“There’s someone here to see you, Libby.” She said, turning to face me. She gestured with her hand to the kitchen table.
Looking over towards the table my eyes widened in surprise. “Mason.” I gasped. “What are you doing here?”
He pushed his chair back and walked the short distance to me. “You left this sweetheart.” He said, holding up my kindle. He stepped closer towards me so that there were only inches separating us. My heart pounded, and butterflies swarmed in my stomach.
“You came all this way to bring me my kindle?” I whispered in disbelief.
He reached his hand up and brushed his fingers over my cheek, I closed my eyes, my body trembling under his touch. “I knew you couldn’t live without it…” He trailed off. “Open your eyes Lib.” I did as he asked, raising my eyes to his. “And I can’t live without you. I’ve tried, but I can’t do it.”
“I’m going to leave you two to talk. I’ll be back later.” I heard my Mum say as she slipped out of the kitchen. I didn’t acknowledge her; I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Mason’s.
“What about the baby, and Amber? I can’t watch you have a baby with her Mason, I just can’t. It would be unbearable.” I said quickly, moving to take a step back from him. He dropped his hands to my waist, holding me in place. “Don’t Mason, please,” I begged, knowing if he pulled me into his arms I wouldn’t have the strength to stop him.
“There is no baby Libby. There never was.” He said softly.
“But…but I saw the scan?”
“Amber’s friend works at an Ob/Gyn clinic in Marble Falls, they paid off a sonographer to put her name on someone else’s scan.” He squeezed my waist gently. “She made the whole thing up sweetheart.”
“How did you find out?” I asked him, dazed by what he’d just told me.
“She tried to move all her shit into my place while I was at work one day. When I got home and found her there, I decided that I’d had enough. I was never convinced that she was pregnant in the first place, I always used a condom and I always checked them after…”
I dropped my head and stared at the floor as he was talking, he lifted my chin with his finger. “I know this is hard to hear, but look at me, baby.” He whispered. I met his eyes as he continued. “I told her I wanted to go and see the Doctor with her, she started to make excuses, and when I wouldn’t back down, she eventually confessed that there was no baby. She thought if you were out of the picture we would somehow be together.” He looked directly into my eyes, and I could see the sincerity in them. “Libby that would never have happened. I would never have wanted anything romantic with Amber, even if the baby had turned out to be real. I need you to know that.”
Still reeling from what he had told me, I asked him. “What was she going to do in seven months’ time, when no baby arrived?”
“I’ve no idea, I don’t think even she knew.” One of his hands released my waist, and he dragged it through his hair. “Come back with me Lib.” He begged. “Amber’s gone, she won’t be bothering us again.”
“Gone? Gone where?”
“She’s moved away. Florida, I think. I don’t really care where she’s gone as long as she’s gone.”
I looked at him, my eyebrows knitted together in a frown. “What did you do Mason?”
He sighed “I gave her $20,000 to leave us alone. Turns out there’s not much she won’t do for money.”
I gasped, I couldn’t believe he’d done that. I was still processing Amber never being pregnant, and now he was telling me she was gone. “I can’t believe you gave her $20,000!”
“Lib, I’d have given her everything I had if it meant her leaving us alone and you coming back to me. I’ve been a mess this week without you, I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
“I’ve been such an idiot.” I muttered “If I’d just talked to you instead of running. I’m so sorry Mason.” I flung my arms around his neck and buried my face in his shoulder. His arms quickly came around me, and he held me tightly to him.
“I love you, baby.” He murmured into my hair.
“I love you too.”
“Can I kiss you Lib?” He asked quietly. I lifted my head off his shoulder and nodded. He lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me, softly at first before nibbling on my bottom lip, my mouth opening to him. As I felt his tongue brush against mine, I moaned into his mouth and his arms tightened around me. God, I’d missed him, I’d missed how he held me, how he kissed me, how he loved me. I’d missed everything about him.
Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead on mine. “So, you’ll come back with me?” He asked, still sounding a little unsure.
I nodded. “As it turns out, I haven’t been doing too great without you either. I need to speak to my parents though, about attending the University of Texas. I really want to finish my degree.”
He looked at me sheepishly. “Actually Lib, they may already know.”
“What do you mean? How could they know?”
“Don’t get mad, but when you wouldn’t talk to me, I made Savannah give me your parent's email address, we’ve been talking, and I may have mentioned it. I was going out of my mind baby, I needed to know that you were okay. I asked them for your address, telling them I wanted to write to you. They had no idea I was going to show up here.”