Chapter 7 Steam and Secrets #2
Whether he was still reading through the graduate school information.
Whether he was excited.
Whether he was scared.
The thoughts arrived too easily.
Mason headed toward the kitchen.
Dinner became a frozen meal heated in the microwave.
Nothing impressive.
Nothing memorable.
He ate while standing at the counter.
Then spent an hour working through invoices and scheduling repairs for the rest of the week.
The paperwork helped.
A little.
Eventually he picked up his phone again.
Still nothing.
Mason laughed softly.
This was ridiculous.
Completely ridiculous.
Then the screen lit up.
A message appeared.
Liam: Do you think frozen pizza counts as cooking?
Mason stared.
Then laughed.
The sound echoed through the empty apartment.
His thumbs immediately moved.
Mason: Depends how desperate you are.
Three dots appeared almost instantly.
Liam: That's not encouraging.
Mason: How bad is it?
A photo arrived.
The pizza looked mildly tragic.
One side appeared slightly burned.
The other somehow remained pale.
Mason shook his head.
Mason: I've seen worse.
Liam: That wasn't the confidence boost I wanted.
The conversation should have ended there.
Instead, it continued.
One message became another.
Then another.
Before long they were discussing terrible cooking skills, university assignments, and the strange weather patterns that seemed determined to flood Oregon every month.
The exchange felt easy.
Natural.
Dangerously natural.
Mason found himself smiling more than once.
The realization didn't escape him.
An hour passed without either of them noticing.
Eventually the conversation drifted toward the graduate program again.
Mason: Still thinking about Washington?
The reply took longer.
When it arrived, it felt more serious than everything before.
Liam: Trying to.
Another pause.
Then:
Liam: Honestly, I'm terrified.
Mason stared at the message.
Not because the admission surprised him.
Because it felt honest.
The kind of honesty people rarely shared unless they trusted someone.
His response came carefully.
Mason: Terrified of failing?
The reply appeared almost immediately.
Liam: Terrified of succeeding.
That wasn't the answer he'd expected.
Mason leaned back against the couch.
Mason: Explain.
Several seconds passed.
Liam: What if I get there and everyone is smarter than me?
Another message followed.
Liam: What if I don't belong?
Then another.
Liam: What if they're all waiting to figure out I'm not supposed to be there?
The words hit harder than they should have.
Because Mason recognized the feeling immediately.
Different situation.
Same fear.
Not being enough.
Not belonging.
Not measuring up.
The specifics changed.
The insecurity stayed the same.
His reply arrived without hesitation.
Mason: You got accepted for a reason.
A pause.
Liam: Maybe they made a mistake.
Mason snorted.
Mason: You really believe that?
The typing indicator appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
Finally:
Liam: Not really.
Good.
Because he didn't either.
The conversation shifted again.
This time toward dreams.
Future plans.
The things neither of them usually talked about.
Mason wasn't entirely sure how it happened.
One moment they were discussing graduate school.
The next Liam was asking questions.
Questions nobody had asked him in years.
Liam: When you were younger, what did you want to do?
Mason stared at the screen.
The answer surprised him.
Mason: Build things.
The reply came quickly.
Liam: You do build things.
A smile appeared before he could stop it.
Mason: Not exactly.
Another pause.
Then:
Mason: I wanted my own company someday.
The admission felt strangely personal.
Not because it was secret.
Because he rarely talked about it.
The dream still existed.
Somewhere.
Buried beneath years of routine.
Liam seemed genuinely interested.
Liam: Why didn't you?
The question lingered.
Mason thought about it.
Then answered honestly.
Mason: Life happened.
A few moments later another message appeared.
Liam: You sound like someone twice your age.
Mason laughed.
Mason: Occupational hazard.
The conversation continued.
Dreams became regrets.
Regrets became stories.
Stories became memories.
For the first time in a very long time, Mason found himself talking about things that had nothing to do with work.
His grandfather.
His marriage.
The opportunities he'd passed up.
The things he'd wished he'd done differently.
Nothing too heavy.
Nothing too painful.
Just honest.
And somehow Liam matched that honesty every step of the way.
The younger man talked about books.
About wanting to write someday.
About feeling like he never quite fit the image people expected.
About the pressure of becoming someone successful.
The vulnerability should have been uncomfortable.
Instead, it felt natural.
Safe.
The realization carried dangerous implications.
Hours passed.
The clock crept toward midnight.
Neither seemed eager to end the conversation.
Eventually Liam sent another message.
Liam: I should probably sleep.
Mason looked at the time.
12:17 AM.
Mason: Probably.
Several seconds passed.
Then:
Liam: Thanks for listening today.
The words settled heavily in his chest.
Before he could respond, another message appeared.
Liam: About everything.
Mason stared at the screen.
His reply came slower this time.
Mason: Anytime.
The typing indicator appeared one final time.
Then:
Liam: Goodnight, Mason.
Simple.
Nothing extraordinary.
Yet Mason found himself reading it twice.
Then a third time.
Eventually he replied.
Mason: Goodnight, Liam.
The conversation ended.
The screen went dark.
Silence returned to the apartment.
For a long moment, Mason remained sitting on the couch.
Phone still in hand.
A strange warmth lingered beneath his ribs.
The feeling wasn't excitement.
Not exactly.
Something quieter.
Something deeper.
He thought about the conversation.
The honesty.
The laughter.
The ease.
Then he thought about the years before it.
The years after his divorce.
The years spent keeping people at arm's length.
Work.
Sleep.
Repeat.
Safe.
Predictable.
Lonely.
The realization arrived quietly.
So quietly he almost missed it.
He hadn't looked forward to talking with someone like this in years.
And that fact scared him far more than it should have.
Because the person he wanted to talk to tomorrow wasn't a friend he'd known forever.
Wasn't family.
Wasn't someone from his past.
It was Liam.
And for the first time, Mason wasn't sure what to do about that.
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