Unsurprised, that’s what I am when I wake up in my own bed. Today I really have to get back to work. I’ve called in the last two mornings, Monday, to get everything ready for real life again, and yesterday while my parents were here. My boss-slash-best friend is pretty amazing and believes family is super important, so she didn’t have any problems with me taking the time off. But it’s getting into our busy season with Christmas around the corner. I really can’t leave her alone for another day.
After a short run, I get ready to spend the day with Huxlee at work.
“Good morning, Huxlee, holding down the fort?” She’s sitting on the floor setting up a new book display. Her face lights up when she turns around and sees me.
“Callie! So good to see you. You look like you’ve had a good long weekend. How are your parents?” she asks. Huxlee is short and petite, her swing bob is a constantly changing variety of colors, right now a rainbow. She’s also sporting one of her many pairs of reading glasses. I do not know where she finds such an enormous selection of colors and styles.
“They’re doing well. Mom got her ankle trap off yesterday.”
“She must be excited to get to race around on two feet again.” She laughs.
“Let me just put my purse and coat in the breakroom. I’ll be back to help you out in a minute,” I say over my shoulder as I make my way to the back.
“Take your time. I’ve got company.”
Both of us have taken to referring to the books as if they’re our friends. Because really, who doesn’t feel the love, pain, and sheer terror along with the main character when they get lost in a good story?
We spend the morning rearranging the display shelves. Every year, Huxlee orders in lots of special bookish merch and as many signed books as she can get ahold of for the holiday crowd. This year, she’s also set up some book signings with some local authors in our area.
Huxlee inherited money from her grandparents when they passed away. Her grandma encouraged her love of books growing up.
I will be forever grateful to Huxlee for giving me a job. It was inevitable we would become best friends as we bonded over our love of books.
When the chime above the front door goes off, I stand up and wipe my hands down my jeans, making my way to the front. “Welcome to Enchantments and Fancies. Can I help you find anything?”
I freeze in place when I see him standing at the front door. “Are you some kind of stalker?”
“I swear, this was a happy accident. I needed to kill some time between appointments and thought I’d check out the local small bookstore. I can leave if you’d prefer?” Mason suggests.
He looks good, jeans and a cream-colored sweater hugging his upper body. For the first time, I see some scruff on his face. Suddenly, I can’t help but think he looks really familiar. I just can’t place who else he reminds me of.
“Anything in particular you were looking for?” I still haven’t forgotten how he abruptly left me the other day. Having been burned in the past, I honestly didn’t expect to see him again. But then again, he didn’t come here to see me, he just randomly stumbled into the bookstore where I work.
Really, though, he must have subconsciously been looking for me since I told him I work at a bookstore in town.
“What would you recommend?”
“What kind of books do you like?”
“It’s been a while since I’ve sat down and read a good book. Probably since school.”
“You haven’t read a book since high school?” My jaw drops. I can’t imagine not reading. In contrast, I have read almost every day since high school.
“How’s your hand?”
“What?” He nods at my right hand, the one I injured the other night in the fantasy world. He must have seen the scratch, because I don’t remember telling him which hand I injured.
He reaches his left hand out and I place my hand in his, palm up. He carefully traces the lines of the scratch. Goosebumps erupt up and down my arms.
“Callie, did you hel—” Huxlee stops abruptly. “Oh, hello. Who’s this?” She faces me with a big grin on her face. I quickly pull my hand out of his and hide it behind my back.
“This is Mason. I met him when I was visiting my parents. Mason, this is Huxlee, the amazing and expressive owner of this place, and my best friend.”
“Nice to meet you. I like the hair.” He motions around his own short brown hair in some weird kind of move to show where hair is. I cover my smile with my hand.
“Thank you! It’s my way of sticking it to the man.” She bursts out into giggles. “Just kidding, I figure why not do what I like? I don’t have a boss to answer to.” She shrugs, then picks up a random book nearby.
“Do you mind if I steal Callie away for lunch?”
