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And Phoenix.
What had he done?
In a fit of rage, he’d gone and ruined everything, and now he was going to pay the price for his stupidity. His heart was about to be broken; losing Cassidy was now almost a certainty.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Don’t, Jake.” She held up her hand and shook her head. “Just give me a minute, all right?”
He nodded, the cracks in his chest deepening.
*****
Cassidy
She couldn’t believe what she’d heard. That man was… insane. Telling Jake that he’d end him? Who said those kinds of things? She was so proud of him for standing up to his father, but at the same time, he’d just changed the course of his life. If he contacted his father again to say the deal was off, what would the consequences be? On the one hand, Cassidy wanted to ask what he could really do? But with what she’d seen so far, the answer seemed like a lot.
Flopping back on her bed, she brought her parents’ number up in her phone and dialled. “Hello?”
“Hi, Mum.” Cassidy paused. “Can you talk? I need some advice.”
There was a shuffling on the other end and the sound of a door closing before there was quiet. “Sure, honey. What’s going on?”
“Well, you know how I was at your place and said that I had a bad break-up, and things were crazy, and I needed to get away because work had gone to hell in a handbasket too?”
“Yes,” her mum said, stretching the vowel out.
“There’s more.” Cassidy winced when her mum groaned. “I was trying to make a poly relationship work. We hit it off, and Jake, the man I’d been sort of seeing, Phoenix, our guy, and I were in bed together. Jake’s dad walked in on us, and he… well, he wasn’t happy. I don’t know who the heck he is, but one minute we were together, and the next, Jake and I had both lost our jobs. We don’t know if Phoenix wants to see us again. We haven’t heard from him.”
“Okay.” Her mum blew out a breath, and there was a shuffling on the phone again. Cassidy could just imagine her rubbing her forehead to knead out the headache she was no doubt giving her mother. Cassidy had come out as poly to her family years earlier. Her parents were incredibly supportive, never blinking an eye at her desire for a non-traditional relationship. Her mum understood, having romanced two partners at the same time before meeting Cassie’s dad. She’d never doubted her dad’s support either. She could remember his words like it was yesterday too. “Regardless of whether he experienced love the same, the world was a beautiful place because of its differences, not the things that made it the same. If people experienced love differently, then who was he to question it. It was simply another thing to love.”
She may have come out, but she’d never actually introduced her parents to a partner, never mind two. Cassidy hadn’t found anyone she wanted to take home to meet them. Would they still support her if it was in the open for the world to see?
“Hi, baby girl,” her dad said. “Your mum just waved me over. What’s going on?”
Cassidy closed her eyes and repeated herself. She was met with silence on the other end. Before she chickened out, she added, “Jake met me at the airport and asked to come with me to the Goldie. He’s here with me. We’re in kind of a weird spot, though, tiptoeing around each other. He rang his dad tonight to tell him that he was done speaking with him. I only caught the tail end of the conversation, but Jake’s dad said he needed to leave Sydney. He was pretty angry and agreed.”
“So what are you thinking?”
“What do I do? Do I tell him he’s insane, that his dad is a psycho and come home, get a new job somewhere outside of the city and pretend things never went south? Or do I do something crazy?”
“Cassie—”
“Do you love him?” her dad asked, interrupting her mum.
“I could,” she whispered. “I’m kind of already most of the way there.”
Her dad chuckled. “What in the world does that mean?”
Cassidy huffed out a laugh. “When I broke it off with him, it hurt. I had to turn my phone off so I wouldn’t call and ask him to come with me. Then he showed up and everything felt right again.” She smiled, thinking back to their meeting in the airport and the last time she’d kissed him. She wanted that again, but she didn’t know how to get back there. “I don’t want to be without him, but…”
“But you don’t want to leave your home,” her mum finished, her voice filled with understanding. “You know the saying ‘home is where your heart is’? It’s right. If he’s the man you want to give your heart to, does it matter where you’re living? As long as you’re together, that’s all that should matter. Moving could be the beginning of something wonderful; a new adventure for you to pave your own way.”
“But what about you?”
“We’ll still be here. You can come and visit whenever you want, and we’ll do the same,” Dad reassured her. He’d always known exactly what to say, and this time was no exception. “Be brave, Cassie. You know you want to.”
Thirteen
