Free What We've Become (My Kind Of Country Book 2) by M. Lynne Cunning

whether she believed he would actually spend tomorrow with her and Mason or not. Heads, he wins; tails, she loses.
    ***
    The sun had no sooner begun to peek through the apartment windows and Jay was up and rifling through his closet...for a suit jacket. Katie frustratingly chastised herself for not betting money on that mental coin toss from the night before.
    “It’s the first day into this holiday that you talked me into, and you’re leaving?” She was snapping at him as she followed him out into the kitchen, but she didn’t care. Lack of coffee and little sleep had that effect on her.
    “I’ll make it up to you, Katie.” He pulled the pot from the coffeemaker and poured some into a travel mug.
    “Do you ever get tired of saying that?”
    He whirled around to face her squarely. “I said I was sorry, but I have to work. I have to make up for some of the time I spent here with Mason while you went off to Canada. What is it you want from me?”
    “You said you’d be here, and yet you can’t get out that door fast enough. I want you to admit that this—” she motioned between them emphatically. “—isn’t working.”
    Jay snatched his coffee mug from the counter, stepping closer to Katie in the process. “You may be right, Katie, but it’s because you don’t want it to.” His gazes flitted across her face, daring her to say otherwise. When she pursed her lips and stared back at him defiantly, he let out an angry chuckle. “You know what? I’m not having this conversation again. When Mason gets up, tell him I said I’ll call him later to say good morning.”
    Katie watched him storm out of the apartment without looking back.
    ***
    “You really shouldn’t watch this show, Mr. Mase. It will rot your mind.”
    Mason giggled, perched in front of the flat screen television as SpongeBob SquarePants dawdled across the screen. He turned slightly, his chin resting awkwardly on his hands, and gave her a goofy grin. “I like it ‘cause you don’t.”
    She tossed the pillow from the sofa at him in jest, and Mason scampered from his laid out position to his knees, preparing for a playful fight. “We can’t sit here all day. The sun is shining and it’s actually quite nice out there. We should do something.”
    This conversation had already taken place a few times in the last few hours, yet it always resulted in the same response. “But there’s nothing to do, Mom.” Mason was beginning to whine. Katie hated to admit it, but she had to agree with him. Unless she was willing to dish out money for the attractions around the city, spend her money in the malls and shops where thousands of other folks were running around in scatter-brained frenzies to do Christmas shopping, or bribe Mason into having fun by buying him things he didn’t need, there was little for the two of them to do. Seeing as Katie was rationing what little money she had left from her spring and summer at the farm, and the inheritance her father left her, she was in no mood for frivolous spending just to pass the time.
    “Well, what did you and your dad do while I was away?”
    Mason screwed his face up in a scowl. “Dad was in a bad mood the whole time you were gone.”
    It seems not much has changed on that front , she thought immediately. “Even in a grumpy mood, you two must have done something together.”
    Mason answered with a shrug. “Dad had his papers and briefcase and stuff all over the table. He mostly talked on his cell phone and sat there while I watched cartoons and played on my Nintendo DS.”
    “Your dad worked the entire time you were here alone with him?” Frustration was building in her throat, along with the guilt she felt at thinking that leaving her son with Jay for a few days was a good idea.
    “We did go out for dinner; that was pretty cool. When dad wasn’t on his cell phone, I mean.”
    Katie sighed, feeling defeated. “Mason, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. Did you at least have fun at Julia’s place with