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No, we can't change the radio station.  Mason Burke, 38, owner of Burke & Sons Hardware; town handyman; hockey enthusiast; owner of a pretty magnificent dog.

[putridtooth]

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[masonburke]

hvntertj​:

“Mm. Smart boy! Did you drag your dad’s hermit ass out to where actual humans live? Did you? You did, didn’t you?“ Although they’re addressing Emerson once more, their tone that of high-pitched baby talk, it’s evident that Hunter is simply being a little shit this time. Still, their own sense of humor doesn’t particularly align with snarky, sass-filled teasing. Finding laughter in making people feel bad about themselves doesn’t quite sit well with them, even if it’s done as a harmless joke ― though the occasional smartass remarks will sneak past their lips. (They can’t help it!) So Hunter’s mischievous smirk morphs into a more genuine one, knowing Mason’s preference for peace and quiet, putting a safe distance between himself and the town’s gossip mill. 

“I don’t. Reading is for nerds,” they quip back in a sing-songy voice, clearly joking, before stepping aside for him to take a gander at the collection of titles on sale. He’s the one who has always been an avid reader, as long as they can remember. (Their own memories of Mason become clearer starting from their middle school years; anytime before that is a bit fuzzy, as childhood memories often are, aided by home video tapes and old photographs.)

“I was thinkin’ of getting ice cream or a smoothie or something before opening up, then I got distracted.” Their shoulders move in a shrug, hands stuck inside the pockets of their cargo shorts. “Ooh! Wanna come with? No, don’t answer that, ‘cause I know you do, bro.”

Mason grumbled good-naturedly at Hunter’s cracks, not quite able to hide the smile on his face. If anyone was allowed to get on his case about his hermit-like preferences, it was them—not that he’d admit to either the privilege or the truth in the statements. “God, you’re so mean to me,” he muttered when they swiped at his love of books, though by that point he was definitely grinning. And at the suggestion to join them for a frozen treat, he hummed thoughtfully. “Oh, I don’t know, Hunter... You wouldn’t want to be seen hanging out with a nerd, would you?” he teased back, nudging them with his elbow. 

“Actually, a smoothie sounds pretty good,” he relented, patting Emerson’s side as the dog nosed at Hunter’s hand for more attention. “You could probably use some fruit in you,” he added, because he couldn’t resist. “Do you have any big appointments today?” he asked, curious. There was something nice about hearing about North Creek residents branching out, getting some ink on their skin. It had been rarer when they were younger, more isolated to rebellious teenagers getting foreign words they didn’t understand and lower-back tattoos that they’d inevitably end up regretting. But times were different, more and more of North Creek’s residents had seen a bigger sliver of the world and come back, and tattoos were becoming less of a rare oddity to see. Mason couldn’t help being fond of the change.

[masonburke]

vcrgcr​:

Nadia tilted her head up, trying to look as offended as possible without bursting into a fit of laughter “Excuse me-” she scoffed at him, half grinning “Like you said, it wasn’t my fault, technically that was an act of physical assault. Shower’s lucky i didn’t end up fighting back.” Nadia crossed her long arms over her chest and had the grace to then look concerned. “I got fleeced though, huh?” she asked him, tone low and worried. “-when i bought this place, i did, didn’t i? They saw me coming a mile away.” Nadia sighed heavily but never having been one to lower the mood, she shrugged her shoulders “-oh well, a fixer upper’ll keep me occupied for a while, it’s not like i’m a slave to the city no more.” 

Shaking her head, Nadia scrubbed her hand over an already ruddy face, making the redness worse. “Nah-just on call, but i couldn’t sleep. Not like anyone actually calls anyways, bar Campbell….but that’s usually a butt dial. I think i’ve had about 4 phone calls out of hours in 6 months.” Nadia sighed, happily and grinned up at him “-perks of a small town and all that.” Nadia then gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. “-she’s all yours bud. Coffee?” she then asked, arching a dark brow “-hot or cold?”

.  

Mason very nearly panicked when Nadia’s smile dropped, her voice suddenly coming soft and tired. He was pretty sure that the alarm showed on his face, too, with how quickly she went back to her regular cheerful self. (Mason really didn’t want to be a stereotype, but upset women absolutely terrified him. Upset men were easy to deal with. Upset children were even easier. But there was nothing that made him feel like an absolute bumbling moron quite like the sight of a woman in tears.)  

He felt bad for the relieved smile he gave her when she changed the subject, humming as she talked about her night shift. “Iced, thank you. I like to adapt with the seasons,” he said with a smile. “And you make the best cup of coffee outside Foam and Beans, so I have to take advantage of the opportunity.” 

