Page 68 of Mason's Run

“Pics or it didn’t happen,” I said matter-of-factly.

Mason waggled his eyebrows at me. “Number?” he challenged me. I gave it to him and saw him type something into his phone. A few minutes later my phone pinged. I pulled it up and found a message from Lizzy forwarded to me by Mason. As promised, it was a younger Mason with a thoroughly bedazzled tinfoil crown with the words “Word Boy of February” in pink glitter on the front. Next to him was a young blonde woman in a wheelchair with a dramatically sad look on her face who I could only assume was Lizzie.

“Nice,” I laughed. “Who did the bedazzling? You or Lizzie?”

“Neither,” Mason responded. “That was all Everett.”

We laughed and joked the rest of the way over to my parents. When we arrived, I noticed Kaine’s car was gone, but Bishop’s was here. It didn’t mean Bishop was home, as he and Kaine spent a lot of time together.

Mama K met us at the door with hugs, her gray eyes smiling. I think she surprised Mason when she hugged him, because he seemed to freeze for a minute before relaxing into it. As sassy as Mama K was, there was no better hugger in the world.

“There’smypartner!” Mama D announced as we entered the living room. Mason smiled and sat across from her at the table. They’d taken a couple of leaves out of the table to make it the perfect size for playing Scrabble.

“Lee, don’t forget to take the soap and lotion I made you, sweetie,” Mama D said as I sat down. She set a bag down next to Mason that earned us a raised eyebrow.

“Mama D makes soaps and lotions as a hobby. She has a special formula she uses for each of the kids, and we get some every few months.”

Mama D smiled gently at Mason. “Let me know if you like it,” shesaid. “I do my best to match the scent to the person, to the trait I see most in them.”

Mason nodded and smiled as Mama D handed me a shopping bag filled with her concoctions. I saw her eye Mason as she settled in.

“I also make a pretty sweet lip balm, Mason. Ohio weather can be hell on skin, especially lips,” she said. “I put some for you in Lee’s bag.”

“Thank you,” he said, blushing and letting his lower lip loose from between his teeth.

We settled around the table, Mama D asking first if we wanted something to eat or drink. We were both still feeling full after our arcade meal, but I got up to get a beer. A quirked eyebrow at Mason and he shook his head.

As we set up the game Mason asked Mama D “Why did you split up the teams like this? I would have thought you and Kyra would want to be partners.”

Mama D laughed. “The kids made a rule several years ago that we weren’t allowed to be on the same team anymore,” she said.

“Yep, the kiddos decided we knew each other too damn well and that it was tantamount to telepathy,” she winked at Mama K, whose cheeks turned bright pink.

“Yes, and I knowexactlywhat you’re thinking right now, Diana Devereaux, and you should be ashamed of yourself!” Mama K exclaimed.

We laughed, and the game began in earnest.

While we played, I asked my moms if they’d seen Kaine. I was worried about my baby brother.

“He was here earlier today, but he and Bishop were meeting someone for dinner,” Mama D answered.

“Did he say who?” I asked, playing a couple of tiles for a low score word.

Mama D looked up from her tiles, her eyes glancing at Mama K before she answered.

“Um, Nicki is back in town, apparently,” she said.

I nodded.

“Kaine and I ran into him at Wally Waffle the other day,” I saidwith a grimace. “He… was pretty upset afterward. I wasn’t sure if he was going to contact him again or not.”

“He didn’t have a choice,” Mama D said, glaring down at her letters a touch angrily. She kept rearranging them, but regardless of how they appeared, she couldn’t seem to make anything of them. “Nicki showed up at the house last night.”

“Shit,” I sighed. I saw the confused look on Mason’s face, so I explained. “Nicki was Kaine’s first love. They were friends through most of high school, and Nicki’s parents moved away their senior year,” I explained to Mason. “He was… pretty devastated by it.”

Mason nodded. “I can understand that. It must have sucked having his parents move.” As Mason spoke, I saw a look pass between my parents for a moment, then it was gone.

“What did he want?” I asked, trying to be nonchalant.