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She shoved her phone between her thigh and the armrest. Closing her eyes, she leaned back into the massage chair. Hopefully she was conveying complete relaxation.
In reality, her pulse jumped when her phone buzzed again. She cracked an eye open. Rachel was back to playing something—almost certainly Pet Rescue—on her own phone. It was probably safe.
Maintaining the straightest face possible, Erin opened her messages.
Cassie [1:38 PM]
Happy birthday. I hope you get everything you want
How did Cassie even know it was her birthday? Parker must have told her, obviously. But Erin wasn’t thinking about her daughter.
She’d been thinking of Cassie even before the other woman texted. It’d been three weeks since Erin had driven Cassie to the airport, but she still thought about her. Too often. She couldn’t take a shower without blushing. Well, blushing and wishing Cassie were there with her.
Erin didn’t know what to text back. She wanted to flirt. Wanted to say she couldn’t get everything she wanted, not with Cassie in Virginia. It was her birthday. She was allowed to daydream about fucking her daughter’s friend if she wanted to. She was allowed to pretend she didn’t do it most days with no excuse.
All she ended up texting wasthank you.
Then she deleted the messages. She didn’t trust Rachel not to try to rip the phone from her hands the second they got out of the salon.
Fifteen
CASSIE
It was the first week of February and Cassie was thinking about doing something stupid.
She and Erin had texted twice since winter break: Erin’s initial text about getting sick, then Cassie wishing her a happy birthday.
And now Cassie was online, looking at 1800flowers.com, thinking about doing something stupid.
Everything was insanely expensive and roses would be too much, right? She shouldn’t be doing this. Parker said Erin was working Valentine’s Day. What if she didn’t want flowers at work? It was all too much and too expensive and too stupid.
Cassie debated for thirty minutes before sending lilies. The ones that were white with dark pink toward the inside of them. As soon as the order went through, she wanted to call the company and cancel it. Instead, she closed her laptop.
“Why don’t you come to our anti–Valentine’s Day movie night?” Parker asked.
She was sprawled across Cassie’s couch, clicking through Facebook on Cassie’s computer. Cassie was looking in her fridge, deciding if she was hungry enough to make something or if she should just wait till the caf opened for dinner.
She didn’t take her head out of the fridge to ask: “You mean your actual–Valentine’s Day date?”
“It’s not a date,” Parker sighed. “Her friend Gwen’s gonna be there.”
That got Cassie’s attention. “Your girl is friends with Gwen? Like, looks-like-she-could-kill-you-but-you-might-enjoy-it Gwen?”
“She’s not my girl,” Parker said. “And yeah, the same Gwen you hit on at a party that you were so drunk at I had to pick you up.”
Cassie refused to engage on that particular subject. “You and Sam made out in public months ago, how is she not your girlfriend yet?”
Parker took a minute to respond. “You know how shitty I felt after Seth.”
“After Seth fucked us both and fucked us both over? And you broke your hand punching him when you found out?” Cassie said, reliving the only good part of that story. “Sure, but the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.”
“Look who’s talking,” Parker said. “Have you even had sex since Seth?”
Cassie blushed and didn’t hide her grin. “Of course I have, princess. Just because Gwen can resist my charms doesn’t mean everyone can.” It was true—there had been a few weekends in a row of one-night stands after Seth. Erin had been supposed to be another. Cassie headed to her bathroom, because being in the same room as Parker while thinking of fucking her mom was too much. “I gotta pee.”
The flowers were supposed to be delivered earlier. Erin should have gotten them by now. Cassie wondered if she liked them.
“I’m just saying you should come,” Parker said, raising her voice to carry on their conversation.
