I had missed Mason so much the last few days. I barely had any real friends, and Mason was the best of them.
“You can trust me to keep her safe,” I finally said, my voice thick with unshed emotion.
“I know I can,” he said, simply.
Mason knew my parents too well and if I were him, I’d probably have done the same thing for my sister.
“So, are we good?” he asked. I nodded my head, and we both stood up and gave each other a hug. A manly hug, mind you.
We both coughed away the emotion as we sat back down.
“Just so you know, you swing like a little bitch,” Mason said, and we laughed.
“I was about to say the same thing to you, but didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
Laughing and joking with him again felt good. I had missed it. We sat in a comfortable silence.
“Do I have your blessing to be with Arya?” I asked, wincing at the desperation in my voice.
“Yeah, of course. Not that you need it. She's the one that has to want to be with you.” He smiled, and I was relieved.
“I’m sorry about your job,” I said quietly. “I really had no idea my parents would take it that far. How can I help?”
“You can't do anything. Don’t worry about it, man,” he said with a sigh. “Initially, I won't lie. I was devastated. But after thinking about it for a while, I realized that it was a really good thing for me. It's time for me to move on. Now I can be a part of my own family’s business. Take everything I learned at the distillery and use it to water down your parents’ monopoly in this town. And with Arya going to culinary school in New York, we’re going to do something really big...”
Mason kept talking, but my brain stopped on Arya going to New York.
“Wait…I had no idea Arya was leaving,” I said, hurt that she’d just go without telling me. I was moving my whole life to be in Bardstown.
“She didn’t tell you? Shit. I’m sorry. I think it’s only for three months or something like that.”
“She didn’t say a word,” I said, my thoughts far away.
“Give her time, man. She’ll tell you all about it.”
At least it wasn’t forever. She’d eventually come back home and, hopefully, back to me.
Chapter 30
Arya
Iscreamedwithexcitementas I rushed down the stairs to tell my mom and Mason the good news.
“Careful, Arya, you don’t want to trip and fall,” Mason said, but I was too excited to even listen to him.
“What’s all the excitement?” Mom asked.
“I got the spot! It’s mine!” I screamed, jumping up and down.
Palate Culinary School was a prestigious institution and not just anyone could get in. I couldn’t believe I had managed without any connections.
“Congratulations!” My mom and Mason rushed to hug me.
It had been a few weeks since we were all working together, and a lot had already changed. The bakery was getting even more press and attention in the area due to our extensive social media campaigns. My acceptance into this program was going to be a complete game changer.
“I really didn’t think this would work out,” I said, still excited about the news.
“I knew it would,” Mason said. “But did someone pull strings for you? This is a hard school to get into.”