“Sure.” But something about using his nickname was simply too familiar, too comfortable. I wanted clear boundaries. Those had been hard to come by since Mason had started volunteering here. Cain had a program where he encouraged his employees to get involved with organizations in the community for a certain number of hours a month while still getting paid as if they were working at their desks. As vice-president and chief operations officer of the company, Mason led by example and worked every single one of his hours at Hope House.

“I need to head back to Halo. But, Anna, the kids want to come over and go fishing in the lake this weekend. They’re welcome anytime. Just text me.”

I ground my back teeth together. “If we have time.”

“Pleeeeeeease,” Lyla begged. “I want to catch a fish.”

Justin appeared next to Mason. “Yeah, it would be fun. Can’t we go?”

“How about Sunday? I’ll even provide the lunch,” Mason offered.

I heard a soft laugh coming from Kennedy’s direction. I studiously ignored it and did my best not to bite Mason’s head off for offering this outing to Justin and Lyla without running it by me first. “Sure. That would be nice. Just tell me what I need to bring, and what time to be there.”

“You don’t need to bring a thing. And how about eleven?”

“Sure, just text me your address.” All of the shelter volunteers had my phone number in case they ever needed to change shifts or ran into an emergency. But having Mason text me for personal reasons made me twitchy.

“See you then.” He gave Justin a knuckle bump and Lyla a high-five and then headed for the parking lot.

Justin gave me a pleading look. “Can I have a snack?”

My eyes bugged. “Are you about to have a growth spurt? I swear you need to be fed every hour.”

He grinned. “Mom says I’m definitely going to be over six feet.”

He was already well on his way. I waved them inside. “Come on. Can’t have you wasting away on my watch.”

The kids ran ahead, and Kennedy fell into step beside me, bumping her shoulder against mine. “I see what you mean. He’s scary-friendly. Definite serial killer vibes.”

“Shut up.”

She wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Love you, Anna. But at some point, you’re going to have to realize that there are good people out there. Ones who simply want to help or make a difference.”

I knew she was right. I’d seen it in the group of friends I’d started to build here. In the way the town supported our work at the shelter and the community center. But I couldn’t simply turn off the little voice inside me that told me to be on guard. And if I felt chemistry with someone? That alert was on in full force.

2

MASON