When I settled down in my room to get ready for bed later that night, I went through the amazing time I spent with Mason. We ended up going to eat at Olive Garden, Mason wanted to make it up to me from when we went to Durango’s instead, and then we went to the park and ate homemade ice-cream sundaes until ten at night. It was so fun!
I always liked going on dates with Abbie, and this time was no different. Mason, I decided, wasn’t as outspoken as Cliff was. Cliff had a fire mouth, and he loved seeing how far he could go before I would glare at him to silence his swearing.
They were huge jokester’s, and more than once, I got ice cream shoved in my face. Abbie and I were pretty good at getting them back though. Besides all the fun we were having, there were a couple of times when Mason’s arms cinched tight around my waist and he looked around with wary eyes.
If Abbie noticed it, she didn’t acknowledge it, but before we dropped them off at her house, she looked at me with a look I knew was full of unanswered questions she would drill me with later.
Mason had to go do something for Steve, so he dropped me off at my house. "I’ll miss you," I whispered, one hand on my door handle, the other still clutching his.
"I’ll be one hour tops! I promise." He kissed my hand and I got out of the truck. He waited until I was inside before he drove away and I felt lonely with him not by my side.
I went to the living room to find Alex and Zane, but they were both unconscious on my couch. I attempted to take Zane up to his bed, but that was impossible. I used to be able to pick him up and take him to bed, but
now he was too heavy for me!
I went and got blankets instead. When I came back and put a blanket on them, Alex woke up and almost attacked me.
"I’m so sorry Zoe! I was dreaming and I woke up and you were touching me!" He tried to explain.
"I was only putting a blanket on you! Now shut up so Zane doesn’t wake up!"
"I’m really sorry. I didn’t hit you did I?" he asked worriedly.
"No, just relax and go back to sleep. I’m sorry for waking you."
"Where’s Mason?" he asked, rubbing his eyes with a huge yawn.
"I don’t know. He left me saying he’d be back. That was about five minutes ago."
"He’ll probably be a while then. Might as well make yourself comfortable. Steve might make him go longer since he’ll be with you all day tomorrow."
I sat down next to Alex and let him tickle my back "what is he doing?"
He yawned again before answering. "We have watch posts on the outskirts of town that we have to keep our eye on every now and then. Steve is still worried about the incident we had at the beginning of the week."
"Will he get hurt?" I started to feel worried.
He snorted with laughter. "Yeah right. If anything is out there, he won’t be alone. Besides, Mase is pro at this kind of thing."
"Why didn’t you ever introduce me to him?"
He sighed. "I don’t know. I almost did, when you were with Curtis, but I told him and he flipped out on me, so I kept quiet."
I laid down across his lap and he started massaging my shoulders. He was great at massages! I taught him exactly the way I like it. I’m glad he’s paid so much attention over the years. Now if only Zane would pay attention to my lessons. . .