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JJ grinned, a mischievous smile on her face. “Well, I told them you were dating someone and she was gonna come to help you.”
“Dating someone?”
“Duh, dad! Cassie! Who’d you think I was talking about?”
Jamal grinned at his daughter. “Kid, you’re a genius.”
JJ wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into his chest. “I thought so. Do you think she’ll do it?”
“As long as she thinks she’s just helping you and not going with me as a date. I have trouble getting her to sit by me and your games and practically had to beg her to go eat with us. I don’t things she’s quite ready for the date title yet.”
“Leave it to me, daddy-o. She won’t be able to say no to me.”
Jamal hoped his daughter was right. Spending the evening with Cassie sounded like heaven. Even if it was working a kid’s carnival. He just hoped they didn’t get the fishing booth again.
“So, what kind of booth do we have this year? A kissing one?”
“Even better,” he daughter looked up at him and grinned. “We have the hoop shoot.”
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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“I can’t go.CanI go? What do I do? Tell me what to do!” Cassie was pacing back and forth in Callie and Kyle’s gourmet kitchen, wearing a hole in the new hardwood floors. Jamal had just called Cassie to ask if she would help him work JJ’s booth at her school Halloween carnival.Tomorrow.She remembered uttering something about calling him back, throwing down her phone and making a beeline for her best friend’s house.
“Why wouldn’t you go?” Callie asked, stirring the soup she had cooking on one of the six gas burners on her range.
“Wait? You cook?” Cassie asked her, flabbergasted. “When did you start cooking?”
“Since I graduated, got married, started job searching and found Pinterest,” Callie replied with a shrug. “Want to try it? It’s supposed to be a rip off of Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup.”
“No! I don’t want to try it! I want you to tell me what to do!”
“I don’t see what the big deal is. He asked you to go. If you wanna go, go. If you don’t, don’t. It’s not that complicated.”
Cassie stared at her friend. “How is it notcomplicated?”
“Because you say one of two words. Yes. No,” Callie shrugged her shoulders and took a small sip of the soup she had been stirring. “You’ve got to try this, Cass. It really does taste like Panera’s.”
“I don’t even have anything to wear!” Cassie said, ignoring the spoon Callie held out to her. “Apparently, all the parents dress up. I haven’t dressed up for Halloween since my mom took me trick or treating when I was six. There was three feet of snow on the ground and I had to wear a snowsuit over my Cinderella dress. It bunched between my legs and up my butt as I walked from house to house, so much so that my legs were rubbed raw and my mom had to put ice and medicated cream on them for two days!”
Callie burst out laughing. “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
“Well, I’m sure we could find you something to wear. Have you asked Aria?”
“She’s at cheer practice,” Cassie replied.
“Well, you know as well as I do that Aria has magic hands when it comes to putting together a wardrobe or applying makeup. We just need to ask her. Send her a text. Betcha she’ll know how to solve your problem. That is, if you want to go.”
Cassie looked at her friend. “I really want to. For JJ.AndJamal. Apparently some woman threw herself at him last year and he needs me to go so he won’t be paired up with her again.”
Callie laughed again and shook her head. “I remember him telling me about that. She kept trying to grab his, uh,manhood, if I remember correctly. So if you want to go, why all the stress?”
“Because I’m afraid he asked me just to avoid being around that woman,” Cassie responded softly.
“Oh, hon,” Callie said, dropping her spoon on the counter and wrapping Cassie in a hug, “Is that all it is?”