Then he squinted at her. “Should you be drinking coffee if you just got off the night shift, uneventful as it was?”

[masonburke]

michellexdaniels​:

Date: July 20th 2020 Where: Old Bridge Road, in front of Mason’s house Who: @masonburke​

The Old Bridge Road was long and it felt like most of the town was just living in this neighbourhood. Despite that, the houses were separated from each other and Michelle liked living there. It was the first house that she had bought all by herself here in Northcreek, the second house in total with the one back in Vancouver that she unfortunately had to sell when moving back to her hometown. It was a well maintained house and that was definitely with the help from her direct neighbor, Mason.

Michelle could get along with her neighbor well, but the one thing that she could not understand was that dog of his. It was too enthusiastic. It was too in her face. And it just didn’t know how to stop licking her face or jumping against her. It annoyed the hell out of her and today had been no difference when she had walked past Mason’s house.

The dog had come running for her, it had jumped up against her, the paws finding their way against her leg and it made her nearly lose her balance on the high black heels she was wearing. As if that wasn’t enough, Emerson started walking circles around her as she tried to continue. “Mason Burke! Can you please come over here and control this pet of your?” She yelled loudly, knowing that Mason had to be around the house as well and that he would be able to hear her yell.

.

It was a beautiful July day, and Mason was taking full advantage of it by enjoying the sunshine and doing some maintenance work on his yard. Specifically, the little garden tucked away to one side of the house where his herbs were slowly trying to strangle one another. He didn’t exactly a flair for gardening, so it was more of a wild tangle of angry plants than anything, but he figured it would be a shame to completely give up on it. His parents had both somehow kept the garden alive and well, but a green thumb decidedly wasn’t among the things they’d passed down to him. At least the apple tree was low-maintenance, though sometimes he felt like it was laughing at him. 

Mason was busy eradicating a particularly vicious snarl of mint plant when he saw Emerson perk up and run off, barking happily. He didn’t think much of it. It was squirrel-chasing season again, and Emerson was a smart dog; he knew not to go far and to stay away from cars, so there was nothing to worry about. At least, until a female voice snapped his full name through the air like a whip-crack.

Michelle was going to kill him.

"Dammit, Emerson,” Mason sighed to himself, standing up and tossing away his gardening gloves. He winced as he rounded the side of the house to see Emerson happily circling around a clearly irate Michelle Daniels. (He’d long since given up on understanding why Emerson was so besotted with one of the few humans who didn’t like him much.) Mason whistled sharply and Emerson perked up, running back to him with a happy, doggy smile. “Hey, Michelle,” Mason greeted apologetically, leaning down to pat Emerson’s neck. “I’m really sorry about him... You know how he is,” he said, straightening back up. “I hope he didn’t bother you too much?”

[masonburke]

halcycrain​:

“Fair enough.” With a chuckle, she leaned against the back of her truck which only rewarded her with a creak from the old thing. From the corner of her eye, she saw two paws lean against the wooden fence and Haley shook her head. “Give it a rest, girl.” She was considering getting back to work when she heard her name leave his mouth and her gaze met his again. “Right.” With a nod, she mirrored his gesture. “We did. Though these days I’m leaving most of my paycheck at your store.” If only she was joking. The Burke family had always been somehow present in her life. Not first-hand but she recalled being a little girl at her grandfather’s side, stopping by the hardware store for a quick chat while Haley strolled through the aisles, looking at items that had no purpose for her. She recalled her father’s phone call after Bruce Burke died. Roger never stated that he was saddened by the news of his friend’s passing but it wasn’t hard to figure as much. However, Mason himself was like a mystery. Besides the hormonal teenage sighs her friends once boasted in his direction while driven by puberty, Haley made it a habit to ignore the town’s chit-chat so her knowledge about him was limited to the information forced upon her by the town’s eldest generation. Though, admittedly, she now knew he had a grand dog.

“You know how it is around here. You either give them something to talk about or eventually they’ll just make up reasons to talk about you.” Her voice was lower than before and while she tried to maintain the humor in her tone, she caught herself glancing away, immediately regretting her words. Saying things like that to people you barely knew could land you on the chopping blog by evening. “Sorry.” The apology was a murmur, feeling her cheeks heat up ever so slightly.

