He walked over to the counter and picked up the same tape player he’d sold me a year before.
I inserted the tape and hit play. Leo’s voice came through loud and clear. Hey, Cassidy. It’s me. I’m sure that’s obvious, but I needed some sort of intro. He smiled sheepishly.
You’re probably wondering what this is all about, and don’t worry we won’t leave you waiting too long. I wanted to remind you of a time when you were at an end yet found a beginning.
I smiled and thought back on exactly what beginning he meant, and everything that came after it.
It had been nine months since Leo and I had convinced Bob to let us take his used record and vintage music business online. He’d seemed reluctant at first, but in the end he agreed—and he sold us the store. It turned out he’d been looking for someone to keep the place open after he retired anyway. My contract skills had come in handy when we signed the deal, and the one with my parents to borrow the capital. If things continued we’d have them paid back with interest by the end of the year. Clay had been fine with me quitting once I found him a great bookkeeper.
Although we spent time at the store, we did as much work at the home office in the house he and Naomi rented a few blocks away. It was the house I practically lived in now even though I kept my own place.
It was the house I was standing in listening to the tape.
Naomi and I were also at an end. Stuck at one. But we found a beginning. And that beginning was you. Now I’m rambling. There’s a reason I didn’t go into public speaking.
I laughed and looked at him. He was holding Naomi’s hand and watching me intently.
Just because you find a new beginning doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to your past. Naomi and I will never forget ours, and you don’t have to forget yours either. I know you didn’t listen to that tape, but you didn’t need to. You already knew exactly what was on it. But this one you needed to listen to because you don’t know. You don’t know that I made this tape to ask you a question.
I froze.
Leo fell down to one knee, and Naomi mirrored his actions.
“Cassidy Lawton will you marry me?”
“Us. Will you marry us?” Naomi corrected.
Tears spilled down my face as I tried to shake the shock.
“Say yes. Say yes!” Naomi jumped up.
“Of course I’m saying yes.”
Leo pulled me into his arms.
I rested my head on his chest. "You know we're always going to have a tape player, right?
"I can handle outdated technology if it means I get you."
"You've had me since our first sunset."
"You've had me since you first walked into the store."
I blinked back tears and changed the subject before I lost it with emotion. "Anyone want ice cream to celebrate?"
"One step ahead of you." He pointed toward the fridge. "Check the freezer."
I pulled out a container of pumpkin ice cream.
"And I got peanut butter cups for you." Naomi grinned.
I laughed. "Thanks for making me part of your awesome threesome.”
"It wouldn't exist without you." Leo brushed my freshly fallen tears away.
I hugged him tightly. Sometimes the best kind of life and love comes after falling.
Thank You
Thank you for reading Forever Love. I hope you enjoyed it! Please consider leaving an honest review at your point of purchase. Reviews help me in so many ways!
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Afterward
Love small-town contemporary romance? Please keep reading for a preview of Derailed (Clayton Falls) by Alyssa Rose Ivy.
Derailed
When you're lost, sometimes the only place you can go is home.
Broken over the death of her fiancé, Molly leaves law school to return to her childhood home in North Carolina. Expecting to lay low until she can figure out what else to do with her life, she finds herself in the arms of her high school sweetheart, the boy who represents everything from the past she tried to leave behind.
Looking for an escape, she instead finds a way back to the girl she almost forgot existed and a future she never dreamed possible.
Prologue
The message was only three words, but his failure to respond had changed everything. I need you… Too emotional to speak, I'd stopped at three words. The words were true. I did need him. I needed his arms around me and his reassurances that I’d be okay, that it wasn’t my fault. He hadn’t heard his phone, or so he told me that August when he pleaded over and over with me to forgive him. I couldn't forgive him. My anger was the only thing keeping me from hating myself.
Chapter One
Chapter One
I used to love May: the heat and the promise of a long and limitless summer. I’d count down the last weeks of April with excitement, ready for my favorite time of year. The May of my first, and only, year of law school was different. It brought the craving for change—and the need to escape.
I remember the exact moment I decided to quit law school. It was during contracts only a week before spring exams. The end of my 1L year was in sight, and I should have been excited. My first semester grades placed me firmly in the top 25% of the class, and finishing first year meant I was getting ready to pass a milestone I’d thought about for years. Of course, I should have also been getting ready for an even bigger milestone: my wedding.
“Ms. Sander, would you care to enlighten us on why the court found the agreement unenforceable?” Professor Willis’s booming bass voice reverberated off the oak-paneled walls of the lecture hall.
My head snapped up when I heard my name. I’d been reading a website on my laptop and could feel the blood rushing to my face, aware that everyone in the room was probably staring at me. I tried to pull up the case brief I’d cut and pasted from Westlaw that morning. It had been months since I’d bothered to brief a case myself. Instead, I’d been relying on the generic commercial ones our professors had warned us to avoid. My screen froze, and I was out of time. I struggled to remember what unit we were even on. “Lack of consideration?” I half asked.
