She went through the articles quickly, the outrage over the incident, the accusations against the other team, the news that Reid needed two knee replacements and would never play football again. There’d been a court case, a lawyer from Reid’s college acting on his behalf pro-bono, as well as a fundraiser from the college and their alumni. The allegations hadn’t been proved, since there was no evidence of a malicious scheme. Spokespeople for the other college called it an unfortunate accident. Still, there were the smirks and cheers, and the unmistakable sense that something had been afoot.
Reid, Cassie noticed, never made any accusations in the interviews. He was always positive, thanking the orthopedic surgeon and the university hospital who had donated his two new knees, the fans who had shown him so much support, the alumni with their fundraiser, the college for continuing his scholarship even though he couldn’t play. He focused on the great run he’d had, on the positive and not on his lost future.
He apparently always looked at the glass as half full. Cassie admired that.
In the end, there had been a settlement, although not a massive one since there was no firm proof that the incident had been planned. There was a generous gift from the alumni association, and that offer from the college for Reid to finish his degree on the scholarship.
He’d taken business courses and graduated with honors.
Cassie sat back and spun in her chair. The money must have been his seed capital, and he’d done well with it, from what she could see. Life had given him lemons, as the saying went, and Reid had made some lemonade. Cassie respected that.
She wondered if he’d ever expected his good fortune to last.
She also wondered if the dark-haired woman had been the one he said had betrayed him. She went back and dug deeper, finally finding a name.
It was on a wedding picture. Shannon Sanders had been married in the chapel at her alma mater a year after Reid’s incident, to the captain of the swim team who was going to the Olympics.
Cassie had never heard of him. She’d guess he hadn’t done that well.
She probably shouldn’t have been so satisfied that Shannon hadn’t gotten what she wanted, after all. If that woman’d had a speck of sense, she would have seen that Reid was worth having, whether his knees were replaced or not.
She looked at lovely Shannon with her sweet smile and wondered if Reid was still in love with her.
If so, he probably always would be.
Maybe he knew a lot more about mooning after someone than she’d guessed.
Cassie would never know.
She sighed, shut down the laptop, and went to move her laundry to the dryer.
Cassie wasn’t the only one who was curious.
Ryan had been gone by the time Reid got back to Tori and Nick’s place, so he’d just excused himself and headed home. He felt restless, though, and found himself in the office of the Shop ’n Save after it was closed Sunday night instead at home. He eyed the old binder on the shelf in the office for a few minutes before he finally took it down. He held it for a few minutes more before he opened it.
Of course, it was meticulously organized. All the names were in alphabetical order by surname, with tabs on the side. Marty’s notes from the retirement home were in the back, separated from the rest. Reid turned to them and read the cover page, written in Marty’s careful handwriting. Marty had noted that while the content was interesting and potentially illuminating, old memories were less than entirely reliable. He would include only the information that he could verify in his main notes. Reid guessed that Marty had intended to double-check all of the stories, but had run out of time.
He fanned through the other pages. He’d never read any of Marty’s notes. In a way, he was afraid of them. Would it be worse if they were accurate or not? And how would he know?
Reid found the page on himself. Name, birthdate, parents. An assessment of his character, which was surprisingly positive, a note about his reputation, which was not. An observation that he took after his mother’s people, which Reid hadn’t known, and that he had tremendous promise. There was a later addition, about his work in the store, then his football prowess, the scholarship, too. Reid glanced at the next page, which was about the incident, and didn’t read on.
He remembered that well enough himself.
He looked at the reference for his father and was surprised how accurately Marty had guessed what happened in that house. There was no disguising Marty’s satisfaction in the details of Reid’s father’s death.
Apparently, a person could learn a lot by keeping his eyes open and listening.
Reid looked up Cassie and sat down on the desk to read her uncle’s assessment of her character and history. Marty’s pride shone through his words, as well as his conviction that something was amiss. There was a lot of family history documented there, and Reid closed the binder, certain it wasn’t his business.
He wondered, as he had before, what was the point of Marty’s book. Had Marty just liked to know what was going on in Montrose River? Once Reid had accused him of recording lives instead of living one. He’d spent every Saturday night in this office updating his notes.
Reid thought of Cassie’s confession and wondered if the book could give her some closure, or help her to mend fences with her family. It could be argued that Marty had left it for his nieces, not to collect dust on a shelf in the grocery store.
He opened it again and looked up Ryan. No surprise: Marty had seen right through him. There was no litany here of how nice Ryan was.
Marty called him a snake in the grass.
He noted the probability of Ryan being responsible for Cassie’s pregnancy, along with his constant companion.
Chase Stewart.
Reid looked up Chase and found a succinct but scathing entry. He removed that page, copied it, and replaced the original in the binder. He nodded as he replaced the book on the shelf, thinking that somehow he had to be able to help Lionel Stewart more than by just giving the kid a part-time job.
Ten
Cassie stopped in to see Chynna on Monday at F5. The tattoo artist was organizing her workspace under the watchful eye of her pet raven. There was no one else in the shop and technically, it wasn’t open for business for a few more hours.