“Mason! I just got here. It’s my first day back. I can’t just leave Huxlee to get everything ready for the Christmas rush on her own!”
Huxlee is so entertained by the conversation, I may as well get her some popcorn so she can enjoy the show.
He turns to her for her approval. “You two kids have fun.”
Traitor.
I stomp my way to the back to grab my purse, knowing Huxlee will refuse to let me help with anything until I come back from lunch.
“I’ll bring you something back,” I promise.
“You know what I like,” she replies, wiggling her fingers in a goofy wave goodbye. I blow her a kiss as I close the door on my way out. My phone chimes with Huxlee’s ringtone and I pull it out while walking.
Huxlee
* * *
There’s a little café just down from the bookstore where we go for lunch. Huxlee picked a place right on a busy strip to give her store the best chance of success. She gave me a job at her store while I was finishing up college, and I loved the place, and her, so much I just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving.
We order sandwiches and some flavored lemonades before sitting at a table and waiting for our food.
“Sorry to have intruded on your day again,” Mason says.
“You didn’t intrude. I enjoy your company, truly I do. It’s just…”
“We’ve only known each other a few days?” he guesses.
“And you just broke up with your girlfriend.”
“Annette was many things…” He pauses, clearly thinking about the words he wants to use before continuing. “We’ve been together only a short while, but I wouldn’t even say it had been in any kind of romantic capacity for most of it. I had a suspicion she had been cheating on me pretty much since the beginning, but even having it confirmed, I’m not angry about it. I just feel… relieved.”
“Is it horrible of me to say I’m glad?” I sneak a peek at him under my eyelashes.
His brown eyes meet my own blue ones as he reaches across the table and grabs my hand. “I just told you I feel relieved. I think anything you could say after that would be definitely okay.” He smiles at me, flashing those dimples I like so much.
When we finish lunch, he walks me back to the bookstore with a promise to meet me for dinner tonight.
“Hot damn, girl, I need you to spill all the tea,” Huxlee says as soon as he’s gone.
I move to one of the displays and start to organize it according to the chart Huxlee has printed out. “I met him when I was at my parents’. We were waiting in line for a sleigh ride. He was with his girlfriend. Apparently, she was a royal bitch, and they broke up shortly after. But we ended up on the sleigh together and for the first time, I felt a spark when I touched someone’s hand.”
“Wait, wait, wait, you held hands right after he had a fight with his girlfriend on a romantic as fuck sleigh ride?”
“Well, when you put it that way, I’m surprised we’re not married and pregnant yet.” I chuckle and roll my eyes. “No, Huxlee, he helped me into the sleigh, hence hand contact and spark.”
“Marriage and babies. Damn girl, you move fast.”
“Oh hush, you. Do you want me to tell you about what else happened at my parents’ house or not?”
She holds her thumb and pointer finger together and mock zips her lips.
“When I was helping my mom pull down the Christmas stuff, I found somethi—”
“Yeah, I’m sure a dust bunny or two. Really, Callie, did the dust monster give you a scare?”
“I thought you said you were going to stay quiet. Fine, I guess I’ll keep my super special family secret all to myself.” Turning, I start to walk toward the back when I feel her pull on my shoulder.
“Wait! I’m sorry! I’ve just been too damn lonely here by myself. What did you find in the dusty attic of Christmas ornaments?” She’s literally bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“I found an old chest. When I asked my mom about it, she told me not to mess with it and seemed real shady.”
“But you didn’t listen, right?”
“Girl, it was basically a dare at that point. So when I was cleaning the house getting ready to put up all the decorations, I searched for the key.”
“Please tell me you found it!”
“Of course I found it. The chest was full of all these journals, some dating back several hundred years. So I snagged the oldest one I could see and hid it for later.”
“Please don’t tell me you found some weird family love letter chest?”
I bark out a laugh at this. “Really, Huxlee?”
“What?” She tries to look innocent, but fails miserably when we both burst into giggles. “Why don’t we grab some cocoa and take a seat? Looks like today is going to be a slow one.”
