Page 40 of Developing Hearts

David took her place. “What’s this I hear about you thinking some other man is good looking? Do I need to get into a fight?”

Mason raised an eyebrow, then pointed to Xander. “If you think you can take him, be my guest.”

David clicked his tongue. “Damn. No, you were right. He’s a good looking man.” He wrapped both arms around Mason. “I’m still happy with the model I settled on, though.”

“Oh, you settled for me, huh?” A few months ago, that would have been enough of a source of worry to send Mason on a bender. Now, he rode along with it. David had proved over and over, in every interaction, that he was with Mason. Fully. Completely. Ignoringthatmuch evidence would have been illogical.

Aras clapped his hands. “All right, we’ve got food and drink. Get served up, then we can start the main event.”

“Hold on.” David of all people spoke up. “I wanted to thank everyone.” He looked around. “Everyone who helped get my house put together, and brought me a boyfriend in the same package.”

“Oh, you too?” said Quinn.

David nodded. “Me too.” He went over to the gifts and quickly did the rounds, passing them out. “It’s not much, but it’s what I could manage.” He ended with Mason, handing him a box with his name on top in calligraphy.

Mason didn’t hesitate to open it up. Inside was a framed drawing. His own face. The one from the sketchbook, the one that had finally busted through whatever block David was having. A quick glance around at those close enough showed Mason they were all drawings, all presumably from the sketchbook.

“These are so good.” Chuck beamed at Robinson first, then at David. “You’re quite the artist.”

“I try.”

There was a bit of back and forth, everyone looking at everyone else’s drawing. Then they all plated up, got drinks, and moved to sit by the pool. Aras had one hell of a setup for a guy who didn’t have company until recently. The kids played in the water, along with Bunny, who stayed in just in case her son needed a rescue. But even she watched the outdoor TV that hung over the opposite end of the pool. Mason recognized it. It was a nice TV, if a few years out of date, and designed for outdoor spaces, which meant the colors were more saturated than usual, and the anti-glare coating on the screen was impeccable. So they didn’t lose any fidelity to the sunlight.

Aras moved over to the brand new HomescapesTV app and clicked on it. Which was when Evander rose up. “Jake and I have our own surprise. Before we start.”

It was only then that Mason noticed Jake had disappeared. He looked around, and saw him walking back out of the house with a woman on his arm. Thin, wearing an uncharacteristically casual jeans and a blue V-neck. Eliza Kaplan waved to them all as she approached.

There was a round of greetings, Aras even getting her a drink from the cooler so she didn’t have to step away. Mason nodded to her and offered his seat, but she declined, instead moving to stand next to the TV. “Hey, everyone. I don’t want to cramp your style—”

“You’re not,” said Bunny. “Stay and relax.”

“Oh, I will.” She clasped her hands down at her waist, large eyes even wider than usual. “But I have an announcement, since you’re all about to watch the show.” Her face split into a smile. “We’ve already been renewed. If you all will take the offer, Homescapes is ready for another season.”

It was fantastic news, to be certain, but Mason looked around at everyone, and everyone else wasalsolooking around at everyone. He saw little nods, tilts of the head, lips quirking up.Tiny, silent communication. The kind that wouldn’t have worked if they didn’t all know each other so well.

Then all eyes landed back on Mason, and he got the message clear as day> “We’ll need to…negotiate a little more time to rest between jobs, I think.” He looped an arm around David’s waist. “You might have noticed that no one’s single anymore.”

Eliza waved that concern away. “You’re the talk of the network right now. You’ve got leverage.”

So Mason nodded. “We’d be ecstatic to jump back on the ride and go again.”

When he said that, there were cheers, and Eliza’s shoulders slumped, like she’d released a bunch of tension. She also downed the entire hard seltzer in one go, which led to even more cheers until she plopped into a chair.

Mason approached her and spoke low. “You didn’t think we’d say no, did you?”

“Of course I did. No offense, but none of you had much going on when I made the offer the first time. Things are different now.”

Mason conceded the point. “We owe the show for things being different. We owe you for things being different. We’re not about to turn our backs on all of this now.”

“Good. Because I have the contracts in the car. After all’s said and done.”

“Of course you do.” He gestured to the cooler. “You want another drink.”

Her eyes turned toward the screen, and a much more natural smile sat on her lips. “No, I think I’m going to watch you all react to this first. Want to be mostly sober for that.”

Mason left her to it. Once everyone had settled back down, Aras finally scrolled down to the show. It was a cute logo, a pine tree silhouette with thee words coming out of the trunk.

Aras hit play and jaunty piano music started, overlaying footage from their VideoHead channel while Mason’s own voiceover explained the situation. “We fixed up the houses in Pine Point, Washington. Now, we’re heading out to fix up…the rest of America.”

And they had. And they would again.

But more than any of that, they’d fixed up themselves.

As a group—finally, a cohesive group once again—they all wooted and hollered when the title screen came across and the first shot of them in the car on the way to Quinn’s house played.

They’d come a long way since then. Mason gripped David’s hand and stared at the screen.

We’ll keep going. Together.