“I’m sorry?”
“It’s so easy to talk to you. And it’s not just how you react. It’s being close to you. Your energy really, like, soothes me.”
“I’m glad to be of soothing service,” Mason said before he leaned down and kissed Xeni on her beautiful lips. In a little more than a week, she’d be out of his life and they’d serve out the rest of their marriage requirement with three thousand miles between them. As she rolled toward him and slid her tongue against his, he wondered if the distance would be enough to help him forget that he was falling in love with her.
* * *
“I don’t want to sweat anymore!” Xeni cried out. They were almost done packing up Sable’s things, but there was no air conditioning in the office. Mason had found a box fan to help with the situation and they’d opened the back door and windows to get a cross breeze, but it barely put a dent in the stifling heat of that particular room.
“Let’s take a break,” he said. “Come.”
“Ugh,” Xeni whined as she followed him into the kitchen. It was much cooler in there. Too bad they’d already put away all of Sable’s personal things from that part of the house and that Sable hadn’t sprung for central AC. They both grabbed something to drink and while Xeni was going back for a refill, Mason wandered into the living room. Xeni followed and watched him as he sat down at the piano.
“You never played for me the other night.”
“Well,” he effortlessly tapped out a short tune on the keyboard. “Let’s remedy that right now.”
Xeni leaned against the wall as he started to play in earnest. The slow, sweet melody sounded familiar, but Xeni couldn’t place it. She came from an intensely musical family and while she could carry a tune, she couldn’t imagine having such skill on so many different instruments. As she watched him, his large frame so perfectly at ease behind the baby grand, her traitorous brain couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to come home to this every day. To have a man by her side every day to play her beautiful love songs.
When he finished, he turned around on the bench and looked back at her, his expression blank. “You know what this thing needs?” He tapped the edge of the piano.
“What’s that?” For some reason, Xeni’s tear ducts picked that exact moment to rev things up. Luckily she was able to use pure willpower to hold them back.
“A tip jar. That was amazing.”
Xeni laughed and one stupid tear escaped. She was able to dash it away before Mason saw it roll down her cheek. “You’re right. It was phenomenal. What song was that?”
Mason crossed the room and put his arm around her shoulders. They were both still so hot and sticky, but she didn’t mind the close contact. Not from him. “It’s a classic called ‘My Romance.’ Originally recorded in 1935? I think. My mom loves the James Taylor version. I prefer Doris Day’s.”
“Never heard it, but I like the way it sounds on the piano.”
“You should give it a listen sometime. I think you might like it. Come on. Let’s get back to it.”
They walked back into the oppressive heat of the office and continued their torturous work. Xeni considered doing a little research to see if there as a quality spa anywhere in ole Kinderack country. She’d need a massage and some full body exfoliation when they were done.
“Books?” Mason asked. He’d been busy packing away all the little collectables Sable had on her shelves.
“Let’s just leave those. Makes the house look lived in if we decide to sell it.”
“We?”
“I can’t handle all this by myself. My mom is a lot, but when she listens, she does listen. I want to talk to her and my step-dad before I make any huge decisions. Besides, one of my eight hundred cousins might want to stay here. Anyway, it doesn’t seem right to just up and sell the place without talking to my family first.”
“Reducing the opportunity for another family feud sounds like a great idea. The record plaques?” He nodded toward the opposite wall. Sable’s singles “All Yours Now” and “Lover Boy” went gold and platinum respectively in the early eighties.
“Gonna ship those home, but leave them up for now. I need to get, like, a metric ton of bubble wrap from the store tomorrow.”
“Great.”
Xeni watched Mason for a moment as he opened a small chest of drawers near the window. He pulled out a handful of office supplies and added them to the random items box. She realized then that this was gonna take a lot longer if she spent the afternoon staring at him. She opened the second drawer of Sable’s desk and started looking through a stack of electric bills. On each one, Sable had handwritten the date it had been paid. Xeni shook her head, thinking about how her ridiculously rich aunt had gone to her grave resisting the ease of autopay. Those were going in the shred pile.
“Uhhh, love?” Mason suddenly said.
“Yes, dear.” Xeni looked up and saw he was holding one of the blue tins of Royal Dansk cookies. “What’s up?”
Mason crossed the room and handed her the tin. It was filled with jewelry. She looked up at him, her mouth hanging open. “You fucking kidding me?”
He shrugged. “Better than under her mattress?”
