Mason (Remington Ranch Book 1) (Contemporary Western Romance) (22 page)

“Hey, babe. What's up?”

“I need to talk to you. What are you doing later?”

“I was hoping to see you.”

“Good, do you want to meet me at Pine Creek at six? Cassidy and I need to get everything packed up and ready for tomorrow, but I should be done by then.”

“Pine Creek? You're not going to walk out on me this time?”

She sounded exasperated. “No. I'm not.”

“Want to tell me what it's about?”

“I'd love to, but I think it should wait until I see you.”

“Okay. I'll see you there then.”

“Bye.”

As he hung up, he couldn't help but wish she sounded more excited to see him. That he wasn't just something she had to fit in before she headed off to New York. He shrugged and tipped his hat back. Maybe Shane was right and he needed to learn to be a little more patient. He picked his phone back up to call Beau. A guy could still get the ball rolling on a place to live while he was being patient, couldn't he?

~ ~ ~

Gina hung up and put her phone down on the table. She was apprehensive about what Mason would say—or do, once he heard what Guy was up to. Surely he wouldn't fly off the handle, knowing what that would mean for April? She frowned at that, she wasn't sure that he would stay calm about it for
her
sake, but he probably would for April's. That didn't do too much to make her feel better.

“Sorry that took so long.” Cassidy came into the office. “It looks like you were right about me being accepted by the locals now.”

“I'm glad,” said Gina absently.

“Hey, what's up with you?”

“Nothing really. Just Mason stuff.”

Cassidy came and sat opposite her. “I don't get the two of you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, from what I understand, he's your long lost love. You've been apart for years because of a horrible misunderstanding and now you're back together. If I were you I wouldn't be able to think about another thing until I knew we were back on track.”

Gina shook her head. “You sound just like him!”

“But you're not so sure?”

“I am! But it's not that simple. When we were together before we were kids, he's four years older than me and at that age it was a big difference. He was the big strong hero, riding in to save the day, protecting me from anything and everything.”

Cassidy grinned. “Just like every girl wants.”

“Yeah,
girls
want that. I'm a woman now. In the last ten years, I've grown up, I became strong and independent and I don't know how to give that up. I don't
want
to give that up.”

“Why would he want you to? You're a pretty awesome lady.”

Gina shrugged. “I guess I'm not sure that he's changed that much. He's a man—a Montana man at that. It's part of his identity to protect and provide. I love that about him, don't get me wrong, and I love him with all of my heart. I'm just not sure that he can accept me, truly love me, the way I am now.”

Cassidy frowned. “I don't see that. I'd say he's totally in love with you. He's got some adjusting to do, but if you ask me, he's doing it.”

“I hope so. Anyway, enough of all that. Here, have your sandwich and then we need to get busy.”

Mason felt his heart fill up when he saw Gina pull in. He'd arrived at Pine Creek a little early and was sitting at a table by the window waiting. She smiled and waved when she spotted him. Man, she was beautiful, and she was all his—as long as he didn't blow it. He was a little apprehensive about what he'd talked to Beau about earlier, but he didn't have to worry about it yet. She'd said she needed to talk to him about something. They'd deal with whatever that was first.

Once she was seated and had a glass of wine, he took her hand. “You sounded stressed today, G. What's up?” He didn't like the way she looked at him. She looked nervous, almost as though she didn't trust him. “What is it?”

“I need you to make me a promise before I tell you.”

“Promise what?”

“That you won't fly off the handle and that you won't take matters into your own hands. I don't want you to do anything about what I tell you, unless I agree that you should.”

Whatever she was talking about, he didn't like the sounds of it. Why would she want to control his reaction to anything? He scowled at her.

“Don't look at me like that. Do you promise?”

It seemed he'd have to. She wouldn't tell him otherwise, he knew that much. It must be something pretty important if she thought she wasn't going to like his reaction. “Okay. I promise.”

“I ran into April in town today.” She took a sip of her wine before she continued. “She told me that Marcus is your son.”

“Why in the hell would she say that? I already told you...”

She put a hand out to stop him. “I know. Just listen, will you?”

Mason gritted his teeth. He couldn't believe that April would do that.

“I
know
it's not true. I trust you. I believe you. I told her that much, too. You can imagine how mad I was.”

“And what did she say?”

“She fell apart. Admitted that it was a lie. Guy put her up to it. He's threatening to take her son away from her. I'm sure he's hitting her.”

Mason was fuming. That bastard was screwing up lives—hurting people—all in an attempt to get at him. He felt guilty as hell about April. She wouldn't even be in that situation if it weren't for him. He wanted to go wring Guy's neck right this minute.

