“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“You, being intimidating.”
I growled. “I can be intimidating.”
“Did you have Marco with you?”
“No.”
Cassidy laughed so hard she had to wipe her eyes, and while I wanted to be mad, I couldn’t be with her peals of joy ringing through the air. It had always been this way with Cass. She was bright and happy and beautiful, even when she struggled.
After she calmed down, I asked, “Why aren’t you upset with him?”
“I never wanted him for keeps.”
“He isn’t your type at all,” I said.
She turned back to her work, forming layers and avoiding my gaze.
“Cass, really. What was the deal with you and him?” I asked.
“He didn’t see me as someone who’d overcome anything. He just saw me as a pretty woman he could screw.”
“A casual round of sex? That sounds more like me than you.”
“Maybe we’re more alike than you think,” she said.
I watched her work again, wondering if it was true, and hating that I didn’t know, just like I didn’t know about her gluten allergy.
“I haven’t spent much time getting to know the grown-up version of you. I’m sorry about that, and I want it to change. It’s why I want to stay and help you with the baby.”
“I don’t need help. There are millions of single moms out there. I’m just one more.”
“And I bet all of those single moms would tell you to accept help when it was offered. Why the sudden need to do everything solo?” I asked.
She blew out an air of frustration. “It isn’t a sudden need. I can accomplish whatever I want, and I don’t need anyone to guide me along.”
“So, this is you thumbing your nose at Mom and Dad for trying to keep you in cardboard and bubble wrap?”
“No.” She shook her head but then stopped. “Maybe.”
I let it go for now, determined to figure out a way to help her.
“What else did you do with your day besides try to torment Clayton?” she asked.
My good humor evaporated. “Did you know about Elana?”
She nodded, and a sense of betrayal hit me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Cassidy looked surprised. “Mom said she told you.”
“She wrote a freakin’ sticky note and pinned it to the middle of a stack of them on the fridge. She didn’t actually tell me.”
Her face fell further. “I’m so sorry. I should have known something was off when you didn’t come home for her funeral. I just thought?”
“That I was an uncaring asshole?”
