Cassidy Lane (28 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

“AND YOU HAVEN’T
heard from him since?” It was more than two weeks later, and Danielle was finally back in town. They were seated on bar stools at the Amsterdam Ale House on a Wednesday evening. Danielle was sitting normally, but Cassidy was slouching visibly.

Cassidy picked up
her beer and frowned. “Not a word. So much for being
friends.
”

Danielle shrugged. “I
wouldn’t read too much into it. I’m sure he’ll get in touch soon. Like he told you, he just needs some time until things settle down for him. It has nothing to do with you.”

“You sound like
Patti.”

“Well, Patti is
clearly a very smart woman, if I may say so.”

Cassidy set her
glass on the bar and looked at her lap. “I just feel so…foolish.”

“Do
not
feel
foolish.”

“Believe me, I
have good reason to.”

“Why?”

Cassidy made a
pained face, then leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I…sort of…texted him a racy picture of myself.”

Danielle’s raised her
eyebrows. “Nude?”

Cassidy shook her
head. “God no. Just in my underwear.”

Danielle waved a
hand dismissively. “Then don’t worry about it. Not even for one second.”

Cassidy kept her
voice hushed, “Have you ever done something like that?”

“Of course. Many
times. Who hasn’t?”

“
I
haven’t, or
hadn’t. Not even close.”

“That’s not surprising,
coming from you. Can I see it?”

“You really want
to?”

“Hell yes, I
do.”

Cassidy pulled her
phone out of her purse and scrolled to the photo, then hesitated before showing it to her. “You promise you won’t laugh?”

“Please. Your butt
is
way
smaller than mine.” Danielle wiggled her fingers at the phone. “Now hand it over.”

Cassidy bit her
lip, then did as she was told.

Danielle raised her
eyebrows at the screen. “Looking
good
, Ms. Lane.”

Cassidy made a
sheepish face. “I still can’t believe I did that. It was so unlike me.”

“Now that’s what
you writer types would call an understatement. But you look really good in this picture, especially for a woman our age. If I looked that good in my skivvies, I’d be posting photos of myself all over the Internet.”

“No you wouldn’t.”

“OK, you’re right,
I wouldn’t. But you shouldn’t regret having sent him that photo. If anything, it will be a reminder of what he could have had.”

Cassidy smiled. “Thank
you for always being so nice to me.”

“It goes both
ways. Remember that. I’m not nice to everyone.”

“I just can’t
believe we went from texting
all the time
to nothing so quickly. I even changed the chime of my message alert the other day. It was making me too sad because I kept hoping they were from him.”

“Oh, hon, I’m
so sorry. After the frenzy you two were in, the silence must be really difficult. But you’re right to give him his space until he’s ready to get in touch again. Have you been staying busy to keep your mind off him?”

Cassidy sat up
straight on her stool and managed a genuine smile. “Actually,
yes
. I finished my book two full days before the deadline, a new record for me. My editor was elated. I’m meeting with him tomorrow to talk about it.”

“You really finished
it?”

Cassidy smiled again.
“I
did
. I sat down at my desk and focused, and the ending that needed to happen finally revealed itself, and then everything leading up to it came pouring out of me. Funny how getting your heart broken can stir up the creative juices.”

Danielle gave her
a sad look. “I’m glad you finished it, but I hate that you have a broken heart. It hurts me to hear you describe yourself that way.”

Cassidy’s smile faded.
“It hurts me too, but it’s the truth. Looking back, we were clearly doomed practically from the start, but for some reason I thought things were going to work out. I really did. Maybe it was because I write romances for a living, but after the promising beginning of our story, I certainly didn’t think it would end before it even got off the ground.”

“Why would you
have thought it would end? No one ever thinks it’s going to end at the beginning, right? Even I don’t think that way.”

“Yes, but even
when the red flags were staring me in the face, I kept holding on to the hope of a fairy-tale ending.” She felt her shoulders droop slightly. “In a way I still am, which I know is crazy, but I can’t help myself. I still have all these…
feelings
for him, which makes me feel so foolish.”

Danielle squeezed her
arm. “Don’t feel foolish. That’s the last thing you should be feeling. If anything,
he’s
the one who should feel foolish for letting you go. Given all that he’s going through with his mom, not to mention his kids and the baggage he’s probably carrying around from his divorce, one day he’ll realize how lucky he was to have you. It can’t be easy to find a woman willing to walk into that situation, much less a woman as sensational as you.”