Her raw hands immediately grabbed the last pieces of wood as she dragged them off the loading space of her truck, leaning them against it instead. “Let’s just say I’m glad sore muscles can’t get sore muscles themselves or I’d be as stiff as one of those planks.” Her gaze drifted towards the house, still not a beauty but looking definitely better than it once did. “There’s a lot more to be done though. But between sleeping on an old air mattress and taking cold showers every day, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll just move into the woods. Same difference.”

The nod to North Creek’s infamous gossip problem made Mason’s mouth twist—in amusement, to his surprise. He waved off the apology, but let Haley change the subject with a smile. It was nice, having someone else acknowledge how annoying it all was, especially someone who’d probably had to suffer through even more well-intentioned tutting and sad looks than he ever had. Diane Burke had been a sudden shock; Amelia Crain had been a slow-going tragedy that spanned years. He’d been more than old enough to remember her slow decline and how it had affected her family. He had been wholly unsurprised when his father told him, in passing during one of their uncomfortable, early-reconciliation phone calls, that she’d passed. 

Then Haley let him know just how badly she was roughing it, blasé as can be, and Mason felt his polite smile melt away.

Don’t say it. Don’t say it. 

Haley was a grown woman, perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She’d made the choice to move into a house in total disrepair. She was far from the dark-haired little girl hanging onto Roger’s hand in the hardware store, skipping down the street with her grandfather, smiling from the place of pride in Roger’s wallet. She would be fine, and all her problems were her own. It wasn’t any of Mason’s business.

( ... But Roger had just died. And his only daughter didn’t even have warm water. )

“Want me to take a look at your water heater?” Mason asked, resigning himself to the knowledge that he wouldn’t be able to sleep comfortably if he didn’t. It’d take him maybe half an hour, and would improve her living conditions considerably. He was pretty sure he was physically incapable of not offering. “It’d probably be a quick fix,” he added before she could turn him down out of some misplaced sense of pride. “I deal with them all the time.”

[jinyoung-mark-deactivated201603]

Behind The Scenes of Modern Weekly.

[masonburke]

hvntertj​:

It’s one of those rare days when Hunter’s eyes flicker open earlier than usual. Being one of those mysterious creatures called morning persons, they do not particularly mind being up this early, the dry morning air pleasantly chill against their skin as they pop into the kitchen for some cereal. The studio is opening up at noon like always—it stays open throughout the weekend, closing on Mondays and Tuesdays—and they’ve got a few hours to spare.

So they walk into the town center (a two-minute journey, one-and-a-half with their fast pace), wrapped up in a jean jacket against the cold, although it will be ditched once afternoon rolls around and the July sunlight hits. North Creek has its summer heat moments — or what qualifies as heat in this town nestled up between mountains, anyway. They stop in front of Bluebird Books, with that typical impulsive curiosity in their gaze, picking up a random paperback from their crate full of books on sale at the entrance. Reading for pleasure has never stuck with them as a hobby, mostly due to their short attention span as a teen and them never really giving it another go since then —- still, they flip through the copy because they enjoy the mere motion of it, the gentle rustle of paper tickling their ears.

Interrupted by the sound of a dog barking, they drop the book back into the box, spinning on their heel to look. “Emerson!” they exclaim in delight, cooing at the giant fluff ball of a dog, quickly striding over to one of their favorite human-animal pairs in all of North Creek. They reach down to scratch him behind his ears with both hands, complete with who’s a good boy? and the whole nine yards. "Dude, it’s cool. You know you never ever need to apologize for Em! Not to me, at least.” Straightening up, Hunter matches Mason’s smile with their own, albeit less apologetic and more cheerful. “Anyway! Morning. What'cha up to, old man?”

A warm smile overtook Mason’s face as he watched Hunter lavish Emerson with attention—hardly an unfamiliar sight, but always a welcome one. As friendly as the dog was, he was fairly sure that Hunter was one of his favorite humans, either from constant exposure or from the endlessly indulgent petting. “We were just going on a long morning walk to get this guy’s energy down a bit, and he managed to drag me down into town,” Mason replied, nodding to their general surroundings. 

Then he quirked a brow, giving Hunter an amused look. “Never thought I’d run into you in front of Bluebird, though. I thought you didn’t like reading much?” He didn’t think that had changed since Hunter was a kid—or, at least, they hadn’t mentioned it if it had. He remembered very well what a struggle it had been to get them through their English homework, how he’d helped them read aloud and thought up up all sorts of games to make the dry work more dynamic for them. It had been fun for both of them. 

Not that he would admit it to anyone but Hunter, but they had definitely been his favorite kid to babysit.

