Page 50 of I Heart Mason Cartwright
“Downtown Seattle. Where I’m from. She gets a lot of tourist traffic, and much of her inventory is donated. Plus, she deals with tracking down rare editions, so she does okay.”
“I’ll say. Downtown Seattle must be pricey to rent in.”
“The building owner likes her, gives her a really good deal.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet! Maybe he’ll sweep her off her feet and marry her. I’m a sucker for a good happily ever after,” I tell him.
He chuckles. “I think she’s going to have a strong lifelong relationship with him.”
“I love that.”
“She’s amazing. I would like to see her happy with someone, but it won’t be the building owner. At least not romantically.”
“Why?”
He laughs. “Let’s just say he’s otherwise engaged.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” I say. “I love the idea of romance.”
“The idea of it?”
“Yes, the reality is way too messy. I could never do what you and AshLynn are doing. Meet someone and just decide to get married.”
But you can meet someone and lust after him.
“Well, it’s not—”
I shush my inner critic and interrupt Mason to keep talking. “I’ve been in twoseriousrelationships.” I air quote the word serious. “It’s not like I was engaged or anything, but I lived with one of them for almost a year.”
“What happened?”
“He cheated. They both did. The one I was living with? That one hurt a lot more. I thought he was it, you know? Anyway, that’s why I don’t have any furniture. I packed my clothes and left. He got to keep everything even though I paid for it all. He’d had sex on most of it anyway, and not with me. So, it’s not like I wanted to keep it. That was over a year ago. I’ve lived in random hotels and furnished short-term rentals since. Until now at least. Which is why the reality of romance: totally not worth it.”
I never should have kept talking. I just verbal vomited all over him.
He just looks at me.
Because you are looney tunes.
“I can’t believe someone would cheat on you,” he says.
“Oh, that’s nice of you to say.”
“You’re smart, funny, pretty, ambitious.”
I scoff. “Clearly I’ve got you fooled. Mission accomplished. Woot!” I raise a fist in the air in victory. Like the true geek that I am.
Just stop, Willow. Please stop.
We’ve gotten way off track here. Time to turn this thing around. “Okay, so what’s first?”
He pauses, as if waiting to see if I’ll say more. I stay quiet. Which is not easy. Because, really, I could keep going for hours. I could tell him my entire life story.
Literally.
Like from my earliest memories at age three until now.
“Well,” he starts. “Most of what you’ve shown me in your pictures is cosmetic. Do you want to remove or add any other walls? Change anything major structurally?”
