Toni sat on the bed for an hour thinking about what had transpired between her and Mason. She was tempted to call him and demand that he tell her whatever it was so that she could decide whether to jump ship or not. She forced herself to calm down when she heard Jamie in the kitchen, the last thing that she wanted was for him to be upset.
"Morning." Toni said with forced brightness as she walked into the kitchen.
"Morning mom, want some cereal?" Jamie asked getting her a bowl before she responded.
Mason had rubbed off on him Toni noticed.
"Yes, thank you." she replied.
She watched as Jamie poured her cereal first and then his own and then waited for her to pour the milk.
"Jamie, you really like Dr. Mason don't you?" she asked as she poured the milk.
Jamie looked at her as if she had gone nuts but he answered the question.
"Yep."
"Why do you like him?" Toni asked.
"Dunno, he's nice and he likes us." Jamie replied.
"What about Dr. Ellis? He's nice too." Toni said and watched Jamie's expression.
"I don't like him." He said scrunching up his face.
"Why don't you like him?" Toni asked.
"He doesn't like me but he likes you." Jamie said.
"How could you possibly know that?" Toni asked.
"He didn't talk to me." Jamie replied as he finished his cereal.
Toni thought back to when Jamie was in the hospital. Jamie was right, Mike said hello to him at the beginning and then Jamie ceased to exist as Mike worked on his own agenda whereas Mason made a point of speaking to Jamie and included him in on any conversation that was age appropriate.
She felt silly asking a five year old about a man that she was thinking of becoming involved with but his opinion counted.
Jamie jumped up when he heard his laptop beeping.
"Dr. Mason!" he squealed as he ran into his bedroom.
"Question asked and answered." Toni said under her breath.
She had never listened in on the talks that Jamie and Mason had on the laptop, it was just another indication that she trusted him. This morning however, she listened.
"Good morning Jamie." Mason said.
"Good morning Dr. Mason." Jamie replied. "Are you coming over tonight?"
"Not tonight, your mother and I have some things to talk about that young men shouldn't hear." Mason replied.
"Like what?" Jamie asked.
"I'll let your mother tell you if she chooses to but I was wondering if you could help me with something." Mason said.
"Okay!" Jamie said eagerly.
"What should I make your mom for dinner tonight?" Mason asked.
Toni knew what Mason was doing; he knew that Jamie would be disappointed at not seeing him so he found a way to include him in on the evening.
"I think that you should make..... Pancakes, the Mickey Mouse ones, she likes those." Jamie said.
"Pancakes? Anything else?" Mason asked.
"Mickey Mouse pancakes." Jamie corrected, "And she likes that bacon that has the pepper on it." Jamie added.
"What about something to drink?" Mason asked.
"Orange juice." Jamie replied without hesitating.
"That sounds like a good dinner." Mason said smiling at Jamie, "Thank you for helping me plan it."
"You're welcome, will I see you tomorrow?" Jamie asked.
"I hope so." Mason replied. He was hesitant to say yes just in case the evening didn't go as planned. Fortunately, Jamie was satisfied with his answer.
Toni stepped away from Jamie's room leaving him and Mason to continue their conversation. Mason obviously thought highly of Jamie, "No, he said that he loved him." Toni said quietly.
*******
Mason drove home making plans for the evening; he had already called his furniture supplier and was meeting them at his house in fifteen minutes. The new bed would arrive with them and would be set up in next to no time, he had new linens that he would use on the bed and would dispose of any linen that he had used with Gretchen. They were washed but as far as he was concerned, that wasn't the point, he didn't want Toni sleeping on anything that he had used with another woman.
When he got home, his furniture supplier was waiting at the gate. Mason drove in, parked in the garage and then went to the front to let the men in. While they tore down the old bed, Mason got online with Jamie. He knew that Jamie would be disappointed that he wouldn't see him tonight and that was why he asked him what he should make for dinner. Another man might have pretended that he was going to make the meal suggested but Mason was really going to make it whatever it was. It was important that Jamie and Toni both realize that he was a man of his word.
As he and Jamie talked, Mason did a mental checklist of his supplies, he had everything except the peppered bacon but that was easy enough to make and he had fresh oranges in the fridge. By the time he was finished talking to Jamie, the old bed had been taken away and the new bed set up. He admonished Jamie to be good and logged off. He prepared the pancake batter and peppered the bacon before going to his room to make the bed. He had staff that could have done it but he liked his bed made in a certain way and no matter how hard they tried, his staff couldn't quite get the hang of it so now he made his own bed.
