The Hall was huge, seating several thousand people at full capacity. We were at that, if not a little more, so I was hoping we didn’t get a visit from the Fire Code inspector. As I ran by one of the open hall doors I noticed there was a volunteer at each door checking IDs. Big signs were posted that read “Eighteen and older only, please!” What was that about? Had I missed out on something at the cosplay contest? Some of the costumes were a little risqué , but never anythingtoonaughty…
I was just leading Mason back stage when I ran into a couple of familiar faces: Brannon Eames, owner of EB Cards, and his wife, Anna. The Eameses were long-time friends of the twins, and were in charge of managing the volunteers assisting with the event. They had given the twins a great deal of much-needed help and guidance in setting up their store. Bran was a tall, lanky fellow, while Anna was petite. Well, “petite” except for the fact that she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with their first child, and looked utterly miserable.
“Brannon! Anna! How are you?” I called out, dragging Mason with me. I wrapped my arms around Anna and gave her a gentle hug.
“I’m not going to break, asshat,” She grumbled, squeezing metighter. “Besides, maybe if you squeeze hard enough, it will pop this booger out.” She smiled up at me, her eyes twinkling, but face a little pale as she glanced over at her husband. Bran looked like he was about to lose it. He was carrying a battered gym bag that seemed to be stuffed to bursting. He had dark circles under his eyes, and the way he anxiously watched Anna, I figured it was a bad case of “Soon-to-be-Dad” disease. At his feet was their border collie, and Bran’s therapy dog, Gracie.
Bran had always had anxiety issues, but the imminent birth of his first offspring seemed to be magnifying things tenfold. Gracie was a fully trained service dog and was wearing her vest alerting people that she was working. She had helped Bran and Anna through some really trying times and was as much a part of the family as the new baby would be. She leaned reassuringly against Bran’s leg, her tail wagging happily as she recognized me.
“Bran! Good to see you!” I clapped him on the back as he smiled.
“Lee! You guys made it! We’ve got about ten minutes before Cameron goes on. That was cutting it close!” he looked over at Mason.
“Yeah, well, there was a… miscommunication.” I grumbled, looking around to see if Conyers was in sight. “Bill thought he canceled. Important thing is, he’s here now.”
“Mason,” Anna said, her soft voice catching the artist’s attention. “We really appreciate you coming all the way out here. It means a lot to our families, and to the LGBTQ community in Ohio.”
“Thank you for having me,” he mumbled, obviously uncomfortable with her thanks. His awkwardness faded when he saw Gracie.
He knelt down so that he was eye level with her.
“And who is this beautiful girl? Is it okay to pet her?” he looked up at Bran and Anna, and my estimation of him went up. Not many people realized you should restrain yourself around service dogs.
“It’s fine,” Bran said, smiling down at them both. “Her name’s Gracie. She’s my little lifesaver.”
Mason held his hand out to Gracie for her to sniff, which she did immediately, then softly licked the back of his hand with her pinktongue. The look on Mason’s face was beatific. He ruffled her ears and wrapped his arms around her, cooing and saying the nonsense things you say to babies and animals.
I felt something strange, a kind of ache deep in my gut as I saw him babying Gracie and I imagined for a moment that he was doing this with our dog. Or our child.
The word made my thoughts come to a screeching halt. Child? Did I want to have kids with Mason? He just looked so… at home, holding her, talking to her. Something curled tight in my stomach and made it hard to breathe, but in the best way possible, as I realized I did. I wantedeverythingwith him.
Bran and Anna stepped away to answer a question from one of the many people running around backstage and Mason looked up at me.
“She’s a sweetheart,” he said, smiling up at me. His blue-gold eyes shone as he looked up, his hand buried in Gracie’s fur. I realized with a start that their hair was almost the same color.
“She’s not the only one,” I rumbled, loving the flush of pink that swept through his cheeks at the heat in my words.
“Five minutes, Mr. Cameron,” one of the many volunteers running around backstage called.
Mason patted his pockets until he found and pulled out a USB drive.
“Bran, I saw you guys got the request from my manager to check IDs. Can you give this to your A/V guy? Have him load up the file titled ‘Mason’s Run’. I’ll take the rest from there.”
Bran looked confused, but nodded and rushed off with the USB drive.
“Well, looks like I have to go, “ Mason said, straightening and looking at Gracie wistfully.
“I dunno, we’ve got five minutes. How much trouble do you think we could get into in five minutes?” I asked.
He seemed to seriously consider it for a moment and his eyes flashed mischievously, but then he shook himself.
“Later,” he said firmly. I had to laugh.
“Have you been working on your speech?” I asked. He paused, licking his lips nervously.
“Yeah. A lot. I think… I think you’ll like it,” he said, smiling tentatively at me. “And I think Professor White will agree that… it’s something I’m passionate about.”
“I’m going to go take my seat, then.” I started to turn, but he stopped me, his hand on my arm. His fingers were so cold, they must have been numb, whereas my own skin felt heated.