When we’re both settled in our favorite reading chairs, I continue, “So that night I finally got a chance to look at the journal. At first, I thought it was someone’s attempt at a novel—a pretty good one, too. But as I kept reading about this person’s life, and the world they found themselves in, I found it easy to imagine the world. I was so immersed in the journal, I even dreamed about it that night.”
I love Huxlee like a sister, but I don’t know if I want her to know that I’m pretty sure I actually travel to a different world at night. She might petition my parents to have me committed. Also, I don’t want my parents to know that little tidbit until I can find out why this is happening to me.
“So are these some kind of ancestor journals? What’s so secret about them?”
I decide to go with a modified version of the truth.“My mom said a few hundred years ago, my family started collecting these journals from different places they travelled to. So they’re some kind of collection of all these strangers’ lives and dreams.”
“That is pretty cool. Think you could bring one by someday?”
“Yeah, I’ll bring it by sometime.”
Right after I find a witch to tell me what is so special about me.
* * *
We spend the rest of the day getting the store ready for Christmas shopping, which really started right after Thanksgiving. Thankfully for Huxlee, the store is usually pretty quiet the week right after Thanksgiving and picks up at the very beginning of December. Probably because that’s when she runs all her Christmas specials and brings in the special authors.
I make my way home and curl up on the couch with the journal to read a little more right before Mason calls to ask if it’s okay for him to bring over dinner and a movie.
“Of course that’s okay. Do you remember how to get here?”
“Yeah, I should be there in about ten minutes. Pizza okay?”
“Pizza is always okay.”
He shows up, and the food smells amazing. I grab some paper plates and set them on the coffee table. When I see he’s brought one of my favorite movies, I say, “I love this movie!”
“Yeah?”
“Definitely! Me and my friends would watch it over and over, quoting lines from the movie all the time. It has kind of a cult following.”
“Oh, I’m well aware. My friends and I would do the same thing.”
“Have you ever read the book?”
“No. Is it any good?”
“Let me put it this way, it’s so well done, I actually believed the book was some retelling of the history of the land. Had to Google it to be sure it wasn’t.” That probably says more about my gullibility than the author’s writing, but hey, it’s true.
“I’ll have to check it out sometime. It’s important to remember looks can be deceiving.”
“If you promise to bring it back, you can borrow my copy.”
Once we finish watching The Princess Bride, Mason stands at my door with the book tucked under his arm.
“I had a good time tonight,” I say.
Mason raises his hand to rest on my cheek. He runs his thumb back and forth along my cheek, and I close my eyes, leaning in to his touch. Shivers run down my spine. “I had a good time, too. Goodnight, Callie.”
In the same movement, he pulls his hand from my face and grabs the doorknob, turning it and leaving quickly.
* * *
The next morning, I’m the first to get to the store. I unlock the door, turn off the alarm, and turn all the lights on.
The store is so quiet in the morning. I run my hand along the spines of the books on the shelves as I pass on the way to the back room.
Huxlee has a list of things to get done each day to get the store ready for Christmas, and I immediately get started on today’s tasks.
First up, dusting all the books to kick off a deep clean of the store.
As I pull each book out to make sure it’s completely clear of dust, I mentally make a list of books to add to my increasing to-be-read pile. I could probably finish a book every day for the rest of my life and still never finish the entire list.
“Oh, Callie,” Huxlee sing-songs, “where are you hidden away?”
“Over here in the dust cloud.”
When she comes around the corner, she’s holding two to-go cups from the coffee shop. “I grabbed your basic bitch pumpkin drink.” She holds out the cup, a mischievous glint in her eye.
“What are you up to?” I take the drink from her. Sipping cautiously, I know it’s not the drink she’s tampered with.
“Oh… nothing.” She turns and waltzes off, way too chipper for this early in the morning.
It’s only a few minutes before I know exactly what her meddling ass has gotten me into for the day. When the bell above the door chimes and Huxlee is nowhere to be seen, I move from between the shelves and see Mason leaning against the counter.
“Mind if I help?” he asks, taking a sip from a takeaway cup.
