Page 22 of Dean Daddy

“Did you grow up in a bad place, princess?” he asks me.

“Not bad, but not like this. Mom and I were lower middle class.”

“Well, you turned out okay,” he winks.

“So did you,” I smile.

“This is the place,” Mason says, turning off the highway into a small, blacktop road surrounded by flowering trees. The road widens into a large parking lot adjacent to a tall, rustic-looking building that reminds me of something you would see on a European tour.

“This is nice,” I mutter as I watch other guests get out of their cars and walk to the entrance.

“Let’s go get this over with,” Mason says.

I look at him and say, “How about we try to have a good time?”

“Anything for you, baby girl,” he concedes.

My mother is the only person I recognize when we go inside. She smiles, hugs me, and says, “I’m so glad that you came for this.” Then, to my surprise, she hugs Mason too. I wonder if it’s just to keep up appearances for her guests, but if she’s acting, she deserves an award for best performance.

We’re greeted next by Mason’s cousins, then his childhood neighbors and some of his sister’s friends from high school. It’s a bit overwhelming, but everyone seems very nice. My mother has us seated at Emily’s table, which is reserved for immediate family, so we make our way over and sit down with Mason’s father. The wait staff is busy supplying all of the tables with pitchers of water and sangria to compliment the trays of hot and cold appetizers on the buffet.

When everyone is seated, the DJ says, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the couple of the hour—James and Emily,” and we all applaud as they enter the room.

“The next time we do this, it will be for you, Marcie,” my mother says and Mason squirms in his seat. I wonder if she intentionally made him uncomfortable, and my face reddens with anger. Mason sees my expression and puts his hand on my knee. I look at him and he shakes his head at me, so I swallow my hurt feelings and try to remember that we’re here to have a good time.

I’m surprised to see my mother lead her husband to the dance floor. It’s the first time I’ve seen her look happy in a while. Mason leans in and says, “Look at them. They love each other and it’s important for us to remember that.”

He has me very confused and I wonder if this sudden change in attitude has anything to do with the private conversation that he had with his father last night.

“What’s going on here?” I ask him.

“What do you mean?” he runs his finger around the rim of his glass.

“You needed a private moment with your father last night and now, suddenly, my mother is hugging you and you’re defending their relationship. What is this? Is this town really the Twilight Zone?”

He grins and says, “Don’t you want us all to get along?”

“Of course I do. I’d just like to know how it happened.”

“Come dance with me, baby girl. You’re being silly,” he stands and leads me to the dance floor for the second time in the last twelve hours. My nerves settle as he holds me in his arms, and I begin to think that maybe I am overreacting. I should just be thankful that everything seems to be working in our favor and stop dwelling on the reasons why.

Emily and James join us on the dance floor and Emily says, “You two really do make a lovely couple.”

“So do you,” I reply, failing to notice the scowl on Mason’s face.

Emily grins at him and says, “You’re losing your poker face, little brother.”

I’m now certain that there’s a big secret here, and I’m the only one who isn’t in on it. My feet stop moving and I say, “Alright, you need to tell me what’s going on here.”

“You’re right. If I don’t do it soon, someone else is going to spoil it for me,” Mason replies. “Come out back with me. There’s a beautiful courtyard out there where we can talk.”

Confused and becoming more concerned, I follow him outside. There’s a concrete bench beside a bubbling fountain, and Mason tells me to have a seat. He stands in front of me and paces back and forth a few times.

He stops and says, “When I called my dad about making the hotel reservations, that wasn’t all we talked about. We talked about us. I told him that I had every intention of spending the rest of my life with you. He told Sharon about our conversation and when they realized that this thing between us was probably going to result in our marriage, they reluctantly gave their blessing.”

“And Emily? What is she talking about?”

“Well, I had to have Emily’s buy-in since this is her party so I had to talk to her, too.”

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