Page 100 of Ghost

Chapter Thirty-Five

“How did things go withEllen?”Francis asked as soon as Mason stepped through the door.

“I think it went fairly well.How about you and Gerald?”

Francis looked towards his feet.“I am now more convinced than before that my...moving on is the best thing.”He looked up and the pain in his eyes was more than Mason could stand.

“I don’t want you to go.”Mason could feel a pain in his chest and his breathing hitching.“We can work this out.”

Francis smiled slightly.“If only that could be true.”He looked away.“However, it cannot be.”

“Why?”

“Because, my love, it is not natural and will only cause you pain further down the road.I do not wish to witness that, Mason.”

Mason wanted to hold Francis so badly right then, but knew it wasn’t possible.It was then that it dawned on him what Ellen had been trying to say.He couldn’t look at Francis right then.

“You do understand, do you not?”Francis asked, his voice barely above a whisper.“As much as we would both like it to, it could never be right between us.”

Mason could only nod.He was afraid that if he tried to speak, he would completely lose it and that wouldn’t do either of them any good.Without saying anything, Mason left the house and started walking.

He had no idea where he was going but knew he needed to get out of the house or else he would break down and that was something he didn’t want to put on Francis.This was hard enough as it was without adding more crap onto the huge load of crap this already was.

Mason had no idea how long he’d been walking before he stopped in front of a barber shop.

‘I’ve been meaning to get a haircut.’

He opened the door and stepped in.There was an older man, probably close to sixty, if not already, cutting another man’s hair, who wasn’t much younger than the barber.There was another man waiting.

“Come on in and have a seat,” the barber greeted Mason warmly.“My partner will be back in a moment, so you won’t have to wait too long.I’m almost finished here.”

“Thanks,” Mason replied, taking a seat to wait.‘I have nothing else to do.’

A moment later the bell rang over the door and a man carrying a tray of coffee came in.

“I got you one of Patty’s giant oatmeal cookies, Lloyd.”He looked over to Mason and nodded.“Sorry, but if you’d been here a few minutes earlier, I’d have gotten you a coffee as well.”

“Thanks,” Mason said.“I’ve had plenty this morning already, so I’m all good.”

The man handed the man waiting a cup of coffee and then set the tray with the others on the empty barber station.

“Hi, I’m LD Three, but people just call me LD.”He held out his hand to Mason.

Mason took the man’s hand.“Hi, I’m Ma—”

LD Three laughed, as did the other men in the barber shop.

“Oh, we know who you are.You’re Mason Montgomery who bought the old Watson place.Everyone around here knows who you are,” he said.

Mason blinked a few times.He felt awkward and embarrassed all at the same time.

“Yes, indeedy, this neighborhood is looking up now,” the older barber stated, with a chuckle.“Been a while since I’ve had hope for this area.I feel business will be picking up.”