Page 52 of Breakup Games

And now Josie rolls her eyes and I see exactly where her daughter gets it from. “Do as I say, not as I do. But hey, I think we did pretty well.”

Jacob puts his arm around Josie‘s shoulders. “You did.”

The way he looks at her melts my heart and I go back to thinking of what Elsie said not that long ago about how true lovedoesexist. You just have to make the choice to love each other every single day.

“So,” I start realizing not even five minutes have passed since we sat down. “Mason says you guys have horses.”

“It was so nice meeting you!”I give Josie and then Chloe a hug goodbye.

“I have a feeling I’ll see you again,” Chloe says, lips curving into a smirk.

“Oh really?” My heart skips a beat and I have to talk it down. Actions speak louder than words, after all, and it doesn’t matter how much I want Mason to want me.

“Yeah.” She looks at Josie who gives her a tiny nod. “We both noticed the way Mason looks at you. And maybe it’s because I write romance novels,” she says with a laugh. “But I want to say he’s a good guy. I’ve known him since I was a kid and I will confidently vet him for you if that makes any difference.”

“I-it…it kinda does,” I stammer, not really sure what to say. “But we’re just working together.”

“That’s how I met Jacob,” Josie says with a shrug. “I couldn’t stand him at first either.”

“Mason kind of annoyed me when I first met him.”

Chloe laughs. “He has that effect on people, but really he’s a good guy with a big heart.”

We finally finish our midwestern goodbye, and then Mason and I head down the street the opposite direction of his siblings.

“They’re all so nice!” I tell Mason.

“Yeah, they’re not too bad,” he says, and I laugh.

“Chloe and I have plans to do a podcast episode on real love versus romance novel love.”

“That’s actually a pretty interesting concept.”

“Right?” My excitement grows thinking about not only the draw of having Chloe Fisher on my show, but how fun it will be to explore the dynamics of what we’re willing to read about versus except in real life. Can we allow ourselves to cross the boundaries of fiction into reality without getting hurt? This is going to be so fun.

“Oh, before I forget,” Mason starts, putting his arm around me and moving me toward the building side of the sidewalk so he walks along the street instead of me. “Bianca.”

“Right. I’m thinking I'll put up a post in a few days about how nice it was to take a social media break so that way I don’t even have to log on or deal with it for a while.”

He considers us for a second and then nods. “I think that’s best. You can’t see anything more being her friend than not, so it doesn’t do us good to go poking around and risk exposure.”

“Exactly what I was thinking!” I playfully nudge him. “We make a pretty good team.”

He looks down, eyes lingering on mine for several seconds. Something goes through me, but I can’t call it butterflies. I know enough now that what most people call butterflies is actually anxiety. We tend to obsess over people who don’t make us feel safe because we want to convince our inner child we are worthy.

Whatever this is…it’s not anxiety. It’s not fear. It’s more like a craving because when we’re together, life is just more enjoyable. And for some reason, I know Mason feels it too.

“Do you want to get an Uber back to your place?” Mason asks. “I’ll go with you and check the perimeter.”

“That would be nice,” I tell him. He hasn’t spent the night since that one time when he came over and to be honest, I haven’t felt quite as safe without him.

He pulls at his phone and gets us a ride. We’re not too far from my place thankfully, because our driver is chatty. He just moved here from overseas and is very excited to be in Chicago. I love the city, but it has its drawbacks. I know Mason and I are both thinking the same thing but neither of us have the heart to break it to this guy.

Knowing I need to get Violet and let her out, Mason comes up with me. It melts my heart to see him get down on the floor and let my oversized puppy lick his face, as she squeals with excitement.

We go out into the courtyard together and sit on the bench while we let Violet sniff around. It’s a little chilly since it rainedand cooled the temperature down this morning. I shiver and Mason puts his arm around me. Heat comes off of him in waves, and I turn, my eyes locking with his. My heart is hammering in my throat and my entire body begs for his touch.

I’ve spent the last few weeks getting to know this man and there are zero red flags about him. He’s calm and consistent, kind and considerate. He checks all of my boxes yet I am absolutely terrified to even admit that I would want something more than a friendship with him.

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