“Yeah, it’s me,” she huffed over the line.
“What number are you calling me from?” I asked. “And why aren’t you using yours?”
“This is my new number,” she said. “I had to lose the other one.”
That was it. Nothing else in terms of an explanation was given. I hated how she made me drag out every ounce of information from her. It was her business for sure, and I had no right to demand further explanation. Still, she had some nerve blowing up my phone in the way she had.
“Explain, Cassidy,” I said with a groan. “And make it quick. I have to gather wood, and I was in the middle of something when you decided to blow up my phone.”
“No. First, you explain why you haven’t been bothered to return a single phone call until now.” Her words rushed over the line mixed with more shuffling. I didn’t want to ask what that was about. I imagined it was paperwork she was going through… maybe grading student assignments. I really didn’t care. “Besides, why do I have to make it quick? Got a hot date?”
“You would have already known why if you had answered your other number,” I said. “When did you change your phone service, anyway?”
“Last week,” she said. “I changed providers and phones too. And in the process, I thought all my contacts were changed over but I realized yours didn’t. Gemma gave me your number again yesterday.”
“That explains so much,” I said. “Did she happen to tell you I was leaving?”
“No, she didn’t,” she said. “Now, it’s your turn.”
I sighed into the phone. “I am watching my cousin’s cabin for the winter.”
“The one you helped build?” she asked.
“Yup. The one and only,” I said. I looked around at the snow piling up and wondered how long it would take for it to melt off. Colorado weather was fickle. One day it can be a blizzard, and the next it could practically be summer. One guess was as good as the other.
“Why are you there for the whole winter?” she asked. “What brought this on, and what are you doing about your job and your place?”
“I needed to take some time away and figure some personal stuff out,” I said. “I have everything taken care of. Now, why did you change your service and number?”
“I’ll have to talk to you about that later. Can I call you back?” she asked, words rushing over the line again.
“After blowing up my phone for hours on end?” I asked. “No way. You can tell me what all this is about.”
“I can’t. I have to go,” she said and hung up.
I stared at my phone. I couldn’t believe Cassidy had just hung up on me like that. If she was so goddamned busy, why did she spend so long blowing up my phone in the way she had? This was more than likely her little passive-aggressive way of getting back at me.
That wasn’t like her. Though she did enjoy keeping things to herself, she didn’t normally run off and avoid conversations. I couldn’t very well figure out what was going on at the moment. Not with me needing to collect firewood before the sunset and the cold really set in. Whether I liked it or not, I had to take care of the wood first. I planned to call Cassidy again the following day, when she wouldn’t be so busy and prone to rushing off the phone like she had.
Sometimes, I wondered where I would be if Cassidy and I had progressed into something more than friends casually dating each other. Of course, I wanted more from her than just a friend to go out with on rare occasions. But she was emotionally unavailable and didn’t want anything deeper than casual.
That was when she wasn’t busy canceling our dates at the last minute. We talked over the phone and texted more than anything.
She was a great girl. One who deserved to find someone who would make her happy and never hurt her. But even I had recognized we were better as friends. Though it did take some time for me to realize the fact, once I did, things got a little easier between us. Besides, she only agreed to date me for Gemma.
And like Cassidy, I was happy when our double dates ended. I loved Gemma and Weylan and my little godson, but I couldn’t stand being faced with everything I wanted and couldn’t have. Every second of the reminder practically ate me alive.
But since meeting Cadence, I wasn’t so sure those things were unattainable anymore. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but she had something about her that made my head spin. Sure, I probably shouldn’t encourage her… but I couldn’t help myself. What if she was the one?
And, oh… the way she kissed me set my blood on fire.
More than the whiskey. More than anything I had ever experienced before. She had me ready to blow. And it took so little effort from her.
Man, she astounded me in ways I never expected.
My nerves urged me to hurry up with the firewood. So, I headed around the back of the house and started grabbing what logs weren’t completely soaked through by the snow and carried them back to the front porch.
Dismally, each trip out into the yard proved less and less fruitful, and my desperation to put myself back in Cadence’s presence was gnawing at me something fierce. But it wouldn’t do me any good if she turned into a popsicle.