Page 110 of Summer Lessons

Mason looked over to where his ex-boss and ex-lover were simpering in each other’s eyes, and fought the urge to hurl.

Then he had the strongest, sharpest, most painful pang of missing Terry in two and a half months of barely being able to breathe for the same pain.

Terry would… he’d make Mason feel like they didn’t matter.

Oh God. They didn’t. They didn’t matter.

“They’re grossing everybody out,” Mason whispered back. “And Ira’s in charge of the graphics department, so that meanseverybody. Your new advertising looks like shit. Seriously. If Roy doesn’t replace him, you’re going out of business.”

Janice shivered. “Tesko got any upper-management positions open?”

“No--I’ll drop you a line if any open up. But don’t worry about putting them in their place. Mrs. Bradford wrote my speech. It’s a masterpiece of passive-aggressive backhandedness that would do a politician proud. Seriously—it’s going to be one of those things that has everybody laughing but Roy and Ira. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Janice was staring at him with wide, bright eyes and a rather besotted smile. “Oh, Mason—self-control and a masterstroke. Ilikethis new you!”

Mason laughed wickedly. “Oh, hon. You haven’t seen anything yet.”

At that point he was called to the stage.

TWO HOURSlater Mason let himself into his hotel room, feeling very pleased with himself—and still a little drunk.

He shucked off his clothes, parked himself on the bed in his boxer shorts, and plugged his phone in the charger. That’s when he noticed the five messages and pulled it out again.

They were all from Terry.

Dammit—you were supposed to come today. I missed you.

I’m sorry—I should have called you over the week to make sure.

Your brother put me in my place about that—I feel bad.

Call me when you get in, okay? I’d really like to talk.

But don’t feel bad if you don’t get in until late. You should be having a good time.

Mason smiled, touching the face of the phone, and figured what the hell.

He wanted to brag to someone after all.

“Mason?” Terry asked excitedly. “How did your speech go?”

Oh, it was good to dish. “It wasamazing,” Mason said, practically dancing where he sat. “Mrs. Bradford wrote it for me—it was great. The first thing I said was that loyalty was really important, but you can’t get it if you don’t give it—it’s like getting caught cheating on a spouse. The next person in line is going to know they’re not going to expect faithfulness, so they might not be so committed, right? And oh my God, you should haveseenRoy and Ira squirming. And the rest of the audience—I’m going to have to read you exactly what the speech said, but everybody was laughing, because it was funny, right? But I swear to God it was like watching my boss and my ex sitting on thumbtacks when they couldn’t get up. They couldn’t move, they couldn’t squirm, but Jesus did their asses hurt!”

Terry was laughing by this time, chortling into the phone as Mason ran out of breath, and Mason felt bad. He’d been wanting to crow about that since he’d given the speech, but he couldn’t talk this freely in front of anybody—not here, and not at home.

Dane, maybe.

And Terry. Who just happened to be on the other end of the line when Mason needed him most.

“I’m sorry,” Mason said after pausing to think. “I was just so excited. I didn’t even ask about the game—”

“We lost,” Terry said like it didn’t matter. “I… it’s not fun without you.”

Mason sighed and melted a little into the pillow. “Well, this wouldn’t have been as fun if I hadn’t been able to tell you,” he admitted. “I’m so glad you called.”

“Youcalled,” Terry said, but it sounded like he was teasing. “I just whined at you via text.”

“Well, I’m glad you did that.” Oh wow. They were talking. Like they hadn’t been for two months. Mason hadn’t realized how difficult breathing had become, weighty, as though he’d been walking around with an elephant on his chest. Until now, when he was talking to Terry, and he felt like he could fly.