“I have to go to school.” Reid’s tone was sullen, by force of habit, but his heart was racing with new hope. If he had money for a bus ticket, he could get out of town forever.
“You sure do. I’ll expect you at four tomorrow. You can work until I close at nine and there’ll be a sandwich for you on your dinner break.
Reid stared at the older man. “You’re shitting me.”
“No, I’m not. A boy your age has to eat.”
Reid blinked. When had anyone last worried about him having a meal? His gut growled at the prospect of a meal anytime soon.
“I’ve got another condition,” Marty said, his voice stern, and Reid’s heart dropped.
“What?”
“You stay away from my nieces, both of them. I don’t want to hear that you so much as talked to either of them, especially Cassie, since you’re in the same grade.”
Cassie Wilson was never going to talk to Reid. She was pretty and smart and from a whole different world. It was easy to give up something he had no chance of ever having.
Marty offered his hand and looking Reid in the eye. “Do we have a deal?”
Anything, but anything, was better than having his father discover that he’d been caught stealing cigarettes. He might not survive another beating.
He might really be able to get away if he had some money.
Reid seized Marty’s hand and shook it, feeling as if something big had changed.
* * *
A much older Reid looked out the windows of his house. Why had he remembered that first encounter with Marty right now? Because Cassie wasn’t just back in town, but because he was meeting her in the morning to have sex. He would be breaking his promise to Marty after all this time, and that made him uncomfortable.
Marty had always been good to him. Tough but fair.
And Cassie had always been his fantasy, maybe because she’d been off-limits. He thought of how she smiled at him, how she’d kissed him, and everything inside him went taut.
Marty was dead.
Cassie was an adult, and old enough to make her own choices.
If Cassie actually showed up, Reid was going to seize the opportunity to be with her. He didn’t believe in ghosts and he didn’t believe in divine retribution. He believed in men doling out whatever they saw as justice with their hands—or whatever came to hand—and a dead man couldn’t enforce a promise.
Still, he didn’t sleep anymore that night.
Four
Cassie couldn’t believe how much noise Emily could make. It was amazing that such volume could be emitted from a comparatively tiny creature.
For so long.
The first wail came at two, just as Cassie had settled into a deep sleep. It surprised her so much that she awakened suddenly and was disoriented as a result. It took her a minute to recognize Tori’s spare room and the source of the unfamiliar noise. She heard Tori hurry down the hall to the baby’s room and didn’t miss Nick’s groan from the master bedroom. She got up and tugged on a purple silk kimono before following Tori.
Emily was red-faced and howling, her little fists clenched as she raged against...something. Tori was rocking her and whispering to her, to no discernible effect. Tori’s short dark hair was tousled and she was only wearing one of Nick’s T-shirts. “Sorry,” she said when she saw Cassie in the doorway. “I hope she didn’t wake you.”
Cassie didn’t say that Emily might be able to wake the dead.
“Can I help?” she asked instead, not certain there was anything she could do.
“Can you hold her for two minutes? I’ll just run to the kitchen and make her a bottle.”
Cassie smiled to hide her horrified response to the suggestion. She had come to help. “Of course.” She stepped closer and reached for Emily, feeling awkward and incompetent. Tori practically dumped the baby into her arms and Cassie had a moment of terror that she’d drop her. Emily bellowed right into Cassie’s face then, and she refused to think the little terror might deserve to be dropped.
“I’ll just shut the door,” Tori said.
Cassie felt her blood pressure rising, just from holding the distraught infant and not being able to do anything about it. “How do you manage this alone?”
“Usually, Nick helps but he’s worn out. I want him to get some sleep.”
Cassie thought they both looked like they needed more sleep. She also thought a ten-foot thick concrete barrier wouldn’t keep Nick from hearing Emily’s crying, but she bit her tongue.
She sat down in the rocking chair that Tori indicated, then bounced Emily a little bit as she’d seen Tori do. It made no discernible difference, but Tori smiled and shut the door behind herself. The sound of her running steps was quiet in the corridor.
“Everything’s fine,” Cassie whispered to the wailing baby, because it seemed like a safe thing to say. “You’re just fine.” She rocked her. Nick had gotten up from dinner to walk around the table with the baby and Tori seemed to be perpetually swinging or bouncing her. It couldn’t hurt. “Home and safe and warm.” Cassie tried to think of something else reassuring to say but came up empty. The infant seized her finger and Cassie let her hang on. “There’s no reason to cry,” she added, certain that Emily wouldn’t even be able to hear her words.
But the baby fell suddenly silent.
It was probably because she didn’t recognize Cassie’s voice, but it was weird to have the sense that the infant had been doing as she’d been told. Emily’s eyes squeezed tightly shut then and she breathed heavily. Was she catching her breath? No, she was panting. Was she going to scream more? Was she having some kind of seizure? Cassie had no idea what was happening or what she should do.
She hoped Tori would be quick.
Should she call her?
Emily chortled and there was a gurgling noise. A smell rose from her diaper that brought tears to Cassie’s eyes.
Well, everyone had to go.
