Chapter 54 Mason - Bright Future
MASON Bright Future
Real feelings for a woman you actually think you want a future with are tricky, I was realizing.
Because I should be mad at Daisy. Furious, actually.
I shouldn’t want to help her. Because she wasn’t giving me what I wanted.
She hadn’t agreed with me. I still maintained that I was right.
The truth would have come out eventually.
And, when it did, it was always going to be bad.
It was better to get it all out in the open on the front end.
That said, I was bathing in guilt. Because, sure, I wanted Drew to know the truth.
But I had never expected Cheryl to want Maisy.
Maybe I had underestimated her because that was natural.
Cheryl and Andy had dedicated their lives to their son.
They would follow his games through college, but they had made no bones about the fact that they had met the goal and now it was their turn.
They were going to spend money on trips that didn’t include roadside motels and pizza boxes and dirty cleats.
They were going to spend nights grilling out and drinking wine, not driving around to practices.
Sure, I knew part of that was joking, part was covering up for how desperately they would miss their son.
But I thought they were at least partially excited about their empty nest.
Andy and Cheryl’s brick ranch on a large golf course lot always made me happy when I pulled up.
I loved the family inside and how they had become family to me.
I had grilled with them many times on their back patio overlooking the fairway on the fourth hole, even spent nights there when they were out of town and needed someone to stay with Drew.
This was the first time I’d ever felt nervous walking up to their door.
I knocked, and Cheryl called, “I’m coming!”
She smiled when she saw me through the French door and motioned for me to come in.
I opened the door and she hugged me. “Well, hi there, Coach. To what do I owe the pleasure?” She obviously wasn’t going to acknowledge her meltdown.
I smiled but started to feel sick. I could be tough on my players and with my friends.
But this was going to be a difficult conversation, one that could cost me something I really wanted.
I thought of Daisy. She might not love me anymore, but that didn’t make her any less deserving of the privilege of being a mom.
Would Cheryl and Andy be great parents to Maisy?
Of course. So I considered that maybe I should just pretend I was stopping by for coffee, not risk losing my dream job by sticking my nose in where it didn’t belong.
But then I thought of Daisy again, of the way she looked at that little baby, of how connected they were.
I stood up a little taller and took a deep breath.
“Let’s get you some coffee and an apple cinnamon muffin,” Cheryl said. “They’re just coming out of the oven.”
“So that’s what smells so delicious,” I said, recovering.
I followed Cheryl into her homey kitchen. It had pine cabinets and tile countertops, a throwback to a time before everything was white and stainless steel. It was the coziest kitchen I knew. And I realized again that Maisy could be happy here. But then Daisy wouldn’t be.
“Sit down,” Cheryl said, gesturing to a barstool as she poured us each a cup of coffee, adding cream and sugar to mine.
“You sit too.”
She raised her eyebrow but turned a barstool in my direction. “Should I be worried?”
“Oh, no way. Not at all.” Well, maybe a little worried. “I just wanted to rehash next year with you.” I paused. “I’m so excited, by the way. And I can’t thank you enough for the opportunity.”
Cheryl laughed. “The opportunity? Mason, you got that coaching position because you’re a great coach. We’d love to take credit for that, but, unfortunately, we cannot.”
That was gracious. “I just wanted to say that I know your situation and Andy’s might look a little different, but I’ll always be there for Drew.”
She raised her eyebrow, and I questioned whether I was going about this the right way.
“I’m lost.”
“Well, I mean, obviously with you guys starting over with a new baby, you won’t be at most of the games.
She’ll have nap time and bedtime and then preschool in a couple years, and babies get sick, and…
” I looked down into my coffee. “I know it isn’t what you planned, but I want you to know I’ll be there. ”
Cheryl smirked. “Uh-huh. I see what you’re doing.”
I grinned. “Do you now?”
She sighed. “Mason, I have been a parent before. I can handle it again.”
“Cheryl, I know you can handle it. You’re the best mom in the world.
You and Andy are gold medal parents. I guess I’m just wondering whether you want to be gold medal parents again.
I mean, you’ve sacrificed everything to give Drew his dream, and I guess I just wondered, with it sort of being your time now, if maybe you didn’t want to change your mind. ”
Cheryl set her mug on the counter and crossed her arms. I had angered the bear.
