Page 189 of Mason

She nods once.

“Good,” she says. “You needed to.”

I stare at the dark swirl in my cup.

“I don’t know if I’m ready for him.”

“No one ever is,” she replies. “Not for men like that.”

My throat tightens. “He’s... intense.”

“He’s also patient. Loyal. Steady. And completely wrecked over you,” she says flatly. “But sure. Let’s focus on the scary parts.”

I glance up. “He scares me a little.”

Maxine leans in. “He should. All the good ones do. Because when a man like Mason Ironside loves you? It’s not convenient. It’s not easy. It’sconsuming. And it’ll force you to look at all the parts of yourself you’ve been hiding from.”

I go quiet.

She doesn’t push.

Just watches.

“I don’t know if I can be what he needs,” I say finally.

“You don’t have to be,” Maxine says. “You just have to bereal. He’s not looking for perfect. He’s looking foryou. The broken, stubborn, scared version of you. Because that’s who he fell for.”

My eyes burn.

She leans back, folding her arms across her chest.

“But if you’re not ready? That’s okay. We’re not kicking you out of the circle. You’ve got time, Shelby. Time to breathe. Time to heal. Time to figure out if you want to reach back for the hand that’s already waiting for you.”

“And if I never do?”

Maxine gives me a slow, sad smile.

“Then I’ll be the one to tell him,” she says, her voice calm and unshakable.

“But you should know—none of us will ever stop believing in you.”

The lump in my throat is sharp and sudden. I swallow around it, but it doesn't move.

It just stays there—tight, aching, full of things I haven’t said out loud in years.

I blink, staring down at the mug in my hands.

The steam has faded. The warmth is almost gone.

But her words? Her words burn like brandy in my chest.

None of us will ever stop believing in you.

I don’t know what to do with that.

Because belief, for me, has always been a luxury.

Other people get belief. Other people get safety nets and warm hands and the kind of love that holds steady even when they fall apart.

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