Page 64 of I Heart Mason Cartwright
“Got it,” he says.
I really want to look up now. If for no other reason than to convince him that it’s not true and I’m not drooling over him.
“I’m sure the fiancé you were referring to is flattered.”
“Flattered is like the worst word in all word history.”
“Why?”
I turn my head to the side, so I can see him a little bit. “Because it’s like a backward compliment. Or something where you think you’re letting the other person down gently but really you’re just rejecting them in a condescending manner.”
“How is being flattered condescending?”
“It’s like this,” I say straightening to look at him. “You say you’re flattered, right? What that means isoh, what you’re saying is so cute. I can’t possibly be bothered to reciprocate, but it’s nice of you anyway, you poor little deluded dear.”
“You get all of that from one word?”
“Yep.” I add a pop sound to the “P.”
“What if I said if things were different, I’d feel the same way. Is that condescending?”
Shit! Now we are getting into dangerous territory. Abort. Abort.
“Um . . . I don’t think that would be condescending. No—”
His phone buzzes and he looks down at it.
Thank god for the interruption.
He frowns as he reads whatever it says.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“I don’t know. AshLynn’s just . . . I mean, no offense, but what’s with her hang-up about money? Are you all that way?”
I take a deep breath not sure how I want to answer that. I mean, I think AshLynn is always manipulative and immature, but I don’t know if that’s what he means bythisso I don’t want to taint his view of her.
Or do you?
“I’m not. But in truth that’s probably only because I have it. You have to understand the way they think. My father changed after my mom died. Actually, that doesn’t really matter because AshLynn wasn’t even born yet. Or maybe it does because then it shows how she was raised.” I think on it for a minute, then glance over at him. He’s watching me intently. Waiting for me to give him all the answers.
Could be waiting a long ass-time for that, buddy.
“My mom came from money. A lot of money. But my grandmother had primary control over it. My dad is an idea guy. But not all his ideas are good. My mom believed in him and would fund any and every business proposition he had. He made a lot of money, but he lost a lot more than he made. So, my grandmother put a stop to it. She felt he was reckless. It hurt my parents’ feelings when she did that, but my dad was making money at the time, so they didn’t worry about it.”
It makes me uncomfortable to speak ill of my father or my sister. But at the same time, I want Mason to know why they are the way they are. Maybe it will help him to be more lenient and understanding with their behavior.
“Then his luck changed, and over the next year he lost a lot of money.”
“How much is a lot?”
“About five million.”
“Holy shit!”
“Yeah. And I only know this because I heard my mom and my grandma talking about it. It was only a few months later that my mom was killed. He was the sole beneficiary on her life insurance, the main heir in her will, and the trustee over my inheritance. That’s what he spent first.”
“How? Aren’t there rules against that?”
