“Come here,” he says. He doesn’t pat the bed and offer me a place the sit. Do I sit next to him anyway? I smile softly and walk toward him. He places his hands on my hips when I’m close enough for him to touch. Even when he’s sitting, he’s taller than me. His hands move up and down, over my hips. “I wish you weren’t wearing a skirt.”
“Why?”
“Because I like the way your legs feel against my hands.”
My throat feels tight. Would he really want to have sex with his dad downstairs?
“My mom says a lady wears a dress when meeting parents for the first time.” I close my eyes and wish I could crawl in a hole and die. Did I really just say that?
“You’ve met my dad before, Katelyn.”
I shrug. “I guess this was different.”
“Why, because you’re my girlfriend?”
My heart stops beating when he says the word ‘girlfriend’. I want to smile, but my mom warned me that boys say things to get into girls’ panties.
“Girlfriend?” I squeak out.
“Yeah, I mean unless you want to date around or something. I just thought…”
“Okay,” I blurt out.
“Okay,” he says. He kisses me softly. Small, sweet pecks. “Can I try something?”
“I guess.”
He doesn’t tell me what he’s going to try, but he kisses me again. This time, I feel his tongue on my lips. I pull back and look at him.
“You’ll like it, I promise.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know, Mason. I’m not like those other girl’s you’ve been with.”
“What girls?” he asks as his hands start roaming again.
“I’ve heard the rumors.”
Mason sits back a little. He looks at me and shakes his head. “Katelyn, I promise you, I’ve done nothing but kiss a few girls.”
“You’re not having sex?”
“No,” he laughs and leans forward placing his hands back on my hips. “Now let me kiss you good and proper.”
“What are you thinking about?” Mr. Powell shakes me from my daydream. I have to shake my head to clear out the cobwebs. So much has happened in this house, so many memories.
“Thinking about the day I met you, officially.”
“That was such a long time ago.” He pulls me into a hug. I want to remind him that it wasn’t really that long, that our connection was just taken from us far too soon.
We walk up the steps, his arm around me as he ushers the twins inside. Nothing has changed since the first time I was here, except for minor cosmetic things.
The girls run up the stairs and put their stuff in Mason’s old room. I haven’t been up there since before Mason died and have no intention on going up there now. There are far too many memories of the two of us in that room.
“Can we talk?” I motion for us to sit down. He follows, taking the cushion next to me. He’s my second father. I could tell him everything and not worry about him judging me, but now? Now I’m not so sure he won’t judge.
“What’s going on, Katie?”
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. When I open them, he’s not looking at me. His face is pensive. I know he’s missing Susan and Mason. “I’ve met someone.”