[m-mufc]

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[masonburke]

mayoredwards​:

With her earbuds wedged in firmly, the only backdrop to Ellie’s morning were the stylings of her 80s-era playlist. That was, until an excited bark resounded, albeit muffled in her ears. She turned to find her favorite handyman and favorite handyman’s pet. She doubted Emerson had the discretion to like her any more than anyone else, but she still felt flattered to see his tail wagging hard for her. “No need for an apology,” she exclaimed, grinning down at Emerson. She didn’t have any furry friends of her own due to allergies, so she always cherished the impromptu pets found around town. Definitely a perk of constantly being in the middle of town affairs. “Morning, bud. Morning, Mason.”

“Weird running into you now, I was actually on my way to check out that old house on Milton Street. That abandoned one? Councilman Hanson thinks some kid in the neighborhood put a brick through the window last night.” At least, Ellie hoped it was some prankster and not an actual vandal in town. She couldn’t picture anyone she knew doing that. She wrinkled her nose a little. “We might have to board it up soon. I’m not sure yet. I need to look at it for myself since Hanson seemed a bit freaked out by it. But you know how he is.” Quite the paranoid old fart, she smiled at the thought, but Ellie had learned very quickly to keep comments like that to herself.

.

The news about the Milton Street house made Mason’s brows raise in surprise. That wasn’t exactly the sort of thing he heard every day. He knew exactly which house Elyse meant, and he wouldn’t have been shocked if the Councilman was onto something—Mason would never claim to be any kind of authority on all the people in town, but he doubted any of North Creek’s adults would be interested in throwing bricks through windows. It smacked of petty teenage rebellion, the thought making him huff in amusement. Now, those were the days. “Well now, if Councilman Hanson is worried about it then I’m sure it’s a top-priority concern,” he replied mildly, lips quirking. 

Still, Emerson had dragged him far enough away from home that Milton Street was close, and he was interested in seeing the damage. Partially because he had a sneaking suspicion that he’d end up being the one boarding it up. “Well, if you could use the company, Emerson and I would love to come along and help defend other old houses from rowdy teenagers.” He restrained himself from tacking on a ‘Your Worship,’ figuring that Mayor Edwards would appreciate that. 

[masonburke]

halcycrain​:

It borderlined onto a miracle that the truck made the entire way back from town to Old Bridge Road without making a weird noise once. It was such an odd thing, Haley saw her knuckles turn white each time she stopped at a red light, preparing for the worst. However, it was a smooth ride and when she eventually parked on her street, it was time to get to work.

The place was in shambles. She knew it - the entire neighborhood knew it. When she bought the property, she had most of it dismantled within a week and had been fixing it for the past two months non-stop. But it was a project dear to her heart. It wasn’t every day you got to work on your home. So Haley didn’t mind all the trips between the car and the house, unloading the boxes of things she so graciously took from Harvey. Between paint, planks, his rusted toolbox and a ton of supplies she found at the store, she stopped counting the splinters that made her hands ache. 

Looking like a mess and quite frankly, feeling out of breath, she was just pulling the last of the wood from the back of her truck when she heard a bark - one that very clearly didn’t come from Bowie who was hard at work with her bone on the porch. Turning around just in time to greet the Bernese, a smile tugged at her lips almost immediately. “Hello there.” Leaving the wood and wiping her hands on her dungarees, Haley bent down the give him some well-deserved love. 

“That’s an apology you can keep for someone who’s out of their mind and would be bothered by this.” She joked and gave Marcus a quick glance before focusing on the animal again, her fingers gently tangled into the dog’s fur as she rubbed him behind his ears. “Right, buddy? There’s no shame in the game of pets. Besides, as long as dogs think I’m approachable, I’m doing something right.” 

With a final stroke, she got back up with a smile, not wanting to keep them from the rest of their walk. Just as Haley took a step back, she heard a familair bark from her own canine friend, with her ears perked up she trotted over from the porch, the fence being the only thing containing her excitement. Smiling, Haley shrugged. “Never took her for the jealous type.”

Far be it from Mason to deny Emerson a good petting. He smiled as he watched his dog wag his tail so hard that he was swaying, head leaning up imploringly into the woman’s hands. Silly thing. Mason was fairly sure he knew her, too—Mr. Riggs’ granddaughter, the one whose mother people had whispered about. Roger’s girl. Roger had chatted with him more than once about what his Haley was doing over in the big city, the blazing pride on his face making something twist in Mason’s chest. (He sounded so much like Bruce Burke in those moments that it shouldn’t have been legal. The old men’d had way too many poker nights.) 

