Common Sense Doesn't Become Me (18 page)

"If you call hitting the gas instead of the
brake because you are wigging out that your boyfriend just found
out that you accidentally dated a man who has a wife. Yup. That's
scary alright." I joked.

I felt his hand tighten on mine as he looked
down at it then his eyes came back to mine. "I'm glad to hear I am
still your boyfriend."

"You are if you want to deal with the fun
likes of me and my sometimes crazy life." I teased.

"Everybody has a crazy life from time to
time. I guess maybe I should share in a little about mine later
while I am taking care of you, so that you might understand why my
family was so weird on Sunday. I'm just glad you'll let me be your
boyfriend. And by the way, 6D got her eviction notice. That was why
she was trying to break into my apartment, to pay her rent by,
well... Any ways, I was very shocked to see her there. However, I
guess since you did not see my face or my reaction you would not
know. Just know this, I suck at communications sometimes. Looking
back, if I had explained it all better than we would not have been
in this mess that I feel partially to blame."

I let out an awkward laugh. It felt good to
know naked boobs 6D was not in the picture any more or to begin
with. I had to put a little more faith in people, but that is hard.
Sometimes I would rather jump to a conclusion with a defensive
anger instead of listening. It felt good to know that Mason could
overlook that, so I teased to lighten the mood. "Well, you are a
man and men don't ask for directions."

We both started to laugh.

Mason spoke up first to break the smiles and
laughter between us. "Hey. I grabbed your purse before the tow
truck took your car away. I called Marion, but that was it. She
told me not to call anyone else. I think she was going to head
straight here after her baby checkup. I guess she went there after
her lunch. I did not tell her too much, only that your
ex-boyfriends wife thought, you and him were back together, and
taking off somewhere. So, what I have to say next would explain why
I feel guilty."

I gave him a taken back look and frowned.
"What could you possibly feel guilty about? You didn't know about
her."

"Well. See. This woman was knocking on your
door rapidly yelling for you that she needed to talk. I happened to
be at Ms. Handly's; her sink was clogged. I think she does that on
purpose." We both laughed at that because we both knew it was
true.

He started up again with a story that I would
never have expected. "So I came out and asked her if I could help,
and she told me that she had something she had to tell you. Any
ways, the woman confused me into telling her that you worked at the
Crawly plant. Then when she mumbled under her breath as she walked
away about 'I'm going to kill that bitch for running off with my
husband again', well I freaked. I yelled after her to stop, but she
took off running. Then it was a race to your work, where I might
add that, your receptionist is like a pit bull. She had security
called and escorting the yelling lunatic out of the office
building, just as I pulled up. Well, you probably just pulled into
the lot as all the commotion went to a level higher. Crazy huh?
Sorry I didn't know."

He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it
just as his eyes looked at me with sorrow.

I did not want him to feel guilty for
something that had nothing to do with him. "I'm sorry. I should
have told you the complete truth. My previous boyfriend, who ruined
my family birthday party, was not dating another woman who came in
chasing him down but a wife. I felt awful, and she has every right
to be mad. However, believe me when I tell you that I have not, and
let me emphasize not, gotten back with her husband. That goes
against all my beliefs. I feel bad enough as it is that he is
married. I wonder if Steve is up to his old bag of tricks but this
time he left her?"

"Who cares? The cops gave her a ticket, and I
got a few words in myself. Mad or not, she has no reason to
threaten you or your receptionists for not telling her where you
were. Maybe the cops convinced her to stay away; I know I made some
kind of impact when I defended you. I told her the sooner she
divorced the loser the better off she will be. I also added that
you had no idea he was married when you were dating him, and it was
as if a light bulb was going on in her head. By the time, she drove
away at your work; she seemed to be in a better place." I had no
doubts that Mason swooned her in his own way and made her see that
the only person she needed to be mad at was her, hopefully soon to
be, ex-husband.

"Thanks." I mumbled in awe.