Mission accomplished, Emily bounced a little in Cassie’s arms. Her face became less red and her breathing returned to normal. She kept her death grip on Cassie’s finger and blew some bubbles happily.
“Feel better, huh?” Cassie rocked the chair a bit as well as bouncing Emily. The baby chortled some more, and Cassie thought that might be approval. A good crap, then. That was cause to celebrate. Emily drooled an impressive amount, then began to chew contentedly on her fist.
At least she was quiet. Cassie took a steadying breath herself. “I told you it was all right,” she murmured, relaxing a little bit herself.
Suddenly the baby burped, a burp so loud and fragrant that Cassie blinked. Then Emily seized a fistful of Cassie’s hair, grabbing the end of her braid and jamming it into her mouth.
There was drool everywhere.
And that diaper would be a treat.
It was cloth, too, which meant that someone would have to wash the poop out of it, and do that pretty soon.
Cassie was just thinking that her friend was living a nightmare when Tori opened the door again. She was wearing a robe now and her hair had been brushed. “I took a moment in the bathroom when everything was quiet.” Her eyes lit at the sight of the dozing baby.
“She could have been dead,” Cassie felt compelled to note.
Tori smiled. “Of course not.”
“I really don’t know what I’m doing here. I could have killed her.”
“Nonsense. You’re a natural.”
Cassie snorted and the baby stirred.
“You did great!” Tori insisted. “You have a gift, Cassie.”
“I don’t think so. I do think there’s something in her diaper, though.”
Tori bent close to sniff at it, showing a courage that Cassie couldn’t have emulated to save her life. “You’re right. Here. Give her the bottle and I’ll get the changing table ready.”
“Give her the bottle?” Cassie echoed, thinking it unlikely that Emily could feed herself.
Tori smiled and shook her head. “You really don’t know, d
o you? Just hold it for her, like this.”
“You could do it and I could get the changing table ready.”
Whatever that meant.
“She’s at ease now. It’ll be better to just take advantage of the opportunity and feed her.” Tori angled the bottle and brushed the nipple across the baby’s lips. Emily opened her mouth, then latched onto the nipple and started to drink with enthusiasm.
Given the force of that grab, Cassie thought she might understand why Tori wasn’t breastfeeding. Emily’s suction power was a bit daunting.
“Stop when it gets about here,” Tori said, indicating a level. “If she takes it all, she’ll just barf it up and we’ll have to start over again.”
“Got it,” Cassie said, thinking that sounded very nice.
This was a living hell.
And people chose to procreate. The world was an amazing place.
Tori laughed at Cassie’s expression before she turned to the changing table. It was a dresser with a pad on top. She wiped it off, even though it looked clean, and got a diaper out of the top drawer. “You look so disgusted,” she said, her tone teasing. “I should take a picture. I can taunt you with it when you have your own.”
“That’s not likely to happen soon.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t understand it,” Cassie admitted, watching Emily suckle. “Why do people do this at all?”
“Because it’s right. And it’s nice. She’s adorable.”
“Maybe one day. I don’t see it yet.”
Tori laughed. “You will.” She sat down opposite Cassie, her eyes shining. “Emily’s going to convert you this weekend.”
“To the joys of having children? I don’t think so. I know what causes it and I’ve got that covered.”
Tori smiled at her daughter. “Look at her. She’s so lovely. And the weight of her in your arms feels so right.” She leaned closer again. “She has the most perfect smell.”
“She smells like poop, Tori.”
“Besides that. She smells like powder and formula, softness and baby girl.”
Cassie sniffed tentatively. “Poop,” she concluded. “I’ll bet it’s green, like the stuff the ducks do in Central Park.”
Tori sobered. “Maybe it’s different when you’ve got a successful business to run,” she suggested.
“How so?”
“Well, it would be hard to choose between work and family. I respect that but I don’t have that decision to make.”
“You could have.”
“I know. I could have stayed in New York with you, and I could have danced my way through audition after audition, hoping to get a role. I could have gotten a job waiting tables to support myself and kept after it until I found success.” She wrinkled her nose. “But you know, as much as I loved dancing, and as much as I thought I wanted that success, I didn’t want to pay my dues to make it happen. I found it depressing. I couldn’t do it any longer.”
“It can be depressing to keep striving, seemingly for nothing.”
“Are you going to tell me it builds character?” Tori asked with a smile.
“No,” Cassie said, watching the baby. At Tori’s indication, she lifted the bottle away. Emily blew a few bubbles, her eyes drifting closed. There was something peaceful about her expression and sitting with Tori like this in the baby’s bedroom in the middle of the night prompted a sense of intimacy. A need for honesty. “I’m not sure it does,” she admitted. “It does separate people, though, into those who really want that success and those who don’t.”
“But you had it and you walked away.”
“You mean the Rockettes?”
Tori nodded. “You got the chance we both wanted.”