“It seems I have been left out of some meddling,” I say loud enough for Huxlee to hear in the back. Her answering cackle makes me shake my head. “Come on, let’s get you a rag to wipe down the shelves with.”
He follows me to the back, where he takes his jacket off and lays it on top of where I’ve set my purse.
“Just tell me what you need me to do.”
“I’ve been pulling the books out and dusting them. You can follow behind me and wipe the shelves down. You need to wipe it first with this towel.” I hold up the one I’ve sprayed with the cleaning stuff. “Then wipe it back off with this one.” I hold up the clean rag. “That way I can put the books back on the shelf quicker without them getting gooed with chemicals.”
He takes both rags from me and nods his head. “I think I can handle that.”
I move back to the shelf I was working on before Huxlee came in and he stays right behind me.
“So, do you guys do this every year?” he asks as he wipes a shelf I’ve cleared of books.
“Yep! While we’re rearranging the store for Christmas anyway, might as well clean everything too. We do the same thing at the beginning of the year when we rearrange things again.”
We talk back and forth while I pull books from the shelf and set them on the cart I pull around so the books don’t have to be set on the floor. Then I wait for Mason to clean the shelf and dry it off before dusting each book and placing it back on the shelf.
When my stomach growls loudly around lunchtime, we take the cleaning supplies to the back before making our way to the counter where Huxlee has been straightening all the wrapping supplies.
“Hey, we’re gonna go grab lunch. Do you want me to bring something back for you, or do you want to head out after we get back?”
“Just bring me something back. You two have fun!”
When we sit down at the café, he reaches across and takes my hand in his. “Thank you for letting me spend time with you today.”
“I thought you were in town for some work stuff?”
“I might have lied…” He trails off, staring at our entwined hands.
“About?” I probe when he doesn’t continue.
“I don’t know how to explain it. But when I met you at the sleigh ride, something about you. Your smile, the easy conversation, perhaps just the spark I felt when I held your hand, that I still feel every time I hold your hand. I wanted to get to know you better, and I knew that long distance would not be the best way to do that.”
“So you are some kind of stalker,” I joke, and he chuckles.
“Perhaps, but you’re the first woman I’ve ever wanted to spend time with this much. It’s like I just can’t get you out of my thoughts… or dreams.” He looks up at me with an odd expression I can’t place.
“Well, I won’t lie to you and say it might have worked long distance because I loathe long-distance relationships.”
We order our food; I opted for a club salad and we continue to talk about everything and nothing before I order Huxlee’s favorite panini to go and we walk back to the store.
At five, we close up and head our separate ways, Huxlee heading home and Mason coming back to my house with me. We order dinner in and while we wait, we start watching the newest Marvel movie while we snuggle on my couch.
I’m nestled in the crook of his arm, settled between Mason and the back of the couch, and he runs his fingers up and down my back, causing goosebumps all over my body.
When the delivery guy gets here, Mason gets up and answers the door. I head to the kitchen to grab some chopsticks before settling down on the couch and divvying up our food.
Tonight we ordered Chinese food. I got my favorite, orange chicken, and Mason ordered some chow mein.
“Hey, do you have a fork I can use?” He holds up the chopsticks.
“What, don’t know how to use chopsticks?”
“Not really,” he answers.
I head into the kitchen to grab him a fork before returning to the couch.
We finish our dinner and the movie. Mason gets up to leave and pulls his coat on, then wraps a scarf around his neck before pulling me to him and pressing me against the door. I expect a kiss but, rather than that, he just rests his palm against my cheek again, and looks down at me with a smile on his face.
“I’ve enjoyed spending time with you today, Callie. I hope you won’t kick me out if I show up tomorrow?”
I shake my head in response.
He comes in close before whispering in my ear, “It’s important to remember looks can be deceiving.” Then pulls back as his hand trails down my arm and he takes my hand in his. Gently, he pulls me away from the door before he opens it and leaves.
