Mason Ch. 10

Three hours later, they were on their way home with prescriptions for cholesterol and blood pressure medications.

"Low fat, low salt, no added sugar, what's a man supposed to eat?" Ben lamented.

"Oh daddy, you won't starve." Toni replied.

"Maybe not but I'm not starting this diet until tomorrow. I'll be damned if I'm going to watch the rest of you eat lobster with butter and not have any!" Ben proclaimed and dared anyone to argue with him.

*****

Toni dressed for dinner with a care that she hadn't used since before James died. "I just want to look nice." she told herself as she went through her closet; she pulled out a lavender dress and then remembered what kind of place that they were going to. She put the dress back, took out a pair of dressy jeans and then looked through her tops, finally she settled on a deep red top hoping that it still fit.

"Jamie!" she called from her room, "are you ready to go?"

"I'm ready!" he called back.

Fortunately, both the jeans and top fit, if she gained another ten pounds she'd have to either go on a diet or buy new clothes she thought. The last thing that she did before leaving the room was to decide whether she should wear perfume or not. She decided not and then changed her mind, the question was which one. She knew that if it was James she'd wear 'Red Door' but it wasn't James and somehow it didn't seem right for her to wear his favorite perfume.

Toni stopped herself and reminded herself that this wasn't a date. It was dinner with family and Mason had been invited to go along but still...

She could almost hear James saying, "wear that one sweetness." Toni whirled around with her heart pounding fully expecting to see James standing behind her. With a shaking hand, Toni picked up the bottle of 'Red Door' and sprayed it on her wrist and behind her ears. Somehow she knew that James was approving of her choice.

******

Mason was nervous but not for himself, his case of nerves was for Toni and her comfort. He had dealt with women like Gina Jacobson before and he knew that she could make things difficult for Toni if she chose to do so, hopefully, their driving separately would take care of any issues.

Since Eustace encouraged him to learn how to dress more casually, Mason found that he enjoyed wearing jeans and tee shirts but for tonight, he wore the jeans but forwent the tee shirt opting for a dress shirt without the tie and opened at the neck. He left his house at five-thirty wanting to be there before anyone else arrived; he wanted to get a reading on Gina and her husband who he happened to like.

The restaurant wasn't too busy because it was a weeknight so it was easy for Mason to find a place to sit unnoticed. Gina and her husband arrived first but didn't notice him; if they had Gina wouldn't have said the things that she did.

"I can't believe that she's bringing a man to dinner with us! The nerve of her with James being gone for such a short time." Gina said. "According to Barb, he a doctor and you know what that means; it means that he has money! You don't think that she's gone through all of that money James left her do you?" she asked her husband.

Finally, her husband spoke up.

"Gina, shut up."

Gina gasped, in all of their years together; he had never spoken to her like that.

"I'm sick and tired of you bad mouthing her. James loved her end of story, she loved him end of story. James has been gone for almost three years now and if she found someone to spend her life with then good for her! James would have wanted her to and you know it. For the record, Toni was the best thing that could have happened to this family, so get a grip and shut up about it."

Mason watched as Gina clamped her mouth shut and turned away to look directly at him. He could tell by her expression that she was wondering just how much he heard but he gave her no clues. He didn't like her he decided but he did like her husband for standing up for Toni like he did.

"Dr. Donahue! When did you get here?" Gina asked.

"I've been here for several minutes." Mason replied his expression giving nothing away.

"Hello Dr. Donahue, it's nice to see you again." Mr. Jacobson said as he extended his hand.

"Likewise and please call me Mason." he replied as he accepted the extended hand.

"Fine, you can call me Robert and this is my wife Gina."

"Yes, I remember, it's nice to see you again." Mason said politely but made no move to touch her in any way.

"It's nice to see you again too." Gina replied. She was still stung by the way that her husband had spoken to her and by the uncertainty of how much Mason had heard if anything of her comments.

Toni and her family arrived a few minutes later, Mason spoke to each of them and picked Jamie up for a hug.

"Are you taking good care of your mom?" he asked.

"Yep." Jamie replied hugging Mason back.

"Good boy." Mason replied putting Jamie down. He didn't miss the squinty eyed glare that he got from Gina as he moved closer to Toni.

