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Authors: Syd Parker

Made to Love (17 page)

BOOK: Made to Love
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Mason squeezed Nikki more tightly then released her and held her at arms’ length. “Good. I wouldn’t want to miss this either.” She leaned down and kissed Nikki’s cheek and smiled. “I’m going to go, Ms. Castellano
s. Thank you for tonight.”

Nikki watched Mason retreating figure. She put her fingers to her lips and smiled dreamily. There were no fireworks, at least not yet. So far, each kiss
felt warm and safe, reminding her of her youth. Neither one of them had given enough to light the fire between them, at least Nikki hoped so. As much as she liked Mason, every time they touched, she held her breath and waited for lightning. This time she wondered long after she was alone if it would come.

Hours later, Mason stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Too many thoughts swirled in her head. Too many minutes spent wondering why the feel of Nikki’s breasts pressed against hers didn’t make her stomach flip-flop like it should. Too many conversations with herself about why the entire time she was on her date, she couldn’t get someone else off her mind. By the time she stopped picking apart what should obviously have been a perfect date, the sun was starting to peek through the narrow slats of her blinds. She rolled over and punched her pillow several times before she fell against it with a huff. As she drifted to sleep, a smile played at the corner of her mouth as a familiar face danced in her dreams.

Chapter 12

 

Mason pulled her phone out of her pocket and laid it on the table. She juggled Alex in her left arm and punched Marly’s number with her free hand. “Shh, honey, it’s okay. I’m sure there isn’t anything that is worth all this fuss.” A voice interrupted Mason’s cooing. “Marly, thank God. It’s Mason. I need help.”

“Is that a baby I hear?” Marly could barely hear Mason over the squalling in the background. She shouted over the noise.

“Yes, it’s Alex. We, Nikki and I, agreed to babysit, but she had a last minute phone call she had to take. Lex and Aspen already had the reservation, so I said I could handle it. But the fact is, I am not handling it.”

Marly sighed loudly. “That’s awfully nice of you to cover the shift after she bailed. So, what do you need from me?”

“He won’t stop crying. I’ve tried rocking him. I fed him. I burped him. His diaper is clean. I don’t know what to do. It’s like his crier is stuck in the on position.”

Marly listened to the wailing in the background. “It sounds like he’s colicky.”

“Colicky? What’s that? Nevermind, just tell me how to fix it.” Mason patted Alex on the back and swayed from side-to-side.

“Hang on.” Marly clicked out of the call screen and pulled up a web browser. She googled ways to calm a colicky baby. She punched the speaker phone button. “Okay, it suggests holding him in the ‘colic carry’. Lay him over your forearm with his head resting on your palm or the crook of your arm. Pull him against your
body, so there is some pressure on his abdomen. Can you turn on some music? Something with some bass.”

“Yes, hang on.” Mason turned on the television and found the music channels. She surfed until she found a
classic-rock station. She situated Alex on her forearms and pressed against his stomach gently. Soon, the music had her dancing. Several songs passed before Alex’s crying slowed down. Mason rocked him back and forth and soon the crying was replaced by quiet hiccups. Within minutes, Mason could tell he had fallen asleep. She tiptoed over and got the remote and lowered the volume so she could think. She exhaled in relief at the quiet and knew she had Marly to thank for it.
Marly.
“Oh, shit. Shoot. I mean shoot. Marly.” Mason grimaced and glanced at the phone. She swiped the screen and was surprised to see the call still connected. She punched it off speaker and held the phone to her ear, careful not to jostle Alex in the process. “Marly?”

“Yes.” Marly’s amused tone resonated through the earpiece.

“I’m so sorry. You should have ended the call.”

“And miss out on your singing. Not a chance. I’ve added five new sound files to my youtube account. Seventeen views already.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Not at all.” A smile teased at the corners of Marly’s mouth. “Besides, I missed the sound of your voice.” That much was true. Marly had missed her, more than she wanted to. Twenty-two days. That was how long ago she’d said
good-bye. It wasn’t that she needed that long to pack everything up. She needed that time to figure things out. An hour ago, she felt normal again. Marly had rationalized all the pros and cons of her feelings and finally wrapped them up in a neat little package with a bow on top. Now, just the sound of Mason’s voice had her tugging on the strings. “I’ve missed you.”

“You have?” Mason backed up to her recliner and sat down. She tucked her phone under her chin and settled Alex on her lap. He seemed content enough for the time being. “I miss you, too.” Mason wasn’t surprised by her words, but she was surprised by the depth of the feelings behind them. “Are you coming home soon?”