“Got a moment?” Cassie asked after knocking on the door.
Chynna smiled. “Of course.” The older woman was dressed in black as usual. Cassie always thought she looked like the heroine of an action comic. Though Chynna was really trim, Cassie had never seen her work out.
“I just wondered if you could look at my tattoo,” she said. “It’s really itchy and I wondered if it’s gotten infected or something.”
“It’s a bit late for it to be getting infected, since you’ve had it about three months.”
“Then why is it so itchy? It’s throbbing.” Cassie took off her jacket, turning so that Chynna could see the tattoo on her upper arm.
“Looks fine to me,” the other woman said lightly.
“But this bit is so red.”
“The little heart,” Chynna said. “The secret heart I gave you at the full moon. It’s supposed to be red.”
Cassie met her gaze. “Is it supposed to be swollen?”
“It’s not really swollen. Just aware.”
“Aware?” Cassie didn’t understand.
Chynna smiled. The raven bowed, nodding his head, and cawed. He could have been laughing at her.
“Do you mean it’s working? That I’ve found my true love?”
“You tell me.” Chynna was evasive, but Cassie really didn’t expect much different.
She was impatient with the suggestion, even though she knew how the tattoo was supposed to work. Truth be told, she’d thought it was just one of Kyle’s propaganda tricks. “How can a tattoo know if I’ve met my partner for life?”
“It’s not just a tattoo. It’s an area of your skin that is sensitized.”
“I have a hard time believing that.”
“
Why? Have you met him?”
“No, I’m sure I haven’t.”
“That sounds like you aren’t sure at all.”
Cassie glanced back into the lobby, then closed the door behind herself. “I met someone again this past weekend, someone I knew years ago, and we had a great time, but that was it.”
“Was it?”
“Yes. It was just a fling.” Cassie wondered who she was trying to convince. “There’s no future in it.”
Chynna nodded. “I see. Is that all you want?”
“It was all I wanted.”
Chynna’s smile turned even more mysterious. “And now?”
Cassie folded her arms across her chest. “He knows how he is, what he wants and what he’s capable of. He didn’t deceive me. He didn’t make any promises. I knew what I was getting into and we both kept our end of the bargain. The sex was great.”
“But?”
“But I haven’t had enough.”
“You want more sex?”
“Well, yes, but I want to talk to him more, too.” Cassie shrugged. “I know he’s done with it. He might even be in love with someone else. Either that, or he doesn’t believe in love.”
“Don’t you think you should find out?” Chynna asked lightly. “How do we really know what other people want or think or feel?”
“I could ask him.”
“Sounds like maybe you should.” The older woman was in the act of turning away but then pivoted to face Cassie, as if she’d abruptly decided to say more. “We tend to think that things just happen for us, that love will fall into our laps and that all we have to do is to be receptive to it. That’s plenty, but it’s not always enough.”
Cassie was intrigued. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
“Sometimes you have to reach for what you want, Cassie. Sometimes you have to tell the universe, or one other person, what you want from them in order to even create the possibility of having it. If you really want something, ask for it.”
It sounded so simple. So obvious.
If she wanted more from Reid, she should ask for it. She could open another negotiation and maybe he’d agree.
Cassie rubbed her arm and wondered what she’d suggest to him.
By the middle of the week, the solution would be obvious.
“Hey, Lionel.” Reid sauntered out of his office on Monday afternoon, trying to look casual when he’d actually planned this exchange with care. Lionel’s mom, Lisa, was in the store and was speaking to her son.
Lionel jumped to his feet, looking guilty, and knocked over a carton of canned kernel corn. “Yes, sir?” he said, blushing furiously.
Lisa, who was thinner than Reid remembered, turned away as if to continue her shopping. There wasn’t a whole lot in her cart and what was there was either cheap, on sale, or from the discounted shelf.
Reid frowned at the keyboard he was carrying, as if he hadn’t noticed any of this. “You’re good at math, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Because I have this problem with the farmers’ market and I can’t figure it out. It’s like one of those math puzzles we used to get in school.”
“I love those,” Lionel said and Reid noticed that Lisa glanced back. She smiled a little, proud of her son, and Reid’s heart squeezed.
“That’s what I thought,” Reid said. “So, I was wondering if you could help me out. You see, there are a lot more vendors at the market now. We’re pretty much out of space, but I don’t want to move it because no one would know where to find it, and I don’t want to expand into the lot here, because the parking is necessary for shoppers.”
“I get it.” Lionel said, peering at Reid’s sketch.
“And they have needs. These vendors want to sell from the backs of their trucks, which means they have to be over here, where they can back in. These vendors want to set up tables and these vendors actually have canopies to set up.”
“Uh huh.” Lionel was scanning the lists and his mom was looking.
“These vendors want to be in the sun and these vendors want to be in the shade. These vendors want to be close to each other, which makes sense. They’re kind of making a dairy zone. The vendors who have birdseed want to be near the people selling fresh flowers. These vendors have crafts and don’t want to be mixed in with the food. And no one wants to be beside the vendor who makes soap, especially the vendors with dairy.” He threw up his hands. “It seems there should be a way to make everyone happy, but I can’t figure it out.”