In his better moods, Mason thought it was amazing how much he (unwillingly) knew about his neighbors. In his worse moods, it was deeply unsettling to ponder how much someone who was actually listening might know. 

“I’ve found that just about every dog is the jealous type,” Mason replied easily, grip tightening on Emerson’s leash when he perked up, excited at the sight of another dog. “Haley, right?” he asked, nodding to the woman. “Mason Burke; pretty sure we overlapped in high school. The whole neighborhood was shocked when someone bought this place. It’s been on the market forever, we figured it’d keep sitting until it rotted away.” That was hardly why anyone had actually been talking about her, but Mason had a mite more decency than North Creek’s gossiping biddies. He glanced between the house and the truck, mouth twisting thoughtfully. “Looks like you have your work cut out for you. You’ve gotten a lot done so far.” 

[masonburke]

vcrgcr​:

Nadia was a victim of the night shift. Despite Northcreek not actually having a hospital for her to waste away her nights in, Nadia often found herself taking the overnight on call shift. So she hadn’t actually been to bed yet. Though it wasnt hard to tell how tired she was. Anyone able to spot the exhaustion, peaking in from the corners of watery eyes and twitching upon her lips as she tried to suppress a yawn. “Hi” she stepped back, widened the open door for him , a fond, friendly smile replacing the half yawn. She looked a picture, hair sopping wet, cheeks ruddy and a water heavy towel in her arms.

The Doctor groaned, scrubbing a hand across her face and kicking the door closed once he had entered. “Ok, so-” she started up the stairs, a half jog, hands gesturing along with what she was saying. “I literally just went to turn the shower on and-she pushed open the bathroom door and grimaced. “….it fell apart Mason….like….the whole thing just-” she made a nose, half a groan low in her throat. “-caput….gone.” 

The bathroom was nothing short of a riot. The ceiling dripping water, a bundle of towels littered the floor to soak up the worst of the water. “I had to turn the water of, it was like a literal hose.” In the bath lay the tangled, mangled remains of a shower head in several bits, black with mildew and rust. Nadia glanced up at Mason. “-Im sorry to call you out so early Mason.” she gave him a little nudge in the ribs, her smile stretching into a half grin “-but time waits for no shit hole of a house,”

It was far from the first time Mason had run into Nadia looking ridiculous, and it was a testament to how often he’d visited that he only humored her by following her up to the bathroom—he was pretty sure that he had the layout of her house memorized. Proof of how badly (in his humble opinion) she’d probably been swindled when she bought the house, but Nadia had always seemed so happy about the whole thing that Mason didn’t push the point.

“Jeez,” Mason muttered as he peered into the bathroom, brows raising. “You did it again, huh?” he asked as he stepped inside, a smile pulling at his lips as he looked over the damage. “Nah, it’s no problem. This time it wasn’t actually your fault,” he teased, kneeling down to pick up part of the shower head so he could look it over. “I don’t think this thing’s been replaced since the house was built, it was going to give way sooner or later. Luckily I brought,” he raised the hand that had been holding his toolbox and a mysterious plastic bag, “reinforcements. One of these new shower heads should work fine, just give me ten minutes to replace it.” 

He set the piece of retired shower head aside and moved towards the tub, angling Nadia a sympathetic look. “Did you just get home from a shift?” 

[magnificent-woofs]

by sk Ki

[masonburke]

gisela-giles​:

The cohesive smatterings of summer — the season’s song swan, there was something in the remoteness, the space that she could reach out and fill her fingers with, she even once got out of her car and stared at a field of grass, for as far as she could see, emerald grounds met with azure skies and puffy white clouds that her daughter would always stare out with her bright eyes that could see something Ella could not. But, then again, and after feeling fatuous, she supposed “normal” or townsfolk did this… somewhat often? She even knew of some people actually leaving the city quite often to go see this — this, space… that felt as if she was a million miles away from home and she was. Although she had been here for almost a year, the woman recollecting the severity of the fall that swept the state, the tinges of tangerine and vermilion that matched her hair, but, she sobered, tenfold, with the biting winter that intently followed. Finally, in weather-appropriate attire — meaning a pair of vibrant crimson Converse sneakers (that surprisingly, did not wash her out), that just barely passed as “appropriate” and were two sizes too big since they were on loan to whichever Big Foot lived there last. She thought they wouldn’t mind, seeing as no one had been there for years, evident by a coarse coat of dust covering each surface when she arrived. “Go for a walk,” she said in a thick Irish accent, mimicking her editor, the older woman laughing her off the phone, “you moving out of London? That is the best joke ever.” Clenching her jaw at the memory, her lungs expanded as she inhaled a sharp breath. She trudged around, attempting to “take a walk,” a strand of hair falling from her ponytail as she lost her footing, a dog rushing up to her with an almost giddy grin, as if he was greeting an old friend, “what a way to kick me when I’m down,” she uttered, indulging the dog and letting him lick her before she saw the owner, jerking away from the animal as gracefully as she possibly could. “I assume he’s yours?” She inquired, “well I don’t know a friendly face but he doesn’t seem too picky so, I’ll take what I can get, thank you,” she said, sharing a mutual nod with the dog before glancing up. “Oh, Martin right?”

