So Many Men... (16 page)

“Good for her.” Erin nodded her satisfaction.

In spite of the gloom that had settled over her, excitement glimmered through Tess. “So, what you’re saying is that we’ve got our youth center.”

“That’s right, but you do know what else this means?”

Tess frowned. “What?”

“It means that man is going to need you more than ever now.”

T
HE CROWD IN THE BALLROOM
erupted in applause. Mason stared, astounded at the flashing numbers on the board at the front of the room. If the numbers were correct, they’d surpassed their goal.

It couldn’t be.

He glanced around for Cassie Aikens. Cassie would surely know if there had been a mistake. He straightened as she stepped up to the microphone on the podium at the front. The roar of the crowd settled as she tapped the microphone to get their attention.

“Good evening, everyone.” She gestured to the board behind her. “It looks like we made it.”

The crowd went wild in its enthusiastic response. Cassie smiled and nodded as the commotion settled down. “We have so many people to thank.” She gestured to the long list of names displayed beside the tally.

Mason’s stomach constricted. The last name listed was Sophie Patterson. Tess’s aunt had made a donation?

“For all of you who had readings by Sophie Patterson, you should know that Sophie’s was the final donation that put us over the top. She donated all the proceeds from her readings and evidently she had some very pleased customers.”

The crowd again erupted in applause. Mason shook his head, incredulous. He’d asked Tess and her family to leave because he’d thought they had spoiled their best shot at earning the money for the center.

Instead, they actually had cinched it for them.

“I’ll be damned.” April moved beside Mason. “That can’t be right.”

Mason gave her a long look. What a fool he’d been. How had he fallen in again with the same old closed-minded thinking? Had April always been so ready to blame others? “Sounds about right to me, April. It appears that we’ve got our youth center and we didn’t need Phillip Bailey to get it.”

April straightened. “Well, it’s a good thing—for the kids. But you were still right to ask Tess and her group to leave.”

“How can you say that? Tess’s aunt was one of the highest contributors. I think I’ve just made the biggest mistake of my life.”

“That’s nonsense, Mason. I’m sure they’ll understand that it was a simple misunderstanding.” She slipped her arm through his. “Let’s get a drink to celebrate. You’ll see. It’s all okay.”

“No, it isn’t.” He extricated himself from her grip as he pinned his gaze on her, the truth hitting him in an excruciating flash. “I’ve just screwed myself royally. You know Tess, the woman I just shoved right out of my life?”

“She’s not your type. No one knows you better than me. You’re better off without her.”

“There’s no doubt
she’s
better off without me, but you’re wrong about me being better off without her. You see, I love her.”

April shook her head, her eyes round in disbelief. “You’re just confused.”

“No, I’m not.”

Slowly, she nodded as her eyes glistened. “Then you should go after her.”

Mason fisted his hands and stared a long moment at the door. What would going after her gain him? At best a short reprieve in his time with her. In the end she would still leave him. It was in her nature—her healing nature.

He shook his head and turned from the door, all the anger and hurt that had filled him when she’d walked out of that hospital room without a backward glance reclaiming him. It was better this way.

Maybe some wounds never healed.

R
EJECTION
. H
OW THE HELL
did people deal with it? Tess swigged a long swallow of chocolate milk the following Tuesday night and grabbed a bag of peanut butter cookies from the pantry. A wave of despair washed over her as she shuffled barefoot into her bedroom, letting tears run freely down her cheeks.

She ripped opened the bag of cookies and crawled into her bed, torturing herself with memories of Mason. Snippets of her time with him flashed through her mind like some grotesque kaleidoscope.

Move in with me, Tess. Live with me and share my life.

He’d been so full of hope and caring.

And you don’t want to ruin it by telling me it isn’t going to work between us?

Why had she been so quick to turn him down?

Yes, I want you all to leave.

Bastard.

The agony hit her again, and she curled into a ball under her blanket. Oh, God, how did anyone survive this?

The ringing of her doorbell brought her out of her unhappy reverie. She bit into a cookie and frowned at the clock. Nine o’clock. Wasn’t everyone else in the world out doing something wild and fun? Even Erin had gone to dinner with Josh to celebrate finishing whatever job they’d been working on.