Robert had the foresight to call ahead and reserved a table for them in one of the private rooms. Mason maneuvered himself so that he sat across from Toni; he wanted to be able to look at her when they talked. Jamie insisted on sitting between Mason and his grampa Robert.

Every once in a while Mason would feel Gina watching him, especially whenever he was talking to Toni , he tried to make sure that he was looking at Toni in a platonic way but it was becoming harder to do, it appeared as if the bond was in full force at least on his end, Toni was harder to read.

"So Mason, tell me." Gina said. "As a psychiatrist, how long would you advise a woman who has just lost her husband to wait before becoming involved with someone else?"

The entire table went silent. Toni stared at Gina in disbelief; it was obvious that Gina was talking about her.

"I would say that it is an individualized choice." Mason said, "If the surviving partner has grieved as much as they feel that they needed to and felt ready to move on, then I don't see an issue. If the surviving partner is looking for a replacement to avoid being alone, then that is a different issue."

"Gina!" Robert said trying to stop her.

"If something ever happened to Robert, I couldn't even begin think about being with anyone else." Gina said softly looking at Toni.

"Mom, could you take Jamie outside for a few minutes?" Toni said as she stared at Gina.

She waited until Jamie was out of earshot before speaking to Gina.

"I cannot believe that you would do this here and in front of Jamie!" Toni said.

"Me? I'm not the one bringing a man to dinner and don't try to tell me that you're just friends." Gina hissed.

"First of all, Mason and I work at the same hospital. He's given up some of his evenings off to help us get moved so this was a thank you dinner and even IF we were more than friends; I don't see how it's any of your business." Toni replied heatedly.

"James...."

"Is dead! Toni exclaimed. He was my husband and the father to that little boy out there. I know that you miss him, so do we but let me tell you something, he wouldn't want you to do what you just did in front of Jamie. This is a conversation that shouldn't be happening let alone in a public place but since we're talking, let me tell you something else; James wants me to find someone to be happy with, he wants me to find someone who can be a father to Jamie."

"No, he wouldn't...."

"He did." Toni interrupted. "He left me several videos; the last one was of him telling me what I'm telling you now. If you don't believe me come to the house and I'll play it for you."

Mason watched and waited ready to intervene on Toni's behalf if she should need it but she was doing fine all by herself.

"I'm not hungry anymore, I'll see you later." Toni said and got up to leave.

"Toni, wait." Mason said. "Sit for just a minute and let's see if we can salvage dinner."

Mason turned to Gina, "I agree with Toni that this wasn't the time or place for this conversation, and I also agree with her that whatever she decides to do about being with someone else is none of your business. I am proposing that we drop the subject, eat our dinner and go our separate ways for the evening. If Toni wishes to discuss this any further, it will be in private. Toni? What do you think?" Mason asked.

Toni hesitated and then agreed but this conversation was far from over. Ben went out to get Barbara and Jamie leaving Mason and Toni alone with Gina and Robert.

"Toni, I'm sorry." Robert said. "I didn't know that she was going to say that." he added, speaking as though Gina wasn't there.

Gina started to speak.

"Gina shut up; you've caused enough trouble for one evening." Robert said giving her a cold glare.

That dinner had to be the longest dinner of Toni's life, the only one who seemed to be unbothered by the whole thing was Jamie. Toni could tell that her mother couldn't wait to get Gina alone, neither could she for that matter, she would address the issue within the next day or so and she changed her mind about showing Gina the disc. No one except her knew what was on the disc, it was James' last gift for her and she wasn't going to going to share it with anyone. If Gina asked about it, she would just tell her that she changed her mind and if Gina accused her of not having the disc, she would just tell her to go to hell.

Mason followed Toni home to be make sure that she and Jamie got in safely. When they got to the door, she invited him in for coffee. Mason watched as she put much more coffee than was needed in relation to the amount of water she was using but didn't say anything. Jamie had already gone to his room to watch movies leaving the two of them alone.

"Toni, I'm sorry if my going to dinner caused any problems." he said.

"It's not you; the same thing would have happened even if it had been the pope sitting there." Toni said as she poured the coffee into mugs.

Mason looked into the mug and groaned inwardly, he had the feeling that the coffee at the hospital was going to taste like heaven compared to this. He took a tentative taste, grimaced and decided to be honest.

"Toni, can I be really honest with you?" he asked.

