Page 24 of Making It Burn

And I definitely couldn’t stop thinking about how much I wanted to do it again.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand, the screen illuminating the dark bedroom.I stared at the ceiling for a moment before reaching for it.

Patsy Hollingsworth: Mason, darling, are you still awake?

Me: Yes.

Patsy: Beau is moving into his new condo tomorrow morning.Would you mind helping him?I think it would be good for the two of you to spend time together outside the office.Team building!

My thumb hovered over the keyboard.I should make up an excuse—prior commitment, early tennis match, literally anything.I sighed and typed out a response.

Me: What time?

Patsy: 9 AM.His parents home is in Windsor Farms.I'll text you the address.Thank you, sweetheart.This means a lot to me.

I set the phone down and closed my eyes.

"I'm seriously fucked."

ChapterFive

Beau

The dining room was still a meat locker, but this was the last time I'd have to endure it until the holidays.

I sat at the end of the mahogany table, nursing my third cup of coffee while my mother picked at her grapefruit with surgical precision and my father hid behind the Richmond Times-Dispatch.Outside, I heard the low rumble of the moving truck's engine and the voices of the movers as they loaded the last of the boxes from the carriage house where I'd been storing my furniture.

Freedom was approximately two hours away.

"Are you certain you don't want us to hire someone to help you unpack?"My mother dabbed her lips with a linen napkin."I'm sure we could find someone professional.It seems like so much work for one person."

"I'll be fine, Mom."

"But darling—"

"Claudia, the boy is thirty-two years old," my father interjected from behind his newspaper."If he can't unpack his own boxes, we've failed as parents."

"I'm merely concerned about his back.All that lifting—"

"He played lacrosse for years.I think his back can handle some boxes."

I tuned them out, mentally cataloging everything I needed to do today.Meet the movers at the condo, supervise the unloading, unpack the essentials, maybe order Thai food and eat it in my own space where the thermostat was set to something approaching human habitation temperature.

My phone buzzed on the table.

Patsy Hollingsworth: Good morning, sweetheart!How's the move going?

I smiled despite myself.Patsy was like a second mother to me.

Me: Haven't left yet.

Patsy: Wonderful!I hope you don't mind, but I volunteered Mason to help you today.

My coffee cup stopped halfway to my lips.

Me: You did what?

Patsy: The poor boy works too much.I thought it would be good for him to do something normal for once.Team building!He should be there soon.