Page 18 of I Heart Mason Cartwright
“Uh,” he starts.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to put you on the spot. I’m just making conversation. Stupid conversation. Until AshLynn gets back. You don’t need to answer that.”
“No, it’s fine. I just, you’re right, I hadn’t really expected the question. Caught me off guard is all.”
I smile. And wait for him to answer my question.
“Oh.” He startles. As if just remembering I’d asked one. “Right. Um, it isnothard being long distance. No.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah.”
AshLynn opens the front door and comes back in. “So, did we say we wanted to have dinner?”
“I thought we had to go,” Mason says standing. His stomach growls loudly. “Although, I guess I am hungry.”
“Don’t include me in your plans. You guys go ahead,” I say, standing to go back in the house. “I’m hitting the shower, ordering a pizza, and then there’s a Walking Dead marathon on Netflix with my name on it.”
They follow me inside. “When will your furniture be back?” AshLynn asks at the same time Mason says, “Now that sounds like a good evening.”
Again, I’m not sure which one I should respond to first. I go with AshLynn. “I don’t have any furniture.”
“Well, where are you living then?” Her brow is furrowed, and a small frown mars her face.
“Here.”
“With no furniture?”
“I have a bed.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, I didn’t want to get furniture until I knew what the house wanted, what felt right. Plus, I still need to redo the floors and paint the walls.”
“When will that be finished?” AshLynn asks.
“When I finish it,” I say.
“Don’t you have people to do that?” AshLynn asks.
I laugh. “No. That’s the whole point of renovating the house myself.”
“How do you know what to do?”
“I don’t. Not really. But I have my book.” I point to the big orange home improvement how-to book. “And if I really get in a bind, there’s YouTube and the hardware store.”
“Wow,” AshLynn says. “I thought Daddy was kidding when he said you were doing this.”
“Nope.” I swear I grow two feet taller when I say this, because I am proud as peaches of myself for doing this.
“That’s awesome,” Mason says at the same time AshLynn says, “You’re crazy.”
“You guys should take that act on the road,” I tell them. Mason laughs. AshLynn stays confused.
“Okay, well, we might need to stay just a little bit longer than I thought,” AshLynn hedges.
“How long?” I ask.
“Maybe overnight.” She squeaks the last part of the sentence.
“Excuse me?” I say at the same time Mason says, “AshLynn, what the hell?”
