58. Mason
58
MASON
I t was Maddy’s birthday and the house was full.
Though Sam enjoyed having the house full. She used to not be like this, but I knew she wanted to surround herself and everyone else with as much love as possible. She was making our home the opposite of what she grew up with Analise.
We were in the backyard.
The dogs thought the party was for them. Their tails were wagging. Tongues hanging out of their mouths. Nolan took over caring for the dogs and petitioned hard for them to be allowed to run free with the festivities today. It was Maddy’s birthday, but Maddy tended to be a pushover for whatever her siblings wanted so Maddy was okay with the dogs running loose. Each of the German Shepherds were giving their ball out to anyone who’d toss it for them. Nolan persuaded us to let her start fostering so we had a new dog darting around as well. Gus. He was smaller, golden fur, and he enjoyed herding people. Nolan thought it was the funniest thing. I knew Nash helped her with the dogs. The rest of us would help, but Nolan seemed to want to shoulder the responsibility for them. I was assuming she was gearing up for some big ask down the line, but until then, she was doing a great job. The newest foster dog kept getting distracted when he would run for his ball. If someone tossed it where he’d have to run past the pool, he would jump in.
Ball. Ball. Pool! What ball? Splash.
Nolan melted every time it happened, and seeing the soft smile on her face, I had a feeling that dog wasn’t going to be a foster soon. Gus was going to be adopted.
By us.
The kids were in the pool, doing as many cannonballs as possible. They were good with Gus swimming around everyone. No one left the pool shrieking. Yet.
Maddy never went far from Max’s side. She was a little clingier than normal, some part of her body was always touching his. I stared at them, long and hard, not sure if I should step in or not.
I wasn’t the only one noticing.
Channing and Heather arrived a few hours ago. Heather headed inside where Sam was, but Channing grabbed a beer and joined Logan and I at the table.
“Cannonball!” Axel yelled out, launching in the air before he hit the middle of the pool. Some of the other girls squealed. Turned out that Maddy did have female friends. The girl Maddy originally introduced as her friend arrived with an entire entourage accompanying her. Lucia was her name, if I was remembering it correctly. I was confused who Maddy's real friends were. I knew the trio: Axel, Steele, and Beltraine were solid with her. Max seemed to be included in that group as well, not like anyone was going to tell Maddy that Max couldn’t be there.
She seemed to be enjoying the new group of friends who arrived.
Sam stepped out to check on everyone, saw Lucia and the new arrivals, watched Maddy laugh with them, and she relaxed. A faint smile pulled at her mouth. She met my gaze, a message passing between the two of us. She was worried.
Fuck. So was I.
Was Maddy only friends with guys? I didn’t know how that would work out for our daughter, but I was also learning the truth of the situation was that we didn’t need to worry about Maddy getting hurt. We had an appointment scheduled next week to talk with a psychiatrist. We wouldn’t be only talking to him. Sam was adamant we’d be shopping around. Psychologist. Counselor. Social worker. She wanted to talk to a whole bunch of people, even mentioning reaching out to some intuitive people as well. When I asked who those people were, she explained they were people with similar gifts as Nolan.
I had a feeling it’d be a while before we found the right person or persons who could help us with Maddy. Maybe a specialist who worked with sociopaths?
“Nate’s here,” Logan remarked, kicking out a chair as Nate was winding through the party, heading our way.
“Uncle Nate!” Maddy shouted from the pool. She had a hand on Max’s shoulder and jumped up, right fucking in front of him, her other hand stretched in the air, waving.
I loved seeing the bright smile on her face, but fuck. Seriously. She was launching herself right in Max’s face, wearing that bikini both her and Sam insisted was fine to wear. I grunted.
Channing wore a slight grimace too.
I cut him a look. We’d talked about the two of them as a couple, because it was obvious that’s what they either already were, or would be soon. A part of me worried they’d be concerned their son was my daughter’s point of obsession.
