Authors: Tracy Cottingham
Cassie laughed at her sister’s folly. “Maybe he’ll sprout wings and fly
by the window outside too.”
“Everybody wants to be a comedian,” Lonnie launched the pillow she missed her
sister with earlier, and launched a second one a little easier at Abby.
Abby squealed and hopped up on the bed to do battle. She tossed one at
Lonnie, and at Cassie, and kept firing till Lonnie tackled her on the
bed. “Gotcha, you little monster.” She hugged her affectionately,
and patted her on the back. “Go get you’re glow in the dark necklace we
bought earlier so we can blow this joint, and head for the park.”
Cassie was holding the pillow, still staring at the invitation. It had
been so long since she had been to a party of any kind.
“Why are you still here, aren’t you going to get ready?”
“Me? I’m not going, I’m coming with you two.” She heard her
daughter groan at the idea.
“No mom.”
“Don’t no mom me, why can’t I come?”
‘Cause you don’t like to go on any of the fun rides.”
“That’s a lie,” Cassie pretended her feelings were hurt. “The only rides
I don’t like are the ones that go too high, or too fast, or too-” She
stopped. “Oh all right, you two go and have fun. Maybe I’ll see
what this party thing is all about.”
Abby was already heading out the door with her sister. “Excuse me,”
Cassie yelled after her. “Don’t I even get a kiss good-bye around
here?” She was rewarded by her little girl running back in from the
hallway and flinging herself into her arms.
“I love you,” Abby whispered, and gave her a quick kiss.
“I love you too, bear,” she gave her a quick squeeze, and forced herself to let
go. When Abby disappeared again, her sister stuck her head around the
door. “We won’t wait up so take as much time as you need. Oh, and don’t
do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“You really think you’re funny don’t you?” Cassie would have continued
talking but her sister had already gone, and Cassie found herself at the other
end of a closed door. “What do people wear to parties now anyway?”
She asked herself as she headed into the bathroom to try and fix her face, and
deal with a mountain of sopping wet towels. “Oh the hell with it,” she
grumbled and grabbed a pair of shoes from her suit case, “I’m not in the
mood.” She threw the invitation down on the bed, and headed outside to
get some fresh air.
Cassie wandered around the resort,
and ended up at one of her favorite places, the pool. She sat down at the
edge, slipped her sandals off, and let her feet dangle in the cool water.
“Fine!” An angry female voice echoed out into the darkness, back in the
far corner by the Jacuzzi. “If that’s how you’re going to be than I don’t
want any part of it!” It was silent for a minute, and then the sound of a
good hard slap rang out before the woman fled away. Abby told herself not
to be nosy, but her eyes locked with a pair of intense brown ones staring back,
piercing the distance between them.
Cassie’s breath caught in her throat, and she felt the once cool water warm
instantly against her legs. He definitely wasn’t the boy she
remembered. He stood there in a tight, thin white undershirt clashing
against the brilliance of his golden sun bronzed skin. It didn’t leave much to
the imagination as it highlighted the cut muscular lines that ended somewhere
beneath a pair of worn, light baby blue jeans. In her fantasy, he didn’t
wait...
He stripped the clothes from his body and dove in. Midair, the soft
glowing lights of the pool cast against his frame, detailing his flawless
outline. The rounded, firm curves of his legs and thighs and the hollowed
angles of his tightly coiled stomach glowed above the faint blue of the water
below, swallowing him slowly, inch by inch as he hit, and finally disappeared
beneath the surface. He rose from the water, taking his time as he
approached. His hands were nearly shimmering from the glistening droplets
of water tumbling freely on to her legs as he reached for her knees, gently massaging
upward, sliding her skirt to the tops of her thighs. His lips came closer
and she leaned forward, anticipating the rough brush of his cheek against
hers. She waited. He whispered…or rather, he yelled now that she
was thinking about it.
“Are you all right? You look like you’re gonna pass out.”
Cassie shook her head, and looked away, hoping the cool air would calm the
bright red flush she felt taking over her face. She was beyond mortified, and
silently chastised herself for being such a twit.
“I said -”
“I heard you the first time,” she snapped, and then added beneath her breath,
“like you’d really care.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” she turned to face him, but not before crossing her legs, and
lowering her skirt, hoping to force the earlier images from her mind so she
could think clearly.
“You know Cassandra, if you really want to see me so badly, why don’t you just
ask.” He moved around and came up beside her. “Spying seems a bit
much, even for you my dear.”