Mason recognized the redhead bending down to greet Emerson as the woman he’d seen arriving in town... he wasn’t sure, maybe a year ago. He’d seen her around town a few times but hadn’t really stopped to talk to her. It had been something about the expression he’d often seen twisting her otherwise pretty face, the designer heels always on her feet that even he’d been able to recognize from a distance. Something about the ever-present grimace and the laughably out-of-place clothes had immediately put him off, and he hadn’t bothered to change his estimation since.

But maybe he’d judged her too quickly. Emerson seemed to like her well enough, and with a ponytail and red chucks, she hardly seemed as uppity as he’d assumed—

Or maybe not. 

Mason blinked at the misnaming, torn between annoyance and amusement. “Mason, actually,” he corrected, amusement winning out as he huffed a chuckle. “Mason Burke. And you’re...” He paused, mentally searching for a name. He was sure that Mrs. Patterson down the road had said something about the new arrival when he’d been fixing her oven. “Gabrielle Giles?” he guessed, hoping he was more right than she’d been. “I think I remember you moving in sometime ago. I’m just a few houses down the road.” 

[masonburke]

open!

It was a chilly morning for spring, but that was far from unusual. 

Mason took a deep breath of fresh mountain air as he made his way down the street, dog in tow. Can’t get that in Vancouver. Emerson was very happy about the whole thing, never one to complain about a long walk. They’d spent the past hour meandering along, the big Bernese having the time of his life while Mason indulgently exclaimed over any impressively big sticks his dog picked up and apologized to anyone cornered for pets. With his nearest house-call a few hours away and one of North Creek High School’s finest overseeing the shop, the two of them were free to wander for a while yet. It was Mason’s favorite part of weekends.

Of course, Mason and Emerson didn’t agree on everything. Case in point: the happy bark! that echoed when they ran into yet another one of North Creek’s residents, the sight of the person making Emerson’s tail wag so hard that half his body swayed as he strained towards them. That marked the fifth time Emerson had gotten excited over running into someone on that walk alone. Unlike Mason, Emerson loved the chance to cozy up to someone. 

(Mason still hadn’t forgiven him for giving Ethyl Hogarth a chance to talk to him at length about how ‘a handsome young man like you should really be looking to settle down’ twenty minutes ago.)

“Hey, hey, c’mon Em,” Mason muttered, keeping a solid hold on the dog’s leash and leaning over to pat his neck. “Sorry about that,” he said, flashing an apologetic smile. “He always wants to say hi when he sees a friendly face.” 

[masonburke]

@florcncechou​

Mason glanced up over the edge of his book for the fifth time in as many minutes, a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth. He felt a little bad for being amused, but--well, he didn’t think Nurse Chou had moved at all since she’d come into the shop. Whatever she was looking for (he spotted an ongoing google search from the way her phone was angled,) it didn’t seem like she’d found it. 

Mason put down his book and stood up. Molière could wait.

“Hey, Nurse Chou,” he greeted as he walked over, offering a friendly smile. “You sure I can’t help you with something?” After all the times she’d patched him up, he figured he may as well be helpful. 

[masonburke]

@vcrgcr​

If it weren’t for Mrs. Warren two blocks over, Mason figured that Nadia Verger would probably be his best customer in Meadowside. Of course, Mrs. Warren had built up her patronage to Burke & Sons over twenty years, and Nadia had been in her bright little two-story house for six months. 

Mason’s brows raised as the door in front of him opened, a smile pulling at his mouth. “Hey, Nadia,” he greeted, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice. It was impossible—frankly, he’d never met someone so prone to household accidents, though he was willing to chalk some of that up to the state of the place when she’d bought it. 

Some. The rest was all Nadia. “You want to explain what you meant about the shower head?” he asked as he made his way inside. 

[matchmusicbox-80]

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