"For what?" He seemed unsure.

"For defending me. It may not seem like much
to you but to me, it means a lot. I thought when you didn't defend
me at your family brunch that you were unsure of, there being an
us."

He stood up to kiss me on the lips, and it
caused a soft moan out of me. "Head hurts, huh?" He questioned.

"Throbs, is more like it. I think they
skimped on the pain meds if you ask me." I smiled weakly.

"Well don't worry. I know a trick or two to
relieve the pain." He said it in such a sultry voice that I was
already thinking getting better could be half the fun. Then he
added something that made my heart soar. "About my family, my
father is going through a tough time right now. My mom jokes that
it's manopause, like women get menopause, or that he is just
becoming a grumpy old man. I just know the two of us are getting on
each other's nerves, and I don't want that. There is a bit of
history about me and my crazy mistakes that gets my dad to think I
can't make any good decisions. So on Sunday, you caught the brunt
of his anger towards me. He feels really bad and wants to make it
up to you. I guess we were all shocked at his behavior and just
felt you were doing good holding your own. I felt if I said
anything it would ruin the whole day. If I could have gone back, I
would have done a lot different that day. For one, I would not have
sat silent in the car while you were obviously mad. Sometimes when
I am mad, I just shut down." He let out an awkward laugh, so I
joked.

"Again, you are a man, and you suck at
communication." We both laughed.

He looked into my eyes with sincerity, and
then he continued on. "I guess what I am trying to say is I won't
be as distant as I seemed. Next time, I will not let you go away
mad. I will do my best to make you smile." He waggled his eyebrows
and I knew what that meant, which to me, it meant a lot. Not that
he wanted to please me in only a physical way, but also in a mental
sense.

He looked at me with eyes that were begging
for forgiveness. "Don't worry. I'll let you practice on your
forgiving. It might take a lot of practice." Just as I teased,
Marion walked through the curtain.

"There is an awful lot of giggling going on
behind this curtain. Hey, I talked with the doctor. You've got a
minor concussion. I talked with the Crawly receptionist and got the
short version of which I am sure Mason filled you in on a bit." She
winked at him and he smiled back, while squeezing my hand. She
continued on. "So, you are one lucky little girl. Wally found out
that the car you hit was actually a rental replacement from the
dealership, because the president's Range Rover had some engine
noise this morning. You hit the dealership car, which will probably
be covered by their insurance. In any case, your rates might go up.
That said, you two look cozy. Did you kiss and make up?"

Mason spoke up first. "Not fully but I will
be her doctor for the next few days until she is better."

Marion chimed in with some good news. "As
soon as the doctor can get in here to look you over and sign your
release, one of us needs to drive you home for bed rest."

"That would be me." Mason chuckled as he
nudged Marion.

"Good idea." She smiled at the two of us, and
then she let out the news that made my bed rest time even easier.
"Look. I think everything at work will be fine. It turns out the
city auditor cannot make it in for two more weeks. So that will
give you time. Take a few days off."

"That is all I felt like I have been doing."
I frowned at my own behavior.

Mason answered so quickly that my heart did a
pitter-patter. "Everybody has a little off time at work. This is
your time. Things will get back on track, and I will help anyway I
can."

"Me too." Marion chimed in. "And don't worry
about pleasing everyone else. Take care of yourself first."

Mason burst out with an admittance I think he
wanted to state all along and now felt like it was a good time. "I
wasn't going to give up that easy, you know. I had plans to get you
back. I just wanted you to cool down a bit." Then he reached up and
kissed me on the lips but puckering my lips caused a little pain in
my head, and I moaned.

"Sorry." Mason quickly apologized with
sincerity.

"I guess there are other places you could
kiss to make me feel better." I teased.

"And that is a sign that I need to go. Listen
you two; enjoy your doctor-patient thing. Spoil her Mason. She
deserves it. I'm going to run. Mums the word with the family I
suppose?" Marion winked.

