Page 81 of Freed By Fire
God help me, but Idocare what they think.
I want them to accept Mason, even when I know the odds are stacked against him.
As far as they’re concerned, he doesn’t hold a candle to Noah.
Normal, polite, chivalrous Noah…
Mason will never measure up to their impossible standards, even if my dad didn’t owe him money.
“Dad, you’re not giving up the diner. You’ve worked too hard for too long to give up now. I know business is finally picking up.”
A furrow appears between my dad’s brows, but he doesn’t say anything.
I turn my gaze to my mom. “And Mom, you need to go home. You have a whole life back in Florida. This isn’t your mess to deal with or clean up, remember?”
I make myself meet my dad’s gaze, and instead of anger and frustration, I see pain and compassion.
I wish it had come sooner.
You’ll always wonder about your old life and how things could’ve gone differently if your father hadn’t taken the loan.
Nothing could’ve prepared me for the whirlwind that is Mason and his world, but I wouldn’t trade it, not even for a chance to go back to my old life.
I study Mason, the familiar set of his shoulders, and the purse of his lips, and I realize why the gleam in his eyes is familiar.
He’s considering their offer to let me go with them.
A part of me wants him even more, knowing how hard this is for him, but I also know it’s no use.
We’re forever intertwined now, and I can no more walk away from him than I can give up our baby.
A lump rises in my throat as I look back at my parents and reach for Mason’s hand. He doesn’t react at first, but when he turns to face me, I see a small smile on his face, and my heart gives an odd little somersault.
Nothing on earth can tear me away from this beautiful, chaotic man.
Not war on our doorstep, not my life being in danger, and not my parents bursting in here, full of good intentions.
I wait for Mason to look at me and clear my throat. “The contract isn’t the reason I’m here. Not anymore, at least. I’m staying because I want to.”
“I don’t know what you have on her,” my dad begins again, “but this ends now.”
“Do you really think so little of me?” I say. “He doesn’t have anything on me, Dad. He hasn’t given me anything, and I haven’t been brainwashed. He’s tried to get me to leave, but I refused.”
“Because you want to save me,” my dad says.
I sigh. “At first, yes, but now… everything is different. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, not even Noah. Mason makes me feel…alive.”
“Sweetheart, we all have our phases, but we don’t throw our whole lives away because of it. You can come back and work in the diner,” my mom says. “Your dad will get some help, so you can go back to college—”
“You’re not listening,” I interrupt. “Mom, it’s not a phase. Mason isn’t some bad boy I’m going to get out of my system.”
Not anymore.
“I don’t want to go back to my old life. Or the diner,” I insist. “This is me talking. I know what I’m saying, and I know what I’m doing. I’m staying with Mason because I want to. I want to be with him.”
Please, God, let that be true. Please let them stop pushing me on this.
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” my dad interrupts. “I think we’ve indulged this long enough.”
