“He’s on call tonight at the hospital.” She slid some of her cards on the table, exchanging them for a single development card. “Someone has to make that money so we can buy a house. I’m not going to do it on my teacher’s salary.”
“Handsome Jay would be making that house money faster if he took my idea and just became a hair model or something. That man has the finest hair I’ve ever seen,” Isaac said.
“Mm-hmm,” Gemma agreed. “Don’t be jealous.”
Mason wasn’t going to say it out loud because he didn’t need to give his friends any more ammo on things they could tease him about, but he may have been a little jealous of Jay’s hair. At twenty-seven, he was at least lucky to maintain most of his original hairline but he didn’t have anything close to the dark, luscious Italian-stallion locks of Handsome Jay. If he had hair like that, he probably would have already heard from the gorgeous barista from Pony Expresso by now. Speaking of which, he better check his phone.
“All right, what’s going on? Are you expecting an important call? Did you go viral on TikTok or something?” Gemma asked. “I swear, I have never seen you so invested in the status of your phone before.”
“It’s nothing,” he started but, at Gemma’s raised eyebrows, he sighed. “I met this woman when I was with my dad at a coffee shop yesterday.”
“Oh boy, here we go,” Isaac replied.
Gemma shushed him. “No, wait, I wanna hear this.” She leaned her chin into her propped hand resting on the table. “You know I keep trying to push you to get out there, Mase. Does she like board games? Find someone to bring to game night so I don’t have to be the Smurfette to this clown show every week.”
“I keep telling you, you’re free to bring any of your other friends.”
She waved him off. “And I keep telling you, none of them want to play. So I’m depending on you to bring another lady into the group.”
“I just met her.”
“So?”
“Right now, I’d be happy just to get a text message from her so I can set her up with a Christmas tree.”
“Oh God,” Isaac replied. “You’re way too nice, Mase.”
“No—”
“Yes, you are. You deserve to be with someone who isn’t using you to get a free Christmas tree.”
“Youuse me for a free Christmas tree,” Mason replied to him.
“Yeah, because you’re too nice. You never say no. I’m one of your oldest and dearest friends. Besides, I thought I was doing you a favor by taking one of your sad reject trees.”
“Okay, first of all, none of our trees are sad—”
“So, can I have one of your sad, reject trees for free this year?”
“I’m thinking about telling you no.”
“And?”
“Okay, you can have a free tree, but just know how badly I wanted to say fuck off.”
Isaac lifted both hands in the air. “That’s progress but still proves my point.”
“Are you two going to stop at some point? Damon and I are tired of putting up with these constant interruptions,” Gemma said.
“Yup.” Damon played one of his cards.
“I’m just looking out for him, Gem. I don’t want another Dakota to grab hold of him.”
Mason leaned against the back of his chair, crossing his arms. “This situation is completely different. And I’m different.” And, most importantly, Natalie was nothing like Dakota.
*
The reality ofthe Dakota situation, once Mason had finally moved past the fog of love and could see it for what it really was, was a shock to the system. He’d met her at a bar, and she’d been a sparkling, flirty blonde with whiskey-colored eyes. Mason was instantly swept away. He couldn’t believe she had let him buy her drinks and food all evening, and she’d made Mason feel like a charming guy who could finally hold the attention of a beautiful woman. He thought he’d hit the jackpot when she’d reached out to him days later and coyly asked if he wanted to take her to dinner or shopping.