"The coffee taste like shit?" she asked.

"That's actually putting it mildly." Mason said, "Do you mind if I make it?"

"Knock yourself out." Toni replied.

*****

Gina sat in the car not speaking as Robert yelled at her.

"What in the hell was that?" he asked. "Just what in the fuck were you thinking?"

Gina cringed; Robert only used language like that when he was angry.

"It's just not right." Gina said when Robert paused long enough for her to speak. "James hasn't been gone for three years yet."

"And it's been three years of hell for her and you haven't helped. Don't think that I don't know that you thought that she didn't do everything possible to save James and don't think that I don't know that you never really trusted her even though you and Barbara have become friends although I daresay after tonight you might as well kiss that friendship good bye. If Toni wants to enter into another relationship or remarry then I say good for her and you stay the hell out of it."

Gina's night wasn't over; Barbara was waiting for them when they got home. Both Ben and Robert stood back and watched the dress down that Barbara gave Gina.

"You are one sneaky bitch, do you know that? Barbara asked her. "All of this time, I thought that we understood each other enough to become friends but apparently not. I don't mind that you have issues but they're you're issues and no one else's. You're the only one that seems to have a problem with Toni meeting and marrying someone else and I want to know why you felt so led to bring the subject up in a public place."

Gina couldn't say anything, what she did was wrong and she knew it when she did it, what she wasn't expecting was the backlash from it. She realized that Robert was right; she had just lost one of the best friends that she ever had and she wasn't sure that she could repair the damage.

"Barbara, I'm sorry. It's just that I still miss him and whenever I see Toni, I think of him and if she's with someone else, she's not only betraying him but me too and when I saw her with that man, I just got angry."

"Gina, we all miss James and we loved him like a son but you can't make everyone else miserable because you are. I think that you know that James would want Toni to be happy just like he wants all of us to be happy. I'm going to chalk tonight up as being due to a mother's grief but I swear to god, if you ever do anything like this again, I'll forget my oath not to cause undue pain and I'll kick your ass and that was your one and only warning."

Barbara turned around and left Gina standing there with her mouth open. Robert, Barbara and Ben exchanged words for several minutes with Robert looking back at Gina several times. When they were finally gone, Robert walked past Gina without speaking to her.

*****

"Oh my god!" Toni exclaimed, "This is so much better than what I made."

"Toni, I hate to break it to you, but the coffee at the hospital is better than what you make." Mason said teasing her.

"Are you going to show Gina the disc?" Mason asked.

"No and to be honest, I don't care if she believes me or not. That disc was James' last gift to me and I'm not sharing it with anyone." Toni said adamantly.

"Nor should you have to." Mason said.

Jamie came out of his room dressed in his superman pajamas, "Dr. Mason, will you read to me?"

Before Toni could say anything, Mason was standing up and walking toward Jamie.

"I would like that." Mason said, "But how about you read to me?"

"I don't read too well." Jamie replied.

"That's alright; I'll help you with the words that you don't know." Mason assured him.

Toni watched as Mason and Jamie went to the living room where Jamie had already picked out a book. She cleaned up the coffee mugs and put them in the dishwasher before going out to the living room. Jamie sat next to Mason holding the book with Mason's arm around him as if it belonged there.

She sat on the chair and listened as Jamie sounded out the hard words with Mason's gentle coaching, after Jamie read the story through once, Mason reread it making sure to pronounce the hard words slowly and succinctly.

"Ok kiddo bedtime." Toni said her tone telling him not to argue.

"Good night Jamie." Mason said. "I'll see you Saturday night."

"Night Dr. Mason thanks for reading with me." Jamie said as he went to his room followed by Toni.

"I like Dr. Mason." Jamie said as Toni tucked him in.

"I know you do." Toni replied.

"Do you like him?" Jamie asked.

"Yes I do now no more questions." Toni said as she kissed him good night.

"He's a good boy." Mason said when Toni came back into the living room.

"Yeah, he is. I'm lucky to have him." Toni replied.

"I'd better get going." Mason said standing. I'll see you at work tomorrow night."

Toni walked Mason to the door, "Thank you for reading to him, he enjoyed it."

"So did I." Mason replied. Before he walked out of the door, he bent and kissed Toni on the cheek and walked away before she could say anything.