I curl up on the couch with the journal and open to where my bookmark is before deciding I’d like some tea and quickly make a cup. Settling back on the couch, I open back to the page I left off.
This morning when I awoke, I looked through various rooms and every cabinet I could find to locate something I could use to set traps for food.
Finally, I was able to find some thick rope and other thinner string I could use to set snares.
In one bedroom, I found some brightly-colored buttons in a drawer that must have belonged to a seamstress at one time. I took those to use as markers to find my way back to the entrance.
In another room, I located brightly-colored fabric, and I tore it into strips to use to mark where I would leave the snares to make it easier to find my catches.
The last room I stopped in was the kitchen so I could grab a basket to hold all the items. Also to hopefully collect something for me to eat today, knowing I would need to let the snares sit overnight to allow time for creatures to be caught.
It took me a while to locate the passage that led to the door I entered through but I was finally able to find where I thought I came in. Instead, I found another entrance. This one was hidden from the outside.
When I exited and looked back, the door was invisible and I felt around the door looking for some kind of knob. The only sign a door existed was a very thin line around the perimeter of the door.
Finally, I found where to press to get the door to swing open and I dropped the buttons at intervals along my path.
Once I entered the woods, I set several snares and marked their locations with the torn fabric. Then I looked around me for some edible berries or other plants I could eat today.
Nearby, I found some wild berries, and I collected them in the now-empty basket and followed my button trail back to the entrance.
As I now sit writing in the journal and snacking on the berries, I pray I find some small creature so I can enjoy something of more substance tomorrow.
At the end of the entry, I place my bookmark back in the journal and get ready for bed. I hope to wake up in the prison world. While I am enjoying my time with Mason, I miss the beast.
* * *
Every morning I wake up in this world, I grow more and more anxious about what might be going on in the dream world. What is happening to the king under the mountain? Have I missed the war? I wonder if something is wrong with me. Why can’t I get back there? This anxiety seems to be worst when I am by myself, like right now.
There is a part of me that is holding back with Mason. I enjoy his company. I enjoy watching movies, talking, and laughing with him. But there is some part of me holding back from kissing him, doing more than kissing him. I just can’t seem to get the beast king out of my mind.
Sitting up and stretching my arms over my head, I groan when my spine cracks as I carefully lean right, then left. When I see the clock, I realize I must have forgotten to set my alarm last night. I won’t have time to stop by the coffee shop this morning. Pre-coffee Callie moves much slower than properly caffeinated Callie, so my first stop after climbing out of bed is to get the coffee started.
I make my way back to my room and pull out some clothes before heading into the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the day. The last thing I do is apply mascara to my long eyelashes and step back to make sure I haven’t forgotten something in my normal routine.
I dab some Vaseline across my lips before making my way back to the kitchen. My mugs are in the cabinet above my coffeemaker and I pull out a travel mug, filling it almost to the rim before adding some sugar and creamer and putting the lid on.
My purse is right beside the door and I snag it on my way out, locking the door behind me before getting in my car and heading to the bookstore.
Huxlee is already here when I arrive, and I greet her on my way to the back.
“Hey, girl, no coffee for me this morning?” she asks from between two of the shelves.
The bell above the door dings as I reply, “Sorry! I woke up late and didn’t have time to stop in for coffee.”
“Did someone mention coffee?” Mason holds a drink carrier with three cups in one hand and a bag in the other hand.
“Callie, you’re not allowed to get rid of this one, ever,” Huxlee moves to Mason, bouncing on the balls of her feet as he hands her a drink and pulls a warm breakfast sandwich out, handing it to her as well.
He moves to me, and then he notices the cup already in my hands. “Oh sorry. I guess I should have asked.”
I look down at my cup and shrug. “I can guarantee you my homemade coffee does not taste better than whatever you’ve brought. I’ll just pour it out or drink it later.” He follows me to the back and I place my mug in the fridge before turning around and accepting the drink and food from him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Callie.” He throws away the drink holder after pulling his cup out of it. Then he wraps his free arm around me and pulls me to him, kissing the top of my head. “Mmm, you smell good.” He inhales the flowery scent of my shampoo.
