Page 33 of Housekeeping

“You give me treats plenty of times and I eat those,” I pointed out. “So what exactly are you upset about?”

“I'm not upset about anything. Just I know I kept things from you when I was having issues with Trent, and I will respect your decision if you decide to do the same, but…”

“I know,” I said, bumping my shoulder against hers lightly. “You’re here to listen to me if I want to talk about it. I offered you the same thing, remember? I just… don’t think I want to.”

“Because you can't talk about it?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Because I just want to forget it. It… was a moment of weakness for me. While I couldn’t call it a mistake, it’s not something I plan on repeating, either.”

She nodded in understanding. “Whoever it is, they seem pretty determined to get you back.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. “That bastard can just go and throw himself off a cliff if he thinks this is the way to go about it. Expensive candy and delicate gold bracelets… I’m not the kind of woman to be bought by that kind of stuff.”

“I know you’re not,” she said, soothing, patting a hand down my back. “Here, why don’t you finish up and we can both get to work before we’re late, hmm?”

I did as she asked, picking up another pastry and biting into it, then bringing the sweet mocha drink to my lips for a sip. It was a little too much sweets, but I figured I deserved something like this. Besides, while Jessi didn’t know about the whole cancer thing, she knew how careful I was about my health and my diet. She was doing this as a pick me up, and she hadn’t tried to get me to test taste anything for her for a few days.

“We better head out,” she said once we had everything done. We took the dishes to the kitchen, where she caught me by surprise as she pulled me into a quick hug. “Hang in there, okay? I’ll talk to you again after work.”

“Thanks for being such a good friend, Jessi,” I said simply.

She smiled at me, then went off. I did the same before changing in the nearly empty lockers. Nothing else had come, and I hoped it was the end of those presents and Mason seeking me out. If he’d kept it up, I would have gone to look for him myself just to get him to stop, because I wouldn’t have him thinking any of this would win me over.

I managed to get through work without any incidents, and at the end of the day, I felt relieved when I got home. For the first time in a while, I thought I could relax, and went to get out my knitting. I hadn’t sat down for long, though, when there was a knock on my door.

Putting my knitting aside, I went to see who it was. I didn’t usually get visitors, so I was curious. I opened the door, and my jaw dropped.

Mason was standing at my doorstep. Great, he didn’t send a gift this time, just himself. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I’d missed him, but I had to think of myself and that meant keeping him as far away from me as possible, It was going to be hard.