“Go on,” Mason prompted, saving me from having to sound too eager since I’d been about to say the same thing.
“There’s nothing to tell. She thought you were cute, that’s all.”
“Cute?” Mason sounded less than pleased about the description.
“Maybe that’s not the word she used.”
“So what word did she use?”
Mason was one hell of a wingman. I listened to their exchange, not saying a word.
“I can’t go spilling all my secrets,” Pia said, addressing me. “Sorry, Parker. Girl code and all.”
“No worries,” I assured her, playing it cool.
But Pia was no dummy. She watched me closely. “Do you have lunch plans?”
“No,” I said as Pia jumped up from her stool to make toast. “I was thinking of ice fishing.”
Pia wrinkled her nose. “That sounds horrible. Sorry, Park. But sitting on the ice, in the cold, waiting for hours to catch a fish?” She shivered.
“It’s not for everyone,” I agreed, getting up myself to grab three plates.
“If your plans aren’t set in stone, maybe you could meet Delaney instead? She has an hour break.”
“Pia,” Mason warned. “Maybe we shouldn’t get involved.”
She brushed off Mason’s warning. “You’re not. I am.” Then to me. “I’ll admit, if it weren’t for Makis, I always thought you two would be perfect for each other.”
Mason snorted. “Because Delaney loves the outdoors so much? And Parker’s artsy side is so sophisticated? Sorry, Parker,” he added, not sorry at all, at least judging from his tone.
Holding out my plate for eggs before Mason drowned them in cheese, I headed to the toaster to wait. “Okay, so they’re a little different,” Pia said to me. “But in the ways that count, you two are so alike. Two of the nicest people I know who see the bright side to things. Delaney is big on positive vibes, and I know you’re all about that sort of thing.”
She wasn’t wrong.
No sense getting your panties in a bunch for things you couldn’t control. I learned that early on in life. Might as well find the silver lining.
“And also, she’s really pretty, don’t you think?”
More than really pretty, but hell if I’d admit that to Pia. Girl code and all. She’d probably text her before I finished my eggs. “Toast’s up,” I said, snagging one and slapping some butter on it.
“Way to change the subject,” Pia accused.
“Thanks,” I said, as if she’d complimented me. Mason snickered.
Sitting back down, considering Pia’s offer, I probed a bit. “How is it possible we never met before now?”
“Well,” Pia said, “she only moved back to Cedar Falls just before I came to town. And got back with Makis when we really started hanging out more. So she was either working or heading to Clearwater on days off.”
“Didn’t he ever come to Cedar Falls? Seems like an awful lot of driving to me?”
“Are you kidding me? That would have made her life easier, and Makis was all about one person. Makis. I swear the guy is a full-blown narcissist.”
“Sounds charming,” I said as Pia and Mason sat down to eat. “What did she see in him?”
“Good question. I think he laid it on thick at the beginning and by the time Delaney started seeing bits of the real him, it was too late. She knew some of his bullshit was unacceptable, and they did break up once and nearly a half dozen other times, but it was like he had some kind of spell on her.”
“I know guys like him,” Mason said. His time deployed in the military, and as an NYPD cop, meant he had all sorts of experience with people. Some of the stories he’d told over the years made the hair on my neck stand up straight. “They turn on the charm, mirror their victims to present an idealized version of themselves that doesn’t really exist. Real assholes.”
