The way he said “bartender” made me wish I’d never told him what I did for a living.
“When are you coming home?” Mrs. Mason asked.
Brody was quiet for a moment, like he was truly contemplating the question and trying to answer as honestly as possible. “I’m not,” he finally said.
“The hell you’re not,” their dad said, his voice rising.
Probably used to it, Brody seemed unaffected. “Are you coming to Europe to get me?”
It was more of an actual question than a challenge, and Mr. Mason didn’t reply. Instead, he chose to end the call, not even bothering to say goodbye.
“I’ll deal with him later.” He rubbed a hand over his creased forehead in frustration before allowing his gaze to settle on me and Sophia. “I think the four of us still have some things to discuss anyway.”
Not wanting to actually reply, I looked to Sophia to gauge her reaction.
“I know this is a mess, and I’m sorry,” she said. “But I wasn’t going to betray Brody’s trust in me. You know we’ve never been close, but I feel like in some odd way this has actually brought us together a bit.”
“Deceiving parents sometimes does that to siblings,” Mrs. Mason replied.
“It wasn’t like that,” Sophia responded, and Mr. Mason insisted it was exactly like that. The family went back and forth for another few seconds until they all seemed to accept the conversation wasn’t going anywhere. “Can we talk about this later?” Sophia asked. “I actually have a meeting at the sorority house that’s kind of important.”
Letting out a laugh that seemed more out of disgust than humor, Mr. Mason told her to go. “Why don’t you drive her over, Kate?” he said, handing over the keys to his wife. “You can talk to Sophia on the way. I’d like to speak with Drew.”
He spoke calmly, but his body held the same tension it had since he’d realized I was impersonating his runaway son. And speaking of running away, I wanted absolutely no part of talking to Sophia’s dad, especially without her present. But something told me I had no choice. If I wanted Mr. Mason to think anything positive about me—and I really did—I had no other option than to man up and speak to him now.
Sophia looked to me like she was actually considering skipping the meeting if I needed her there, but there was no way in hell I’d let her do that.
“It’s fine,” I assured her. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sorry,” she whispered, like any of this was at all her fault, and headed into the bedroom to get changed.
The Masons and I walked over to the living room and sat on the couch for a few awkwardly silent minutes before Sophia emerged.
“Ready?” she asked her mom.
A few seconds later, they were gone, and with the final close of the door, I felt like I was trapped in a lion’s cage, hoping that if I stayed still enough, he wouldn’t attack.
I wasn’t normally the type of guy to remain quiet in situations like this, preferring to stand my ground and explain myself. But I knew no amount of explaining would help Brody, Sophia, or me, for that matter, so I chose to approach the impending conversation as I would a police interrogation. I’d answer what was asked of me honestly without elaborating any more than necessary.
We were both so quiet, so still, that I felt like the only movement in the entire room was the air passing my lips as I breathed. Finally, Mr. Mason looked up from where he’d been focusing on his hands folded in front of him.
“Tell me why you agreed to this,” he said. “Why you’d give up whatever life you had to pretend to be someone you’re not?”
I hated the way that sounded—like I’d sacrificed my identity to become someone else. I hated more that there was some truth to it. “I didn’t really have much of a life to sacrifice, I guess.”
“What were you doing before?”
“Bartending.” Not wanting to give up any additional information, I offered only, “I still am.”
He nodded and then cleared his throat. “That how you met Brody?”
I nodded.
“And he didn’t offer you money?”
“No.”
His brow furrowed, and he locked his stare on me like he was trying to determine if I was being truthful.
It suddenly became very important to me that this man know I was telling the truth. He would think what he wanted about me, but I wouldn’t have him think I was a liar. Well, any more than he already did.
“I never had the chance to go to college,” I said. “I’d always wanted to, though. Maybe just to prove something to myself. Or maybe to prove something to other people.”
Mr. Mason’s eyes widened. “Who else knows about this?” he asked, and I realized how stupid my last comment had been.
I was quick to answer. “No one.” Except Carter. And there was no way I was pulling him into this. I’d be a liar before I’d be a rat.
He gave a quick nod. “Good.” Then he settled back into the chair and stared at me for a few more seconds before standing, pulling out his wallet, and removing a check.
I didn’t know why keeping blank checks in a wallet was a good idea, but then again, I knew nothing about how the wealthy lived.
“You’re going to leave,” he said, walking into the kitchen and pulling open drawers until he found what he was looking for.
Clicking the pen, he began writing. “Drew…” He looked up. “I don’t remember your last name, and I don’t really care to, so you can just fill that in.”
What the fuck?
“Is three hundred enough?”
“What?” I figured he was giving me three hundred dollars to keep me afloat until I found an apartment of my own, and though the offer was considerate since he didn’t have to give me anything at all, I still wanted nothing to do with taking this man’s money.
“I’ll make it four,” he said.
“I don’t want your money.”
He stopped writing and looked up at me, his eyes blazing. “You don’t have a choice.” He finished writing the check, placed it on the edge of the counter, and put the pen back carefully in its place. “You’re going to leave this apartment, Drew, and you’re never going to speak to either of my children again. And you will never speak of this to another person. If anyone finds out about this, it’ll ruin any shot my fucking idiot of a son has at making something of himself, should he ever decide to do the right thing. As it is now, I’ll have to figure out how to get him excused from his finals.”
I heard what he was saying about Brody, but I didn’t focus on it. I was too caught up in thinking about a life without Sophia.
“No.” I shook my head. “I understand that I can’t pretend to be Brody anymore, and I won’t fight you on that. But Sophia and I…” I’d never said the words I was about to say, but if I had any chance to convince Mr. Mason that my relationship with Sophia didn’t stop here, this was it. “There’s something between us,” I said. “I love your daughter.”
“Does Sophia know that?”
“I’ve never told her,” I said softly.
Mr. Mason grabbed his coat and pulled it on, clearly not willing to bend. “Then you’ll keep it like that,” he said. It was a directive, an order not to be argued with. “Sophia’s a good girl. She’s smart and determined, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let her settle for someone with a sketchy background and no education. You’ll just bring her down, and if you don’t realize that, eventually she will.”