His friends were the first to grow suspicious, wondering why Dakota was never interested in doing something simple like coming to board game night, but, like some of Gemma’s other friends, he assumed she didn’t like games, and it was okay for them to have different interests. Except it was weird she never wanted to just hang out and watch a Netflix movie or do something that didn’t require him to spend a lot of money. Mason made okay money working at Motherlode, but he wasn’t rolling in cash. When he asked his new girlfriend out for a simple picnic dinner date one summer evening, she made her decision quickly.
“That’s okay. I think I’ll ask Aaron if he wants to take me to Tahoe for the weekend.”
“Aaron? Who the hell is Aaron?” He’d been caught off guard.
“You know. Aaron. I’ve talked about him before. He’s one of the other guys I’m seeing.”
“Wait. You’re seeing other guys?”
“Well…yeah. We’ve never talked about being exclusive. Why are you making this weird, Mase? If you can’t afford me, that’s fine, but I have to look out for myself. You’re a nice guy and everything but I’m afraid you’re just going to work at your dad’s little plant shop and it’s never going to be anything more for you. You can’t expect me to take this seriously when you seem to just be floating through life.”
Her words had sent a verbal spike into his gut. The first part might have been partially his fault. They had never talked about being exclusive. Mason had assumed he’d been enough for Dakota. The second part of her statement was crushing because he realized how loose of a hold he actually had on her. He’d always been fairly laidback, which could be mistaken for floating through life, but he didn’t think her observation was fair. He was working, earning a living like everyone else; he just didn’t have the aspirations to become a millionaire. Even so, he wanted to hold on for as long as possible, to give her exactly what she wanted because that was what Mason did when he really liked someone.
And then he made the worst mistake of his life.
“I can afford you,” he heard himself saying as though he were in a tunnel and his conscience at the end was getting further away.
“Oh?” Her voice turned sultry. “Do you want to take me to Tahoe, Mason?”
He quickly tried to estimate the amount he had in his bank account, which hadn’t been much in those days, considering he hadn’t been financially smart back then. When he realized it wouldn’t be enough, he borrowed some of the money he had access to from the nursery. It wasn’t a lot, only a couple hundred dollars, but it didn’t take his father long to discover what he’d done. And, though Mason had quickly paid everything back, the damage to his father’s trust in him had been done.
Mason had been spending the last two years trying to reclaim it, to make his work at the nursery something his dad could count on and to make his dad proud of him again.
And his relationship with Dakota? After all that, it hadn’t been worth it. She still left him to be with Aaron or one of the other people she’d been seeing. In Tahoe, when he asked to be exclusive and said he loved her, she’d merely laughed at him. He’d never felt so small in his life.
His friends knew most of the story—except for the money part because he was too embarrassed about that fact. Maybe Isaac had a point that he needed to be protected from himself, but he didn’t like it. He wanted to believe he had become wiser and less of a doormat.
*
“You may havechanged,” Isaac said, “but there are some things you can’t change, like being too nice, and I just don’t want this coffee lady to take advantage of you.”
Mason sorted through his cards before making a play. “To be clear, this is something my dad set up. He offered to give the shop a tree because they’re going to have a coffee truck at Poinsettia Paradise this season. So, if anyone started this whole thing, it was my dad, and I’m just the middleman making sure she gets the tree he promised. That’s all.” Plus, Natalie had resisted exchanging numbers like he was asking for her bank card PIN number, so if she was trying to take advantage of him, she had an unusual tactic.
“Oh,” Isaac replied.
He finally got the satisfaction of shutting Isaac down. He didn’t get to live with his smugness for long though.
“But she’s pretty?” Gemma asked, not about to let the matter go. “You like her?”
Mason thought about playing it cool, but who was he kidding. He wasn’t able to hide much of anything, and he wanted to talk about her. “She’s beautiful. She has this gorgeous hair. Oh, and I’m pretty sure she’s Latina.”
Isaac perked up. “What’s her name? Maybe she’s a relative of mine. And if she is, you’re not allowed to date her because I’m not introducing someone who cheats at board games to the rest of my family. We take winning very seriously.”
“Too seriously,” Damon piped in, scraping fingers through longish brown hair before using a hair tie to pull it into a ponytail.
“Excuse me?” Isaac said, faking outrage. “See if I let you play on my charade team this Christmas Eve.”
“Her name is Natalie and she works for Pony Expresso. And, as I said, she’s beautiful. So do you know her? Is she related to you?” He wasn’t sure if this would be a good thing or not. Isaac could provide him with more information and maybe put in a good word for him. They were, after all, the greatest of friends—and Isaac owed him something after all those free Christmas trees he’d been given over the years.
“Oh, so just because we’re both Latino we must be related to each other?” Isaac wasn’t able to maintain his bluff before he broke and a laugh escaped him. “As far as I’m aware she’s not a relative, so I guess we’re not going to be family by marriage anytime soon.”
“Ha! Joke’s on you. I don’t need to get married to consider you family,” Mason replied.
“God damn, Mase. Even when you’re trying to snap back at someone you’re still being wholesome about it. I’m touched, man. Seriously. And I take it back. You can marry any of my cousins you want. Maybe forget this other woman.”
But he couldn’t forget her because at that moment his phone buzzed. “I got a text!” He didn’t mean to shout this. “Okay, everyone, calm down. Just calm down.” The only one who needed to follow his advice was himself as everyone else was quite calm. Gameplay froze while everyone watched him read the text and respond before putting the phone in his pocket.
“Well?” said Damon.
