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Mason smirks. “All thanks to you, of course.”
Frustration surges through me. “Damn it, Mason, do you think you’re the only one who cares about their career?”
His smile fades. “No, of course not. Listen, if they fired you, you wouldn’t have to worry about money.”
“That’s not it.” The frustration is boiling over now. “Did you ever wonder why I’m so passionate about the leukemia cause?”
“Uh ... I mean ... it’s a good cause?” He looks at me in puzzlement.
“It’s what my mother died of.”
Mason’s eyes shine with sympathy. “I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”
“My mother ...” Emotions swell in me and threaten to choke me. “She was a journalist before she had my sister and me, and her career was just starting to take off, but she decided to be a stay-at-home mom. And she made me promise that before I started to get serious with anyone, I’d make sure that I was secure in my career. I promised that to her. And I meant it. I genuinely love my job. I find it rewarding and challenging and fulfilling. If someone handed me a million dollars right now, I would not quit my job.”
He nods, staying quiet for several seconds, likely sorting through that word vomit of truth. I mean every word. It’s me who stands to lose if this affair got out. He’d walk away fine.
“I get it now. I do. If anyone finds out about us, I will fight for you, okay? I swear.” He makes a solemn motion of crossing his heart with his index finger.
“If anyone finds out, they’ll high-five you and call you a stud, and I’d be the bimbo who is trying to sleep her way to the top.” I hurry out of the room without looking back.
I send my sister a text message.I’m coming over now. Have ice cream ready or face the consequences.
Sounds ominous, she replies.
Using your word-a-day calendar, are we?I shoot back.
Fortunately, as I’m making my way out of the hockey arena, I don’t see Cecelia or anyone else I know.
It takes me a little while to get a cab because everyone else is waiting for one too, post-game, so it’s forty-five minutes before I’m walking into my sister’s room.
She’s wearing pajamas with pictures of sushi on them, and her hair is twirled up in a bun secured by two pencils jabbed through it. She has two pints of Rocky Road waiting for me on her nightstand, already opened, with a spoon sticking out of each. There’s a stack of books next to the ice cream, each with a bookmark in them. No e-reader for Ruby—she’s old school that way.
“Damn, woman, I was getting ready to send out the bat signal. I thought you’d been kidnapped,” she huffs, as I grab a pint and sit down on the bed next to her. “Also, I had to wait till you got here before I could start my ice cream, and my stomach is literally growling.”
“Literally, or figuratively?” I jab my spoon in and take a huge bite. I don’t know what it is about women, bad moods, and chocolate, but these are things that are always found together, like hydrogen and oxygen.
“Literally. I could hear it. I am an English major; I don’t abuse words.”
I take another bite of chocolate. “I feel very bad for cavewomen. Can you imagine a long hard day of wrestling saber-toothed tigers and fighting off ravenous brontosaurus, and your cave spouse won’t help you change diapers, and chocolate hasn’t been invented yet?”
“None of that is historically accurate,” Ruby says primly. “And brontosaurus were vegetarian.”
“Look at me, I go to college.” I pull a face, making fun of her. “I’m smarter than everyone.”
“It’s a lonely burden,” Ruby nods. “Now. Other than mangling history, eating my ice cream, and mocking me, why are you here when you should be out partying? What’s up?”
I sigh and set my spoon down. “I haven’t been entirely honest. I’m dating Mason, kind of. Well, there’s something happening between us.”
Ruby gives me an amused sidelong glance. “Like everyone didn’t already know that.”
“Oh, shut up.” I bury my face in my hands. “I thought I was being low-key.”
“Seriously? That goofy,I’m so satisfiedlook you have on your face all the time these days—you thought that was low-key?” She laughs at me.
“Not helping,” I whine. “Here’s the thing. Mason was seen out with Lexi the other day, and he claims it’s nothing ...”
“What do you think?”
