Franny Simmons has no luck. In the space of three months, she called off her wedding, and lost her beloved grandmother, who left more than a few surprises in her will.
In order to inherit her grandmother's apartment, Franny must move in with Mason...
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Dear Granny Gene,
It's Franny.
I only have one thing to say right now—how could you? Well, that's a lie because I actually have a lot of things to say to you, but seriously, how could you?
Not only do you go die on me, yeah, that was real nice of you, but you gifted me your beautiful apartment on the condition Mason moves in with me.
MASON!
You remember he cheated on me, right?
Just checking because I cried enough times on your precious hand-knitted jumpers, and we planned his death together, you even mentioned doing jail time for it.
And then suddenly in your will it says we must move in together, otherwise your solicitor will sell the apartment and donate the proceeds to the local council.
I ask you one thing. Did Mason have a say in this? I bet he did! I bet he bribed you with Lyon's lemon pies, didn't he?
You could always eat four in a row.
*crashing plate sounds*
"Oh, God." Speak of the devil. "Oh, Jesus, no."
Well, if this isn't an omen. That's your bone china plates in a thousand pieces on the floor.
Is he for real right now? "Mason! It has fragile written all over the box!"
I'm shouting at him, and these walls really do echo. You were right about that when I used to play my music too loud.
"Well, I'm sorry, I tripped over your damn shoes you left in the middle of the kitchen floor."
Do you think he'll disappear if I keep ignoring him? No—wait! I'm too mad for the silent treatment just yet.
"Those plates were precious to me." Us. They were our engagement gift from you, Gran.
And now they're piles of shards.
*cupboard door creaking sounds*
That sigh of his goes right through me, you know. "I'm sorry, Franny. I'll clean it up. Dustpan?"
"In that cupboard."
I point to the one holding those old pictures I drew you years ago, somehow still hanging on the wood.
He doesn't look happy.
The top he's wearing rides up when he gets a better look in there, showing off that back tattoo that no one knows about besides me and you.
"It stinks of mothballs in here," he says, coughing.
This whole place does. No offence.
I don't know how I will survive these next five months. That's how long I'm giving him to find another place. You never stipulated how long we have to live together, so I get to choose.
Not that Mase—no, Mason listened to me. "We'll see how things turn out," he'd said, totally avoiding eye contact.
We'll see?
No. We would not.
I'm not being stubborn. I'm really not. The guy literally tore my heart from my chest when he stuck his tongue down another woman's throat. I still have nightmares about it.
"Look, can you just hurry and tidy the mess up?" I ask.
This all feels so wrong. Why did you have to leave me? You're all I have.
"I'm trying, OK? Did you decide what room you want yet?" he asks, for a distraction from the horrible sounds of the broken plates falling from the dustpan to the box.
"I'm moving into the master bedroom."
"Ah." He has the cheek to sound sad about it. "The views are amazing from there. You can see all over the city."
"I know, and it's bigger to store all my work stuff."
Life at the zoo is as hectic as ever! You'll be happy to know Penny the Rhino finally had her calf last week, and we got a little boy! Everyone is happy about it because it means in time maybe he can make some more rhino babies too!
"Babe, will you at least think about us sharing a bedroom?" Excuse me?
"One." I make sure to look him dead in the eye. "I am not your babe. And, two? Hell no."
*phone starts to ring in distance*
Ah. My throat is suddenly bone dry at the sound. "Leave it!"
Mason is looking at me like I'm crazy. "It might be important."
I know you blocked mum's last four numbers, Gran, but she's bought a new phone and is hounding me now.
"It's mum, she's been calling nonstop, and if she knows you're here, she'll use it as an excuse to come over," I blurt, and try to decide if I should pull out the landline cable from the wall.
It's even more awkward than before as we stand listening to the phone ring out.
"Franny." Mason is using his soft voice.
No. Just no.
*phone rings for a second time*
"Ugh!"
Rate of insanity? One thousand. I think I just broke your phone. The wires are in my hand and the plug still in the socket.
"When did your mum last contact you?" Now he's shouting at me.
"I don't want to talk about this—" The idiot is trying to interrupt me.
"But—"
I push in. "No—"
"Listen—"
"Mason—"
"No!" he roars this time. "Would you stop pushing me away already? I know I made a mistake. I regret it every single day, but you need to let me in sometime, so we can both start to heal."
The thing is... when people you love break you in certain ways, it's almost impossible to fix those broken pieces, right?
"I need to move my stuff into the master bedroom." And get away from his temptingly handsome face.
"Franny."
"Seriously, just leave it," I say.
I'm sorry, Gran, I will always love you, but there's a big part of me that really hates you right now for pushing me into this situation. It's not fair.
His heavy footsteps are chasing after me. "I still love you."
Oh, Christ.
I swear to you, Gran, when we meet again, and if death isn't an endless pit of darkness, I'm going to spend the rest of our afterlife days haunting you.
*BANG, BANG, BANG*
"Did you hear me?" he asks, hitting my bedroom door harder. "I love you, Francesca!"
This is all too much like a soap opera for me. "Go away!"
"I love you!" He's getting louder.
I swear he's about to put a hole through that door.
This is my breaking point. Are your muscles supposed to shake erratically before a panic attack? Just checking because mine are on fire right now.
I'm slowly losing it. "Prove it. For once in your life bloody prove it!"