“Does that mean I usually smell bad?” I poke fun at him.
“Of… of course not,” he stutters, and I chuckle as he’s caught off-guard.
“Don’t worry, I’m just poking fun at you.” I bump him with my hip and head back out into the store. Huxlee has hopped up on the front counter and I join her as we eat our food and drink our coffee.
Mason stands across from us and eats his breakfast. “So what’s on the cleaning agenda for today?”
“More of what we were doing yesterday,” I reply. “There are a lot of shelves in here.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“I’ll just be manning the counter while you two canoodle in the stacks.”
I elbow Huxlee and she breaks off into giggles. She’s laughing so hard it’s infectious, and Mason and I laugh right along with her.
“Canoodle, really? Where do you come up with this stuff?”
“I’ve probably been watching too many movies lately.” She gets up and throws her trash away. “But really, you two let me know if you need me. I’m going to step out and grab our lunch today, if that’s okay with you.”
“Sounds good to me.” I jump down and throw my trash away before grabbing Mason’s hand and pulling him with me to the back to get our cleaning supplies.
I don’t ask when Mason has to go back home. I don’t want to stop spending time with him. We enjoy our time together as we continue to work our way through the store.
At lunchtime, Huxlee comes to let us know where she’s heading and Mason gives her his order. She already knows what I always get from the restaurant. I tend to stick to the same few menu items wherever we go, only sometimes branching out if there’s a new item offered. Why mess with what you already know you like, right?
When she gets back, we all sit around the breakroom table, in view of the screen showing the security camera feed. The door stays propped open so we can hear if someone enters the store.
Mason scoots his chair closer to me, and while we talk to Huxlee, he rests his hand on my knee, occasionally running his fingers in little circles slowly edging up along my thigh. The motion does not go unnoticed by Huxlee, who smirks each time she catches my eye.
Another side effect of his movements. My hormones are going crazy, and I have to clench my thighs together to relieve some of the gloriously torturous flutters running through my core.
As I wiggle in my chair for probably the tenth time, Huxlee finally excuses herself and heads to the front of her store. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she says over her shoulder as she closes the door behind her.
I stand and throw away my trash, Mason following my movements. Before I’m able to make it out the door, he grasps my hand and pulls me to him. My hands rest on his tall shoulders, while his rest on my waist.
“Callie, I… don’t want things to move too fast. But I’ve never felt this way with anyone before.” His hands dip just beneath the edge of my shirt and butterflies fly around in my stomach as I look up at him.
Slowly, I move my hands to his neck. I use my fingernails to graze lightly along his scalp. He closes his eyes and moans in pleasure as I continue the movement. “Mason, despite what Huxlee said, I will not jump your bones or whatever in the backroom of my place of work.” I pull back and open the door, heading straight for where we left off our cleaning.
At the end of the day, we head back to my place, order dinner in again, and start a movie. As we’re again lying on the couch, Mason on his back and me pressed gloriously between his side and the back of the couch, my head rests on his shoulder and I tip my face up to his. Sometime during the day, I decided there was no good reason to hold back with Mason and decided if he was willing to go for it, so was I.
But rather than being a grown up and telling him that I’ve changed my mind, I lay here hoping he can somehow read my mind. After a few minutes of acting like an idiot, the delivery guy knocks at the door and I propel myself up, rolling over Mason and head to the door.
By the time I get back to the couch, Mason is sitting up, holding silverware in his hands and ready to eat.
I pull out my chicken alfredo and hand Mason his lasagna. We place the breadsticks in between us on the table, and I snag one immediately, taking a bite of the garlic buttery goodness before taking my fork from Mason and twirling my pasta around it.
After dinner, we move back into our horizontal positions on the couch. I decide to settle in and watch the end of the movie.
Too soon, it’s time for him to leave again. He presses me against the wall by the door, and immediately his fingers tangle in my hair. He gently pulls my head back by tugging on the strands. Looking down at me, he observes my reactions to the movements. I gasp and he continues to hold my hair, keeping my head from being able to move. Too slowly, he descends. His breath skates along the column of my throat and I feel tingles all the way from my head to my curling toes.
