Page 116 of Please Save Me

Mason had renamed our daughter without my consent, and I had no idea why.

My lips felt dry as I swiped a tongue over them, suddenly needing to look away from the person I loved more than anything else.

“Hey… Can we talk?” I asked before I could think better of it.

“About what?” She sounded completely oblivious.

“The baby.”

I looked back after I spoke, Mason’s wide eyes pinned on mine, and for a moment, I thought I’d falter under the fear of disappointing her.

“You’re not having second thoughts… right?”

I quickly shook my head, slightly offended she’d ever think that. “You’re never getting rid of me, you know that.”

Her shoulders lowered as she resumed nibbling at the protein bar. Mason’s relief was palpable, but it was short-lived.

“Sophia told me you renamed her… is that true?”

Mason froze with the bar just centimeters from her lips. She lowered it to the table, her gaze flickering away from mine as she started picking at a loose string on the sweatshirt I’d lent her.

“I did, yeah.” Her admission was barely above a whisper.

Hearing it for the third time didn’t make it any easier. Cameron, Sophia, and now straight from the horse’s mouth. All of it left me feeling like an outsider in my relationship. But, due to just how many skeletons I had in my closet, it felt like I couldn’t be angry at Mason for having her own secrets. But this one directly involved me. Also, it wasn’t like she could have hidden it forever.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I tried and failed to keep the hurt out of my voice.

She shrugged like a child who’d just gotten caught doing something they knew was wrong but couldn’t quite explain why. Her eyes met mine for a brief moment before darting away again.

“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” she explained.

My lips rolled into a thin line as I nodded. “Did you not likeLavender?”

She shook her head. “I thinkLavender Joysounds like a discount laundry detergent.”

“Princess… Then why did you agree to it?”

Mason and I had gone back and forth for hours when it came to our daughter’s name. She’d suggest something else, her top contenders beingAurora, Delilah,andClementine,but she didn’t seem outright passionate about any of them.

“Because it felt like I should let you name her. You didn’t have a reason to step up and play dad, but you did.”

My head tipped to the side as a look of pity broke on my face.

“Mason, I’m not stepping up. I loveyou.I wantyou. Was I expecting you to be pregnant when wefinallygot together? No. But, being in our daughter’s life hasneverfelt like I wasplayingdad.”

Her bottom lip quivered as she tried to keep a brave face.

“I know,” she said, her voice trembling as tears welled in her eyes. “But I appreciate you, and I feel like a burden.”

My expression flattened as I stared at her. “... You feel like a burden?”

She nodded. “You’re always busy with work, and I feel like everything has been a mess for you since we started dating.”

Wasthatwhy she seemed to prefer Lucian to me?

“You willneverbe a burden. Do you understand?” I tried to keep my voice light despite just how serious this was.

Mason sheepishly nodded.

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