Mason opened his mouth to answer but his father beat him to it. “Yeah, we’re moving to Arizona soon.”
She shot him a confused look, her brow furrowing. “Oh, I didn’t know.”
He tried to lighten the mood again, leaning toward his girlfriend and said, “You can see why my mom is so eager to influence my love life right now.”
To his dismay, she didn’t crack a smile, focusing on her plate instead.
After the food was cleared away, his parents turned on the TV for the traditional viewing ofMiracle on 34th Street. He put an arm around Natalie’s shoulders on the couch, but she kept her arms wrapped across her stomach and was tense, even as he played with the ends of her hair or dropped a soft kiss onto her shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” he said after she bid his parents goodbye and they walked to her car.
“Nothing. I—”
“I know that’s not true. I can feel it when I touch you. You’re obviously bothered about something. You can tell me.”
She leaned against the driver’s door of her vehicle, closing her eyes, and sighing. His stomach dropped. Mason could fix this. He’d reassure her that he wasn’t about to pop the question. She didn’t need to freak out when he wasn’t rushing her into anything.
“I knew it,” he said. “I felt it right here.” He put a hand on the back of her neck, gently massaging it. When her eyes opened again, they were glossy. The sight of those dark velvet eyes swimming in tears set a deep fear in his gut. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you moving to Arizona?”
“What?” He was taken aback but also filled with relief. This wasn’t about him saying he was going to marry her. He laughed, pulling her to his chest.
“Stop laughing at me.” The words were muffled against his chest, but the irritation came through.
He leaned back. “No, I’m not moving to Arizona. My parents are. I’m staying right here. Is that what’s been bothering you? Although it makes me feel good that you’d get this upset at the thought of me leaving.”
Her face didn’t soften; the annoyance was laced in the creases of her forehead. “This isn’t funny.”
“Yeah, it kinda is. Come on, don’t you think I would have mentioned it if I was planning on moving to another state?”
“Stop it. Just stop.” She shoved a hand against his chest as though she meant it.
“What’s going on?”
“I can’t do this, Mason.”
“You can’t do what?” The cold, unsettling feeling had returned to his chest.
“This. Us. This is my fault, okay? I just thought… I’m not sure, but I know that I’m just prolonging the inevitable. Maybe not this time but there will be something else. And I don’t want to keep waiting for something bad to happen. I’m sorry. But it was never going to end the way you thought it would.”
Mason’s laughter vanished. He was confused but still kept a small amount of hope alive that this was a simple misunderstanding. “Is this about what I said in the kitchen? I’m sorry, okay? I-I wasn’t thinking.”
She shook her head, the tears returning to her eyes. “You don’t need to apologize. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Then why does it sound like you’re breaking up with me?” Frustration and aggravation crawled along his skin and he rubbed roughly at his head.
Natalie leaned against her car, running a tired hand across her face. “You want to get married? Have kids someday? All that traditional stuff, right?”
Was this a trap of some kind? He studied her trying to guess the right answer, the one that would get him back into her good graces.
“I’m not trying to trick you. Even if I hadn’t heard you in the kitchen, I already knew.”
He relented. “Yes.”
“Yeah, and your mom was right. You’re, like, prime husband material.”
“I… Is this what’s wrong with me?”
