by Unknown
“Paint? Already?” It would be so difficult not to take a peek downstairs when paint fumes replaced sawdust. Her basement was finally coming together, and she couldn’t see it until it was all done.
“If all goes well, I should be done in a couple more weeks.”
A smile stretched across her face. “I finished the vanity over the weekend.”
“Can I see it?”
“Only if you promise to not call it kitschy or gaudy or any other synonym.”
He smiled. “I’ll try to keep my opinions to myself this time.”
“Good.”
He followed her out to the cool garage, and she flipped on the light. All evidence of sawdust, sandpaper, or paint cans had been removed, and all that was left was a newly painted antiqued vanity. Cassie watched his expression as he examined it.
“You did a good job on the paint,” he finally said.
She laughed at his attempt to say something positive and stepped next to him. “I hate it.”
“What?” His head swung around to face her.
“I said I hate it.” Every time Cassie walked into the garage, she liked it less and less. But she’d still painted it, still glazed it, and still lacquered it. It was like she’d wanted to prove that she could turn the ugly duckling into a swan of a vanity.
It hadn’t worked.
“Since when?”
“Since I realized you were right about Landon never seeing it and me having to live with it.” She shook her head. “I should have listened to you.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
She shrugged. “For now? Keep it. We’ve already ordered the sink and counter, and it’s painted and ready to go. Someday, I’ll replace it with something else—maybe something we both like.”
Noah watched her closely. One at a time, he picked up her hands, interlocking them with his. “Does my opinion really matter?”
Cassie drew in a deep breath. “Yes.”
His gaze traveled from her eyes to her lips, and Cassie’s heart sped up. She lifted her face to his, and he met her halfway, stopping inches from her face. The warmth of his breath teased her senses.
“Do I still have to wait six months to kiss you again?” he murmured. “Because I really, really want to kiss you right now.”
“Did I say six months?” Cassie said. “Because I meant six days.”
“I’m in luck then. It’s been six days.”
“No, it has only been five days and twenty-two hours.”
“But I’ve already warned you. I round up.” Not giving her a chance to argue, his lips pressed firmly against hers. There was no hesitancy, no easing his way into the kiss this time. He was just there, crushing her against him with a confidence she envied. How could he be so sure about her? Where were his doubts, his worries, his hang-ups? Where?
Cassie didn’t want to wait two years for that confidence to come. She wanted it now. So she kissed him back and she kissed him hard, yearning for the same assurance that seemed to come so easy to him.
Maybe if she let him carry her for a while, it would.
Three weeks had never passed so fast. As April became May and the days grew longer and warmer, Cassie found herself spending nearly every day with the Mackie family. Noah would work four nights a week on her basement, reserving Wednesdays and weekends for his girls and Cassie. They went hiking and biking. They’d picnicked in the park, dropped by a local petting zoo to feed the animals, had dinner with Emma and Kevin, and rode horses at the McCoy’s ranch. They’d eaten together, worked together, and played together.
Cassie found that their relationship settled into a slow and steady pattern. He kissed her every chance he got, but that was okay. They were getting to know each other, trying on what it would feel like to be an actual family, and exploring what could be. They were dating. Taking their time dating.
Cassie looked forward to every single evening with the Mackies.
“Look, Adi, Aunt Becky’s here!” Kajsa’s voice called from the foyer.
From inside the studio, Cassie glanced through the open door to see Becky giving the girls hugs.
“Guess what?” Becky said to them. “Instead of going home with Cassie, you get to come with me. I have pizza in the car and a movie waiting for you at home. Who’s excited? I know I am. It’s been way too long since I’ve gotten to spend time with my two favorite girls.”
“Is it a horse movie?” Kajsa asked, moving from her heels to her toes the way she always did when excited.
“It’s a surprise.”
Cassie slipped past a few students and walked into the foyer to meet them. “Becky, hey. What’s up?”
“Girls, run and change your shoes while I talk to Cassie for a sec, okay?”
The girls complied, and Becky smiled. “I’m giving you the night off,” she said. “Actually, Noah’s giving you the night off.”
But Cassie didn’t want the night off.
“Something came up at his work, so he asked me to pick up the girls tonight. Didn’t he tell you?”
“He probably texted, but I’ve been in class.” Cassie had planned to make his favorite dinner tonight. The salmon was marinating in her fridge, the fruit was ready to cut up, and the Caesar salad ready to be thrown into a bowl. But now there would be no one to eat any of it. No homework to help the girls with. No hugs, snuggles, or kisses.
And no Noah.
Cassie chided herself for being silly. Good grief. It was only one night. She could handle being away from the Mackies for one night.
“Is everything okay?” Cassie asked. “With Noah, I mean?”
Becky waved off her concern. “I think that crazy woman who keeps changing her mind has struck again. Poor Noah. I’m sure he’s more than ready to be done with that house.”
Cassie nodded. “I could have still watched the girls. He didn’t need to call you.”
“He’s probably going to be home late and wants them in their own beds.”
