AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cassidy’s life depended on it.
As luck would have it, rain kept us indoors as a late nor’easter rolled through. Thankfully we’d just caught the edge of it. It was good for security, I supposed, but by the end of the second day, I was climbing the walls.
“Hey Grady? Can I talk to you a sec?”
“What’s up, boss?” Grady looked up from his tablet and walked over to where I was leaned against the kitchen island.
“What’s the minimum we can do for help around here?”
“The minimum?”
I nodded. “Yeah. There’s too many goddamn people around here, and I’m feeling like I’m living in a fishbowl.”
“Say no more, boss. I get it.” Grady had a devilish grin on his face. “You want something more private. Intimate.”
“Yeah, something like that.” I kept my face blank, going along with it. Outside of immediate family, only Alfie knew the truth behind our marriage. The unidentified mole was never far from my mind.
“No problem.” Grady said. “I can cut it down to one maid and the cook for a couple days.”
“No cook. I’ll take care of it.” I rolled his eyes at Grady’s bemused expression. “What? I can cook. Just make sure the pantry and fridge are stocked.”
I hadn’t cooked in years, but it was something I’d enjoyed, once. It had been so long since I could just let go of everything. Done something by choice, rather than by duty. I wanted to make something, instead of destroying it, and—I don’t know why—I wanted to cook for Cassidy. To provide for her. To show her I was more than her preconceived idea of what I stood for.
Grady shrugged as if to say it was my funeral. “Alrighty then, no cook. Is the maid okay, or do you want to scrub the toilets yourself, too?”
“Just get it done.”
Grady pulled out his phone, presumably to text Alfie. “The only thing I can’t do is reduce the security, that’s coming from the Old Man.”
“I know, and I appreciate it.” I crossed my arms. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that, too. The weather is supposed to clear tomorrow, and I want to take Cassidy into town. Nothing big, just get a bite to eat, maybe do some sightseeing.”
“Aww, you’re adorable.”
“Watch it, Grady.”
He laughed, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. “Sorry, sorry. That won’t be a problem. Jack and I will tag along at a safe distance, you won’t even know we’re there. Just map out the route you want to take so we can walk through a security plan before.”
“What’s going on?” Cassidy wandered into the kitchen, book in hand. She looked at me expectantly.
I pointed out the window. It had finally stopped raining, even though the clouds still squatted, low and ugly. “It’s supposed to be nice tomorrow. I was thinking we could head into town for a bit.”
Cassidy brightened. “That would be nice. After two days of reading, my eyes are about to cross.”
“I thought you doctors were the bookish type.”
“Even we need to come up for air sometime.” She put down her book. “I was just about to go on a walk, if you wanted to come. I wanted to see the gardens.”
Thank god Grady had left the room and wasn’t there to see the surprise that must have been written all over my face. It was the first time Cassidy had asked anything of me, let alone suggested we do something together. We’d both retreated to our separate corners the past two days, and her sudden cordiality surprised me.
It was late April, and although the last of the snow had cleared, the flowers barely even had buds on them. Curiosity piqued, I shrugged into my jacket and followed her. It looked like the rain would hold off for a little bit, at least.
Being around Cassidy was oddly comfortable. Neither of us expected a thing from each other. Maybe why that’s why it was working. I could tell her walls were still up, but that was okay. Mine were, too. It seemed we had settled into what would become the ebb and flow of our so-called relationship, a mutual understanding of circumstances unwanted yet present all the same.
“So, which room was yours?” She looked back at the house. We’d walked down past the tennis court and winterized pool, and we were standing at the edge of the garden.
“Aiden and I would take that little room in the northwest corner,” I said, “usually with Alfie tagging along.”
“For the whole summer?”
