masonash-blog1

[masonash-blog1]

regan adamopolous

“Because,” she replied, emphasizing the word, “the only pot we’ve found in our god damn countless boxes is the kind we have to put on hold until My has successfully landed in formula-land, and I’m going to tell you something right now. We haven’t known this kid for long, but his very cute but stubborn butt does not like change, so that will be a transition.” Regan wondered if their friend Kingsley would have enjoyed her pun, and then felt rather lame for uttering such a thing. “Anyway, point is: I can’t find our pots and pans. And by ours, I mean yours.”

Regan then grabbed another taco, held it up, and clinked it against Mason as if they were about to down cheap alcohol. “Slàinte.”

Mason should have been more alarmed that his cooking ware was still missing, but with tacos on the brain--- “Probably got dropped off here. Anyway, eat up.” He took a large bite out of his taco, relishing in the crunch of the shell. And while Mason couldn’t say for sure if they were the best tacos in the world or whatever the bag said, they were definitely the best he’d had in Calderwood so far.

“You know,” Mason started with a mouth full of lettuce, which he swallowed before continuing with his point. “I’m kinda more concerned that we were able to get that shit across the border. Are we sure we made the right move?”

[masonash-blog1]

danny anderson‌

Danny smiled when the other man talked about grandparents, he related in a strange way. More so that his grandparents were the only ones that gave a fuck about him, more than his own parents did. “You’re lucky man, at least you got people to show you how it’s done.” he replied, nursing his drink and bringing it for another sip.  “So you’re just starting the whole sleepless nights? Bet that’s fun.” he grinned before laughing at the returned question. “Ah, shit. Probably.” he answered through the raspy laugh and featuring a coy smile that was followed with a shake of his head. "No kid has turned up demanding for money yet so probably not.” he added with a light hearted tone.

Mason laughed out loud at the joke before taking another long swig from his beer. “We’re just getting out of them, I think, and thank God for that.”

Thank God for how well Myles was doing so far, but also for the limitless help his mother and step-father had been kind enough to give. With just a few different choices or circumstances in play, Mason could have been somewhere else entirely in life, and he was all too aware of the fact now that his son was here. When he thought of the life he might have had if he’d stayed with his dad instead of moving to Ireland, Mason was even more grateful for Calderwood and all that it offered---from a stronger bond with his family, to new bonds with new friends.

“Mason, by the way.” Mason offered his hand to the man with a smile. “Don’t think I got your name.”

[masonash-blog1]

aubrey o’connell‌

“Happy Fourth!” Aubrey replied, giving Mason a brilliant smile.  She made a show of peering around him as if looking for a crowd to be with him. “You didn’t leave Regan to watch the baby, did you?” she teased. Never one to say no to more family and happy to have some new neighbors as well, Audrey had welcomed Mason and his family to Calderwood when they arrived in town. At his question, she nodded. “It’s a decent show. No faces in fireworks or anything, but it’s pretty good. Especially if you have the best spot, which you do of course.” 

In this particular instance, yes, Mason had left Regan to watch the baby, but not by force or neglect. The reality was that the second Regan wanted to wander away to explore, Myles would have his pick of sitters in the form of grandparents eager to take over.

“She’s not tied down when my mum’s around, you and I both know that.” Mason plucked a string of licorice from the grocery bag of fireworks snacks on the blanket and tore off half with his teeth. “It’s not gonna take much to impress me,” he admitted with a shake of his head. “It’s been a minute since I’ve seen ‘em anywhere on the Fourth.” It was one of things he had not anticipated missing while living in Ireland, but the posts that exploded across his social media feeds every year had made him homesick without fail. “I’m actually kinda excited.”

[masonash-blog1]

danny anderson‌

Danny smiled when the man accepted the beer and he nodded approvingly. “Ah, come on. You got a sitter?” Danny waved off the other man’s concerns when he mentioned about his baby. “Escape the dad life for five seconds, man. One won’t hurt, or two. Or five.” Danny laughed, finishing up his own beer. “How old is the little one?”