Cassie could have driven over there and put them to bed. It wouldn’t have been a problem at all. She glanced at the girls, feeling a strange reluctance to entrust them to anyone else—even Becky. Which was crazy. Adi and Kajsa weren’t hers, and if there was an award for mother of the year, it would go to Becky. No question.
Adelynn finished changing and grabbed Cassie’s hand. “Can’t you come with us?” The hope in her beautiful brown eyes warmed Cassie’s heart.
“She’ll come another time,” said Becky. “Tonight is Cassie’s night to catch up.”
Cassie did have a lot to catch up on, especially when it came to her job with Hansen Imaging. She crouched down and gave Adelynn a hug, then Kajsa. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? And maybe this weekend we can go to the ranch.”
They smiled and leapt and danced all the way out the door—even Kajsa. The moment they disappeared, though, loneliness echoed off the walls. She retrieved her phone from her bag, hoping to find a missed call from Noah so she’d have an excuse to call him back. But there was nothing. Not even a text.
Cassie had never complained about falling behind. She’d never given Noah any indication that watching the girls was too much for her because it wasn’t. So why did Noah feel the need to ask Becky to step in, and why didn’t he bother telling her about it? Did he really think she needed some time away from the girls? Or was it the girls who needed time away from her?
Cassie forced a smile as she said goodbye to the last of her students and their parents. Then she took her time cleaning up. When she was married to Landon, working and cleaning had become an outlet for her emotions. It didn’t matter how she was feeling. Frustration, anger, hurt, sorrow—she’d shared all of it with the floor and dishes, mirrors and dusting cloths.
Around her, the floor suddenly looked filthy, the chairs disordered, and the glass a little foggy. Cassie yanked open the storage closet and got to work.
Noah glanced at his watch one more time. Only two minutes had passed since the last time he’d check, but it
felt like fifteen. Cassie’s concrete porch steps were getting harder and colder, so he shifted positions and leaned forward, resting an elbow on his knees while he fiddled with a black bandana in his hands. What was taking her so long? His heels moved up and down, bouncing his arms as he squinted into the darkening sky for her white sedan. Did she need to stay late for something? Did she stop by the store? Go out for dinner?
Noah should have thought of those scenarios before he’d made the decision to surprise her. Becky could have hinted that she needed to go home right away—for… some reason.
He glanced down the street one more time, then leaned back on his elbows, making himself as comfortable as concrete steps would allow. Cassie would have to come home sooner or later, and he’d be right here when she did.
Twenty minutes later, when his eyes were beginning to drift closed, the sound of a car bumping into the driveway woke him up. Finally. He stifled a yawn as he sauntered over to her car, opening her door before she had a chance.
Her eyes widened when she saw him. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting… and waiting… and waiting. Sheesh, what took you so long?”
“I was cleaning the studio.” Her brow furrowed. “Becky said you had to work late. She took Adi and Kajsa and—”
“I know. I asked her to.” He held out his hand, and when she made no move to take it, Noah reached for hers, easing her out of the car.
“Why?” she said. “If you ever have to work late, I can keep them. I can even go over to your house and put them to bed. I really don’t mind. In fact—”
“Cass.” He pulled her into his arms and breathed in the flowery scent of her hair. “I called Becky tonight because I’m being selfish and wanted you all to myself. I have a surprise for you.”
“Surprise? Really?” She smiled, and her dimple appeared. “I love surprises.”
“I hope you love being blindfolded too.” He pulled the black handkerchief from his pocket and moved behind her. “Now close your eyes.”
She twisted around with excited eyes. “Is the basement done?”
Noah rolled his eyes. “Do you have any idea how much effort—and patience—it took for me to try to surprise you tonight? The least you can do is pretend not to know what it is.”
“But is it?”
He manually turned her back around. “Like I already told you,” he said as he tied the blindfold around her head. “It’s a surprise.”
Once inside, she kicked off her shoes and latched on to his elbow. Noah smiled at the way she was too excited to hold still. He used to think she was so stiff and refined—incapable of letting go. But now he knew better. Underneath all that poise and polish was a complicated and vulnerable woman with a heart the size of Texas and a smile that brightened the world.
He dropped a kiss on her forehead, then led her carefully down the stairs.
“Ooh, the carpet is so soft. I love it.”
At the bottom of the stairs, she lifted her nose and sniffed the air. “Something smells good,” she murmured.
Noah glanced at the Chinese takeout boxes resting on a large blanket in the middle of the dance floor. “It would have tasted good too if you hadn’t decided to go all neat freak on me.” He moved behind her. “Ready?”
“Ready.” The blindfold came off, and Cassie’s eyes squinted as they adjusted to the light. Then they widened, and she looked around in awe. She ran her palm across the smooth, shiny surface of her new wooden floor. She opened closets, tested out the light switches, and made water spurt from the drinking fountain. She squished her toes into the soft carpet in the family room, brushed her fingers across the stone surrounding the fireplace, touched the mantle, and flipped a switch. The fire poofed to life, and she grinned.
Lastly, she checked out the bathroom. A quiet gasp sounded when she spotted the non-kitschy vanity that Noah had found and refinished in that antique glaze she loved.
