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“I’m still hungry,” Sophie announces, choosing that moment to burst back into the kitchen. Apparently she’s gotten over her bout of emotion from earlier. “Can we eat?”
“Okay, okay,” Cassie chuckles. “What are we hungry for?”
“I want pancakes.”
“Youalwayswant pancakes.”
“Funny how she used to not like them,” I murmur.
“So I don’t have anything here to make them,” Cassie tells Sophie, “but I bet we could find a place to get you some pancakes.”
Sophie looks skeptical. “With chocolate chips?”
“Of coursewith chocolate chips,” Cassie tells her. She opens her arms then to beckon Sophie closer, pulling her in to smooth her hair as she gives Sophie a playful smile. “Your hair is as wild as your dad’s when you wake up.”
I watch Cassie fuss over Sophie’s hair as they both laugh, that same constricting sensation in my chest when Cassie pulls her in for a hug and presses another kiss to her hair, just like I often do. Watching them together makes me feel odd, something about the natural way they have come to care about each otherthrowing me off guard. It makes me feel—for lack of a better phrase—warm and fuzzy inside.
“We have to get on the road soon anyway,” I tell them both. “I do have to go in early tonight since I missed last night. We can find some non-dad pancakes on the way.”
Sophie flashes me that toothy grin that makes my heart hurt, and Cassie pulls her along with a promise to fix her hair. She looks back at me from over her shoulder as she leads Sophie toward the bathroom, sending a wink my way that makes me feel warm in a different kind of way.
I finish my coffee alone, my mind far away and on the two ladies in the other room.
I might be in real trouble.
—
The trip home takes longer than expected since the pancake place that Sophie picked was thirty minutes out of the way, but the way she hasn’t stopped talking about the chocolate-chip-birthday-cake pancake monstrosity she had there makes it worth it. And she hasn’t. Stopped talking about it. Not even when we’re walking into the house.
“But how did they get the little colors in there? They tasted sogood.Like sprinkles! But on the inside!”
Cassie laughs as she sets her bag at the foot of the stairs. “It’s like a Funfetti cake.”
“What’s that?”
“You don’t know what a Funfetti cake is?”
Sophie shakes her head, and Cassie gasps theatrically. “Okay. We will be going to the store and buying a box mix of Funfetti cake as soon as your dad goes to work.”
Sophie fist pumps. “Yes.”
“Box mix?” I raise my eyebrow in Cassie’s direction. “Really?”
She shrugs. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to get rid of all the evidence before you come home so it doesn’t offend your delicate chef sensibilities.”
“Can I call Wanda?” Sophie tugs on Cassie’s hand expectantly. “I told her I’d call her and tell her about the trip!”
“Yeah, okay,” Cassie says, digging her phone from her pocket. “Tell her we’ll bring her some cake in a little while.”
Sophie’s eyes light up as she snatches the phone away, already bounding up the stairs toward her room. I wait until she disappears beyond the landing, listening to her footsteps on the stairs for a few moments.
“You know,” Cassie teases while I watch the stairs distractedly. “If you ask nicely, Imightsave you some cake. But you’re going to have to say something nice about box mi—oh.”
She makes a surprised sound when I suddenly crowd her to the other side of the stairs, backing her into the little alcove beyond the settee and cupping her face to tilt her mouth to mine. It only takes her a second to melt into it, her arms winding around my neck and her fingers teasing through my hair as she kisses me back. I don’t know what it is about Cassie that causes me to devolve into a rutting teenager, but it’s taken every bit of my patience to wait as long as I have to touch her again.
She’s smiling when she finally pulls away, her lips a little redder than they were a moment ago. “Hi.”
“I’m sorry,” I murmur. “I’ve been wanting to do that for hours now.”
