Page 42 of Untroubled Heart

I hate the idea that she may be uncomfortable, especially when I could fix that.

Isabelle and Gage leave the room together to feed their daughter. I’m quite sure Gage didn’t start lactating, so I assume he’s going for moral support. I wonder how Callie does it on her own. She could be feeding Navie right now, just sitting alone. My chest starts to ache, and my gut feels like it’s swirling in circles.

“I hope you all saved room for dessert,” Grams says, setting a bowl at every place setting. Grandpa follows behind her with the cutlery—always following her—and Dad comes in after them, his hands full with whatever Grams has whipped up for dessert, and Marlin under his heels, following the food.

“Mason,” says Mum. “Have you had any luck with your house hunting?”

“Actually, I have. I put an offer on a place in Old Wandering this week.”

“The one you saw with Callie?” Beth slaps my arm with the back of her hand. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

I nod. “I only got the confirmation Friday night. I wanted to wait and tell you all in person.” I was also really busy yesterday and this morning, completely redoing my office.

“Where were you Friday night, by the way? I thought you were meeting me and Tenley at And Gigs?”

“I… got held up… at… another bar?”

Beth blinks slowly at me with a sour look on her face. “I hope that’s not some kinky euphemism.”

“What? No.”

“Hmm.” Beth takes another bite of dessert, unconvinced. “Well, you missed out. The venue was good, and the scenery was even better.”

“If you don’t mean that from a designer point of view, then I don’t want to know.”

“Neither do I,” Caleb says. “Do you have any photos of this place, Mase?”

I pull my phone from my back pocket and bring up the email from my realtor. Carmen showed it to me before it was listed, so there are no photos online, but some were already taken in preparation to go on the market. She sent them to me along with the house plans so I could get started with planning and building approvals.

“Old Wandering is such a beautiful suburb,” Grams says.

“Looks like this will keep you busy, dear,” Mum says, eyes round as she stares at my phone in Dad’s hand.

Dad clears his throat. “Ah, yeah. What made you pick this one compared to all the others you’ve seen in the last year?”

Because she said she loved it, so I bought it.

“It was the first one I could really see making my own.”

“It’s going to be so fun seeing the before and afters,” Lex says.

“She’s down.” Isabelle holds a baby monitor up triumphantly to the room, a sleeping Briony clear in the centre of the screen.

“Good, you came just in time to see Mason’s new house.”

“You finally found a place?” Isabelle smiles as she walks over to Dad, and he passes her my phone. “Oh, how charming!”

“That’s one word for it,” Gage mutters.

“Do you have the plans?” Beth asks. I accept my phone back from Izzy, then forward the email to my sister.

“I’ve already sent them to Tristan. He’s gonna start working on my ideas this week.”

Beth drops her fork into her bowl of mudcake—more like custard soup with the way she douses it in the stuff. “You sent the plans to him before me?”

“I met Tristan for tennis the same day I saw the house, and I wanted to get all the ideas out of my head while they were fresh.”

“What if I had ideas?”