says with a wave as she walks past us.

“I had to see you,” I explain, running a hand through my flattened hair nervously.

“No you didn’t. It’s over.”

“I had to give you something.”

She snorts.

“What? An engagement ring?”

I reach into my pocket and produces a small, shiny satchel with a ribbon drawstring closure and hand it over to her.

“Open it,” I say, nodding my chin in the direction of the gift.

She looks as if she’d just as soon hurl it at me, but I think it’s her curiosity that gets the better of her. Finally, she separates the ribbon closure and tips the bag over, allowing the mineral to fall out into her palm. It’s really a lovely specimen, with jagged spikes of all different lengths that jut upward from it—making it look like some avant-garde sculpture of a skyline. It’s smooth and black, tinged with silver.

“Goethite,” she murmurs, twisting it this way and that.

“Exactly,” I say softly, unable to quash the smile on my face. She remembers.

After a minute, she returns the new treasure back into its bag so, I’m sure, she can hand it to me. But before she can even extend her hand, I’ve taken a step closer to her. Much closer to her. And then, I speak—softly, so she’s the only one who can hear me.

“Miss Johnny Walker Black O’Halloran, please allow me to introduce myself,” I begin with a tiny bow. “My name is Mason Michael Stevens. You may know me as the son of Academy and Tony award-winning actress Lydia Larkin and Hollywood producer, Edward Stevens. I have a brother named Emmet. My best friends are Ryan Bilquist and Pete Pokorny. And I really like minerals. Almost as much as I like tall brunettes who dabble in sociology and mix a mean cocktail. I really care about you and I can’t stand being without you. Please forgive me.”

She stares at me incredulously, her jaw hanging open.

“Are you insane? How can you possibly be that attached to me already? We’ve been out only a few times. We’ve only…you know…once… You didn’t even tell me who you really were! That’s not what you do when you care about someone!”

“No,” I agree calmly, “it’s not. But it is something you might do when you’re afraid of losing someone. When you realize that you’ll be absolutely, positively miserable if they’re not in your life. So, you lie. And then, when they find out, and they leave you—when she finds out, and she leaves you, you realize what a freaking idiot you are. And that you’re in way over your head. Because…somewhere in between the bird suit and the goethite, you’ve started to fall for her.”

And that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t come here knowing how much I really feel for this woman. But I do now.

“I—I can’t do this,” she says, shaking her head.

“Can’t do this now…or can’t do this ever?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. No one’s ever had those kinds of feelings for me… I mean, nobody…”

I reach out and take one of her hands into both of mine and make sure that her eyes are on mine.

“Listen to me, you don’t have to do anything right here, right now. It’s okay if you don’t…feel the same way. But I do. I do feel that way. And, yeah, I know how nuts it is. But I’m willing to explore the nutty thing a little further…if you are. So, go home, think about it. Talk it over with your sisters if you need to. And, when you’re ready, you let me know.” I pause and take a deep breath, steeling myself for this next part. “And, Walker, it’s…it’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. If you want me to leave you alone, I will. I just ask that you take a little bit of time to think about it before you give me your decision.”

She looks alarmed suddenly. “Are you…? You’re not asking me to…to marry you, are you?”

“What? No!” I chuckle. “I’m asking you to be my girlfriend again. I’m asking you to give me another chance to make you happy. And then…we can go from there.”

Before she can say no—which I’m certain will be her first impulse the moment the shock wears off, I lean over and kiss her cheek.

“I’m going to wait for your answer. For as long as it takes you to decide. I’m going to wait.”

Then I turn and walk away, leaving Benny and his freaky, feathery world behind.