I had never enjoyed a more peaceful night than the one I spent with Rain last night. I had to admit, as I pulled up to Mason’s house, that our time together was nothing like old times, but something much better.

 

Before leaving, he’d kissed me goodbye and made me promise we’d do it again soon. I laughed at the remembrance of his words when I asked him what he meant by soon.

 

“Like tonight . . . and tomorrow night, and the day after that one—hell, let’s just keep going,” he’d said, followed by another tantalizing kiss.

 

After shutting off the engine, I closed my eyes, lightly touching my fingers to my lips. I swore I could still feel the heat of Rain’s parting kiss. A tap on my driver’s side window startled me.

 

Mason.

 

Knowing him, he had an attitude become I didn’t come home last night. I rolled my eyes at him, grabbed my purse and pushed open the door. He jumped back just in time to avoid me slamming it into his leg.

 

“What the hell’s your problem,” he exclaimed as I stepped into the soft morning breeze.

 

“You were in the way. Why are you out here anyway? It looks like you just got home.”

 

“I could be asking you the same thing.”

 

“Well, don’t—because you don’t want to hear my answer.”

 

He glared at me, about to say something, when a car pulled up. I watched as a man got out, walked around to the passenger side and opened the door. He extended his hand, helping Mason’s mother out of the car.

 

I glanced at Mason, whose face said everything his mouth didn’t. There was no need to ask who the man might be. As he stood there fuming, I had to fight to suppress my laughter.

 

“Grow up,” I whispered to Mason, before walking over to make his uncle’s acquaintance.

 

“I see everyone decided to make it an early morning,” Karla said, smiling in my direction.

 

“I guess you could say that,” I replied, eyeing the man standing next to her and wondering if this might, indeed, be the guy Alex told me about.

 

“I’d like you to meet Sheldon,” Karla said, leaving no doubt. “Sheldon, Yanni. She’s rooming with Mason until her house is repaired.”

 

“Nice to meet you,” I said, accepting his extended hand. “It's wonderful to finally meet you. Alex told me all about what you did in saving his son and Jean. I don’t know how to begin to thank you.”

 

“Thank him by letting him leave,” Mason grumbled, stepping up next to me.

 

“Stop being rude,” I snapped. “I know it’s early, and I’m not sure what we have in the way of breakfast, but why don’t you come in for a minute?”

 

Sheldon gazed at Mason. “Huh . . . I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

 

“I know it’s not a good idea,” Mason growled.

 

“Jackson, listen to Yanni. Stop being rude,” his mother said. “Sooner or later you’re going to have to let me live my own life.”

 

“Well, does it have to be with him?” he said, stabbing his index finger in Sheldon’s direction.

 

Sheldon chuckled. “You remind me so much of you as a little boy.”

 

“Shel, don’t ya’ll get started,” Karla said. “Now, Yanni invited you inside—I think you should take her up on it. Seems you two have a lot to discuss.”

 

“Yes, you must,” I insisted.

 

“Hey, this is my da—I mean, my house. Shouldn’t I have any say so in this?”

 

Karla and I looked at each other, smiled and started walking up the drive, leaving Mason to kick rocks.

 

“Shel, don’t forget the bag on the backseat,” Karla called back, as we entered the house.

 

A few minutes later, Karla and I moved around the kitchen. While she scrambled eggs and fried turkey bacon, I placed the biscuits in the oven.

 

“So, Sheldon,” I said, turning around at one point, “you will have to tell me what happened from beginning to end. And I hope Karla has invited you to Red’s engagement party.”

 

“You got it . . . and, yeah, she sure did,” he said, his eyes never leaving Mason.

 

I glanced at Mason, who gave Sheldon an “if looks could kill” glare. Suddenly it struck me that Mason didn’t simply have a grudge against this man, he right out hated him. Like a little boy does when he doesn’t want his mommy to get a new man.

