“Hey,” I said.
“Hey.” She let the door shut, and she took only one step inside. “So, you wanted to see me?” she asked, her chin lifted, her tone prim and proper, like the day we’d met.
Frowning, I said, “I do, but I thought you wanted me to see you. I got a note?”
“Me too.” She pulled it out of her pocket. “What the—”
The distinct sound of a lock clicking hit both our ears, and Cassie spun around to the door, trying to pull it open.
“What’s going on?” she asked, turning around to face me, both angry and a little afraid.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I just came when I got the note.” I walked closer to her. “But I’m glad it is happening. I’ve been wanting to talk to you.”
She turned around, and I could see her swallow. Her eyes seemed to be darting everywhere else but looking at me.
“I know. I got your calls.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I just wanted to make sure you understood everything. Look, Cassie.” I stepped closer, and she stayed where she was, her eyes finally meeting mine.
Just state the truth pure and simple. Get it out there.
“I’m crazy about you.” My heart was racing so hard, it made me breathe faster.
She looked surprised, but she said nothing.
I began again. “I’m so in love with you, Cassie, and I maybe didn’t race after you as I should have or handle things right, but I want to. I want to be with you, like really be with you.”
Her lips parted, and I could hear her breathing hard as well. “What about my mom? What happened there?” she asked, lifting one brow in question.
“Nothing. I swear it. She fell onto my lap on purpose and has tried to get me to go out with her, but I told her there was someone else.” I put my hands up in defense, hoping she believed me.
Her mouth quirked up into a smile. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Please believe me. And…what about Jason? I heard and saw you guys went out.”
She scrunched up her nose. “Yeah, well, he was just apologizing for the past, and now I think we’ll just be friends. There’s nothing there anymore.”
I grinned, thinking that it might break my face it was so wide and happy. “Really?” I asked, reaching out to take her hand, threading my fingers through hers.
She nodded, and the look of fear was gone from her face. “I thought he broke my heart by ghosting me like he did. I did love him, and I was hurt. It made me put up walls around myself to protect my heart from that ever happening again. I hated it with everything in me.”
I just listened, glad to be close to her again, touching her.
“But when I saw him again, I realized that I didn’t want him any longer. His apology was wonderful, but I didn’t need it to move on because I realized I already had. I kept thinking of you instead.”
My other hand grabbed her waist, pulling her closer. “Yeah, he told me you said that there was someone else.”
She bit her lip and rolled her eyes. “So much for sharing secrets,” she said.
“When I heard that, Cassie, I was overjoyed.”
I wanted to lean in to kiss her, or rather, push her up against the wall and do all kinds of things to her, but I knew it wasn’t quite yet time. There was more to say.
Staring deeply into her lovely gray eyes, I said, “I’m sorry for how I treated you at first. How I treated everyone. I’m sorry that I was petty and angry and arrogant. And I’m sorry that I didn’t try hard enough to tell you the truth. But honestly, I don’t really know how to be in a healthy, real relationship.” I sighed, lifting her hand to my lips to kiss it.
“But I want to learn. I know it’s not really an excuse, but my Dad is kind of a shithead, always running around on my mom, trying to teach me that that’s what men did to prove their prowess. Funnily enough, it ended up happening to me. Joyce had one lover after another, and she tried to blame it on me, believed I was doing it too. I had stepped back in the relationship, and I’d given up, but I didn’t cheat. I want you to know that. I just wasn’t sure how to love someone properly, and I also wasn’t choosing the right person.”
I could see her eyes filling with tears. “And Camilla’s mother?” she asked.