The Heartbreak

Chapter 18

Dad would’ve never made a spectacle out of meeting Mason after our breakup. He wasn’t that guy. Obviously, I didn’t think he would offer him a job or even speak to him for longer than hello. I suspected he saw in Mason the same thing I did: something wasn’t right with him.

Since his dad had left, things had been hard at home. And then he lost his best friend over something he hadn’t been able to control. I knew Mason had trust issues, so I felt honored that he shared so much of his life with me. And even if he let me in, I wasn’t sure his mother knew that we were dating. I hadn’t seen her to have dinner, so she could question me about every little detail like Mason had when he visited my home. He never spoke much about her either.

Mason’s dad was a sore topic, so I never brought it up. The only memory he had of him was the bike that he had fixed. Around his house there weren’t clues about who his father had been. Delia barely remembered anything and Mason said she was lucky since she couldn’t miss what she didn’t know. I thought there was some truth in that.

“Do you mind explaining me what was that?” I asked Dad as soon as he got home that night.

I was wandering around the house drinking cinnamon rice milk, something at which my father scrunched up his nose. He believed milk came from a cow, otherwise it was just juice.

“What was what?” Mom asked after greeting Dad. “She’s been walking around the house all afternoon, and Van Gogh has been following her around. Guess who got bored first?”

I glared at their amused expressions. Van Gogh got tired quickly because of his short legs, but he meowed at me each time I happened to walk near him; of course it only sounded to me like he was trying to say I was making him dizzy.

“I just want to know why you would offer Mason a job. Why now if you’ve known him for so long?”

“A young man needs to learn to make a living,” Dad said casually before he went to his room looking for his slippers. Van Gogh followed him, meowing. “I think he’s complaining.”

Mom giggled and I rolled my eyes.

“We’re not done talking!” I warned, which only made him laugh. “I need to know. I mean, I have no problem with taking care of Delia, but it seems to me there’s something no one is telling me. Something important and I want to know.”

“Sweetie, it’s not proper to broadcast other people’s secrets.” Mom said while she placed her hands on my shoulders and steered me towards the family room.

“So there is something I don’t know.”

“There are many things you don’t know. That doesn’t mean you should know them.” Dad returned and sat next to me on the couch. “We’re just helping him. If you don’t like the idea-“

“No! I know he needs the money and he’ll do his best.”

“Have you forgiven him?” Mom asked and sat next to my other side. Out of the sudden I realized my interrogation had backfired; I was the one being interrogated, which was much worse. I disliked talking about relationships with my parents, mostly because they were understanding and outspoken (particularly Mom), and I wasn’t all that experienced.

“I believe we’re trying to be friends,” I mumbled, because things with Mason had become increasingly confusing. We hadn’t really addressed the problem because he refused to tell me his reasons, yet everything about it told me he had not been with another girl after Tania, and that was weird. If he hadn’t wanted to be with me, if the reason was that he had wanted more action, then he would’ve found someone. He was a very good-looking boy, with a gorgeous smile and a voice that when he whispered made me shiver, but perhaps it was more than just his voice. Mason had been tender and sweet, he was also passionate and funny. He was the same guy I loved, so I couldn’t really turn off the feelings I had for him, much less now.