Page 86 of Santa Baby

“That’s stupid, Dad.”

“Yeah, it is but try seeing this from Colin’s side for a minute. He doesn’t want what happened to him happening to you.”

Mason wasn’t like that. Mason wasn’t like Colin’s ex-girlfriend, who broke up with him because he wasn’t “old money” enough to appease her fancy, wealthy parents.

Right?

“Now come upstairs and get something to eat, okay? Santa will be here any minute now.”

36

MASON

My parents’ apartment in the city was quiet as I entered with snow covering my shoes. I shrugged out of my jacket and hung it up in the closet like this was just another visit, a regularly scheduled dinner and not Christmas Eve. I’d parked and walked several blocks, needing a moment to think, needing some time to be angry, to be upset, and try to come to a conclusion about why I’d walked away from Fia like that.

The thought of her hit me in the chest hard enough to crack several ribs. Maybe that was just my heart finally shattering.

Soft classical Christmas music floated through the air as I walked through a narrow hallway toward the kitchen. Rodney, their city chef, was pulling a roast out of the oven as I stepped through the maze of alabaster-colored cabinets and stainless steel.

“Merry Christmas, Mr. O’Leary. You’re just in time.”

I nodded, looking at him briefly with hooded, heavy eyes. I couldn’t muster a response. Nothing felt even remotely merry right then. “It smells great, Rodney.”

I walked into the dining room, scanning the table settings. Four. Four plates, four sets of silverware. Four wine glasses resting amongst a tasteful spray of evergreen sprigs and holly. I chewed the inside of my cheek for a moment before gathering up the fourth setting and carrying it to the butler’s pantry, where I gripped the counter and hung my head.

“What are you doing?”

I turned toward Mom’s voice. She stood in the doorway with her arms hanging at her sides as she scanned my face, then dropped her gaze to the plate on the counter. “Oh, Mason. What happened?”

“Nothing I care to talk about right now.”

She pinched the fabric of her brown dress between her fingers, looking so disappointed. She’d been excited to meet Fia, to meet the woman I’d fallen head over heels in love with.

“It was my fault.” It was all I could say.

Mom nodded, taking a deep breath, and motioned toward the dining room again. “Dad’s in the study.” She walked away with heavy shoulders and a straight back, the telltale sign she was upset.

I gathered myself before walking through the rest of the apartment. I lived here for a time as a teenager before starting college. My mom preferred the estate up north. Dad, however, spent most of the week at this place with its quiet, empty rooms. I often wondered if the separation bothered my mom. I was sure it did. I remembered it bothering me as a child when Dad spent the entire week in the city to be closer to the office.

He was in his study just like Mom said he’d be. There wasn’t a door to close, but he lifted his head from the book he was reading as I approached the archway leading off a small sitting area with windows overlooking Central Park. He set the book down with a sigh and stood, wordlessly moving to the bar cart on the far wall. He poured two glasses of scotch. Not my brand, either.

“She’s not coming, I heard,” he said.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Your mother is upset. What exactly did you do?”

I accepted the glass from him, only two feet or so distance between us. “You might have been right. About how different we are.”

He turned from me and went back to his chair. I moved to the window, leaning on the sill as snow fell in heavy sheets, blanketing the sparkling city in white.

“I was wrong.”

“You weren’t.” I sipped deeply before adding, “Her brother, my CFO no less, made that very clear earlier tonight.”

“I was wrong about what I said about her, and about you, the two of you together.”

“No.” I looked at him, the heartbreak washing over me like a tidal wave and my uneven heartbeat driving the current. “I looked around at her family. At the full dining-room table and the warmth there and I realized I hadn’t ever experienced anything like that. I realized you never experienced anything like that. Mom did her best, didn’t she? To try to give us some of her warmth but I would strip that from Fia within a year. She’d lose everything she is because of me. Because of this world.” I motioned around his office. “She deserves to be with someone who can give her everything, not just a comfortable life.”