Home.
The word had a new meaning now. Marly hadn’t considered any place home in a long time. She wasn’t sold on staying in Burlington for good, but she felt good when she thought about it. Part of that was the neighbor she couldn’t stop thinking about. “I’ll probably head back in another week or so. I have a few more odds and ends to wrap up. By the way, can you run by the house and just make sure everything is okay?”

“Sure, yeah.” Mason tried to hide the disappointment in her voice.

“Speaking of Alex, how are the girls? Still have a house full of family?”

“No.” Mason chuckled softly. “Aspen realized the house wasn’t as big as she remembered, and with the bunkhouse taken, the only place she could send everyone was home. I think her mom and aunt will be back in the fall for the Art Hop. For now, I think they just want to have some time alone with Alex and with each other, if possible. Tonight’s the first time they’ve been out since Alex was born.”

“Hence the reason you are manning the baby station by yourself.” Marly kept the sarcasm out of her voice. “That was very sweet of you.”

“Well, I can be nice on occasion.” Alex moved and Mason stopped talking. She rubbed his back softly. “Besides, I’m sure it was important.”

“So, how was stART?” Marly avoided the one topic she wanted to ask about the most. Nikki. She wanted to know about the date. Actually, she wanted to know it was a disaster. She didn’t want them riding off into the sunset together. Now that she’d started the “tweaking” project, Marly wasn’t certain she wanted Mason tweaked. Or at least not tweaked by anyone but her.

“It was good. I sold everything but a few pieces. I’m going to have to get it in gear to have enough for the Hop. I have
a month and a half. Theoretically, that should be enough time, except…”

“Except you’re distracted now.” Marly finished the statement for her. “I guess you will just have to tell Nikki she needs to give you space for a while.”

Mason chuckled softly. “That might be a little hard.”

“Oh yeah, why’s that?”

“Let’s just say, she thoroughly enjoys spending time with me.”

Marly closed her eyes and frowned. “Wait. You slept with her?”

“What? Sex? No. Nobody said anything about sex.” Mason’s face flushed warmly. She still hadn’t slept with Nikki, despite some not so subtle and very hard to resist hints. No, something still held her back. She thought it might be the fact that she’d lost Anne, and she just wasn’t ready for that connection. Maybe it was her old-fashioned values. The most likely, and most quickly pushed aside, was the face that visited her dreams nightly. Sleeping with Nikki almost felt like cheating. “We just enjoy each other’s company. She’s fun and makes me a little less serious.”

“So, it’s going good then? I guess all that “tweaking” worked. I’m happy for you, Mason.” But Marly wasn’t. As much as she wanted to wish her friend happiness, she wanted to be the reason for her happiness. “Listen, when I come back there, I’m not sure how long I’ll stay. It may just be a couple of months, so I can get Mom’s house ready to sell.”

Mason froze. “But I thought you said you were coming back to stay. I thought you liked it here. It was starting to feel like home.”

Marly laughed wryly. “I’m not sure any place has ever felt like home. I guess I’m not the grow roots type of person after all.”

“Why?” Mason stared out the window in stunned silence. She’d already lost Anne. Now she was losing Marly. The loss hit her squarely in the gut. The old Mason would accept it and let her friend walk away, but something was different now. “Maybe you haven’t given it enough time. You need to see more of the state. I can show you.”

“I haven’t made any decisions. I just wanted you to know it’s probably not for keeps. Okay?” Marly hung her head. She hated taking the easy way out. Hated being the shit head she felt like she was being. In all honesty, being back in the house felt good. It felt like the first real home she’d had in years.

“Okay.” Mason felt her heart clench in her chest. Marly was one of the few women Mason considered a friend. Those were few and far between. She had Aspen, but she had Lex and now the baby. Mason saw them less and less. Dating Nikki was good, but that was different than friendship.” Do you think you will stick around long enough to come to the Art Hop? I saved the pieces you worked on and I’ll be displaying those at the show. I thought you would want to see them.”

“It’s September, right?” Marly calculated the time in her head. It was
much more than a month. It didn’t seem like a long time, but when she considered having to hear and perhaps see Mason and Nikki together, it seemed like forever. “I can’t say for sure, but I’ll try to make it, wherever I am. Deal?”

“Yeah, sure.” Mason started to reply, but Alex moved in her arms and started to wail. “Crap. Can you hang on?”

“I should go.”

“But…”

“You’ll be fine, Coyote. You’re a Jedi baby master. You’ve got this.” Marly started to say good-bye then stopped herself. “Mason?”

