Entwined Destinies Read Online Free PDF

few states away when I turned around and drove back here. I couldn’t keep going, but that awareness hit me like a hammer. I knew where I had to be suddenly. I’ve never felt anything with such clarity before. I spun Fancy around and floored it back here. I don’t think her wheels actually touched the ground after that. What had taken me days to drive I covered in a fraction of that time. I slept once in the car. Pulled over, fell asleep, woke up, and then kept going. My one and only thought was of you. To be with you again. I retraced my route all the way back here.”
    I look at Mason in astonishment.
    He went through all the motions that Sylvia warned me about. He fled at the first sign of trouble, just like she said he would. The moment he felt like our relationship might have soured, he bolted. No hesitation. No looking back.
    It didn’t matter whether the problem was real or imagined. He just left. Except he didn’t keep going this time. He stopped himself. Mason faced his fear and chose me instead of his old habits.
    The realization sinks in all at once, but even so, it’s still not the first thing that comes out of my mouth.
    “You named your car Fancy ?”
    Mason smirks.
    “Yes, I named my car Fancy, because that’s what she is. Fancy. Have you ever seen a more beautiful Mustang? I think not.”
    “Sure, but Fancy? I mean, maybe that’s what you name a pouty-lipped Southern belle from a trashy romance novel. But a Mustang? No no no. This car is a more of a Dayton… or a Magnus.”
    Mason pats the dashboard of his car.
    “Don’t listen to her, Fancy. The pretty lady is still delirious with hunger. Also, I think she may be confusing Fancy with Jessica .”
    I react with mock indignation.
    “Mr. Boone! I do declare! I daresay you mean to disparage my good name and see it dragged through the mud!”
    Mason laughs. I keep going.
    “Indeed, if your goal is to see me prostrated in the peach orchard, among the daffodils and honeysuckle, to keep you from savaging my sterling reputation, I might be amenable to your way of thinking.”
    “Now you’re just giving me ideas.”
    “Maybe a little,” I say with a sly smile.
    “You fell into that monologue pretty easily. Are you actually from the South? I’m never asked.”
    “Yes, but I lost the accent years ago.”
    Mason smiles and wipes a laughter tear from his eye.
    “It couldn’t have been that long ago, so feel free to talk however you want around me. Whatever makes you feel the most like yourself.”
    “I do,” I say.
    “I meant what I said earlier,” Mason interjects. “I’ve never felt more powerfully motivated to be somewhere as I did driving back to you. That’s new for me. I… I was wrong to leave the way I did.”
    I have no idea how long he was gone. I knew days were passing, but I couldn’t even say exactly how many without looking at a calendar. All my time was spent painting.
    “I’ve been hesitant in the past to give relationships a fair chance,” he says. “I’m afraid to see them through because of what they might become. Or not become. I’m afraid of the disappointment, Jess. Especially after somebody gets even a hint of what I am.
    “But not you. You found out what I am and hit the ground running. I was so excited. My heart soared. I’ve mostly come to terms with myself, but I never imagined somebody else would. I certainly didn’t think that somebody like you, a normal person, would accept me.”
    I bite my tongue at the normal person part and keep listening. I understand the spirit in which it was intended.
    “But then you found out about Sylvia, and I could tell right away that it was upsetting for you. You shut down. I can’t tell you how painful that was for me. Such a high and low, all in the span of one night.
    “I didn’t know how to deal with those conflicting emotions. To feel so close to you one moment, to have everything I’ve ever wanted, only to have it taken away from me the next. At least, that’s