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“No what?” Mason asks.
“Nothing.” My cheeks burn with embarrassment. For the love of dog, Mason has me talking to my fun zone. Out loud.
“Sure it’s nothing.” He looks down at Puck, who’s gazing at him with adoration. “Am I holding him wrong?”
Ruby reaches out and massages Puck’s head. “You’re holding him just right,” she assures Mason. “You’re actually really good with him.”
Mason gently settles him down into his pen. Puck sighs and nestles into the bed. We return to our game.
“All right, college champion,” Mason says, grinning fiercely. “I have a little confession to make. I should have told you from the beginning. I have never, in my life, lost a game of quarters.”
I glance at Ruby, laughing. “Psy-ops.”
“Cyclops?” Ruby looks at me in puzzlement. “We should poke one of his eyes out?”
“Psychological operations. He’s trying to psych us out, but it’s not going to work, is it?”
She shakes her head so hard, her hair flies into her face. “It is absolutely not going to work. Together we are unstoppable.” And we fist-bump.
“I swear, you two. If you say ‘wonder twin powers, activate’ ...” Mason snorts.
I laugh at the memory of the kids’ show. “By the way, did Zan have the lamest power or what? I mean seriously. He could turn into water? You could just freaking mop him up.”
Mason bursts into laughter. “Well, thank you for ruining my childhood for me. I was big into retro cartoons. Anything else you want to ruin for me? Lion-O, maybe? Aquaman?”
“I could say so many ... Nope.” I shake my head. “I’ll leave your childhood be.”
Several minutes later, we find out that our wonder twin powers did not, in fact, activate, when we lose the game to him.
Even worse, he turns out to be a very sore winner. He leaps to his feet and struts up and down the room, flapping his arms and crowing. “Mason won. Mason won.”
“You had to get him a rooster suit,” Ruby scolds me.
I sit down in my chair. “I don’t make many mistakes, but that may have been one of them,” I admit. Mason walks over and holds up his hand, waiting for a high five. “Come on. You know you want to.”
I shake my head. “Nope, because you are not being sportsmanlike.”
“Whatever.” He high-fives himself, then sits down in the chair next to mine, turning it so he faces me. Ruby pulls up a chair and sits next to me.
“You lost, and you will now honor your agreement. Do not argue with me; I don’t make the rules.”
“You totally made up the rules.” I protest.
He grins at me. “So I did. Tell me: Who is Iron Henry?”
“I don’t want to,” I grouse.
“I’ll do it,” Ruby says eagerly. She leans forward, tenting her fingers. Mason is riveted. “When we were kids, Rowan was obsessed with the classic version of a prince turning into a frog by being kissed. Iron Henry was the name of the prince’s helper. The prince didn’t have a name, from what I can remember, but Rowan used to name every stuffed animal she had Iron Henry.”
Mason bursts out laughing. I jump in. “It was my favorite story, and Mom read it to me every night. Now that she’s gone, that memory means a lot to me.”
Mason’s smile fades instantly, replaced by a look of sympathy so sincere it makes hot tears prick my eyes. I miss my mom so fiercely that I don’t let myself think of her very often, because if I do, the dam will break.
“I didn’t know that about your mom. Is your father still with you?”
“One bedtime story per night, champ. Carrying on,” I say, taking over for Ruby. “Iron Henry had three bands around his heart to keep it from breaking. When the prince returned, the bands broke, freeing his heart. I always thought that was awesome.”
Mason makes a face. “You thought Henry’s heart breaking was awesome? You are more twisted than I thought.”