“If you didn’t bother to read the case, why did you bother to come to class?” The professor sneered, and I heard light laughter behind me. Traitors. Like I was the only one who didn’t do the reading. I’d spent almost every day of the past nine months with these people, yet they made a joke out of me at the first chance.
“That’s a good question and one I don’t have the answer to.” I slammed my laptop shut and stuffed it into my backpack, slinging one strap over my shoulder. I picked up my case book and slipped past a roomful of stunned faces as I headed to the door.
“Where do you think you’re going, Ms. Sander?”
I paused to think over the question. “I don’t actually know.”
This time the laugher wasn’t light. It was loud enough that I could still hear it after the door swung closed behind me.
“Molly! Wait up!” Becca’s heels echoed off the tiled floor of the hallway. I stopped, but didn’t turn around. She didn’t waste any time, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder as soon as she reached me. “What was that all about? Are you doing okay?”
The genuine concern on Becca’s face mingled with exhaustion from trying to balance a full school schedule with taking care of her ailing mother. I felt a surge of guilt—the only thing I seemed to feel anymore. “You don’t need to worry about me, but I’m done.”
“Done? What do you mean?” She pushed a stray piece of dark hair behind her ear.
“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t pretend to care about meaningless cases or that I have any interest in being an attorney.” I sighed; it
felt good to say it out loud for once.
“You don’t have to actually practice law. There are so many other things you can do with a law degree.” She sounded so hopeful and confident; I hated knowing I was going to hurt her.
“You sound like a career services pamphlet.” Even I could hear the bitterness in my voice.
“You aren’t really going to quit, are you? We’re almost done with first year. It’s all easier from here on out.” Her voice was soft, but there was some real desperation in it. We were each other’s closest friends, and I knew it scared her to watch me go.
In theory she was right, but after watching my fiancé Adam stress over making law review, getting the best evaluations from his summer associate positions, and finally land the big firm job, I knew there was still a bumpy ride ahead. I decided to keep the thoughts to myself. No reason to burden her. “I have to do what’s right for me.” Saying the words made me feel bad. I knew I played right into her weak spot. Becca had to be the most supportive person I knew.
“Okay then, at least finish the semester and take your exams. Then you can take a leave of absence and decide if you want to come back in a year.” It was just like Becca to come up with the reasonable response.
I understood why she suggested it. I was usually a very rational person, or at least I had been for the past five years. But little by little, the reasonable, rational adult mask I wore fell off, and the unbalanced, risk taking kid showed her face.
“I can’t. I’m done.” I crossed my arms, both out of habit and to warm myself against the air blasting down from the air conditioning vent.
“You mean right now? Like you are walking out that door and not coming back?”
“Yes.” As sudden as the decision was, it wasn’t one I questioned. I’d made up my mind when I walked out of the classroom.
Becca hugged me, leaning down to pull me close. Even without heels, she towered over my five foot three. “I wish I could help you. I wish I knew how to make it better.” I appreciated that she knew me well enough to know this wasn’t an idle threat. I was leaving.
“You’ve already done so much.” It was true. Becca had been there for me when, only days before Thanksgiving, I’d gotten the call that brought me to my knees. She had already proven herself an amazing friend through all of undergrad, but she’d taken it to new heights that year.
“What are you going to do? Where are you going to go?”
She knew without me telling her that I was leaving Boston. Without school, there was officially nothing left for me in the city.
“I don’t know.” I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but I went with the first idea that popped into my head. “I’ll probably go home for a while.”
“Home? You mean to North Carolina?”
“Yeah… My mom’s not there, so the house is just sitting empty. It could work.”
“Are you sure an empty house is a good idea for you…” she trailed off, likely noticing the telltale signs that I was about to snap at her.
“It’s not any worse than an empty apartment. At least I don’t have memories of Adam there.” Of course, lots of other memories waited for me, but they weren’t quite as new or raw.
“Okay. I know there is no way I’m going to change your mind, so I’m going to go ahead and give you my blessing.”
I cracked a smile. “Your blessing?”
“You know what I mean. Maybe this will be what you need. Maybe you’ll finally heal. Promise to stay in touch? You’ll call me?”
“Of course I will. I’m not leaving the country; it’s just a different state.” It was my turn to hug her. I had trouble letting go.
She wiped away tears, smearing some of her mascara. “I love ya, Molly.”
“I love you too.”
I made myself continue down the hallway before I could take a look back at my friend and lose it completely. I had a fleeting thought of trying to return my casebooks to the bookstore for some cash—lord knew I needed the money—but I didn’t have the strength. I threw my contracts book in the trash, enjoying the thud it made when it hit the bottom of the empty barrel. Putting the second strap of my backpack on my back, I headed out the door for the very last time.
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Derailed is available now!
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Forever Love: A Friends to Lovers Collections Page 55
