Page 66 of I Heart Mason Cartwright
“I don’t think he does; it was just time for you to wake up. Mason didn’t want to disturb you, thought you looked too peaceful. I, on the other hand, don’t give a fuck. So now you can entertain me.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“Not long, maybe forty-five minutes.”
“Wow, I don’t even remember falling asleep.”
“That’s usually how it happens,” Zach says drily.
“Ha ha.”
P-Tink wanders into the house, I hear her barking at the wet/dry vac a brief time later. And I realize this might be her first experience with a vacuum and decide to get up and videotape it. Because, yes, I’m one of those people who videotapes everything the dog does. Or is it just video since there aren’t tapes any longer? Anyway, I video and take pictures. I head in the house through the back door and run into AshLynn before my eyes have a chance to adjust.
“Hello to you too,” she says. “My god, what is all that racket?”
“That’s the wet/dry vac,” I say.
“I mean the dog barking,” she says.
“Well . . . that’s the dog.”
“I don’t know how you put up with that. Ugh.”
“She’s barking at the shop vac. I think it’s cute.”
“You would.”
“Where’s Cassandra? Did she come back with you?”
“No, she and Daddy were meeting at the golf course for cocktails.”
“Did he golf again today?”
“Yes. But we are having dinner with them this evening, command performance and there’s a dress code.”
“You and Mason have a command performance with your parents?”
“No, all of us.”
“Us meaning me?”
“That’s what us means, isn’t it? Me, you, Mason, Mommy, Daddy, and Zachy since he’s here.”
“What’s this about us? I heard my name, what’s happening?” Mason walks in with Zach trailing behind him.
“We’re having dinner in a couple hours with Mommy and Daddy,” AshLynn says.
“We?” Mason asks.
“All of us,” AshLynn says.
I turn to Zach. “Sorry to say, she included you in her list. That means you’re coming too, mister.”
“Well, fuck,” Zach says.