“Something like that, yeah.” Mason was grateful for his mother and step-father, the permanent baby sitters he could always count on, even on days when he didn’t need them. They doted on Myles, to put it lightly, and more than it was a relief to know that he and Regan had support, it was a blessing to know there were two people in the world who loved their son as much as they did. “Listen, if my mom has her way, I’d be escaping the dad life more than five seconds. All that shit they say about grandparents--- It’s real.” Mason took a long, refreshing swallow of the beer and smacked his lips contentedly. “He’s just a few months old, and I already know that. You got any?”

[masonash-blog1]

laura cottrell‌

Laura couldn’t hold back a chuckle at his reaction and how he corrected himself from almost letting a swear word slip. “You can say shit, I’m old enough to handle it,” she pointed out nonchalantly. Her eyes fell on the package in her hands then, nodding her head and gratefully following him inside. She was glad that the other reacted in such a way. There were other people who liked to keep their and their business’ privacy and almost called the police on her for showing up at their soon to be opened store uninvited. Maybe they thought she was some kind of spy, a thought that actually made her feel more powerful than anything else. “Yeah, she made it some kind of tradition back in the day so now I’m the one who has to keep it going,” she explained to him, a smile tugging on her lips. “Kinda cheesy if you ask me but then again, who doesn’t like cheese?”

Mason grinned and nodded. “Yeah, yeah. It’s just--- I gotta kid at home now, so I’m trying to keep things professional all around. He’s too young to talk now, but gotta, uh, get into the habit, y’know?”

He was definitely the sort of person who liked cheese, and tradition, to a certain extent. It felt good, being included in that, especially when he’d only been here a few months. Finally, this place was starting to feel like home for Mason. Maybe this was the start of it feeling like home for his career, too. “I appreciate it, really. Like, a lot. Thank you.” He set the gift down and looked it over proudly, still unable to stifle his grin just yet. “Which place is your grandma’s? We’ve been trying to get all over town, but, uh--- Y’know, it takes a minute,” Mason chuckled. “I’ll have to bump it up on the list if we haven’t been.”

[masonash-blog1]

lyle fitzgerald‌

Lyle caught sight of the man’s phone before she asked for his order, smirking as she saw him struggling. “Level 619′s a bitch, isn’t it?” She chuckled, brows arching. Candy Crush, among other inane games on her phone were something she didn’t give much thought to when she was sober. When she was high, however, she and her brother got into it - forgoing the PlayStation that had long since died, they would attempt to beat each other on the different levels. Whoever beat the level the quickest got to chose the food for that night and when that got boring, it turned into the winner daring the loser to do some stupid, often illegal and dangerous, stunt until someone made them come to their senses. She smirked at the memory of last weekend. She’d beaten her brother and got a veggie pizza and the pride of watching her brother try to tip a horse - which, would you believe it or not, did not end well for him. 

She turned to glance at the menu, pleased that her mother had put some of her favorite drinks back in rotation. “Great choice. You got a tab open already?” She asked, moving to collect the items for the drink. She shook her head. “Nah, it was one of Jean’s favorites. Mom keeps a few of her favorites on the menu year round. Our seasonal stuff is mainly on the left hand side. Mostly frozen stuff. If you’re into pina colada type drinks, and don’t mind a lot of liquor, you should try Rocket Fuel, especially if Joey is here to make it. One of the best drinks I’ve had in a while. It’s strong as hell, though.” She warned as she finished mixing his drink. 

Mason smiled sheepishly at the bartender, half embarrassed at being caught playing the most cliché game imaginable. Still, it was nice, feeling a sense of camaraderie with someone about something other than food service. “Not yet.” He shook his head but held out his card, more than ready to get one started. “But I’ll get one going now. Keep my options open, in case Joey’s here after all.”

Mason took a sip of the drink and nodded, pursing his lips into a display of just how impressed he was. “I’ll get it one of these days. That level, that is. Maybe tonight, depending how my drink order strategy turns out.”