“Yeah?” Mason tucked the phone under her chin again and picked Alex up.

“It was nice to hear your voice.”

Mason smiled despite herself. “You too, Marly.”

“I’ll see you when I get back.” Marly winced at the loud crying. “Until then, Coyote. Stay out of trouble or don’t get caught.”

Mason said a quick
good-bye, punched end on the phone and set it on the coffee table. She scooted to the edge of the chair and stood up. “Not much of a nap, huh, kiddo? Did you miss my singing?”

Alex replied by screaming even louder.

“Okay, not down with the singing. Got it.” Mason bounced in place, trying to soothe Alex. “You can’t be hungry. You just ate. And you don’t smell dirty.” Mason wrinkled her brow in thought. She was smart. She could figure this out. She did have this. “Okay, so not hungry. You don’t need your diaper changed.” She looked down at Alex’s red face, wishing he could talk. “I bet somebody’s got a tummy ache.”

Mason patted Alex’s back gently. She wasn’t sure where it came from, but she was certain the kid had the biggest lung capacity she’d had the privilege of hearing. “Now, now, I know. It’s bad. Yes, it is. I feel bad for your mommies if you get this all the time.” Remembering the advice Marly gave her to help calm Alex down earlier, she figured that it couldn’t hurt to try doing that again. She laid him over her arm and patted his back firmly with her free hand and rubbed his tummy with the hand that held him. After a couple of minutes, the screams started to quiet. Mason smiled to herself. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all. Just when she started thinking that she had it under control, a smell hit her square in the face. “Oh, dear God.” Mason lifted Alex toward her and almost gagged as it hit her nostrils. “Jesus. What are they feeding you?”

Mason immediately held Alex as far away as possible and swallowed loudly. “It’s like something crawled up there and died in a pile of garbage.” Mason wasn’t sure, but she could have sworn she saw Alex smirk at that. “Seriously? This is funny to you.”

“Now, where on earth did I leave your diaper bag?” Mason searched the living room floor and almost swore before she snapped her fingers. “Kitchen table.”

It took some maneuvering, but finally Mason got Alex situated on the changing pad. She leaned back on her haunches and shook her head. Alex stared at her innocently, but Mason could swear he was laughing at her. She held her shirt over her nose and took several deep breathes through the material. “I’m going in, kid. If I don’t make it, tell ‘em I tried.”

Mason pulled Alex’s cotton shorts down, relieved to see that whatever was in the diaper had not seeped out. She swallowed again and exhaled several times, building up her courage. “Alright, stink machine
, this is it.” Mason undid the snaps on his onesie and pulled it out of the way. The smell, which earlier had been somewhat contained, now had free rein of the kitchen. “We really need to talk to your moms about this. This can’t be normal.” Alex swatted his hands in the air and cooed playfully.

“Okay, hold these legs still, Mister.” Mason loosened the tabs on the diaper and slowly peeled it back. When she saw the mess, she grimaced and turned away quickly. She popped the tab on the wet wipes and grabbed several, arming herself for the mess. Unable to look head on, Mason eyed the mess out of the corner of her eyes and grimaced as she pulled it off. There was nothing in her life that could have prepared her for the site that greeted her. “I’m not kidding, Alex. I think there is something medically abnormal about this. I’m dying and all you can do is get excited at Aunt Mason’s suffering. Go ahead, Mister, laugh it up.” Mason wiped Alex clean as she spoke, the chatter keeping her mind off of the task at hand.

Satisfied with the progress, she leaned over and grabbed another diaper and slid it under the soiled one. Very carefully, she lifted Alex’s legs and pulled the old one out, wrapping it up as well as she could with one hand. Mason grabbed more wipes and finished cleaning him up. She chucked those on top of the pile and grabbed the tube of Desitin. “See, we got this, kiddo. Who doubted our skills? Not me, that’s who.” Mason dabbed a healthy dollop of butt cream on Alex and spread it around. “Yep, you got nothing to worry about. You Aunt Mason has everything under contr…”

Mason jumped, but couldn’t avoid the stream that shot toward her. It hit her square in the face and moved down her chest before she could get her body to react and pull the new diaper up and block the flow. She swiped at her face with her sleeve and groaned loudly. “Seriously?!” Mason looked heavenward and shook her head. The sudden exclamation stunned
Alex, and he started to cry. “No, no, no. No more crying. I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to startle you. It’s okay.” But it wasn’t okay. She eyed his pitiful face as the crocodile tears welled up in his eyes. “Aww, sweetie. Let me get you changed.”

BOOK: Made to Love
12.25Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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