 

The minute he realized I was checking him out, he turned his head, pretending to busy himself with something on the counter. I laughed out loud.

 

“Why don’t you share the joke, Yanni?” Mason snarled.

 

“What?” I asked, giving everyone else an innocent look.

 

“First, you invite this asshole into my house, and then you have the audacity to stand there and laugh at me?”

 

I shook my head in pity. “You really need to get it together. You act as if Sheldon’s taking away your prized cat-eye marble.”

 

We all cracked up, with the exception of Mason, who stood abruptly, knocking over a vase on the counter.

 

“You know what? Fuck you. Fuck Sheldon. Fuck this whole thing. I’m out.” He then stomped out of the kitchen. A moment later he opened the patio door so hard, the house rattled.

 

Karla wiped her hands on her apron, a worried look on her face. “Yanni, if you’ll watch this, I’ll be right back.”

 

I nodded, as she scampered out of the kitchen.

 

“Has he always been so possessive?” I asked Sheldon.

 

“You have no idea,” he said, smiling.

 

“You get extra props just for putting up with him. I don’t know how you did it—or anybody for that matter.”

 

“Come on,” Sheldon said, “I thought you and him were an item or something.”

 

“Ha! Me and Mason? You’ve got to be kidding.”

 

“Well, Karla seems to think so.”

 

“Oh my God—don’t tell me. Did she tell you what happened?” I cringed, suddenly finding it hard to look at Sheldon.

 

“Hey, we’re all grown in here. It’s no big deal. Honestly, I kind of wish it were something like that. Then he might give me a break.”

 

“Yeah, but at whose expense,” I said, bursting into laughter.

 

Sheldon grinned and began to pick up the remnants of the broken vase. He dropped the pieces into the trash, grabbed a wad of paper towels and wiped the counter and floor.

 

“Trying to maintain a relationship with Karla has been tenuous to say the least," he said, taking a seat. "When it comes to Karla, I don’t think anybody’s good enough where Jackson’s concerned—especially me.”

 

“My advice is that you keep doing whatever it is you’re doing. She seems plenty happy to me. And, in the end, that’s what really matters.”

 

“You’re right. That brings me to something else that I didn't get to touch bases with Alex on."

 

 

"What's that?" I asked.

 

 

"I had help getting the baby and hiding Jean out."

 

 

"Yeah, Alex told me about that."

 

 

"I'm pretty sure he did, but he probably didn't know who she was."

 

 

About to slide the eggs out of the pan, I stopped in mid-air. "Does it matter?"

 

 

"Good question," Sheldon said. "At any other time, it might not have mattered, but considering the circumstances, I just wanted to make sure she wasn't playing for the other team."

 

"I don't get you."

 

 

"She claimed to be your daughter. Now, I'd never heard Karla say anything about you having a kid, so I wasn't sure that was true. I also figured that if you did, Jackson would already know her, too." He studied me a moment, when I said nothing. "Do you have a daughter?"

 

 

Ordinarily, those words would have made the hairs stand up on my neck, but this time something about it didn’t sound like such a bad thing. I raked the eggs onto a serving plate, before speaking. “You mean Terry?”

 

 

“Yeah, so I take it you already know about her?”

 

I nodded.

 

“In that case, I feel kind of bad,” he continued, “because when things went down, she kind of got the bad end.”

 

“Meaning?”

 

Sheldon filled me in on how Terry had pointed a gun at Mason, thinking she could scare him into helping her make contact with me. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Mason’s reaction. He was too darned predictable. And poor Terry, despite her meaning nothing by it, had no clue how long he could hold a grudge.

 

“And by the time we wrapped up things on our end, Mason didn’t want anything to do with her,” Sheldon said, confirming my thoughts.

 

“I bet he didn’t.”

 

Sheldon laughed, nodding in agreement. “I think it’d be great if the two of you could get together. From what I’ve seen, she could use a strong female presence.”

 

I simply nodded, because I’d been thinking the same thing.