[masonash-blog1]

aubrey connell‌

A lifetime of experience had told Aubrey exactly how early she needed to arrive at the beach in order to get the best seat for viewing the fireworks. Not that there was a bad seat, necessarily, but she had her favorite spot, and she parked herself and her blanket on the sand before most people had grabbed their tacos. As more and more people migrated to the beach, she watched the crowds, looking for familiar faces and entertaining herself with people watching. A shadow blocking the last rays of sunlight made her look up, a smile crossing her face. “Hello! I think this spot practically has your name on,” she greeted, cheerfully patting the empty spot on the sand next to her. 

“Now that’s what I like to hear.” Mason scrambled next to Aubrey, slightly tipsy from the several beers he’d had earlier with a new friend. “Happy Fourth, Cuz.” Maybe they weren’t blood related, but being his step-dad’s niece was close enough for Mason to consider Aubrey family. It had certainly been nice to know she was in the neighborhood if he needed anything since he’d moved there. Showing him the best place to sit for the Fourth of July fireworks was no exception. He pulled out his phone, quickly shooting the rest of his party a text describing their location. “So what’s it like then? Do they put on a real show, or is it just duds?”

[masonash-blog1]

danny anderson‌

“C’mon, drink up. It’s a celebration, not a soberation.” Danny chimed, passing over a beer to the other. “You got a lot of catching up to do until you feel as good as I do.”

Mason cocked a grin at the blonde stranger and nodded. “Yeah, but I’ve got a baby to get home before it’s all said and done.” Although his mother was there, and had already declared herself more than happy to keep an eye on Myles while he and Regan explored the celebration for themselves. “Guess I’ll take it slow,” Mason surrendered, accepting the beer with another grateful nod. “It’s the fourth, after all, ain’t it?”

[masonash-blog1]

laura cottrell‌

welcome to the club - ft. mason (@masonash)

location: the golden grille.

Why exactly her grandma thought that it was a good idea to have Laura walk all the way from Treasure Chest Antiques to The Golden Grille in the heat of the day only to deliver a present, Laura didn’t know. The only thing she knew was that arguing with her grandma about her self-made traditions wasn’t going to get her anywhere and so she chose to surrender and make her way over there, carrying two gifts for the owner of the new business. 

Once she arrived, she knocked on the door, unsure of whether it someone was actually in there working or not. A few seconds later, a man opened and Laura immediately shot him a friendly smile. “Hi, I’m looking for the owner. My grandma sent me to deliver some gifts for the opening… Gifts that say ‘Welcome to the club of business owners’, so to speak.”

Mason was glad he was the one who had opened the door, not one of the men who had been taking his sweet time carrying dining room furniture into the restaurant. Ever since Mason and Regan had moved to Calderwood, he had been dying to explore and get to know the people there. What was your own neighborhood without any friends, after all? But between moving into the new house, setting up a new restaurant, redecorating the new house, decorating the new restaurant... Well, suffice it to say Mason had, had a lot on his plate. So much so that there wasn’t even room on his dessert plate for the things he truly wanted to do.

But it seemed that karma had afforded him an opportunity to get a jump start on the fun stuff since he’d been working so hard the past few months.

“Holy sh--- cow,” Mason corrected quickly, his smile never faltering. “That’s--- Are you for real?” He looked at the gift in the young woman’s arms, and then back at her. “Hey, it’s burning up out here. Come on in. I’ll get you some water.”

[masonash-blog1]

fara shepard‌

Fara had a tendency to walk with her head down, eyes on the pavement instead of in front of her as her mind wandered away with frivolous thoughts. That particular afternoon she didn’t have anywhere to go other than where her feet carried her, but with the weather as beautiful as it was and a breeze in her hair she could have dawdled for hours. However, a flash of green on the pavement caught her eye and averted her attention as she realised she had just stepped on a $20 note that must have somehow escaped someone’s pocket - it certainly wasn’t hers since Fara carrying cash was a rare commodity. She looked up and around her, noticing someone not far ahead of her walking in the same direction and figured they were her best shot. “Hey!” She called after them, rather brashly indeed as her walk became more brisk so she could catch up to them. “Do you normally leave money laying around or is it my lucky day?” She teased, a hint of mischief in her eye that was almost masked by her otherwise innocent expression.

