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I don’t know when I dozed off, but Sophie is still sleeping soundly beside me in her bed when I wake, so I roll away gently to let her keep resting. I yawn as I scratch the back of my neck, grabbing my phone from her bedside table where I’d stashed it to check the time. It’s after lunch, but there is still nothing from Cassie. I wonder if that means she’s still at the hospital.
I frown as I tuck it inside the pocket of my jeans, not liking thefact that I haven’t heard from her. I know her phone was dead when we left, but I was hoping she might call from the room at least to give an update. I imagine she’s busy with Wanda, telling myself she’ll check in when she has a spare moment. I decide to distract myself with lunch while I wait, figuring I can let Sophie sleep until I’ve whipped something up, at least.
I close her bedroom door quietly behind me when I leave her room, stepping carefully down the hall so as not to make any noise. I’m halfway down the stairs before I notice anything amiss, pausing only three steps from the landing when I’m surprised by the sight of Cassie on my couch, her head in her hands.
“Cassie?”
She looks up at me immediately, her eyes red and her face haggard, like she’s been crying. Seeing her so out of sorts makes me uneasy, and I hurry down the last few steps to cross the living room.
“Hey,” I say soothingly, sitting beside her on the couch. “When did you get back? How is Wanda?”
She’s looking at me strangely, her eyes lingering over the lines of my face even as her lip quivers. She sniffles once as she nods, everything about it stiff.
“She’s fine,” she tells me. “They’re going to keep her for a few days for observation.”
I sigh in relief. “That’s good news, right? You knew she was too tough to let something like this get the best of her.”
“Yeah,” she answers quietly. “She’ll outlive us both.”
Something about her flat tone is unsettling, and it’s obvious that something is still weighing on her. “Is something else bothering you? What’s wrong?”
“We—” She swallows, clearing her throat like she’s having trouble. “We need to talk about what happened at the hospital. With Iris.”
Shit.
I squeeze my eyes shut as I huff out a frustrated breath. “Fuck, Cassie. I’m sorry. She shouldn’t have ever spoken to you like that. I should have done more, but everything was so—”
“It’s not your fault,” she says urgently. She reaches her hand to lay it over mine against my knee. “Noneof this is your fault.”
“I know I couldn’t have predicted how this morning would play out, but it doesn’t mean I don’t feel terrible about the things she said to you. I hate that you got dragged into my bullshit.” I try to smile then, mostly because I’m desperate to see some expression on her face other than the melancholy nothing she’s giving me now. “Strange ending to a great night.”
She doesn’t smile; in fact, her eyes water as if she might cry again.
“Cassie.” I lean in to cup her face with my palm. “Please talk to me. Tell me why you’re crying.”
“I just... I don’t think I realized how hard this was going to be.”
My brow furrows. “Do you mean Wanda? She’s going to be fine. In a few days she’ll be back home and everything will be okay. You’ll see.”
“I’m going to stay at her place,” she tells me.
This catches me off guard, and it isn’t until this exact moment that I notice the duffel bag sitting on the other side of her, next to the couch.
“Okay... sure.” I nod encouragingly, pushing my own feelings aside, wanting to put hers first right now. “Of course. I’m sure Wanda is going to need some help when she comes home. You should take all the time you need with her.”
A lone tear slips over her lashes to trail down her cheek, and I notice it then, what I haven’t seen until this very second. I haven’tnoticed the way she’s looking at me like she’s never going to see me again.
I feel something stinging and sharp in my chest.
“How long do you think you’ll be gone, Cassie?”
Her lower lip trembles, and that pain in my chest becomes an ache, like I need to breathe but am not able to get any air.
“Cassie,” I try, my voice coming out wrong. “Please don’t—”
“I can’t do it, Aiden,” she says desolately. “I can’t be something used to hurt you. Or Sophie, for that matter. I just can’t.”
“Cassie, what Iris said—it’s going to be okay. She’s just angry right now. She’ll calm down. I’m not going to let anything happen.”