Cassie didn’t fail to catch the note of sarcasm he seemed to reserve just for
her, and she
secretly berated herself for
fantasizing about such an undeserving man. “I was minding my own business,
having a good time catching some air and enjoying the quiet. Of course, I
do have to admit it was getting a little boring.” She leaned back on her
hands and smiled up at him. “Oh, that is until you got slapped, and from
the sound of it pretty hard too.”
“Yeah,” He rubbed his jaw absently. “She was way too drunk, I should have
known better.”
“What a tragedy.”
He stopped at that comment and almost smiled. “I see you still keep that
razor sharp tongue fresh for the slicing.”
“What’s that saying you’re always so fond of, oh yes, I aim to please.”
He actually smiled at that, and she held her breath, waiting for the
conversation to turn ugly, or for him to shoot back at her with a barb of his
own, or some other stressful exchange.
“You look relaxed, are you enjoying yourself here?” He asked, innocently
enough.
“Other than feeling like a hundred years old where walking around the park and
standing in lines
are concerned, yeah, I’m having a great time.”
He sat down beside her, rolled his pants up, and dropped his feet into the
water next to hers. “Listen, I haven’t really had a chance to apologize
for the crack about your husband. I heard something about it when I got
back, but I didn’t realize it was your man that was killed. I was In
Europe when it happened, giving the foreigners a taste of American stunt
flying, otherwise I wouldn’t have stuck my foot in it when I first saw you.”
She bit her bottom lip, not really sure how to proceed if they were going to
try to have a real, adult conversation without sniping and cutting each other
down. This was the Gunnar she remembered. She was used to his
anger, but his apologies made her very uncomfortable. “It’s okay. I
know you don’t like me much these days, but I also know you wouldn’t go out of
your way to be that hurtful.” She thought about what she had said and
added. “At least not all the time.”
“Now, now,” Gunnar admonished, “play nice, or I might just have to put you in
your place.”
“Yeah, right. Do I get to slap you too if I get offended.” She
batter her lashes.
“No,” he rubbed at his jaw. “I think I’ve had enough of that to last a
while. Besides, if I played by those rules I doubt I’d have much of a
face left by the time you got through with it.”
“Probably not,” she shook her head laughing, “probably not.”
He had been laughing with her, but when he stopped and looked over at her his
face turned serious, caring. “You’re good at hiding things, are you
really doing all right?”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to discuss this, especially with him. But
talking to him again felt so natural, as if they had never missed a beat.
“I don’t know,” she opted for the truth. “You get so used to trying to
convince everyone else that you’re coping, you sort of hope that you’ll start
to believe it yourself one day. But sometimes you turn around and you
catch yourself talking to someone who’s just not there anymore. You start
to share a private joke, or complain about your day, but there’s no one
there. Then it starts to dawn on you that if you’re still talking to thin
air after nine months that maybe you aren’t okay, but you don’t have any
choices.” She knew there was a tear sliding down her face, but she was
too caught up in finally getting to open up to someone to care. “You wake
up each morning with no husband you let yourself get used to, with absolutely nothing,”
she was whispering, “but a brand new day.” She saw tenderness and empathy
in Gunnar’s eyes when she faced him and it made her feel even more exposed then
what she’d admitted. She tried to pull herself back together. “I’m
sorry,” she wiped her face, “I’m sure you weren’t really up for all that when
you asked your question. I - I sort of took advantage when you asked it.
I haven’t really had anyone to talk to, you see, and-” She stopped when his
finger stroked one of her tears away.
“I aim to please,” He said it so quietly, as he continued to banish her
tears, and then as if it was the most natural thing in the world, he gently
placed his arms around her.
Cassie couldn’t believe he was there, with her again, giving her hope that they
could finally leave the past behind. She didn’t realize just how much
she’d missed him. His solace was a drink that flowed to the back of her
parched throat, and ran out and down the front of her lips. It revitalized
everything about her, giving her life and bringing her back from the edge of a
dry, lonely place. She wanted to trust in the caring he had shown was
still a part of him, wanted to believe that she could find a way to bring back
the man that she’d cherished, but it was too easy, and she was afraid.
She opened her mouth to tell him what she was feeling, but he captured it
first.
His kiss was slow, schooled, and she hungrily tasted the cool nip of Sherrie
still resting on his lips. Her heart was pounding, filling her body with
a powerful, rhythmic beating. She placed everything about her in the
warmth of her lips, the touch of her kiss. The best of all possible
apologies to rip the past to shreds and begin again.