The bell pealed again. Curiosity got the better of her. With a quick slurp from her chocolate milk, she closed up the cookie bag, then blew her nose. Sighing, she padded down the hall to the door as an insistent tapping sounded.

“Tess, open up. I know you’re in there.” Cassie’s muffled voice penetrated the solid wood.

“Cassie?” What the hell? Tess yanked open the door.

Cassie stood on the other side, a bulging grocery bag in one hand, an overflowing video store bag in the other. Erin stood beside her, digging through her purse, evidently for her key.

Tess blinked. “Erin? I thought you were out with Josh.”

Her sister shrugged. “We got done early. I thought I’d see what you were up to. Have you got the phone off the hook? I’ve been trying to call. And check your cell phone. I think your battery’s dead again.” Her eyebrows arched as she took in Tess’s rumpled sweats. “I didn’t know you were expecting company.”

“I wasn’t.”

“I tried to call, too. I brought face masks.” Cassie indicated a bag slung over her shoulder.

“Face masks?” Tess gestured them to come in, and they filed into the entryway.

“And my pedicure-manicure set.” Cassie pawed through the bag. “Oh, and curlers.”

“Curlers?” Tess frowned. “Cassie, what is all this?”

Cassie’s eyes widened. “Well, girls’ night, of course.”

“Girls’ night?” Tess parroted, feeling like an idiot for repeating everything Cassie said, but she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around this sudden turn of events.

“Munchies, movies, mud masks…” Erin’s voice was filled with anticipation.

“Girls’ night,” Cassie offered, and bit her lip. “If you’re up to it.”

“Tess,” Erin said. “You’ve been moping around since…well, since—”

“Since that old fart, Mason, dumped you.” Empathy filled Cassie’s voice.

Tess stared at them. “I’ve been sort of hanging out….”

“Hon, it’s perfectly understandable,” Cassie said. “One time I was dating this guy I was completely in love with. I was over the moon. Anyway, he dumped me. Just like that.”

Erin puckered her lips and shook her head. Tess frowned. “That’s…bad.”

“Exactly. I crawled into my bed with a stash of cupcakes and potato chips and I didn’t come out for a week.”

Erin bobbed her head in agreement. “That’s exactly what she’s been doing. It’s horrible. She’s an absolute mess.”

Cassie shivered visibly. “April pulled me out of it with a girls’ night. It was exactly what I needed.”

“Oh.” Tess’s throat tightened and the room turned into a watery blur. Cassie had come to have a girls’ night. With her. “I—I don’t know what to say.”

“Sweetie, you don’t have to say anything. If we can’t be there for our girlfriends, then what good are we?”

“G-girlfriends?” Fresh tears tracked down Tess’s cheeks.

Erin threw her arm around Tess’s shoulder. “Hey, I’m up for a girls’ night. Shall I call Nikki?”

“Um, sure.” Tess scrubbed her hands over her cheeks as happiness bubbled up inside her.

She had a friend—a girlfriend. And Erin and maybe Nikki were joining in on their girls’ night.

She peered in Cassie’s bag. “I’m on sugar overload. Got any cheese puffs in there?”

T
ESS STRETCHED AND SLOWLY
rose from the bed the following day. She cocked her head. Birdsong sounded outside her window. The air conditioner hissed through the vents, but other than that, silence blanketed her apartment.

She stood for a moment, misery wrapping around her. She missed her guys. Where was everyone? Where was the clink of dishes in the kitchen as Ramon whipped up a breakfast treat? Where was the steady whir of whatever power tool Max might be wielding for the day? And where was Erin, muttering her complaints about all the noise and constant lack of privacy?

They’d stayed up late watching the movies Cassie had brought. It had been in the wee hours when Cassie had turned down her invitation to spend the night and Erin had headed for bed. Maybe she was there still, sleeping in for a change.

Tess sank back onto the bed. She was alone. She could feel the emptiness of the apartment. Her guys
were giving her a break, or maybe they were gone for good since Mason had walked into her life and everything had started changing. Erin was either asleep—she glanced at the clock and shook her head—or gone to work on one of her design projects.

Evan had the nursery covered. Tess had nothing pressing to do. She stared up at the ceiling, her day stretching before her, with no one to guide its unfolding but her.

With a slow smile, she rose, then headed for the bathroom. She’d shower, dress, then see where the day took her. A thought struck her. She’d go find Mason’s teens. She had all their contact numbers. Maybe in the hours to come she’d find some little part of herself she’d been missing.

