Chapter 5: Summer Ends Mason and Lisa took the Uber from the airport. Richard couldn't make it due to a last-minute call. Mason was a little relieved. He wasn't sure how he felt meeting his father. Mason sat behind the driver with his duffel bag wedged between his knees, watching the suburbs scroll past like a life he'd left behind a hundred years ago, although it was just a few weeks ago. Lisa sat beside him, close enoug...

Chapter 4: Summer ContinuesMason woke up slowly. He felt squeezed in between warm bodies and wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not. He was in that period where one feels awake and asleep at the same time. He opened his eyes. He saw that he was lying on his back with a woman tucked into each side. Val was on his left, her dark hair fanned across his shoulder, one leg thrown over his thigh, and her hand resting on his stoma...

Chapter 3: Summer InterruptedMason sat on the edge of his bed in the room down the hall and listened to his mother and his aunt talk. He couldn't make out words. Just the murmur of voices through the walls, rising and falling in patterns he tried to make out. Val's voice was low and steady, the way it always was when she was in control of something. Lisa's was higher, tighter, cutting in with sharp bursts he recognized as...