He shuffled his feet, waiting. Did she like it? She stood with her back to him, staring at the one change he’d made without her permission. Maybe she hated it. Maybe she hated him for not running it by her first. But Noah had wanted to surprise her. The moment he’d spotted the vanity with it’s simplistic, old world charm, he’d been so sure she’d love.
But maybe he’d been wrong.
She turned around, and her eyes were filled with tears.
Good tears? Bad? “We can switch it out,” he rushed to say. “I was hoping you’d like it. But if you don’t, we can—”
She rushed forward and threw her arms around him with a half sob, half laugh. “I love it. I love it all. I love you.” She rose to her tip toes and pressed her warm lips against his.
His mouth lifted into a smile that slowly faded as he kissed her back. His arms encircled her back, crushing her against him. Noah once thought that three dimensions were the most he could experience in this life. But when Cassie kissed him the way she was now, when the words “I love you,” came from her mouth, his world unfolded to take on another dimension—a dimension that couldn’t be seen, only felt, touched, tasted. And Noah felt everything. Her fingertips pressing into his back. Her body locked against his. Her soft lips that tasted like cherries. And something else—something that was happening inside him. Something warm, exciting, and good.
Noah used to think that he could never love anyone the way he’d loved Angie. But Cassie had shown him otherwise. With Angie, it had always been him and her or him and the girls. Their family had felt compartmentalized, like a house with too many walls and doors separating them. But with Cassie, there were no walls or closed doors. Everything was wide open and welcoming—big enough for the three of them. Big enough for anyone who wanted in.
Noah wanted that house. That floor plan. That life.
“Marry me, Cassie,” he breathed against her lips. “Marry me.”
Her fingers stiffened at the nape of his neck, her muscles tensed, and her mouth stopped moving against his. She pulled back and looked up at him. In her eyes, Noah saw a swirling mass of worry, confusion, and fear. There was no hope and joy. Only anxiety.
That’s all it took for that extra dimension to shatter, plunging him into a one-dimensional world of black lines with no shapes or color. His hands slid from her face to his pockets, and he took a step back, not breaking eye contact. Two steps back and then three. When he was walking away, the anxiety in her expression didn’t hurt him as much. That’s when he wanted to see it, when he should see it. Only when he was walking away.
“Noah, please… try to understand. It’s too soon… and I’m scared.”
“Of what?” asked Noah. “Do you honestly think I’ve been pretending to be something I’m not? That I’ll turn into a version of Landon after we get married?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then why are you scared?”
She shook her head, and her tears—once happy tears—dripped down her face like a leaky faucet. “I just need more time, that’s all.”
“More time for what?”
“To be sure.” She sniffed and ran the back of her hand against her cheeks.
Noah looked away from the sorrow that filled her eyes. His jaw worked back and forth as he fought an internal battle to not argue. But it was hard. He wanted to put her on the witness stand and take on the role of a cross-examiner. He wanted to get to the bottom of her waffling and figure out exactly what made her so unsure. He wanted to prove her wrong; prove to her that what they had together may not be an absolute—because nothing was absolute—but it was as close to a sure thing as two people could get in this life.
Why couldn’t she see that? Why couldn’t she believe in that?
Cassie’s hands felt cold as they closed over his. She squeezed them, bringing Noah’s attention back to her. “I’m not saying no,” she said. “Believe me, I want to say yes. More than anything, I want to say yes. There’s no doubt in my mind I’m falling in love with you. But that’s all I’ve been doing since I met you—falling. I need some t
ime to land on solid ground again and… make sure.”
Noah let out a breath as she wrapped her arms around him. He rested his chin on the top of her head and held her close. Yes, he could wait and be more patient. But what if Cassie never got there? What if she never landed on that solid ground?
He dismissed the thought the moment it arrived, refusing to believe that was even a possibility.
Cassie looked up at him. Her eyes and nose were a blotchy shade of red that made her hair look almost orange. Noah smiled and wiped away the last of her tears with his thumbs.
“You’d better not break my heart,” he said.
“I won’t if you won’t.”
“Deal.”
She pulled his head down to hers and kissed him lightly on the lips. Once, twice, thrice. Then she tucked her face into the crook of his neck and murmured, “Do you think that Chinese food is still okay to eat? Because I’m starving.”
Noah squeezed her one last time before pulling her toward the blanket. “Let’s go see.”
“I really love our basement.”
He stopped and glanced back. “Our basement?”
“Yes. Ours. You designed and built it. I just own it.”
Noah smiled. “What about the vanity? Are you sure you love that too?”
“I really do. It’s beautiful and not kitschy at all.” She smiled. “Where did you get it?”
They sat down on the blanket, and Noah began opening Chinese takeout boxes. “Remember that crazy lady I’m working with right now?”
“How could I forget?”
“Well, she changes her mind on vanities too. She purchased that one from a small shop that didn’t take returns, so I offered to buy it from her.”
“Was it expensive?”
A low chuckle sounded. “It depends on how you look at it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say she gave me a really good deal to make up for all the headaches she’s given me. But if you count all the hours I’ve spent dealing with her and making all her changes, then yeah, it’s very expensive.”
Cassie laughed. “What did you do with the other one?”