Mason was jolted out of his own reverie and back into reality quickly---something that had become a common occurrence as the days leading up to the Golden Grille’s opening grew fewer and fewer. At this point, he was concocting recipes in his sleep, always remedies to the opening day horrors that his nightmares anticipated for him. It was no different now, even though Mason was awake and upright, walking down the sidewalk as minivans in a variety of colors passed lazily by on their way home from swimming lessons. The only urgency in Calderwood today was inside Mason’s mind---save for the shouting that had just reminded him there was more going on outside himself.

“Huh?” Mason wheeled around, hands in his pockets, as he squinted at the intrusion. The intrusion with a hint of an Irish accent. He blinked several times. Was he really in Calderwood? Or had him moving out of Ireland all been a fever dream? No, that was an American twenty dollar bill in the woman’s hand. He was right where he’d thought he was. Strange, though, he couldn’t deny. “I don’t carry anything larger than a five.” Mason shook his head at the bill before he looked up into the young woman’s face, searching for some kind of answer as to her identity. “You, uh, you’re not from here, are you?” he asked lamely.

[masonash-blog1]

lyle fitzgerald‌

Seeing that her shop assistants and brother had things sorted at The Elephant’s Trunk, Lyle slipped over to Sleepy Jean’s knowing that her mother’s business was short staffed tonight. Well, considering how popular it had become within in the past few weeks - seems a cheap beer and place to play pool got more attractive the hotter it got outside - it seemed they were always short staffed. Hearing the hustle and bustle as she approached, Lyle opened the doors, greeted by a cheer or two from the bar’s regulars. She shot a smile at Betty - a dear friend to her late grandmother and one of the oldest chain smokers Lyle had ever met - and was pulled into a hug by Oscar - a man who started coming to the bar right around Lyle’s fifth birthday and who she had since babysat for several times over the years. Making her way behind the bar, Lyle pulled up her hair and parked herself in front of the patron who seemed to be waiting on service. “Sorry for the wait,” she said, quickly washing her hands as she shot them a grin. “Busy night. What can I get for you?”

Busy night, sure, but Mason hadn’t minded waiting---not when it came to his company, or the bartenders. He’d worked in enough establishments to know what a challenge weekends could be. Should be, if you were doing business right. He glanced up from his phone not once, not twice, but three times before he decided to give up on this level of Candy Crush and surrender to living in the present---even if his partner in crime for the evening was still living in the bathroom.

“Yeah, uh, no problem.” Mason slid his phone into his left left and set it on his lap. He squinted up at the menu -- something he should have done instead of focusing unproductive efforts on level 619 for the fortieth unsuccessful time -- and lamented over how he was slowly evolving into his least favorite kind of customer over the night. “Gimme a, uh--- Guess the Honey Dew sounds good.” He nodded, as if to affirm himself for his choice. Practice, he guessed, for when his girlfriend arrived and saw what was sure to be a colorful cocktail on the counter in front of him. “Is that one seasonal, or---?”

[masonash-blog1]

reganisms‌:

Although just this morning Regan had declared she found herself plenty busy with work, she found herself—yet again—at the Golden Grille with a surprise lunch in tow. Well, the Golden Grille in progress, but that was beside the point. In truth, Regan’s life felt like a roller coaster that fluctuated between chaos and utter boredom. Mostly, her life looked unrecognizable upwards of even six months ago. She relished the newness and yet felt somewhat useless without a career, even if freelance work had lots of flexibility. Talking through these feelings would seem like the obvious approach, but Regan preferred the unproductive choice of annoying Mason at work with surprise lunches. 

“Are you ready for the best damn tacos in town?”

 Mason didn’t need to turn around to know that it was Regan in the doorway, even before she spoke. He was attune to her energy whether he liked it or not. And though he was glad to see her, the best way to indicate that was hardly a quick hop out of his chair to kiss and thank her.

“Okay, you already know you’re starting something just with that.” Mason spun around once he had perfected his best expression of faux disappointment. “There’s no way you can know these are the best in town already unless you’ve tried ‘em. And every other taco in town. Which means you’ve been eating a lot of tacos without me, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.” Though his tone indicated exactly how he was portraying to feel about that. “If we can’t be honest about tacos, what can we be honest about, Ree?”