That done, Mason sat in the living room with his feet propped up and began to practice how he was going to tell Toni that he was a vampire.
"Toni, I'm a vampire." No he thought. It was too... something.
"Toni, you're going to find this hard to believe but I'm not human." Mason grimaced.
After an hour of trying various approaches, he gave up deciding to see how the evening played out. He began to wonder what Toni knew about vampires, "probably nothing other than that drivel they show on television." he grumbled.
Mason closed his eyes to rest hoping that some inspiration would come to him as he rested. Around one in the afternoon, his cell phone rang. Mason checked the ID, Joyce.
"Yes Joyce." Mason said as politely as he could.
"Wow, you actually answered the phone, fancy that." Joyce said.
"Did you need something?" Mason asked.
"This time it's a real need." Joyce said. "I'm leaving for good this time and I wanted to talk to you about joining your practice."
"Joyce...."
"Just hear me out, I may be a busy body but I'm a damned good psychiatrist and you know it. You also know that we work well together as long as we're not in the office at the same time which is related to my big mouth. Anyway, I think that we could work something out. If not with you then maybe Eustace Matthews will take me on as a partner. What do you think?"
"I think that Eustace won't consider it because as I told you he and I are partners when the mood or need strikes. I also know that he wouldn't tolerate your mouth and it would end badly for you, why don't you consider opening your own office?" Mason asked.
"Because you have to have clients to do that." Joyce replied.
Mason didn't want to share a practice with Joyce no matter how good of a psychiatrist she was and neither would Eustace even if he was looking for a partner. He understood the desire to leave because he wanted to leave too; he was only there because of Toni which brought up another issue-work.
"How about this," Mason said. "I won't go into practice with you and I won't give you Eustace Matthew's number but I will give him yours so that he can contact you if he's interested. I will also refer clients to you to get you started and you can use my office space during the day only as I see my clients during the evening."
Joyce for once was speechless, "Y... you would do that?" Joyce asked. "Why?"
"As you said, in spite of your mouth you are very good at what you do. Think about it and get back to me but not tonight." Mason said.
"Ahh, plans with Toni?" Joyce asked.
"Good bye Joyce." Mason said and hung up shaking his head. Would the woman never learn? He wondered.
Five hours to go and it was too early to call Ethan, the girls had finally gone to the sleeping during the day/up at night schedule. According to Ethan, they were even busier finding all kinds of things to get into but he loved it and them. It made Mason realize that he wanted that, even though he would consider and did consider Jamie to be his son, he wanted a child with Toni.
He laughed at himself when he thought about him changing diapers and then he turned serious, he really wanted this. Toni would be the one to stop it and if she said no then.... "I'm getting ahead of myself." he muttered.
*******
With Jamie gone, Toni had nothing but time to think. "What are you thinking about?" she asked herself as she munched on one of the chocolate chip cookie that Mason made a few days before.
It was another one of those times that she really wanted to talk to her mother but she didn't think that she could stand to hear the "I told you so" speech. Toni sighed and decided to go for a walk to clear her head; she wondered why she was making this so difficult.
"Because you're scared dumb ass." She muttered. "Admit it, you want the man." she added as she headed out of the door. Her walk took her to her parent's condo where Jamie and Ben were playing some kind of video game and Barbara was in the kitchen making a snack for them when Toni got there.
"Hi mom." Toni said as she sat at the counter.
"Hi baby, are you alright?"
"Yes, no oh hell mom I don't know!" Toni exclaimed suddenly not caring about the "I told you so" speech.
"Does this have anything to do with Mason?" Barbara asked as she sat the snacks on a tray.
"It.... Yes, it does." Toni admitted.
"Let me take this out to the boys and we'll talk." Barbara said as she picked up the tray and headed for the living room.
Toni closed her eyes and sighed, it just shouldn't be this hard.
Barbara came back to the kitchen and made coffee while Toni got the sugar and cream out and sat them on the table, a few minutes later each woman was holding a cup of coffee. Barbara waited for Toni to say something and when she didn't she asked.
"Do you love him?"
"Just because you love someone, it doesn't mean that you should be with them." Toni replied.
"I'll take that as a yes." Barbara replied and instead of doing the "I told you so" spiel, Barbara asked another question. "Did he tell you that he loves you?"
"Yes but..."
