“Which we knew would probably happen if he found out.” Bunny tapped her nails against the buttons on her overalls. “Have you tried texting? He might answer you if he’s not answering any of us.”
“Three times. That’s why I was starting to get worried. Couldn’t find him, couldn’t get hold of him.” That worry hadn’t lessened, exactly, but it felt more diffuse, being shared with everyone. An icy fog instead of a chunk of cold sitting in his belly. “How are we supposed to track him down?”
Bunny scanned the room, then darted off. David tracked her and saw that she was chasing down Eliza, who was heading into the elevator.
That left David alone, and he turned back around when Robinson cleared his throat. He wasn’t starting at the floor anymore, but he did seem to be having a hard time maintaining eye contact. “I really hope you weren’t offended. I know that kind of came out of nowhere—”
“I’m glad Mason has people in his life who care about him. And it’s not like I didn’tearna reputation for being…a little erratic.” Even just in the time since they’d all shown up and started work on the condo. “I don’t expect you all to just take me at face value, but it’s different. I can’t make you a promise that we’re going to be together thirty years from now, but I fully intend on giving it a try as long as he’s still willing to put up with me.”
Robinson nodded, and a tiny smile passed across his face. “Need to find him first, though.”
“Yeah.” David took a look around the room, as though Mason might have secretly been hiding behind the couch or something.He wasn’t, but David still saw something thatcouldwork. He marched over to the little folding table in what used to be his living room, where Mason had left his laptop sitting. He sat down, then looked up at Robinson. “Anyone here possibly know his password?”
Robinson strode over and leaned in. “I may have been given it for an emergency, but I don’t know if he’s changed it. That was a year ago.”
“Nobody changes their damn passwords.” Which wasn’t true, but David had to cling to something. “Shoot.”
Robinson rattled off what sounded an awful lot like a random string of characters, which made David’s heart sink. Anyone who had a password like that probably wasn’t lax with their security.Fitting that Mason would change out his password every three months or whatever. Just like they recommend.David still tried it though.
And it worked. The login screen popped away and David was met with a pile of spreadsheets, windows all open on top of one another. He minimized them all, and the several text documents, and the images of the design plans, until he finally reached the open browser window…which he decidedly did not look at. It was open to Mason’s email, and that wasn’t his business. He opened a new tab and went over to Mason’s Google account, which was thankfully logged in. After that, it was easy. He navigated to Mason’s devices and, after a few seconds, a map of Seattle popped up on screen, showing Mason a few blocks away, on the corner of First and Vine.
David was familiar with the spot, and he grabbed his coat. “I’ll go on a rescue mission.”
“Someone should come with you,” said Robinson.
“I can handle him drunk, don’t worry.” David pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll text you as soon as I have eyes on him, all right?”
David headed out the door and into the elevator. There were a couple places on that corner, but David was pretty sure he’d find Mason at the bar, not the pretentious little restaurant.
He didn’t let himself focus on his worries at Mason getting drunk alone in the middle of the work day. But he did tighten his grip around the spine of his sketchbook. The words of the rest of the crew still circled in his head. By God, he would prove he wasn’t flighty. If not to them, and if not to Mason…then to himself.
Chapter thirty-two
Mason
Hibiscusandmezcalwerenot the cure for all of Mason’s woes, but that hadn’t stopped him from downing three cocktails in the short time he’d been at the bar, and he was currently partway through his fourth.
Maybe I’d be able to actually solve this if I knew what the hell was so wrong. He’d been so mad, and it felt right in the moment. The way they acted about David, and about Mason’s choices, they deserved some ire. But with liquor in his system and some time to himself, Mason was having a hell of a time finding the heat of that anger now.I’m sure it’ll come back once I sober up. So I should just stay drunk forever. Totally viable plan.
“Hey sailor.”
Mason jumped a little bit, then turned, finding it way harder to do than it should have been. “Sorry, I’m drunk.” He finally got to where he could make eye contact…with David.
“That tends to be what we do in bars, yeah.” David slid into the seat next to him, then wrapped his hands around Mason’s glass and pulled it over. “But I am going to insist on you switching to water because you’re wobbling just sitting here.” He took a sip through the straw and his eyebrows went up. “And damn, that is good.”
“It’s a Hilo-rita.”
“Well, I’ll finish off your Hilo-rita and you’ll order a glass of water. Wouldn’t want you having two on an empty stomach.”
“Four.”
David clicked his tongue a couple times. “Then I am officially cutting you off.”
Part of Mason wanted to protest—mostly the drunk part—but he understood as David kept a hand on the drink, then flagged down the waiter and ordered a couple glasses of water.
Mason sighed. “I guess people figured out that I’m gone.”
“We were getting ready to pull everyone for a search party until I cracked into your laptop and looked for your phone.”