“S
O
,
HERE WE ARE
.” Tess settled on the couch beside the huge bowl of popcorn that sat on the cushion beside Erin later that night. “What are we watching?”

Erin shrugged and clicked a few buttons on the remote. “Not much. How do you feel about reality shows?”

“No good movies on?”

“Let’s see.” Erin scanned a few more channels. “You know, he’s going to call. I’m surprised he hasn’t come by. Maybe he did, but you were too busy wallowing in despair to hear him knocking.”

“Who?”

“Mason. In fact, I’ll bet he’s already tried to reach you. You left the computer on with the call-waiting active. You know that screws up the phone. And have you charged your cell phone yet?”

Tess shrugged and scooped up a handful of popcorn. “Doesn’t matter to me either way.”

“Sure it does. You want him to call. Admit it.”

“I’m not admitting any such thing. What’s that?”

Erin scanned back a couple of channels. “This? I know, it’s that movie with what’s his name.”

“
Life as a House.
Leave it.”

“He must have felt like a complete idiot.”

“Who? Kevin Kline?”

“No. Mason. I would have loved to see his face when he found out how much Aunt Sophie donated.”

“Yeah, well that was nearly a week ago. If he tried to reach me, he didn’t make much of an effort. I haven’t left the house.”

“Maybe not, but he owes you an apology.”

“He did what he thought was best.”

“How can you defend him? I mean, I wasn’t thrilled when Aunt Sophie broke out the tarot deck, but I don’t think it called for him kicking us out.”

“He didn’t kick us out.”

“You said he asked us to leave. Same difference. I can’t believe you’re defending that man. It’s worse than I thought.”

“I’m not defending him. I’m doing my best to see his side here. You don’t understand. Mason is…complicated.”

“Complicated, scmomplicated. The man doesn’t deserve you. You are so much better off without him.”

Tess popped a kernel of popcorn into her mouth, then another, then another, until she had a mouthful. She chewed with deliberate slowness, then swallowed.
Was
she better off without him?

“I spent the entire day by myself today,” she said at
last, scooping up another handful of popcorn. “Well, almost the entire day.”

“Really?” Erin turned to look at her, her head cocked. “What did you do?”

“I went for a long walk, checked out the library—”

“The library? Do you even have a card?”

“I do now. They had this entire section on nonprofits. I checked out a couple of books on grant writing.” She shrugged. “Even with the start-up money, the youth center is going to need some ongoing funding. I figure I’ll check with whoever has started the grant writing and see if they need some help.” She gazed at the popcorn in her hand. “I can’t let my breakup with Mason stand in the way of any contribution I can make for the kids.”

“That’s really awesome, Tess.”

“That’s not all. I went to see Rafe and he is doing so much better. Then I rounded up the other teens and we had an impromptu workshop.”

“Doing what?”

“We walked through the park and I taught them about plants. You know, the different herbs you can find pretty much anywhere and what they were used for. They were really into it. We’re going to do a class where we make salves and lotions from some of the specimens we collected.”

“Wow.” Erin grinned at her. “So, it’s not just about your men anymore.”

“Men? What men?”

“What did Aunt Sophie mean when she said we needed men as much as they needed us? I’m a little surprised she would see it that way. She’s always been so independent. Have you ever seen her needing a man?”

“I don’t know. I don’t always get her, but she usually ends up right in the long run.” Tess bit her lip. “Has Nikki said anything to you about Mom?”

Erin heaved a big sigh. “I noticed she seemed a little worn out lately and mentioned it to Thomas. He told me about her fight with Aunt Sophie. I’m assuming it has something to do with that.”

“Yeah, I think— Well, Nikki and I both think there’s something wrong with Mom. Aunt Sophie is helping her, but they’re keeping it to themselves. I don’t know, I guess they don’t want to worry us.” She glanced at her sister. “Nikki’s empathic abilities have changed and I never could read the two of them. How about you? Can you read them?”

Erin rolled her eyes the way she did whenever discussion on the gift arose. “You know how I feel about all of that. You may all believe you’ve been gifted with whatever healing, sensory thingy you have, but I promise you, none of that has come my way.”

“Maybe you just haven’t, I don’t know…woken it up yet, or something.”