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11
Well, I think your house is fantastic.Cass’s fingers flew across her phone as she waited at the airport.The past couple of days in Hilton Head had been a whirlwind to say the least.The biggest surprise had been how much fun she’d had with Harrison.And that she hadn’t texted Bea once.
It’ll look so much better with a new couch, Harrison said back.He sent a winking face, and Cass shook her head.She didn’t regret saying the couch was too dark—it was—but she could’ve exercised more tact.
He’d taken it well, and the home tour had been wonderful.Several of his rooms sat empty, which she feared hers would as well.She’d only ordered enough furniture for the main level of living, which included her bedroom.All of the rooms upstairs wouldn’t have anything in them until the moving company brought the main contents of the house.Her Christmas decorations, all of West’s things, all of the children’s mementos from their childhood.
She’d promised Conrad she’d make up one of the bedrooms just for him, so he could come vacation at the beach anytime he needed to.He’d come from at least a little bit of her cloth, because he loved the beach, and she’d told him a house or a geographic location didn’t make a home.
It was the people there who mattered, and no matter what any of them did, West would not be walking back through the front door of that house in Texas.
She looked up from her flirt-fest on her phone and let herself gaze at nothing.She could see West on the back deck with those binoculars, making coffee on the weekends before he settled down with the newspaper, or sleeping in his recliner after a long week of work.Those images came easily, as did ones of when he’d taught Conrad to ride a bicycle, and when he’d gone to every one of Jane’s dance competitions, rain, shine, health, sickness, no matter what.
Those things stuck in her mind, but she wasn’t sure what his voice sounded like anymore.She couldn’t place the scent of his cologne either.
Harrison didn’t sound or smell like West, she knew that.It was a different kind of good, and only a pinch of guilt accompanied the thought.
Cass wasn’t sure what tomorrow would hold, and for a woman who liked to make plans, that scared her.Or at least it had every day for the past sixteen months, since West had died.
But now, it almost felt exciting, like she was on an adventure and tomorrow’s could be the best view yet.
A couple of days later,Cass fought the urge to tell her son to slow down.They’d made great time in the drive from Sweet Water Falls to Hilton Head, mostly because Conrad had a lead foot.
He and Cass had alternated the driving responsibilities, and she looked out her window and pressed her lips together.He hadn’t killed them yet, and at this rate, they should arrive at her new house in paradise ahead of schedule.
Which wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t ideal.She’d asked Bea and Grant—and Harrison—to meet her at the house at seven, not six-fifteen.
She didn’t want to unload everything herself, as a new kind of exhaustion Cass hadn’t experienced in a while had descended upon her.She bent to withdraw the bottle of pills from her purse, and she took a couple of painkillers in the hopes that by the time they reached the house, they’d have kicked in.
“Right?”Conrad asked.
“Yep.”Cass looked at her handsome son.They’d actually had a very good drive, with good conversations.He wasn’t as angry today, and Cass’s decision to come to Carolina for a couple of days without him had cooled him off.
Her heartbeat thumped against her breastbone.He’d not handled her leaving Texas very well, and she had no idea how he’d take the news of her dating Harrison.
One date, she told herself.Is one date dating?
She didn’t know anymore, and she cleared her throat.“Are you seeing anyone in Waco?”
Conrad threw her a look.“Really, Mom?”
“Yes, really,” she said, drawing strength back into herself.“College students date, Conrad.It’s not illegal or unheard of.”
He shook his head.“You freaked out when I went out with Allison.”
“You were fifteen.”Cass couldn’t believe that was who’d he’d brought up.“And she was a senior.And she started dating someone else while you two were still together,andshe got pregnant like two months later.I was right to be worried about that.”
Conrad said nothing, but she noticed his fingers tighten on the wheel.“I’m not goin’ out with anyone,” he said.
“You post a lot of pictures.”
“That’s me with my roommates and our floor group,” he said.He cut her a glance out of the corner of his eye.“I did take a girl to a movie or something last month or whatever, but it didn’t really turn into anything.”
Cass nodded.“See?You didn’t die by telling me that.Orwhatever.”
Conrad gave her half a smile, and Cass half-relaxed.She still wasn’t sure how to tell himshewas seeing someone, and she continued to sit on the news.
She hadn’t told Bea either.Or anyone else in the Supper Club, but once they all arrived next week for Independence Day, to see her house, and for Supper Club—which she was hosting earlier in the month and on her new beachfront patio—she’d tell them.
