Page 67 of Fun and Games

"Ouch." Mason faked a wince. "A scathing review."

"Don't worry," I said. "No one's going to read it, anyway." I chuckled at myself. "My blog doesn't get any visitors."

"Maybe I can do a guest post," he offered. "I can bring my readers over to you."

"That would be cool, but my blog is nothing special," I said. "There's no reason they'd stick around."

"I looked at it," he said. "You've got a lot of great, unique content."

"Thanks," I said. "I've been to a lot of places, so I've got a lot to write about."

Mason went quiet. He focused on securing Lucky's leash in his hand.

I knew what he was thinking. It was the same thing I was thinking.

I moved around a lot. I never stayed put for too long. I'd already been here longer than I'd been most places.

The question was…

Did I plan to continue that?

I didn't have an answer myself yet. My contract with my job was going to be up soon, but there was the potential for something more long term. I hadn't planned on settling down here, but then again, I hadn't planned on settling down anywhere.

But I couldn't keep up the vagabond life forever. Eventually I'd have to put down roots.

I looked up at Mason. He was staring at me. I smiled and squeezed his hand again. He squeezed mine back with a smile of his own. My heart swelled.

As we rounded a corner to my street and walked up the steps to my apartment, we watched Lucky hop and skip along, putting his nose into everything.

"He's a curious little guy," I said, as I pulled the keys out of my bag and unlocked the outer door. "I wonder if—"

I froze.

Mason stopped on the top step behind me.

"What's up?" he asked.

My knees went weak and shaky again, but it was completely different from when I'd swooned at Mason's smile. This time it felt as if the world had fallen out from beneath my feet.

There was a package propped against the inner door. A package addressed to me.

A package from David's mom.

I'd forgotten about it. It had totally slipped my mind. I'd been so wrapped up in Mason, in spending time with him, that thoughts of David had been silenced, had become so quiet I'd been able to set them aside.

"Bree?" Mason put a hand on my shoulder and ducked down to look at me, worried.

I lifted my eyes from where they'd been fixated on the package to Mason's. I blinked twice. The backs of my eyes stung.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Mason put a hand on my back and rubbed. "Are you not feeling well? Come on, let's get you inside."

I took a heavy, steadying breath and stooped down to snatch the package up into my arms. Mason eyed it but didn't say anything.

We went into my apartment. Mason picked Lucky up in his arms so the dog didn't go wandering off by himself. He watched as I stood in the front hall, not saying anything. I clutched the package to my chest. It felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. As if the unknown contents were burning a hole through the box and branding into my skin.

I couldn't just put it down and ignore it. I had to know what was inside. David's mom had said there were some personal items. What exactly had she meant?

I inhaled slowly.