Gina was watching him. “We need to help her, Mase.”

“How? If I could have figured out a way to help her, I would have done it by now.”

“I have an idea.”

He liked the smile on her face. She looked confident, sure of herself. This Gina was so much more than the girl he'd known and loved before. She was smart, self-assured, and by the looks of it, about to come up with a solution that he'd never been able to find. “What?”

“He wants her to convince me that Marcus is your son, not his. What if I ask for proof? I've been thinking about this all afternoon and I'll bet if I asked him to swear an affidavit that Marcus is not his son, he would.”

Mason raised an eyebrow. “And what good would that do?”

“Once I had that, I could give it to April. She'd love to take the boy and get out of here. An affidavit like that would give her some security. Even if he went looking for them and found them, it would be hard for him to prove that she was an unfit mother and that he should have custody, when he has officially denied that the boy is even his.”

“I'm not sure that would stand up legally.”

“Neither am I, but if she reports the domestic abuse on her way out of town, I think she'd have enough backup to make her feel safe. It's just an idea of course, we'd have to see what she thinks, but she needs to get away from him.”

He nodded. “I'll talk to her. I'll take care of it.”

Gina frowned. “How about
we
take care of it, Mase? Aren't we in this together?”

“Sorry, babe. Yeah, we are. Except you're not going to be here, you're going to be in New York, aren't you. Do you want April left hanging until you come back?”

“Oh.” She obviously hadn't thought of that.

The server came to take their order and when he left, Mason decided to try to lighten the mood. This was the last time they'd see each other until she got back from New York. He didn't want it to be all about solving other people's problems again. He winked at her and smiled. “So…will you miss me while you're gone?”

She smiled back and nodded. “I will. I wish I could just slow everything down for a while and take the time to just enjoy ourselves.”

“I do, too. It seems like you don't have much time for me.”

“Oh, Mase. I'm sorry. You know I do. If it weren't for you, for wanting to be with you, I wouldn't be so desperate to find a way to make it possible to stay here.”

He frowned at that. “You have a way to stay here. I'm sitting right in front of you. I've told you. I can buy your dad's place. We can live there or find a place of our own. You don't need to do all this running around. Just let me take care of it.”

She took a deep breath, apparently needing to calm herself before she spoke. “Thank you. I appreciate what you want to do, Mase. Truly. But please, can you try to understand me? I need to do this for myself. It's not about not wanting your help. It's about me needing to do it for myself. I'm proud of who I am. Proud of what I've achieved. I'm capable of handling it myself, and, for the sake of my own self-respect, I need to. I love that you want to help, but if I let you, I wouldn't be me. I'd be the little girl I used to be. Can you see that?”

He could see that and he respected her for it too, but that didn't make him any less impatient. He nodded. I'm sorry. I guess I'm just being a butthead. As much as your self-respect is on the line here, so is mine. In my mind, a man takes care of his woman. I
do
understand you, but it's frustrating for me. Can you see that?”

She nodded and squeezed his hand. “So what do we do?”

“I guess I step back and let you handle it your way, and you try to understand me when I get antsy about it?”

She laughed. “That sounds about right. Apart from anything else, it's important for me to continue to prove that I can make it in the big world outside the valley. You know?”

Mason didn't know. He'd never understood why people needed to leave and go off to find themselves or prove themselves. Why couldn't they do that right here? He nodded, knowing that she wanted to explain to him how she felt.

“You remember what I was like even in high school. I knew my photography was good. I wanted to share it, show the world. It was a huge boost when the galleries in town started selling my work, but I knew there was more. I love this place, but I wanted to do something bigger, better than I could ever do here.”

Mason sucked in a deep breath. She thought that New York and its snooty galleries—not to mention snooty gallery owners—was better than this? He wasn't sure what to say to that. So he said nothing.

She didn't seem to notice how uncomfortable her words made him feel. “I need to find a way to hold on to that sense of achievement and bring it back here. I need to feel that way about myself before I'll be any good to you. Do you understand that?”

He nodded slowly. He did understand that she needed to be happy with herself before she could be truly happy with him. What he didn't understand was why she felt it took going back to New York before she could be happy.

~ ~ ~

Gina grinned at Cassidy as the cab pulled up in front of the gallery. It felt good to be back in the city, good because she knew she was only visiting and didn't have to stay here. “Are you ready for this?” she asked.

Cassidy grinned back. “More than ready. Let's go take this town by storm.”

As she pushed her way in through the doors, Gina couldn't help but notice how different it felt to be coming back here than it had to go back to the valley. Everything felt familiar there. Right.
Here
she looked around and felt like a stranger. It was hard to believe that this place had been central to her life for so many years. She stopped when she saw Kaitlyn waiting for them in the reception area.

