Page 97 of The Clover Chapel (Jamison Valley 2)
I’d finally had enough and decided to jump in. The social worker already disliked me for my interference this afternoon. I could live with angering her even more. Especially if that meant Mason came out ahead.
“Mason, can you look at me?” I asked, swiveling his chair so he was facing me instead of Mrs. Greenfield.
He ignored me and continued staring at his feet.
“You’re not in trouble, Mason. We’re not here to send you to jail. Okay?”
His big brown eyes shot up to mine and he looked hopeful for the first time all day.
“We were all thinking that you might like to have a little vacation. Mr. and Mrs. Drummond over there,” I said, pointing to the couple, “they have a farm and they’d like you to come and check it out. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
He nodded and for a second I thought we were getting somewhere. But then his eyes returned to his shoes. “Is Aunt Kira in trouble?”
“Yes,” I told him. “She was supposed to take good care of you and she didn’t.”
His eyes flooded and his chin quivered.
“What is it?” I asked. “What’s wrong? Did you like living there?”
He shook his head violently.
“Then what is it?”
“What happens when my vacation is over? I don’t want to go back to Aunt Kira or Mommy!” he cried and flung his little body at mine.
Pulling him into my lap, I pressed my cheek into his dirty hair and held him close.
“You don’t have to go back to your aunt or mother’s houses ever again, Mason,” June Greenfield said.
I smiled and mouthed a thank-you. I had assumed he wouldn’t go back but it was nice to hear her say it.
Holding Mason, I spun my chair so I could look at Jack and Annie Drummond. “Mr. and Mrs. Drummond, do you have animals on your farm?”
“Jack and Annie,” Jack said. “And yes we do. We’ve got a few horses. One milk cow and her calf. And Annie has a chicken house full of hens.”
“And we have a dog. Boxer,” Annie said.
“What kind of dog?” Mason asked quietly.
“He’s a black lab. His favorite thing to do is lick your face,” Annie told him.
“Do you think you want to go check out their farm? Meet those animals?” I asked Mason.
“Okay,” he muttered.
“I’m going for a run.”
We had just gotten back to his house and the first thing Nick had done was go upstairs to change. He’d come down wearing black track pants and a skintight gray T-shirt with bright red tennis shoes on his feet.
“Is it safe to run in the dark?” I asked.
He scoffed as he crossed the main room. He didn’t bother looking at me before he walked right through the front door and slammed it shut.
Shit.
I needed wine. And candy.
Two bottles of wine, a bag of Skittles and three-quarters of a Milky Way bar later, I was livid with Nick.