[masonash-blog1]

violet winters‌

After finishing her morning chores in her horse barn and sending her son Samuel off to his dad’s house for day, Violet had a few hours to kill before she had to head to the zoo for her shift. Normally she just went back to bed or watched tv while scrolling through Facebook, but today the coffee must have been extra strong because she was unable to sit still. She quickly gathered her things and headed towards the park, taking a seat on a bench to people watch and enjoy the scenery. She happened to look towards a bush on her left, and jumped up with a scream at what she’d seen.

“This is all hypothetical, I swear…” Violet huffed a little, slightly out of breath from her unplanned run to the  nearest person. “But, say I found a monster dildo in those bushes over there… Like, huge… The size of my arm… What would you suggest I do? Leave it? Take it & sell it on eBay? Call the cops? Again, hypothetical… Totally not a real situation that is plaguing my mind right now.” She tried to hold in the laugh that was trying to escape from this whole situation.

It was rare for Mason to be out of the office---the office being the Golden Grille, his work-in-progress of a restaurant down in City Center. But today was different; something about the California sun beckoned, and before it was even time for lunch, Mason had surrendered. Sitting beneath the shade of a tree as a slow breeze rustled its leaves and half a ham sandwich dangled from his free hand.

It was a peaceful day---a rarity, with an infant son at home and a myriad of problems to solve every morning at work. And it proved to be even rarer as the record scratched in the form such an obtrusive question. It didn’t faze Mason as much as it should have, but given that he was living with Regan Adamopolous, it would have been more surprising if he was.

“Cops only if there’s someone somehow attached to it,” Mason said with a furrowed brow. “Maybe a sanitary disposal crew. Depends what it looks like, I guess. Not that I need to see it,” he protested quickly. “Or want to. So maybe it’s a matter for the cops after all.”

[masonash-blog1]

☆ MASON NASH

introduction –

NAME. Mason Phineas Nash PRONOUNS. He/him AGE & BIRTHDATE. 27 | March 31, 1992 HOMETOWN. Coker, Alabama NEIGHBORHOOD. Calderwood Historic District OCCUPATION. Restauranteur; Owner of the Golden Grille FACECLAIM. Michael B. Jordan

story –

[ cw: abuse ]

Mason Nash was born in Coker, Alabama, but this is a fact he desperately wishes he could forget. His father was a Baptist preacher, cloaked in hypocrisy and hatred under the guise of God’s will. It didn’t take Debra Nash very long to see through the act, but that didn’t make it easy to escape her abusive husband’s clutches. Finally, when Mason was twelve, she did, fleeing to live with her aunt in Ireland. Mason followed four years later, and stayed there with his mother through college, university, and beyond.

Never in his first sixteen years would Mason have imagined that all of the people he loved would be in Ireland, but at twenty-seven, he couldn’t imagine anything else. Though his mother was the reason he had arrived in Ireland in the first place, he had many more reasons to stay, ranging from career to friendships to a family of his own. But Mason wasn’t meant to put down roots just yet. Everything shifted once again when his step-father’s mother fell ill. Debra and her second husband, Peter O’Connor, made preparations to move back to Peter’s hometown in Northern California.

Calderwood looked idyllic on paper, and was surprisingly genuine when Mason visited during the move. Mason and his longtime girlfriend, Regan, were taken with the beautiful town. It didn’t hurt that they would be closer to Regan’s parents, too, especially considering that they now had an infant son to raise and very few ideas as to how to do so. It took some time to figure out the logistics, but everything fell into place with surprising ease. Mason followed his mother once again, this time with his own tiny family in tow. Between a newborn baby, a new restaurant adventure, and mortgage payments, Mason’s first months in Calderwood have been exhausting, but Mason wouldn’t trade a single day of it away. He won’t say it aloud because he doesn’t want to jinx it, but Calderwood might just be the place for him to finally put his roots down for good.

WRITTEN BY BETH. SHE/HER. EST.