12. Chapter Twelve
Chapter 12
Linda checked her email inbox before leaving Thursday morning. No word from the sellers about Grady’s proposal. They didn’t acknowledge that they had it or that it was submitted too late. She tried to stay positive; sometimes no news was good news.
She was waiting in the hallway for Mason when he walked out of his family’s condo. She knew he’d be on time, so she didn’t bother knocking.
When he stepped out, he smiled as his eyes met hers.
“No knocking? Just stalking?” he asked, following her to the elevator.
“Not stalking, just waiting. I knew you’d be on time.” She swung her tote bag as she pressed the elevator button.
Mason was wearing the outfit they’d found while thrifting—purple bell-bottom corduroy pants, a plain white T-shirt, and a pink floral vest with a matching scarf that he had tied around his head. He had a pair of John Lennon-style glasses with purple lenses.
They’d ditched the idea of being Parrot-heads when Mason found the corduroy pants.
Linda glanced down at her own clothes. She’d found a pink floral dress, a peace symbol pendant on a long, black cord, and a pair of round pink sunglasses. She was thankful for the long, loose dress. It was already eighty degrees outside, and it wasn’t even seven o’clock.
“You’re going to roast in those pants,” she said to Mason as they stepped onto the elevator.
“I’m hoping for a strong breeze.” He held up a small cooler. “I have extra bottles of water and cooling cloths. Wouldn’t want to faint in the heat when I look this groovy!”
Linda laughed and rolled her eyes.
The morning flew by. Since there was a steady stream of shoppers in and out of the grocery store and it was the last day before the festival began, Linda and Mason sold tickets steadily.
When their time was up, Linda glanced into the money box and gasped. “Wow,” she said. “Meri is going to flip when she sees how many tickets we sold.”
Mason nodded. “We couldn’t sell them fast enough! Can’t wait to tell her.”
He opened the cooler, pulled out a cooling towel, and poured water over it. He shook it gently to activate the cooling fibers and placed it around his neck. “I’m not getting into the car in these hot pants. Wait here. I’m going inside to change.”
He dashed into the grocery store, and Linda gathered their items, folded up the store’s chairs, and set them and the table against the wall. The manager would send someone out to take them back inside.
When Mason returned he was wearing shorts and a fresh gray T-shirt.
“Better?” she asked.
“Much.” He nodded.
“Wish I’d thought to bring a change of clothes.”
“I should have suggested it before we left.” As they made their way towards the car, Mason asked if Linda had afternoon plans.
“I need to process Grady’s accounts-payable today, but that won’t take more than an hour. And I can do it anytime.”
Mason clicked the remote to unlock the trunk and tossed in the cooler and his bag. Linda added her extra stuff as well.
“Hey, any news on the proposal you submitted yesterday?” he asked.
Linda was thankful he didn’t add “late” to his question. “No. Not yet. I’m trying not to worry about it. It’s out of my hands now. I can only accept responsibility, which I did, and wait.”
“That’s a healthy way of looking at it. I’m proud of you. Few people could do that so quickly.” He unlocked the car. “Stand there with the door open for a minute. Let some of the heat out.” He leaned in and started it.
“Does that actually work?”
“I think so. I’m too hot to get into a car that’s a hundred and forty degrees. It’s too hot to put the top down. We need the air-conditioning.”
Linda nodded. “I wish they’d put awnings up over parking lots. Maybe even metal ones with solar panels on top. Win win.”
“That would be cool. I saw that in a few places when I worked in Phoenix. I did a rotation there in July and August. The heat was brutal. I asked for third-shift rotations so I could sleep during the hottest part of the day.”
“Wow. That makes sense, but I imagine a third shift would be hard to adjust in and out of. Hard to manage a dating life.”
Linda regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. They had talked about dating before, and Mason said he didn’t date often. Now, by bringing it up again, it sounded like she cared. She didn’t. Did she?
Mason motioned for her to get in and he sat in the driver’s seat. He fiddled with the air-conditioning and shut his door. For a moment, Linda thought he would not respond to her statement.
“There was zero dating life in Phoenix. It was too hot.” Mason turned and smiled at her as he put the car in reverse to pull out of the parking space. He then deftly changed the subject. “So, you have an hour of work. What do you say to grabbing a sandwich at Crabbie’s and then heading to the pool? It’s too hot to do much else.”
“That sounds great. Stopping at Crabbie’s on the way, or going back to the condo and then to Crabbie’s?” She wanted to change out of this dress.
“Condo. You want to change, don’t you?”
“Desperately.”
“Fine.” He paused as he pulled up to a stop sign, checking both directions. “But I think you are the cutest flower child. I’d be proud to walk in there with you. Heck, I might have to fight some guy off you again.”
Linda laughed. “No guy would hit on me in this granny dress.” She picked up the skirts of the dress and shook it.
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. You’re a beauty no matter what you’re wearing. That dress doesn’t hide your beautiful face and radiant smile.”
“Um, what’s with the flattery, Mason? Are you trying to butter me up for something? Need a kidney? My firstborn?”
Mason chuckled. “I don’t need anything. I’m serious.”
“That laugh disproves your point.”
“Ha! Wait. Do you want to get your work done before we go to lunch? I’m hungry, but I could wait.”
