Page 22 of A Second Chance At Forever

5

Mason

I wokeup Friday morning feeling like I was hungover even though I didn’t drink. The weight of knowing Lennox was in town was about to make me crash.

She came here and saw Nicole. What if she finally came back to be with me? What if she saw Nicole and thought I had left her behind and went back home? What am I going to do about Nicole? Fuck, what am I going to do about Lennox?

All those thoughts swarmed around in my head the moment my eyes opened.

I pulled myself from bed quietly, trying not to wake Nicole since she started her midnight shift at the hospital.

Turning the water on in the shower, I undressed and stepped in. The hot water ran over my body and I let my head fall forward. Suddenly two arms wrapped around my stomach.

“I tried not to wake you.” I spun around in Nicole’s arms to look at her.

“You didn’t.” She brought her lips to mine.

I returned the kiss but broke it off quickly. “I need to get to the shop early today. I have to help Joey with inventory.” I removed her arms from around me.

She took a step back but kept her eyes locked on me. “Since I work the midnight shift this weekend, you probably won’t see me until Sunday evening. I will just go back to my place after work in the morning.”

“Okay.” I can’t believe this. I haven’t even seen Lennox yet and already I’m letting her drive a wedge between Nicole and me.

I left Nicole in the shower while I dressed and gathered up my keys and phone. I was about to walk out of the bedroom when Nicole stepped out of the shower.

I gave her a soft, but quick kiss. “I will see you Sunday then?” I was trying to reassure her and myself.

She nodded her head. “I will call you after I wake up tomorrow.”

I offered her a nod and a small smile before heading toward the door.

I pulledup to the shop and made my way toward the office. I didn’t have inventory to do, but I didn’t want to have sex with Nicole knowing Lennox was in town, so I lied.

Taking a drink of my coffee, I sat down in my desk chair and turned on the computer.

Joey stuck her head in my office. “Mason, Trent called. Got a problem with another boat.”

I picked up my coffee and started toward the rental counter.

“Which one now?” I asked when I walked in.

“Mr. Madison’s houseboat you just bought. Someone wanted to rent it for the day, but it hasn’t been looked over yet.”

I grabbed my tools from behind the counter and made my way toward the boat I never wanted to step foot on again. I only bought the thing because I couldn’t bear to see someone else take off with my memories.

I stopped on the dock and looked up at the boat.

Instantly, memories flooded me. I asked Lennox on our first date on that boat. It’s where I heard her sing for the first time and where we had our first kiss. Just thinking about that kiss, I could feel her soft lips pressed to mine.

I shook my head trying to clear out the memories and hopped in.

Walking inside, I noticed there was a leak in the roof. I made my way up to the top to check it out.

With the sun beating down on my back, I was hot and sweating my ass off. I took off my shirt and tossed it down on the dock to continue working on the crack.

“Thanks, but I didn’t need a shirt.”

I stood and walked to the edge to look down. It was Lennox. Just seeing her standing in front of me again after five years was enough to make my heart pound in my chest.

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