"Yes. Please. Let's keep this quiet if we
can. I don't think I can deal with my mom on this one."

Marion patted my foot under the hospital
issued blanket and smiled. "Mums the word. Call me if you need me."
Then she was gone.

Mason and I sat there quietly for a second as
I felt him squeeze my hand, and then he finally spoke up. "It's not
a big deal you know. You dating a guy who lied about being married.
I guess what I am trying to say, is we have all done some stupid
things. I guess that is why my dad thinks I can't pick a good
woman, but this time I think I did."

"If you are referring to me, then I guess you
might be in for a surprise now and then. It just seems to happen to
me that way. Luck is not always in my favor. However, I guess when
it comes to meeting you, I would have to say it is, because if you
are willing to overlook my, uhm, flaws, then I can try to look past
those incredible eyes of yours and love you for your brain. It's
kind of hard though. You know. Because you have a really nice
body." I laughed.

"I think I am the one that should be saying
that." Then he kissed my hand just as the doctor came in to release
me. Alongside him was a nurse to take out my IV and send me along
my way. At this point, nothing about today seemed less daunting
because, I was back with Mason, he was going to take care of me,
and things were looking much better.

Chapter Fourteen

A few months later,
things were looking up. I had a good bit of management courses
completed, which left me feeling satisfied. It might have helped
that with each course completed; Mason promised me a romantic
date.

My mom and I were talking almost weekly like
a real mother and daughter should, no judgmental harshness playing
out, just a mom checking in on her daughter. If a disapproving
comment slipped from her lips, Mason was right there to make it all
better.

I finally got a chance to talk with Steve's
wife. We met down at the bakery, my treat. It turns out Steve had
finally left her for another woman, and we both needed to hear my
apology to move on from this tragedy. I think the double chocolate
cupcakes with cream cheese filling made the conversation a bit
easier. Mix that delicious combination with an iced caramel
Frappuccino and we both left feeling divinely sugarfied. She did
mention one thing that left me with a smile as I walked away from
the bakery, if things didn't work out with Mason she wanted his
number. I told her not a chance, he was a keeper.

Mason's dad and I were able to have a long
talk after everyone left for brunch one Sunday. It turns out; he
felt bad about judging me and told me he could not think of anyone
better to be with his favorite son. I joked in return that it was
his only son, and then he spoke with soft eyes as he replied,
'exactly why I worry so much about him'.

Bethany was promoted, again. No surprise
there. Somehow though, her pleas for advice on career dressing
always made me feel better as I knew I had something to contribute
to the sisterly bond communications. That, and she had no clue how
to dress sexy professional and was in dire need of catching one
particular executive's eye at her office.

Marion and Carl were knee-deep in baby
preparations and baby room decorating. Baby's names had not been
approved by Carl's mother, but he was working on it. Marion and I
figured if we kept coming up with name choices far worse than what
she and Carl wanted, eventually his mother would succumb.

Mason and I were connecting on such a close
level it was scary some days. Just yesterday, I completed another
course with glee in my heart knowing that after I volunteered this
morning at the Senior Center in the morning, he had a planned date
for the evening. This Sunday was a romantic date in the city, in a
horse carriage ride, to a dinner on a roof top restaurant and
followed with a walk through a park that is filled with twinkling
lights for couples.

Marion was starting to look like she had
swallowed a beach ball. A small one. When I looked at her directly,
I saw a small bump, but when she turned sideways in a tight shirt,
there they were, the twins. We spent most days talking about baby
rearing and reading baby articles to each other instead of my
chaotic drama. It seemed as if from the day in the hospital, as
soon as Mason and I recommitted to each other, all my unlucky chaos
just seemed to disappear. Marion and I joked that all good things
can't last, and we should prepare for the next round of adventure.
However, I knew deep in my heart, that falling in love with Mason
had been the most grownup thing I had ever done. Besides, twins,
one boy, one girl, could cause enough chaos for all of us. We were
going to have our hands full.