“And I was proud of it. I worked hard at it. But once I had it, I realized I didn’t want to keep doing that forever. It had been a dream and I’d achieved some small measure of it, only to discover that it wasn’t as satisfying as I wanted it to be.” Cassie shook her head, thinking of Reid and his preference for objectives instead of dreams. “It was brutal, Tori. I’ve never been so tired and so sore in my life, and we had to keep on smiling. It’s quite a drill and dancers who do it at all, never mind those who do it year after year, have my complete respect.”
“So you went back to college to finish that degree.”
Cassie nodded. “The other part of it is that there are more variables than you realize until you’re in the middle of it. I saw that success as a dancer was based on staying strong and healthy, maybe even on staying young.”
Or being lucky. Reid was right: she’d hated that luck would have such a big role to play in determining whether her success would continue.
Of course, he hadn’t been lucky, and his ruined knees had been the end of his dream.
“You knew that before,” Tori reminded her.
“Yes, but I saw that it’s a dream with a best-before date. Even if you ace it, even if you totally rock, it’s going to be over before you’re forty. Maybe thirty. It might be over a lot sooner if you’re unlucky. I wanted something that was going to last longer.” She touched the nipple to Emily’s lips and the baby took it again, but with less enthusiasm than before. Emily looked like she was falling asleep.
“Like Flatiron Five?”
Cassie smiled. “Yes. I like it. It’s a challenge and one that changes constantly. We’re always trying new things and expanding in new directions. And as we age, as we inevitably do, our roles will change, not disappear.”
Tori’s tone became teasing. “And is there another reason?”
“Like what?”
“I thought there might be someone special in New York, keeping you there.”
Cassie shook her head, thinking of Tyler but not wanting to talk about that. “No. I’m just happy.”
“You’re alone.”
“I kind of like it that way. I don’t have to answer to anyone.”
Tori laughed. “Which is proof that you haven’t met the right guy for you.” Her voice dropped. “Because you know, that was the other problem with Manhattan for me. Nick wasn’t there and he never would be.”
Cassie smiled. “You were always crazy for him, weren’t you? All those times we were hanging around the garage, I thought you were just being with me, because I knew you weren’t interested in cars.”
Tori laughed again. “I was there because Nick was there.” She shrugged. “Not that he ever noticed.”
“Don’t be so sure.” Cassie knew her cousin could be inscrutable. “Still rivers run deep.”
“I’ve learned that! But I decided to be more open about what I wanted, so when I came back, I hired him to teach me how to drive a stick. I gave him some story about a car I could get cheap.” Tori reached for Emily then, lifting her out of Cassie’s arms. The baby didn’t stir very much, and Tori put her over her shoulder, patting her back to coax her to burp. There was a loud one right away, then a softer one.
“Did he believe you?”
“No,” Tori admitted with sparkling eyes. “He says I’m a lousy liar.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Cassie teased because she thought exactly the same thing about her friend.
“I don’t think so. Turned out he was looking for an opportunity, and he was the one who told me that I should understand how to do basic maintenance myself and that he’d teach me.”
“And you went to work at the dance school.” Cassie knew that Tori taught at the place where they’d taken lessons themselves, and where they’d become best friends.
“Yes. All those little girls.” Tori smiled. “It’s just the same, you know.”
Cassie wasn’t surprised.
Tori gently placed Emily on the padded table. “I’m going to buy the dance school from Mrs. Miller in the fall, you know. She wants to retire at the end of the year and is making me a good deal.”
“That’s great.” Cassie almost gagged when Tori removed the baby’s diaper, but Tori gave no sign that she even noticed the smell.
She
smiled at Cassie. “You get used to it.”
“Great.”
With efficient gestures, Tori cleaned the baby and wrapped her in a new diaper. Emily seemed to be asleep, which Cassie thought was a promising situation. She yawned.
“I’m excited about it. Emily changed the schedule a bit, but Mrs. Miller agreed to wait.”
“Is Emily going to have sisters and brothers, though?”
“I’d like that,” Tori admitted with a smile. “Nick, too. I think I could coax Mrs. Miller into teaching some classes even after she sells the business to me. We work well together and have a similar style. Of course, she taught me, so that’s why.” She tucked Emily into her crib without waking her and wound up a toy beside the bed that played a tinkling lullaby. She turned down the light and stared down at the sleeping baby, exhaustion in her features but also a happiness that made her radiant. “Isn’t she beautiful?” she whispered.
Cassie swallowed the lump in her throat and put her arm around her friend, glad for her happiness. She looked at Emily, with her dark hair and her dark lashes, her chubby cheeks and her fist in her mouth. “She looks like you,” she whispered.
“That’s what Nick says.”
“He’s right. You two are going to have so much trouble in fifteen years.”
Tori laughed and they hugged each other tightly. “I’ll call on Auntie Cassie to help.”
“I’ll be more help then than now.”
“I’m glad you’re here, Cassie.”
“Me, too.”
“I just want you to be happy, whatever that requires.”
“And I am. It’s not the first time we’ve wanted different things.”
“True.” Tori wrinkled her nose. “Although it would be some kind of twisted if you’d wanted Nick, too, given that he’s your cousin.”
Some Guys Have All the Luck Page 7