Linda considered. “I would like to get it done before lunch. Feeling like I’m already in hot water with my boss. I don’t want him to think I’m completely slacking while I’m here. But if you’re hungry, give me a few minutes and I’ll throw together a few snacks to hold us over.”
“Another chartery-board.”
“Charcuterie board. But no. Just cheese and crackers. Or I could put together a lunch spread, and we wouldn’t need to go to Crabbie’s. It would be better on my bank account, anyway. And I already bought the groceries.”
“That’s fine. I can contribute cold cuts and a loaf of sourdough bread I picked up yesterday afternoon. I make a mean turkey-and-ham sandwich.”
Linda smiled. “I remember. You were the king of sandwiches in college.”
“I’m still the king. And now I can afford deli bread.”
“Nice.”
It was nice. Easy. They were falling into a comfortable place again. Linda just needed to remind herself that this was temporary. This serendipitous meet-up with Mason was allowing her heart to heal. She was confident that by the time they left, they’d be on friendly terms. She could live with that.
Back at the condo building, Mason parked, and they went to Meri’s office to give her the money box and remaining tickets.
When they showed her the number of tickets sold, she let out a squeal. “Why, the Almighty knew I needed some good news today. And mercy, Lindy, look at that dress. Is it polyester? Aren’t you hot?”
“Yes, it is.” Linda nodded. “And I’m roasting.”
“But isn’t she adorable, Meri?” Mason asked.
Meri cut her eyes to Mason quickly. Mason braced himself for Meri’s response. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that.
“Why, yes, she is. As always,” Meri said slowly. “I hope you didn’t go like that,” she looked Mason up and down. “You look like you’re going out for beers with the boys, and she looks like a hippy.”
“Flower child.” Linda said.
“Same thing,” Meri said.
“Really? Wow,” Linda responded. “Well, I am going to change. Good luck with the festival, Meri.”
“Wait a second.” Meri held up her hand. “As a thank-you to you both for helping this week, I want to give you festival tickets. I assume you didn’t buy any yourself.”
“We didn’t,” Mason said. “Thank you! That’s wonderful. Wasn’t expecting that. Should be a great time.”
Meri handed each of them a ticket and shooed them out of her office.
In the elevator, Linda asked for twenty minutes to take a cool shower and change before Mason came for lunch.
“Not a problem. I’ll change into my swim trunks and pack necessities for the pool, so we can go as soon as you’re done with work.”
Entering the condo, Linda tossed her bag on the counter and grabbed a Coke from the fridge. She leaned against the counter and popped the can open. She took a long gulp of the soft drink and burped; thankful she was alone. A starfish magnet on the fridge was upside down, so she straightened it. It must have gotten flipped when she pulled the “Wedding Date” criteria list off before Mason could see it.
She’d felt annoyed at Sorcha when she suggested the list. But to her credit, the idea came about after Linda had spent a long time, too long, ranting about how she would never find a guy to date, let alone fall in love with. She’d claimed that her list of must-haves was a mile long, and no guy would meet all the requirements on her list.
Sorcha had called foul and suggested they write out the list. As she’d suspected, the list wasn’t all that long; Linda had gotten too hung up on the fact that she hadn’t made it to a fourth date in over three years, counting her losses before giving dates a chance to succeed.
Sorcha thought Wyatt, the new guy at their favorite local coffee shop, had a thing for Linda and that he’d ask Linda out if she’d show him the tiniest bit of interest.
Linda stated that Wyatt’s extreme handsomeness intimidated her too much, and she wouldn’t contemplate going out with him even if there was a glitch in the matrix and he felt attracted to her.
Maybe Sorcha was right, and Linda checked out of dating before giving the guy a chance. But breaking things off after a couple of dates was easier than falling for someone and then getting your heart broken. Every breakup left her hollow and crushed, like a cicada shell a child had pulled off a tree and stomped on.
Sorcha’s advice was sinking in. Linda had hoped that getting away from home, spending some fun time with Sorcha and then some alone time, would give her the kick in the butt to try dating again.
She hoped that by the time this working vacation was over and she returned home, that she’d have summoned up the nerve to ask Wyatt out for something other than coffee.
If they got along well and made it past a date or two, Wyatt might even be a great date for Laurel’s wedding. He had movie-star good looks and rock-star charm.
But if things didn’t work out with Wyatt, she’d still need a date to Laurel’s wedding. There was no way she was going alone.
Setting the soda on the counter, she walked to the garbage can and fished out the criteria list to see how Wyatt might measure up. He obviously met the ‘attractive or cute’ requirement. He was ‘kind’ and ‘funny’, to her, and any other guest she’d seen him interact with. She sensed he might be ‘spontaneous’, ‘fun’, and ‘creative’, but she wasn’t a hundred percent sure. There was no way to know if he liked ‘cats’ or ‘musicals’. She suspected he liked ‘live music’ as he frequently wore T-shirts featuring eighties and nineties rock bands, like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Foo Fighters.
Tossing the list back into the garbage, Linda grabbed her soda can and walked to the bathroom. She mused over the fact that the list wasn’t very long. She needed to get back out there and try dating again. Get back on the horse. She could do this. She needed a shower, some time to journal, to forgive Mason, and to move on.