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“Suing the pants off all those corporate jackasses will help too.” Kiki raised a cookie as a toast.
Auntie Kay clicked her tongue. She said, “Kailani, language.” Mama T held up her own cookie and said, “Here, here.” The room laughed.
“That means more to me than you could ever imagine.” Cassie had spent years struggling to make peace with her abilities. She had helped countless people, but they didn’t know what she had done to give them that peace of mind. The Broussards understood what she had endured. “Y’all have made me feel more accepted in the last couple days than I’ve felt in my entire life. You’ve done as much for me, trust me.”
“Accept nothing less,” Kiki shouted.
Cassie’s heart swelled with love for this family. She didn’t know what the future had in store for her, but she was sure she wanted it to include Jason and Granny Mabel and Kiki and all the rest of them. If she could spend an evening crying and laughing and eating cookies and never once feel self-conscious for what she could see or do, she figured this was something she’d fight to hang onto.
Hours later, after all the cookies disappeared and eyes were drooping, Jason drove Cassie back to her hotel. He held her hand as he walked her to her room. When they reached the door, neither one of them rushed to say goodbye.
Jason broke the silence first. “I think this is the most time we’ve ever spent with each other.”
“We can’t admit that to Magdalena.” Cassie smiled up at him. “She’ll never let us forget it.”
He chuckled. It was a low rumble that shifted something in Cassie’s stomach. “I wish this had been under different circumstances, but I don’t regret spending a single minute with you, Cassie.”
“I feel the same way.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Jason smiled. “Don’t make any sudden movements.”
Cassie froze. “Why?”
“Because I’m going to kiss you now.”
Cassie’s brain had just enough time to register the words before Jason stepped closer and pressed his lips against hers. She felt every point of his body that touched hers, from his lips to his fingers curled around her waist. The happiness that filled her heart threatened to explode right out of her chest.
When they broke apart, they were breathless. Cassie smiled up at him. “I’d say that went better than the first time.”
He looked as dazed as she felt. “Much better.”
“When we get back to Savannah, maybe we could do it again?”
“The kissing or the whirlwind adventures?”
“Well, you’re bound to get one if you want the other.”
“I’m okay with that.”
Jason took her face in his hands and kissed her again. Something uncoiled in her stomach. He pulled her closer, and everything inside her screamed to invite him in. But something told her there would be plenty of time for that later.
When they broke apart for a second time, Jason took a step back and shoved his hands deep inside his jacket pockets. “If I don’t leave now, I never will.”
“I know.” It made her heart flutter to hear him say that. “Text me?”
“Of course.” He leaned in and kissed her once on the lips, then placed a tender kiss on her forehead. “And text me when you land tomorrow.”
“I will.” She was dizzy with excitement as she watched him walk down the hall. He looked back once when he reached the corner, smiled, and then disappeared. Cassie wasn’t even sad. The prospect of seeing him again once they were home was enough to keep her spirits high.
Once inside her room, Cassie began the arduous task of throwing all her clothes back into her suitcase. She was grateful she had packed some extra outfits in case of emergency, but for now, all she wanted to do was get a full night’s rest. It wasn’t until she’d attempted to stuff the paperwork from the museum into a side pocket in her suitcase that she realized something was already there. Once she pulled the envelope out, she remembered slipping David’s letter inside in case she could gather the courage to open it.
This entire trip had been a distraction from what had happened in Savannah. What had happened to David. She’d used it as an excuse to leave her problems behind, only to realize it had delayed the inevitable. Seeing
Jason confront the death of his cousin and his family grateful for any scrap of truth had been enough to make her realize she needed to know what happened to David. Otherwise, his death would forever be an unanswered question bouncing around inside her brain. And if that had been David in the graveyard, encased in shadow, she owed it to him to figure out whether he was in a better place or if something sinister took over to his soul.
Celeste Delacroix’s words made their way back to her. This trip will be good for you, Cassie Quinn. And as difficult and heart-wrenching as it had been, Cassie couldn’t argue with that.
With another second’s hesitation, she slipped a finger under the flap of the envelope and flipped it open. A single piece of white paper, folded in thirds, rested inside. Lisa had said David wrote it about a month ago. It still smelled faintly of his aftershave. Her eyes welled as she breathed it in. A flood of memories came back at once, but she pushed them aside. There would be time to explore each of those in turn. Preferably alongside Harris or Lisa or even her sister. And an enormous glass of wine.
