Page 77 of The Night We Met

I snap a picture of them sitting on my dining room table and post it in our message chat.

Me: Hey yourself. I did. Thank you. They’re beautiful.

Mason: You’re welcome. How’s your day been?

Me: It’s looking up. How’s your day?

Mason: It’s been long. Practice. Watching film. Interviews. It can get tiring and repetitive

Me: Oh, I know all about that. I can only say so many things about my new line when I debut it at fashion week. The clothes speak for themselves, but reporters and magazines expect me to say a paragraph about what I designed.

Mason: That’s exactly how I feel in my interviews. My game speaks for itself.

Me: So it looks like we’re one in the same, then. We’d rather let our work do the talking than actually do the talking

Mason: I like the way you put that Ms. Rawlins…So I was thinking…

Me: Oh goodness. What now?

I smile in remembrance of when he first said that to me eons ago.

Mason: Such sass…We have a home game next weekend. I know that it’s last minute and you were supposed to choose the game, but I’m just too impatient to wait for your answer. I’m hoping that you live in the city so it won’t be too much of a problem for you. You can bring Jax and a couple of friends. I’ll have passes for you all to get field access and to sit in a booth. What do you say?

Me: I say that you’re an incredibly eager man. When do you need an answer from me?

Mason: Thursday if it’s not too much trouble.

Me: Okay. I’ll have an answer for you in two days.

Mason: I look forward to hearing from you. Goodnight, Kamryn.

Me: Goodnight, Mason.

Kamryn

August 2019

The next night I’m out to dinner with Jax, Sarah, and Emily when I tell them about Mason being back in my life.

“But is it moving too fast? Am I moving too fast?” I sit back in my chair with my drink in my hand. I’ve kept Sarah and Emily in the loop because our schedules clash even when we’re all not on deadlines. We made it our mission to schedule monthly dinners. And this dinner is packed with all the goings of our personal lives.

My sister looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Kamryn, when have you ever gone slow with guys? You and Mason were great together. I know I questioned it, but it’s obvious that he adores you and he’s doing everything that he can to make things right with you. Plus, it really is time that you move on. I’ll admit that Brett was not the right choice for you.”

I look at Sarah and Emily and they’re both nodding their heads in agreement at what Jax said.

“What if I’m scared?” I begin. “He chose football over me before and that crushed me. And after losing Liam, I don’t think I could ever put my heart through that again. Ihave a reason for burying myself in my work these past couple years. Because what if he does it again?” I explain to them.

“It wouldn’t be love if it didn’t scare you.” Emily said with a knowing look.

“You’re right, Em. I’m sorry.” Sometimes I forget that I’m not the only person that experienced a life changing moment. It’s moments when your past comes back in your life that you realize you were being selfish.

Losing James and Liam the same day and the same way, made our shared grief bearable. We may have initially leaned on each other in our shared grief, but I eventually pulled away from her. Seeing the picture’s of Liam’s crash made it harder to be around her. And I couldn’t help but feel responsible for the accident. No matter the reassurances from my parents, Liam’s parents, and Emily; it didn’t stop the guilt from overtaking my life.

But with therapy I’ve still been coming to terms with knowing the accident wasn’t my fault. Emily and I slowly built our friendship back up. And what we have now is more sister than friend.

“Don’t be sorry Kam. You and I both know what it’s like to have the worst of the worst happen. It’s time you finally started living again.” Emily explains to me.

To say I’m in awe of Emily is an understatement. The pause in our friendship was beneficial for her as well. Emily was able to open her heart up earlier and allowed herself to get back into dating last year. She was terrified to move on, we all knew it. But now she’s found a really good guy that owns his own restaurant. He’s a single dad to a five year old and they’ve been together for just about six months. No one can replicate what she had with James but Adam has made it easy for her. While herhappiness isn’t overflowing, she is getting to that place again.

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