“It is like a puzzle,” Lionel said. “My mom is really good at this kind.”
“Really?” Reid looked after Lisa, trying to look hopeful. “Could you help, Lisa?”
“I could try.” She came back, eyes bright with curiosity and reached for his clipboard. Her cuff pulled back a bit and Reid saw the yellow edge of an old bruise. He hid his response, well aware that Lionel was watching him. She was scanning his notes. “What if you made aisles, like in a grocery store? All the people who want to sell from their trucks have produce, so you could put them in a line here, then put other produce vendors across the aisle...”
Reid gave her a pencil and turned to a fresh sheet of paper. She sketched, erased, bit her lip, then sat down on a carton and worked quickly. In a few moments, she handed Reid a layout with each vendor assigned a spot.
“This is amazing. You are good at this, Lisa!”
“It’s not a big deal,” she said.
“I disagree,” Reid said.
“She should get paid for helping you,” Lionel said with loyalty.
“She should,” Reid said, ensuring that his gratitude was in his tone. “In fact, it would be great if I could hire someone to run the farmers’ market for me. I just don’t have the time to ensure that all the vendors are happy and that things run smoothly.”
Lisa turned to look at him, her eyes wide.
Reid gestured with the clipboard. “I think you’d be great at it.”
Her mouth opened and closed, but she didn’t say anything. “I have a lot to do,” she prevaricated, the yearning in her tone indicating just the opposite
“We could use the money, Mom,” Lionel said.
Lisa blushed and smiled at him. “But your father likes to have everything just right at home.”
“How about I talk to Chase?” Reid suggested heartily. “I really need your help, Lisa. I mean, there’s so much that could be added here. If the market had a website, we could promote all the vendors, and let people know if we relocated it.”
“You could design a website, Mom. I’ll help you. There are applications...”
Reid could see that Lisa was intrigued. “I’ve got to go pick up some stuff in Bailey’s Corners tomorrow. I could stop in at the plant and talk to Chase on his lunch.”
“Would you?”
“Of course.” Reid grinned. “This looks like a perfect solution to me, which means I’m feeling persuasive.”
At that, Lisa Stewart, for the first time in as long as Reid could remember, smiled.
Ally called Monday night. Cassie wondered if the news was good or bad as she answered the phone.
“Hey Ally-cat,” she said cheerfully. She was home, trying to sort out her closet.
How had she ended up with so many pairs of shoes?
How was it possible that she loved them all too much to get rid of any of them?
“I started,” Ally said grimly. “As soon as I did the test and left the doctor’s office, I started. It’s always this way.”
Cassie tried to find the bright spot. “Well, maybe it’s better.”
“How can it be better?”
“When you go to see Jonathan, it’ll be because you want him. He can’t think that you only came because you need to raise a child together. In a way, it’s simpler.”
“Okay,” Ally said slowly. “But then there’s no reason for him to agree to come back either.”
“He said he loved you forever!”
“I think you can love some
one but not want to be with them.”
“I don’t believe it,” Cassie insisted. “Go, tell him how you feel, and let him answer, instead of trying to anticipate how he might answer and using that as an excuse not to do anything.”
Ally exhaled. “It would be easier if Mom wasn’t here.”
“Everything is easier if Mom isn’t around.”
Ally laughed a little. “You’re both just so strong. That’s why you don’t get along.”
“I think you’re strong, too, but in a different way.”
“Well, I get bent a bit beneath the force of stronger personalities, that’s for sure.”
“But you don’t snap. That’s strength.”
Ally was silent. “It’s easier with Jonathan around.”
“Because he loves you just the way you are?”
“Yes.” There was happiness in Ally’s voice for the first time, but it was gone when she continued. “He did, anyway.”
“You know, I think you have to fight the hardest for the things that are the most important.”
“I’m not a good fighter, Cassie. I’m not like you.”
“Maybe you need the motivation to try. Do you really love Jonathan?”
“Yes!”
“Enough to let him know before he walks away for good? You have to tell him, Ally, so he can decide with all the information.”
Cassie could hear her sister thinking. “I don’t feel like I can make a good argument for myself right now,” Ally admitted softly and Cassie felt like her heart was ripping.
“And you won’t come to New York,” she guessed.
“I can’t afford it.”
“Even if I treat?”
“I want to see Jonathan, but I want him to take one look at me and know we should be together. If I go now, that won’t happen.”
Cassie realized she could do the same for her sister as she’d done for Tori. “Okay, I’m going to call Millie after we get off the phone and book you in for the whole enchilada tomorrow at her salon. You’ll come out of there looking and feeling great.”
“Cassie!”
“And then, you’re going to drive to Chicago on Wednesday.” Cassie was searching restaurants on her laptop. “And you’re going to go shopping at Nordstrom’s. I’m booking you an appointment with a personal shopper at noon.”
Some Guys Have All the Luck Page 19
