Read Online Misunderstanding Mason by Claire Ashgrove - Free Book Online Page B

zany, discombobulated way, she probably thought she was
being helpful with her unsolicited observations. Problem being, after last
night, Kirstin would have rather remained ignorant to Mason’s faults. Life had
been a hell of a lot easier then.
    ****
    I’m sorry,
but I can’t be alone anymore.
    Mason sat in
the middle of Kirstin’s former office, her words echoing through his head as he
stared at her belongings. She’d taken only her computer, printer, and the basic
supplies to maintain her work. Everything else, every personal detail, remained
on the floor-to-ceiling bookcases and her expansive desk.
    He sipped
coffee and squinted at a picture of the two of them her dad had taken the day
they moved into their rundown apartment. Somewhere in here, he’d find a clue.
An explanation that linked alone with expectations you can’t meet.
    As far as the
words themselves—Kirstin had changed the language he’d worked so hard to
master.
    In the
picture, standing on the crumbling front steps with her arm looped around his
waist, she radiated happiness. He, on the other hand, looked a little harassed.
In his defense, he’d just finished moving all the furniture inside and wanted
nothing more than to test out their shower and relax. But she was genuinely
beaming.
    The next
framed photograph captured her mother’s memory, a short month before Lucinda
passed away. Perched on the arm of the electronic lift-chair, Kirstin sat
beside her mother’s frail form. Her smile didn’t reach the corners of her eyes.
They’d all known Lucinda was losing the battle, and Kirstin’s dull eyes
conveyed her sorrow.
    He took
another sip and studied the next photograph—Kirstin riding a Merry-Go-Round
giraffe at Disneyworld. With one arm looped around the brass pole, her head
resting against the giraffe’s neck and a dreamy smile on her face, Kirstin fit
every description of the angel Mason knew.
    One by one,
he examined the framed pictures, tracking her emotions through each pose, each
unexpected timeless click. I’m sorry, but I can’t be alone anymore.
    Mason’s focus
locked on the photograph taken at last year’s SIGGRAPH awards banquet. He’d
been honored for excellence in computer animation for his work on a
multi-million dollar, fantasy RPG game that had been adapted from film. As he
awkwardly displayed his brass plaque, Kirstin stood at his side, her elbow
tucked into his, her smile intact, but her eyes unexpressive and far away.
    Lisa and her
husband, Tom, had been amongst the attendees, and roughly an hour earlier, Lisa
had propositioned him.
    Mason skipped
back to the picture immediately before the SIGGRAPH banquet, confirming the
shot of Kirstin on their back patio portrayed contentment. As anger sparked, he
snatched the SIGGRAPH photo off the shelf. Damn it. He’d known Lisa’s project
took a toll on Kirstin, but had Kirstin overheard Lisa’s suggestion that they
slip away to her room for a few minutes?
    Had Kirstin misheard something? Something that had been festering for the last year?
    Photograph in
his lap, he dragged his chair forward to examine the sparse ones that followed,
the ones that captured the last several months of their life together. Out of
the five, only Christmas brought true joy to Kirstin’s eyes. The rest
increasingly portrayed her as pulling further and further inside herself.
    Hell, in the
last one, she wasn’t even smiling, and that had been when he’d photographed her
in front of her new Jeep.
    Fucking Lisa.
    She’d done
something more than overtax Kirstin with constantly changing designs—he’d stake
every cent he had in the bank on that suspicion.
    “Son of a
bitch.” He tossed the SIGGRAPH photo atop Kirstin’s desk.
    Surely,
Kirstin couldn’t believe he’d cheated. In the first place, he would have had to
be a magician to pull off a stunt like that—he worked from home ninety-five
percent of the time. When he wasn’t working, he was home. With Kirstin.
    In the second
place,