His lips gently graze the sensitive skin just below my ear before he quickly pulls back. He opens the door. “It’s important to remember looks can be deceiving.” Then he leaves me reeling with his sudden absence.
In a daze, I get ready for bed, climbing under my covers and falling quickly to sleep.
* * *
I am startled out of sleep when my phone rings.
“Hello?” I answer groggily.
“Hey, Callie, it’s Mom.” We haven’t talked since she got so mad about the ornaments. “I just called to say I was thinking about you and I love you.”
“Mom, I’m so sorry. If I would have known about the secr—”
“Callie, I was a kid once, too. I know what curiosity is like. I should have hidden the chest better many years ago.”
“I’m still really sorry.”
“It’s not like anything bad happened, right?”
“Right,” I say. Knowing I should probably tell her about the traveling, but unsure how she would handle it.
“Well, I can’t wait to see you for Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful day. Love you.”
I sit up in bed and I can feel some of the anxiety lift with just those simple words. Sometimes I think my mom has some extreme version of mind-reading capabilities. I swear she always calls just when I need her.
“I love you, too, Mom. I can’t wait for Christmas either. How are you guys?”
She spends the next several minutes telling me all about what she’s been doing now that she has been cleared to walk again. Her excitement is palpable and I’m so glad she wasn’t forced to sit for any longer. She might have driven my dad crazy with much more time in a chair.
My mom is what I would call a busybody. Any amount of time where she can’t be out doing what she wants with the people she wants makes her upset. And an unhappy mama makes for an unhappy everyone else. Dad always says, “Happy wife, happy life.” I’ve never understood that simple statement until mom’s stint off her feet for a few weeks.
We say our goodbyes and I take a deep, cleansing breath, trying to get the rest of my anxiety to leave. I feel like I can breathe better knowing that she’s not still mad at me.
When Mason gets to my house, I’m waiting for him at the door, opening it before he has a chance to knock. “Hey, want to go somewhere with me today?”
“We’re not going to have to cut down Christmas trees again, right?”
“No, I thought maybe you’d like to go horseback riding with me.”
“Lead the way.” He helps me into my coat before walking in front of me so I can lock my door.
On the drive to the stables, our conversation comes easily. “I’m hoping you know how to ride?” I ask when we’re almost there.
“I learned how to ride when I was a kid. You?”
“When I was a kid, I begged my parents for lessons. When I moved out here, I found a stable that would let me come in and ride the boarded horses for free. They use volunteers to help exercise the horses, with owners’ permission, of course.”
When we pull up, I see they already have two horses tacked and ready to go for us. “Looks like we’ll be riding Thunder and Daisy today.” I run my hand along Daisy’s neck and she nickers in response. “This beautiful girl is Daisy. She’ll treat you real good today.”
“And who’s this strapping man?” Mason pats Thunder’s hindquarters.
“That is Thunder. He’s a little particular about who he lets ride him,” I say.
He nods at me before moving to Daisy and mounting in one fluid motion.
I get on Thunder and lead us down the nearest trail, this one wide enough to accommodate us riding side by side.
We spend the afternoon riding back and forth through the trails near the stables. Sometimes we talk but, for most of the ride, we enjoy the surrounding scenery, the sound of the horses’ hooves against the well-worn paths.
When we finally make our way back to the stables, I am hungry and suggest we grab some burgers on the way home. The Grill is on our way back to my place and we order the same delicious burgers we had the last time.
While we sit and watch some random show on television, he ignites all my hormones with his caresses. The few times his lips graze along my skin, my hair, anywhere but my lips, leave me breathless and wanting more.
When I walk him to the door, I’m again left wondering if something’s wrong with me. I wrap my arms around myself as he leaves.
As I get ready for bed. I pray I can make it back to the fantasy world tonight. I need to know how the people there are, whether war has broken out. Whether they’ve survived.