Shit. Situation reversed, and I’d be worried.
So far neither raised the topic of getting some distance between the two. If they did, and again, I couldn’t blame them, we’d figure things out then. But I couldn’t bring it up now because Nate was at our table.
Everyone stood up, greeting him.
Logan hugged him first, pounding on his back. “Good to fucking see you, man. Couldn’t stay away, huh? Where’s your turtle?”
“Fuck you. Harold is at the rescue shelter. Thankfully.” Nate grinned, cupping the back of his neck before moving to return Channing’s hug. “You expect me to stay away? After all the shit that happened last weekend? We love being near Quincey’s family, but I have to admit that I started considering moving back for the first time in a while. Had some real FOMO. Hey, buddy.” He clasped Channing’s shoulder, then moved to me.
I pulled him close for a hug.
I’d called him the day after everything happened, and filled him in. He’d been concerned. We texted and called daily. That was our norm, but it was more this last week.
Logan. Channing. Nate. They were all there for me.
He stepped back, considered me. There was the same unspoken question in his gaze that he’d asked me every day. Was I okay? I gave him a nod, and he grinned before he moved to sit in the chair across from me. Channing was on one side. Logan on the other. Nate took the seat by Channing so he had a better view of the backyard.
“You want a beer?” I asked before sitting.
“Uh.” He began to look around. “Sure. Yeah.”
Logan pushed up from his seat. “I got it.”
“Logan,” I started to say.
He was already heading for the cooler, and waved me off, shooting me a small frown. “I’m good. Monroe? Beer?”
Channing had returned to watching Maddy and Max but raised his empty beer in the air. “Please.” His eyes never left our kids.
Nate noticed, his eyes jumping to me as I took my seat again. “How, uh,” Nate started. “How’s that going?”
It took a little bit before Channing realized the question wasn’t for me.
He jerked his head to him, sitting up straighter. “Me?” He cast me a glance, rubbing a hand over his face. I saw the shadows there. He was concerned, more than he’d expressed to me.
I tipped my chin to him. “You can be honest. She is my kid, but I’m not blind.”
He still hesitated before shrugging. “I don’t think it matters what any of us think. Your kid shows her obsession more, but trust me, Max is just as fixated on Maddy.”
I leaned forward, needing to know. “Chan.”
He looked my way. Held my gaze.
“Do you want them to back off?”
He considered my question for a beat before saying anything. When he spoke, his forehead tipped forward a little. “Am I concerned about how tight they are at this age? Fuck yes. Am I getting alarms to the point where I think we need to move in and do something about it? Honestly, no.”
Some of my tension eased in my chest.
“It’d be different if Max wasn’t all in too. Though, I don’t think Maddy would be as obsessed if he wasn’t. It’s both of them and if it came down to it, if we put our foot down and insisted they don’t get as serious as they are, I think the problem wouldn’t be your kid. It’d be Max. Maddy shows her heart on her sleeve. She’s almost proud of it. Max keeps it contained inside of him. They counter each other out, and fuck, like I can talk about childhood sweethearts.” He looked in the direction Heather and Sam were now coming from the house.
They weren’t alone. Brett Broudou, his wife, and his niece were also in attendance.
“Stevie!” Maddy saw them at the same time, waving. She pushed off of Max, swam to the edge, and pulled herself up. Steele was there, handing her a towel. When it wasn’t big enough to completely cover her, he snatched it away with a scowl, and shoved a blanket at her instead. She laughed at him, but held the blanket wrapped around her. She made her way over to Stevie, smiling politely at Brett and his wife before tugging Stevie in the direction of the food and beverages.
“That’s new,” Logan noted, returning at that time with two beers. He handed one to Nate, one to Channing, and placed the other items in his hand on the table. Two glasses and a bottle of bourbon.
He winked at me before pouring one for me, one for him.
Brett found us by then.
Logan held up the bottle. “You want to join? Or do you want a beer?”
