“Nothing. I’ll be okay; I really will.” She hoped and prayed it was the truth. Today, she felt strong. On the day—days—how would she feel? No idea.
“What are you going to do?”
Cassidy shrugged. “I need it to happen organically. But that’s a good thing, I think. No pretenses, no forcing of anything—just getting through it. But that means gettingthroughit.”
A whisper of relief entered Marge’s pale blue eyes. “Okay then, sweet girl. You get through it however you need. But know we’re here for you.”
“I know that. Thank you.”
Marge came around the counter and hugged her. “And keep that boy in line.”
“Marge…” Cassidy sighed. “He’s not mine to keep in line.”
Marge patted her cheek. “We’ll see.”
Cassidy wasn’t sure what the response meant, but she didn’t dwell on it as Marge was already moving away. She had to admit; she was glad the conversation was over; it wasn’t as traumatic as she’d thought it would be.
“Thanks again, Marge, and I am sorry I didn’t tell you.”
At the door, Marge paused. “Not everything can be said right away, Cassie, I understand that. But I think I’ll start calling before I show up from now on. Boy barely had his pants on.”
Chapter thirty-eight
Mac
A WOMAN. WHISKEY.
“How’sCassiebeendoing?”
Mac pulled the phone from his ear and glared at it before putting it back. He was glad Jason had called instead of using FaceTime because there would have been no way to hide his expression. “Ask her.”
“She says fine.”
“Why you asking me then?” He leaned against the jamb of his front door, looking out at the sparkling lake, at her boat bobbing at the dock.
“Not sure it’s true.”
“That’s your sleepless night; got my own to worry about.”
“You really can be such a prick, Mac.”
“What do you want me to do? I saw her almost a week ago; she looked fine.” More than fine, naked in his shower, her legs wrapped around him, face flushed.
“Would you know fine if you saw it?”
On Cassidy? Hell yeah.
But that wasn’t the question. “When she starts to lose it, she does this lake thing.”
“Lake thing?”
“She jumps in the lake.”
“What do you mean, she jumps in the lake?” Jason demanded.
“Just how it sounds, Jase; she runs down and jumps in the lake. At night. Sort of a desperate act to it.” Mac sighed. “If you want assurances, that’s better than her going dark for days. She hasn’t done that in a while, I don’t think. Not since you tried to get her to jog.”
Jason sighed in relief. “Okay, good. It seemed like she was holding something back.”