“Gina! It's so wonderful to have you back.”

Gina had to wonder how wonderful Kaitlyn really thought it was. The two of them hadn't had any contact since that awful weekend. She'd spoken to Liam briefly about the show and he had been all business. It was as though she were simply one more of his photographers. He was polite, but it seemed hard to believe that they'd been about to get married. “It's good to see you.” It wasn't really a lie. She did want to satisfy her curiosity as to whether Kaitlyn had managed to make Liam see that she loved him—and make him love her, too.

“And Cassidy!” I haven't seen you since Palm Beach.

Cassidy nodded. “That seems like a different life time, doesn't it?”

Kaitlyn nodded. “It does. So much has changed.” She looked at Gina. “For all of us.”

“Oh my God! Cassidy Lane!”

Cassidy squealed when she saw Ian. “Ian Rawlings! You dirty old bastard!”

Gina had to laugh at the way Cassidy threw herself at Ian and he spun her around. She'd never have described Ian that way, but it seemed he and Cassidy had a very different relationship. She watched as the two of them disappeared arm in arm into his office, then turned back to Kaitlyn. “Wow! I didn't realize they knew each other so well.”

Kaitlyn shrugged. “They go back a long way. Do you want to come through? Liam won't be back for a while yet. I want to go over the arrangements for the opening with you.”

“Sure.” Gina was relieved not to have to face Liam immediately. Perhaps Kaitlyn would fill her in on how much had changed with him before he got back.

Once they'd gone over all the details for opening night Kaitlyn straightened up and looked Gina in the eye. “So how are things working out with your cowboy?”

Gina smiled. “Very well, thank you. How about you? Did you and Liam get together?”

Kaitlyn shook her head. “Not yet. It's taken him a while to get over you. I'm not sure he has.”

Wow! Gina hadn't expected to hear that. “I'm sorry.”

Kaitlyn smiled. “No, I'm sorry. I've wanted to call you so many times to apologize for that weekend. I was horrible, but only because I was desperate. I could see my future slipping away and I knew you didn't love him.”

“Please don't apologize. It's like you said at the time. You did us all a favor.”

“Who's doing favors? I'm not sure I can afford those at the moment.” Liam stood in the doorway smiling at them both.

“Hey!” Gina was pleased to see a genuine smile on his face. “How are you?”

“All the better for seeing you.” He surprised her by coming in and wrapping her in a hug. She didn't miss the look on Kaitlyn's face or the hurt in her eyes. Maybe there was something she could do to help the two of them along.

“How about we let Kaitlyn finish getting everything ready and you come have a drink with me?”

Gina turned to Kaitlyn, but she was already on her way out of the room. “Okay.” She could hardly turn him down.

Sitting in the bar on the corner as they had so many times, Gina studied Liam as he tapped out a text. He was a handsome man, in a pretty way. She knew for sure she preferred rugged. When he got done he looked up and smiled at her.

“So how've you been? Are things working out for you and the moody cowboy?”

She smiled. Relieved he was being open and friendly. “They're working out well, thank you. I'm hoping that Cassidy and I will make enough money so that I can keep my dad's place going, but other than that everything is great there.”

Liam frowned. “Do you need help? I hadn't thought about that. You were struggling to keep the place afloat when you were here.”

He wasn't such a bad guy. Imagine him offering to help. “Thanks, but I think with this new line Cassidy and I have planned I should be fine.”

Liam made a face. “She's not my favorite person as I'm sure she's told you, but if you're in business with her, I doubt you'll have any financial worries.”

Gina had the same feeling. She just wished they could hurry up and make it a reality so she could relax and get on with building a life with Mason.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can.”

“Are you glad we're over?”

Oh no! What could she say?

He smiled. “Don't worry. I'm just doing what I do. Trying to analyze the situation.”

She smiled. She should have remembered. He wouldn't take it personally. He would want all the facts so he could make an assessment and draw conclusions. “Honestly, I am. I'm relieved for both of us. We were good together for a while, but we weren't right for each other, and I think over time we would have made each other miserable.”

He nodded. “I agree. We were good. And at the time I thought good was enough. But it's not, is it?”

She shook her head, surprised at his openness and insight.

He smiled at her. “I've been doing a lot of thinking since we broke up. I think I was kind of an ass to you, and I apologize. I never meant to be.”

She had to smile at the earnest look on his face. “You weren't an ass, Liam. We just weren't well suited. You probably thought
I
was an ass a lot of the time and I never meant to be either.”