“Mason, no offense, but you don’t quite understand what it’s like.
That little girl is my granddaughter. And I didn’t even know she existed.
Do I want to start over again? No. Not really.
But it’s clear that Theodora isn’t going to step up.
” She was getting kind of worked up. “She is going to sweep this under the rug and pretend it never happened. Someone has to be there for this girl. So it’s going to be us. ”
I understood her point. If something happened to Amelia and Parker, George and Greer became mine.
Of course, I would have two grandmothers and a lot of help, but sometimes I’d wake up in a cold sweat imagining if that ever came to fruition.
It would wreck my life in a lot of ways.
But they were my niece and nephew. I would never, ever let them be raised by anyone else.
I knew I should shut up now. I knew I should set my mug down and walk away, but I couldn’t help but think of Daisy’s distraught face. And so I had to give this all I had.
I nodded. “But, Cheryl, Daisy would be an amazing mother to her. That’s all I wanted to say.
She’s a nurse. And she’s kind and warm and she loves that little girl more than anything in the world.
” I was surprised by the way my voice broke when I said that.
But her broken heart broke mine. Or maybe this conversation was just reminding me of my own broken heart.
I had imagined what it would be like for Daisy, Maisy, and me to be a family.
And now I was never going to get to see that come true.
And that hurt. But all I could do now was move forward.
And knowing I wouldn’t have to live the rest of my life with the knowledge that I had kept something as monumental as his own child from Drew was a small consolation.
Cheryl picked her coffee up again. “She’s a sweet girl, Mason. But she isn’t family.”
Now was when I should walk away. Even still, I couldn’t resist. I leaned forward a little. “If Drew and Sarah had come to you, Cheryl, if Sarah had told Drew she was pregnant, and they had sat you down in the living room and told you, what would you have done?”
“Cried my eyes out and mourned for my baby’s bright future,” she said, smiling just a little.
“Well, sure. I would have done that too.”
We both laughed. “But what would you have advised them to do?”
Cheryl sighed. “Mason, you’re the good-time guy. Don’t get deep on me now.”
I knew I shouldn’t push her anymore, but I had to hear her say it. “But Cheryl…”
“I would have told them that the right thing to do would be to give the baby up for adoption. I would have told them that they both had bright futures ahead of them and that, while babies were miracles, they were also a lot of work, and they should wait until they were older and ready for that level of responsibility.” She said it quickly, like she was running a race.
“Okay? Are you happy? That’s what I would have said.
But then she was a theoretical baby. Now she’s real.
And I can’t not know my own granddaughter. ”
That gave me a thought. “But what if you did know her? What if Daisy adopted her, but you and Andy always got to be in her life? You were her grandparents in a regular grandparent kind of way?”
Cheryl’s eyes filled now. “Mason,” she whispered.
“I know you aren’t trying to be hurtful, but I need this conversation to be over.
Andy and I have talked about this until we’re blue in the face.
And this is what we’ve decided. We’re going to raise our granddaughter.
I’m sorry if that upsets you. And if you don’t feel like we can coexist, I’m sure we can remedy that.
” Her voice went cold on that last sentence.
Ah. She had gone there. Did Cheryl and Andy have the power to have the new job I was so thrilled about taken away?
I wasn’t sure. But I didn’t want to test it.
“I’m sorry if I overstepped,” I said. I meant that sincerely. “I just had to say my piece, you know?”
“Now you’ve said it.” She raised her eyebrow at me. “Want a muffin?”
I gave her credit for forgiving me so quickly.
“Yeah. I definitely want a muffin.”
I thought again about what a great childhood Maisy would have here, with her grandparents in their loving home.
I knew that should be enough for me. That’s what we all wanted, right?
The perfect place for Maisy. But I couldn’t help but think, as I buttered my muffin, that I had failed Daisy in the worst possible way.
Again. Maybe I had hoped that this would be the grand gesture, that she would forgive me.
But, as I took a bite, the taste of sweet cinnamon filling my mouth, I realized that the dream of Daisy and me was dead.
We were all just going to have to move on.