“Cassandra,” He spoke her name, cupping the back of her head and deepening his
passionate assault on her senses. “Let’s find somewhere more private,” he
whispered against her hair.
Cassie knew what she’d been playing at, but when she heard his voice she
realized it wasn’t a game. She had to be careful this time, had to be
sure he really felt the same way he used to feel, had be certain he had missed
her as much as she missed him. “Wait,” she pushed gently against his
chest and broke free from his embrace. She wanted to clear things up
first, to take some time to be certain they were both coming from the same
place, but she could tell by his expression he’d misunderstood.
“I’m sorry, I forgot that you were off limits for me,” he shook his head and
quickly jumped to his feet. “Although I must admit, for a
moment you seemed to forget the rule that I can look but I can’t touch, I can
love but I won’t be loved back. Why do you get off teasing me?” He
demanded angrily.
She should have known better. “No, that’s not how I meant it.” She
tried to think, but the breeze was harsh against her body now, and she shivered
from the loss of his warmth, the icy chill of his words. She stood up too
in an effort to calm things down, or at least get an equal stance if nothing
else.
“You must be really hard up to have come to this,” he scowled, leaving no trace
of the man that sat beside her only moments ago. “There was a time I
begged you to let me love you, to get to make love to you, but you were too far
above me then, your standards were too damn high and I didn’t come
anywhere close to meeting them. Christ, I have lost count how many times
I had to listen to you when some loser guy would treat you like trash and you
were hurting, but me, no, never me.” He paced back and forth, ranting as he
walked. “But time has passed baby,” he stopped and pointed at her, “and I gave
up on this dream a long time ago.” He dropped his finger and looked her
square in the face to make sure she got the full effect. “Truth is, I’m
looking at you right now, and you just don’t measure up to me anymore!”
Cassie was blown away. She knew she never should have trusted his mellow
approach earlier, he had played her and waited for the right time to settle his
grudge. He had vented over eight years of anger in less time than it took
her to tie her shoes, and was stupid enough to believe he was going to just
drop all of that in her lap and walk away. She let him get just far
enough ahead to believe his plan had worked, before coming up right behind him
and launching him into the pool. She didn’t ever remember having that
much strength before, but the fat belt on his jeans, combined with the sheer
anger in her heart gave her every means to toss him in.
“I admit that I was young and stupid, and it was my mistake not to have taken
you seriously when you wanted to become more than just friends and in the end
it was definitely my loss, but I never lied to you or manipulated you. I
never once made you think that something was going to happen that didn’t.
That should have been worth something, but nooo. Our friendship should
have meant more, but it damn well didn’t!” She was high up on her horse
now, and having way too much fun getting some of her own back. The sight
of him sputtering and flopping, trying to regain his footing and slipping due
to the element of surprise she’d managed to get over on him was rewarding to
say the least. “By the way, I like you much better when you
keep your mouth shut!” She screamed, and stormed off.
“I bet you do,” he growled, “I just bet you do!”
That last shout proved he wasn’t as far behind her as she hoped, so she sped
up, just in case.
Cassie ran
down the hallway like a school girl, and breathed a huge sigh of relief when
she reached her hotel room. She riffled through her purse to find the
card but that was taking too long, and she nearly peed her pants when a hand
clamped down across her mouth, and a sopping wet lunatic carried her off.
She started to try and fight him, but only succeeded in getting herself soaked
as well. In the end she just decided to wait and see when he had in store
for her. To wait, and to plan.
“What in the Hell do you think you’re doing?” She shouted when he finally
let her go.
“What am I doing?” He ground the words out between his teeth. “I’m
going to get myself dry before I die of embarrassment, that’s what I’m doing.”
He grabbed her by the arm and jerked her inside his room.
“Well, what do you need me for?” Or aren’t you capable of taking care of
yourself.” She rubbed
at her elbow and sat down on the bed, arms and legs crossed.
“I’m capable of a great many things right now, so don’t push it.”
“I’m trembling,” she rolled her eyes and jumped back as he put his face nose to
nose with hers.
“You better be,” he growled, and then backed away.
“You know what Cassie, I don’t know how you do it. You stomp all over me
when we’re kids, not once thinking about how it made me feel to see you out
with that loser Jake, when you wouldn’t even consider me...”