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“Oh, he sounds proper,” Momma said.“I can’t figure why you’d be hidin’ him from me.”
“I wasn’t,” Cass said.“Like I said, things have been busy here.I’m setting up my company, which has been a ton of filings and paperwork.Things with the house, the patio, Conrad…” She let the words die there, because they’d started to sound like excuses.
“I’m sure you’ve seen this young man plenty,” Momma said.
“Yes,” Cass said as a sigh.“Momma, this is supposed to be special night for us.We’re going toCharleston.”
“I’m taking her dancing,” Harrison said.He smiled at her, a hint of trepidation in his expression.“If I’m not too terrible, we might still be together after tonight.”He chuckled.“I’m not much of a dancer, you see.”
Cass couldn’t speak at all.He was taking her dancing?Her heart melted into a puddle as she looked at him, trying to find the right words to say.
“Cass’ll help you,” Momma said.“She’s a very good dancer.”She’d clearly softened too, and Cass wasn’t sure what Harrison had said or how he’d said it that had worked that magic.“Cass, I’ll let you go on one condition: You call me in the morning and plan to have a nice, long chat with your mother.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said.She ducked her head as if in trouble.“I will.”
“I won’t say anything to Liz either.I’m assuming she doesn’t know.”
“No, I’ll call her too,” Cass said.
“The girls?”
“They know,” Cass said.
Momma exhaled, her way of saying,So I’m the last one.Great.Thanks, Cass.
“Momma, it wasn’t purposeful.I didn’t mean to leave you out.I just…”
Several seconds of silence passed, and Momma finally said, “You’re moving on.It’s okay, Cass.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”She imagined her Momma nodding, both of them emotional now, and she ended the call.She tucked her phone back into her clutch and stared out the windshield.
“I needed my parents a great deal after West’s death,” she finally said.
Harrison reached over and took her hand.Everything she needed to say to him gelled, and she wiped at her eyes with her free hand.She’d warned him about the tears, and she’d actually done very little crying in front of him.“I’ve always been very independent.Strong.Momma didn’t understand me for a while, but then when I needed her, she was there.She liked that I couldn’t do everything alone.”
“It’s okay to be like that sometimes.”
“Yes.”Cass switched her gaze out her passenger window.“I should’ve told her.I meant to.She’s just not as…immediate as she once was.And she’s right.I’m moving on.Moving on from Texas.Moving on from West.Moving into a new life that’s not there.Moving back to my strong, independent self.”
Harrison gave her a few moments of quiet before he said, “She seems to really love you.”
Cass sobbed, just once.“Yes,” she said.“Both she and Daddy love me.”She looked over to him, her grip on his hand tightening.“I like you, Harrison, because you’re so even when I’m this big roller coaster going up and down.You steady me.You make me feel anchored, and I really like that.”Not only that, but she needed it.“I feel safe with you.I think you’re handsome and hardworking.I love how you take care of me.You bring me my favorites in the morning.You take me to restaurants with food I’ll like.You literally doctored me up once, and I really think it’s because of you that my heart has been healing so fast.”
Her mouth felt like she’d been sucking on cotton she’d talked so fast and said so much.“And now you’re taking me dancing?”She shook her head, another splash of tears hitting her cheeks.“You plan perfect dates.You show up looking amazing.You think I’m amazing… what’s not to like?Everything you do, you do for me.It’s like I’m the queen, and you’re living to make sure I’m happy.”
She sniffled and wiped her nose.She reached into the glove box for another napkin.Thankfully, he had another one after this morning’s cinnamon roll mess.“I’m not trying to be the queen,” she said.“I swear.You don’t need to worship me.But it feels like you are, and I…like that.West treated me like that, and I loved feeling like my opinion mattered to him.Like he thought about me when we weren’t together.You do that.You’re smart, and talented, and I don’t care if you can dance or not.”
“Okay,” he said.“You don’t have to keep going.”He released her hand, and Cass took the opportunity to mop up her face.She did, the silence in the cab reverberating with all she’d said.
Too much.She’d said far too much.And she wasn’t done yet.“Why did you have to ask?”she whispered.
“I don’t know.”He sighed.“Every time I see you, I’m reminded of how…different we are.”
“Different in what way?”She wadded up the napkin, which had far too much dark makeup on it, and stuffed it into the cupholder beside her.
“You’re glamorous,” he said.“Sophisticated.Classy.Wealthy.”
She jerked her attention to him, not caring that she might have raccoon eyes and was going to check in the mirror on the back of the sunshade.“Wealthy?”
