Page 40 of Fun and Games
I can't wait,I said.Thank you for thinking of this.
Of course,he wrote back.
I had to wonder if Mason had waited these few days to message me because he didn't want to seem clingy. How much had it bothered him to know something was up with me, but not know what?
But the thought that he'd been worried about me, that he'd been thinking of me…
Despite myself, my heart glowed in my chest.
Fifteen
"Didyou know more people are killed in Africa by hippos than by any other animal?"
"There's Ms. Trivia Geek again." Mason threw his arm around my shoulder and nudged my hip with his. "Tell me more nerdy facts about which animals like to kill people."
"I didn't say hipposliketo kill people," I said. "They're probably just protecting their young."
Mason and I were sitting at the back of the safari Jeep and having the time of our lives. So far we'd seen giraffes, zebras, elephants, and now hippos taking a dip in a watering hole.
Connor and Quinn had ended up bailing on us — something about an emergency meeting with a contractor — and while I normally would have been suspicious, Mason had been so enthusiastic about our trip, I couldn't accuse him of having ulterior motives.
"I've never been so close to these kinds of animals before," Mason said, eyes shining as he looked around in every direction.
"You've been to zoos before, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, as a kid on a school trip," he said, "but the coolest animals were so far away in their enclosures, we didn't get to see anything interesting. This right here is amazing."
I'd thought perhaps Mason had come up with the idea to do a local safari adventure because I'd mentioned it was one of my dreams. But with the way he kept beaming and whipping his camera out to take photo after photo, I had to wonder if maybe the animal lover in him had been waiting for an excuse to do something just like this.
"Smile!" he told me as he pointed the camera in my face.
I flashed my teeth long enough for him to take the picture, then he looked down at the screen with pursed lips. Every time he took a photo he would examine it carefully and either shake his head and delete it, or nod in approval and save it, carefully selecting the best.
This one must have been a keeper, because he turned the camera around and showed me my own smiling face on the view screen, with a perfectly posed elephant in the background raising its trunk as if in salute.
"I saw it behind you and had to capture the moment," Mason explained.
"That's some great timing," I said.
The boyish grin on his face was so similar to the one he'd worn when we'd taken the dogs to the dog park. Mason was normally so composed. It was a pleasure to watch him get this excited over something.
But although he was more animated than usual, he had also somehow become more relaxed. At ease, almost. As if a weight were lifting from his shoulders.
"Can you send me that photo?" I asked. I could share it with my sister and prove to her I was doing okay, that I was getting out and living life, just like I said I was, and not wallowing in my own misery, like she thought I did.
"I can send you all the photos when I get home," he said.
"Good, because I really suck at taking pictures." I put my phone back in my purse. "I hope you don't mind doing all the work."
"Not at all," he said. "I'm used to it. Being on the road with Connor so often meant I got to see a lot of interesting things. He didn't really enjoy the touring much, but I loved being able to record all our adventures." His face softened with a small smile. "He was always telling me to get that camera out of his face, but I know he has tons of my photographs stuck to his fridge. But it's been a while since I've done anything like that. I work at the bar now and don't have much chance to get out there and travel."
"Then I'm glad you suggested this trip," I said.
Mason brought the camera up and snapped a quick picture of me.
"Hey, I wasn't ready," I protested. "My mouth was probably open, and I think I blinked."
"Sometimes those are the best photos," Mason said. "The ones you take in the moment, when nobody is posing. It's all just natural. There's something raw about it. Something real. It's not faked or feigned."
