a lady.”
“You’re kidding.” She slipped into the seat and stared at him as he settled opposite her. “I didn’t know they still made them like you.”
“They probably don’t. I was raised kind of old school.”
Once more, her cell phone summoned her. With a shake of her head, she pulled it again from her bag. “It’s Max. I’ll call him back.”
She sipped her coffee, then smiled at Mason. “So, a man of convention.”
He stared out the window overlooking the park. “I like the old values. If you could see half the trouble I’ve seen in some of the kids of today…” He shook his head and rolled his cup between his hands. “Just makes you wonder if the new ways of parenting are doing any good.”
“I think it’s hard to make generalizations.”
“Perhaps.”
His mood darkened and a short silence fell. She again sipped the rich brew. She’d have to ease him into meeting her family…or maybe avoid it altogether. “So I told you about my nursery. How about you? What sort of doctor are you?”
“I’m an internist. I specialize in the internal organs.”
“You have a regular practice as well as the free clinic you mentioned?”
“That’s right. We have a volunteer staff and we rotate the schedule, so I work only one day a week downtown and I’m on call for the free clinic one night. We have a couple of great general practitioners on staff, but the rest of us tend to specialize in one area or another. It means we consult back and forth a lot, so that adds in more hours. We’re fortunate to have such a variety in our staff. It definitely strengthens the clinic.”
“And you’re able to juggle that with Project Mentor and your regular patients?”
“I have a couple of partners with my practice, who pick up my slack when I need them to. Of course, I’ve talked one of them into volunteering at the clinic and I’m working on the other. As far as the project goes, well, I try to make that a priority and fit it in as best I can.”
“Sounds like you’re always working.”
“Seems that way sometimes. With my regular practice and the clinic I’m practically always on call, but I manage. Time with the kids isn’t like work. We have some fun.” He grinned. “Besides, I take long lunch breaks.”
She leaned toward him. “Still, doesn’t seem to leave much time for a personal life.”
His gaze grew warm, his pupils dilating. “There hasn’t been much going on there lately.”
“Really? I heard you and April had a thing. That you two split up recently and that’s why the cold reception at the DCWC.” Cassie had filled Tess in on April’s history with Mason as a way of explaining the club’s refusal.
He straightened, his eyes widening. “You like to lay all the cards on the table, don’t you?”
“I think it’s important to keep the air clear. Should I extend my condolences?” Tess smiled inwardly. The air around him shimmered with surprise and a little regret, but no heartache. Whatever ailed him, it wasn’t April.
He took a moment to sip his coffee. “Don’t get me wrong, April is a wonderful woman and I had hoped for a while that we could have more in our relationship. It took me some time to figure out that that just wasn’t going to happen. It wouldn’t have been fair to either one of us to keep things going. We had let it linger for way too long as it was.”
Tess reached across the table to touch his arm. The connection was strong, sending warm tingles over her. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. People leave each other. Life goes on.”
She shivered. Something dark and painful moved through him. Was that Mason’s trouble? Had someone left him? “Mason—”
A beeper sounded from his side of the table. He blew out a long breath as he pulled a pager from his pocket. “Ah, here we go. Time to get back to work. I’m so sorry to have to cut this short.”
She rose with him. “No problem. I need to get back myself.”
They moved toward the door and he touched her elbow. “Thank you, Tess, for everything—the coffee, the company, offering your help. I just know good things will come of this.”
They stepped through the door, then out into the parking lot. “Oh, definitely. Why don’t I make a few calls to get the ball rolling? Then I’ll be in touch to arrange a meeting so we can start organizing everything.”
He smiled with genuine pleasure. “That sounds really great. Here, let me give you my contact info.” He pulled a card from his wallet. “Have you got a pen?”
“Sure.” She found a pen bearing her nursery’s logo. “Here, keep this and you’ll know where to find me most days.”
“Great.” His brows arched. “No home number?”
“My cell’s on there, but anyone at the shop can get me if I’m not around.”
He scrawled some more numbers across the back of his business card, then handed it to her. “That’s my home phone, cell phone and pager. So now you have every means of reaching me. If you can’t get me on one of those, I’m probably with a patient. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“So many numbers. I feel important.”
“You are.” The heat returned to his eyes. “I want you to be able to reach me whenever you need me, even if it’s after hours.”
She cocked her head, smiling. Was the good doctor actually flirting with her? That was definitely a good sign. “Trust me, I’ll be in touch.”
He squeezed her hand and nodded. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
His pager sounded again and she shooed him away. “Go. We’ll talk soon.”
Nodding, he moved off, his cell phone already to his ear. The sun shone down on him, picking out vibrant streaks of auburn in his dark hair. She smiled as he turned to wave. Even across the parking lot, his excitement called to her. Maybe the good doctor wouldn’t need so much coaxing, after all.
3
“BUT, CASSIE, HOW COULD you not want to do this?” Tess bit the inside of her lip. She knew she shouldn’t push too hard, or she might lose any possible support from the woman. And if Tess was going to make it into the DCWC, she needed an ally on the inside. At least Cassie had been open to her stopping by her home when Tess had called to say she had something important to discuss.
Surely that was a good sign.
“It isn’t that I don’t agree that Project Mentor is a worthwhile project.” Cassie’s eyes took on a dreamy quality. “Anything Mason Davies is involved with is bound to be a huge success….”
“But? I definitely hear a but after that.”
“But…April really won’t like it. She’s a good friend and we go way back.” Cassie paused as if considering her next words. “There was more to it than I said before. They were engaged.”
“April and Mason?” Though she’d suspected their relationship wasn’t casual, hearing it confirmed was a bit of a kick to the gut.
“It was a long, drawn-out thing. Four years. How could anyone be engaged that long and not set a date? I always thought there was something wrong there, but April never seemed to mind—always made excuses. I think finally even she got tired of waiting and put her foot down. That’s when he dumped her.”
“He called it off?”
“Well, she says it was mutual, but if that’s the case, why is she so mad