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Pax grabs a tiramisu. “Fine, but I’m not cheap and I’m not easy. Don’t try to get fresh with me.”
Ruby answers with a scornful snort. “I’ll try to restrain myself.”
“And will you agree to call meboo-booin public?” He takes a big bite of tiramisu.
“I absolutely will not.” And that’s the end of the conversation. She clearly won’t talk about her ex, and now I have to hope that Pax is a good guy who won’t try to take advantage of the situation.
24
ROWAN
Today isa happy day at the hospital. It’s the bell ringing ceremony for the kids, and families and staff will be there celebrating. It’s being done in the special events room, so the other kids who are still undergoing treatment won’t have to watch and feel bad; they’re getting their own party, with a puppet show and an ice cream sundae bar.
I’m in a conference room, holding the bag of costume and swag, waiting for Mason to change. For myself, I’ve picked a fun dress with a flared-out skirt with polka dots, and accessorized with big fluffy pink earrings and bright pink shoes. The kids seem to enjoy my wacky costumes.
Mason walks out of the bathroom wearing his llama pinata costume. He throws his hands in the air with aWTFlook on his face.
“A pinata? Why do you hate me?” he demands. “I thought you at least liked my d—”
“Ahhh,” I shriek. I grab a granola bar from my purse and throw it at his head. “Silence,” I cry out. A nurse is outside the door, waiting to guide us to the party. For all I know, she has her ear pressed against the door, listening avidly.
“I was going to say donations,” he protests, looking hurt and blinking innocently. Yeah, right. If there is one thing I can say about Mason, it’s that he doesn’t have an innocent bone in his body. The things he can do with his tongue ...
I’m damp just thinking about it.
“Behave,” I say icily.
He leans in and lowers his voice. “You were just thinking about the other night, weren’t you?”
“The other night when I hung out with my friend Shelby at a karaoke bar? Why yes, I was. It was eighties night. I sang “99 Red Balloons.” That was such a great music decade, don’t you agree?” I’m babbling now.
“Pretend all you want. We are amazing together.” He’s so close to me, speaking so quietly that he’s practically whispering in my ear.
A strange heat flows through me and pools beneath my belly. The way he looks at me, as if I were the most beautiful, desirable woman in the world, just about undoes me. When he looks at me like that, I feel like a pirate’s chest full of treasure. Like I must be amazing, because he thinks I am. I’m not stressed-out, overworked Rowan, I’m just ... me, the girl Mason likes.
I grab the bag and quickly move towards the door. I grab the handle and look back at him as he lumbers after me awkwardly in his llama pinata costume. “If I were you, I’d focus more on getting into character as a llama, and less on ... uh, hey there.” As I pull the door open, the nurse, who was indeed pressed up against the door, staggers, falls into me, and lets out a shriek.
She jumps back huffily. “You could have warned me you were going to open the door,” she cries out.
“And you could have not eavesdropped,” I point out.
She stiffens defensively. “I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was just about to open the door to see if you were ready.”
“We’re ready,” Mason announces, waving his arm at her. She gives his costume a quizzical look, then leads us down the hallway and around a corner to the special events room.
“How, exactly, do llamas behave anyway?” Mason asks as we walk in. “Don’t they spit on people?”
“Uh, as your publicist, I suggest you don’t do that,” I say. “There are certain public relations fiascos that you just can’t come back from.”
“Pick a costume with obvious behaviors next time,” he grumbles. “Dogs bark, cocks—I mean roosters—crow, clowns squirt people with their fake flowers and do pratfalls ... what the heck does a llama do?”
“I will keep that in mind when selecting the next costume,” I agree.
Reporters immediately start taking pictures. The kids, including Harrison, wave excitedly at Mason, who waves back. Mason ended up getting Harrison a Nintendo Switch, since that was also on Harrison’s wish list and we agreed a puppy would be a bad surprise gift.
“How did you think of the llama costume, Mason?” a woman calls out.
“Oh, you can thank my trusty publicist here for that.” He grins and waves at me. “She has the most interesting ideas.”
