Page 36 of Between the Paragraphs

“Are you being ghosted?” Tom asks, looking far too delighted by the idea of this.

“No!” I say a bit too gruffly.

“I think the player has finally met his match,” Nathan says. “I hope he doesn’t lose her cause she’s fun.”

“There’s nothing wrong with Maria and I,” I practically shout. At least I don’t think there’s anything wrong. I’d know for sure if the dang woman would send me a message.

“I think the tone of your voice says differently. What happened?” Kevin asks.

“Seriously, dude, it seems Maria has you tied up in knots.”

I let out a sigh. “She’s off on a weekend and I can’t get ahold of her. I’m just worried, that’s all.” I have no choice but to give them this much. It’s clear I’m not myself.

“She ran out on you?” Nathan says, again seeming pleased.

“She didn’t run out on me,” I practically growl.

“Damn! What a change. Aren’t you the one normally running away?” Tom asks.

I roll my eyes at all of them wondering why in the world I invited them over. This isn’t helping to improve my mood. As much as I want to check my phone, I refuse to pick it up again with all of them staring at me.

“We don’t need to spend every day together. We both have lives,” I insist.

“Maybe she’s currently having a life with Fabio right now on a tropical beach,” Nathan says.

I glare at him. I’ll pummel another man if he dares try to get to her. “She’s with Nikki. They’re fine.”

“I never thought I’d see the day you were a taken man, but it’s come. I wish we would’ve been taking bets on it,” Tom says.

“Seriously, I would’ve lost though. I’d have said at least another five years. Once burned and all,” Kevin says.

“I wasn’t exactly burned. We grew apart, and that ended up being a great thing. Sure, she admitted to cheating, but I didn’t know that until the very end, and by then it was already over. I just didn’t know it yet,” I tell them, speaking about the woman I was going to ask to marry me. “Besides, you can’t take what someone doesn’t choose to give.” These words ring hollow in my own head. I am taken, and I’m not unhappy about it.

“Keep telling yourself this,” Nathan says, raising his beer in a mock toast. “We all know the truth. To the cute couple and Mason’s misery.”

“Here, here,” Tom and Kevin say.

I scowl at all of them, but I take a deep swig of my beer. The guys continue to tease me, but their words hit a bit too close to home. I’m acting like a maniac and it’s not reassuring. It’s just that I love being with Maria, and with our busy work schedules our time’s limited. That’s why I’m upset about this. We didn’t talk about spending the weekend together, but I’ve pretty much marked all of my weekends out for her.

“What are your next steps?” Kevin asks as he attends the grill. Normally the smell of a good BBQ has my mouth watering. Today isn’t that day.

“What do you mean?” I reply, only half tuned into the conversation.

“What are your plans with Maria. Are you going to keep playing it cool, or are you going to let her know how hard you’re falling for her?” Kevin pushes.

I shrug as if it doesn’t matter. “I don’t know. It’s still early in our relationship.”

“Doesn’t matter if it’s early. When I met Gina I knew within a week I wasn’t ever letting her go. Ten years later and I love her even more today than I did then. When you know, you know,” Tom says.

“That’s the exception to the rule. We all know the first months of a relationship are filled with hormones. How often does it last beyond that?” I ask.

“Often enough to have billions of people in the world,” Nathan says.

“You don’t need to be in love to make babies,” I point out.

“No, but there are still a lot of happy marriages out there. My thought is that if you’re with a person who makes you like yourself more, and makes you want to be a better person, then you don’t let that person get away. I like how you’ve been since meeting Maria. Sure, it’s soon, but there’s something almost magical in meeting the right one. When it’s meant to be nothing can stand in your way,” Tom says.

“When did you get so damn mushy?” I ask.

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