Brett hesitated, before his face cleared and he shook his head. “I’m good for now. I might grab a beer later.”
I’d gone back to watching Maddy as she and Stevie were filling up their plates with food. Maddy looked to be talking her ear off. I couldn’t tell how Brett’s niece felt about that.
I indicated them. “Did she want to come today?”
He twisted in his seat so he could see them as well. “She did. She’s the one who brought it up, said your kid extended an invite.”
“What’s your read on the situation?”
He shrugged. “Stevie’s been through shit, a lot of shit. She’s always going to be cautious, but her being here says a lot.” His eyes flicked in Channing’s direction. “She likes your kid. Says she trusts him. Stevie doesn’t trust so I think that’s also part of the reason she’s here.”
Channing smirked, lifting his beer for a drink. “Everyone trusts Max. Everyone loves Max. Only a few actually know him. It’s how he wants it.”
Nate met my gaze, frowning a little, but there was also amusement on his face too.
“We’re moving back.”
All eyes jerked to Logan. He puffed his chest up, raising his glass.
I already knew. He told me that he’d made the decision after he arrived on the night from hell but needed to talk it over with Taylor before saying anything. She agreed with the move, said it felt right to return. They wanted Sammy to grow up with his cousins, along with their new kid. Said they wanted Malinda to spoil their kids too so no favoritism happened.
He made the announcement over dinner last night to the family as well. The kids were over the moon, but especially Nash which had surprised me. I knew Logan and Maddy were close. She had his name, for fuck’s sakes, but Nash blinked back tears before he moved to hug his uncle Logan. He came over to my side right after and leaned against me.
Nash and Nolan were quiet, well-behaved, but my kid was going to be something else. I could tell. He dressed for varsity on Friday and played most of the game, scoring two of the four touchdowns.
The crowd was enamored, but there were rumblings among the parents in the stands. Logan glared at every adult sitting around us as if silently challenging them if they had something to say, they were welcome to say it to our faces.
That fight would come, but it wasn’t one I was concerned about.
I did ask Nash how the other guys on the team were handling his presence. He rolled his eyes, shrugged, and only said, “No one’s going to say shit, Dad. Not with Traine, Axe, and Steele on the team. They’re setting the tone, but I’d handle it if they didn’t. Everyone’s scared of Maddy too.” He left it at that, but I could read into my kid.
Maddy wasn’t the only kid of mine who could handle themselves. She was just the one who got caught.
I had a feeling my twins weren’t the easygoing angels they presented, not that I could say anything. I loved my kids. They had more good in them than I did.
They got it from their mother.
“Is that Mark? Who’s that with him?”
Sam’s stepbrother walked into the backyard, holding hands with a young woman.
Sam and Heather perked up and were at his side right away, but it was the kids who had the biggest reactions.
“No way!” one of the teenagers exclaimed. I had no idea their name. “Mrs. Kline?”
The young woman stiffened, a smile fixed on her face. “It’s Ms. Kline, Clayton. And we don’t need to stick with the last names out of school. You can call me Tatum today.”
Beltraine remarked, “That must’ve been some study date.”
Axel laughed. “Yeah. What happened to, ‘don’t tell your mothers’?”
They laughed. Maddy shot ‘em a grin over her shoulder.
The other kid snorted. “I don’t think your boyfriend’s going to want all of us to start calling you Tatum. He already looks all territorial, Ms. Kline.”
She tensed, but Mark pulled her to his side and pretended to growl. “That’s right. As long as you know your place, kid.” He winked at the group, who laughed.
One of those same kids walked by later, saying to his friend, “I cannot believe Maddy’s uncle landed the hottest teacher from school. What’s in their DNA, man? All of ‘em just score, like literally. All the time.”
I shared a look with the table because everyone heard.
Logan snickered. “Wait till my kids get here. Fallen Crest will never be the same.”
I had to agree.
I was suddenly thankful we moved back.
It felt right.
We were home.