Cassidy wiped a
small tear from the corner of her eye. “Thanks for saying that.”

“I think he’ll
figure it out and come around. And if he doesn’t, you’re better off anyway.”

Cassidy picked up
her beer, which she had hardly touched, and took a sip. “I appreciate your letting me bend your ear like this, but I think I’m officially sick of talking about Brandon Forrester. What about you? I haven’t seen you in weeks. Where have you been besides London?”

“Just Paris. Spent
a full week there relaxing after the conference.”

“That doesn’t sound
like you. I figured you’d be raising hell all over Europe.”

“We did venture
outside the city for a couple day trips, but it was nice to stay put in the same hotel for once.”

“We? You weren’t
alone?”

Danielle hesitated, which
Cassidy took as confirmation. “Did you meet someone?”

Danielle remained silent.

“Well? Please tell
me you met someone. I could use a romantic story to cheer me up.”

When Danielle still
didn’t respond, it clicked. And Cassidy knew.

She set down
her glass. “Danielle, were you with…your CFO?”

Danielle covered her
eyes with her hand and nodded. “His name is Jonathan.”

“Have you been
…
seeing
him? Is that the trouble you were talking about weeks ago?”

“Sort of.”

“Danielle!”

“Shhh.” Danielle looked
around the bar. “Keep your voice down.”

“What’s going on?”
Cassidy whispered.

“I couldn’t help
myself, Cassidy. I
can’t
help myself.”

Cassidy kept her
voice hushed. “You’re having an affair?”

“Technically, yes. But
it’s not like that.”

“That doesn’t make
any sense. It’s not like
what
?”

Danielle sighed. “I
mean…I think I’m in love with him.”

Cassidy caught her
breath. “Oh, wow.”

Little tears formed
in the corners of Danielle’s eyes. “It’s bad, really bad.”

“I’ve never heard
you say you were in love.”

Danielle tried to
laugh as she wiped away a tear. “I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

“What are you
going to do?”

“I’m not sure.
I want to walk away from it, but I just can’t.”

“Is he going
to leave his wife?”

“I think so.
I hope so.”

“You
hope
so?”

“Well, it’s not
like he can just up and take off. It’s not that simple when you have kids.”

“He has kids?”

Danielle nodded. “Three.”

Oh, Danielle. Poor
Danielle.

Danielle took a
sip of her beer. “He says it’s been over between them for a long time, and not just for him. His wife has checked out emotionally too.”

Cassidy narrowed her
eyes. “Isn’t that what they all say?”

“Maybe, but this
is different. Even if I hadn’t entered the picture, he wouldn’t want to stay with her. That’s what he says, at least.”

“So he’s getting
divorced?”

“I told him
I’d give him two months to make a decision.”

“And you think
he’ll choose you?”

Danielle nodded, but
just slightly. Cassidy had never seen her ever-confident friend look so uncertain.

“And if he
doesn’t?”

“I hope I
won’t have to face that. He’s really serious about this, Cassidy.”

Cassidy raised an
eyebrow. “So he’s never cheated before?”

“Never.”

“Are you sure
about that?”

“That’s what he
says.”

“And you believe
him.” It wasn’t a question.

“I do. I
know it sounds bad, Cassidy, but I have a feeling it’s going to work out in the end.”

“But how do
you
know
? That’s what I hoped about Brandon, and look what happened. I ran right into a tree.”

Danielle set down
her glass. “That’s why I think you should give Brandon space to let him decide what he really wants.”

Cassidy laughed weakly.
“For all these years, you and I have talked about how different we are when it comes to romance, but look at us now, our heartstrings both entangled with unavailable men. What a pair.”

Danielle laughed weakly.
“I guess I’m a late bloomer. I know it was wrong to get myself into this situation, and I wish things were different, but what’s done is done and I’m invested now.”

“But what about
all the women we know who’ve been down this same road? The guy never leaves his wife. I don’t want you to be one of those women, Danielle. I feel sorry for them.”

“I don’t think
I will. I know that sounds naïve, but I really don’t.”

Cassidy held up
her palms. “All right, I guess we’ll see what happens. What do I know about relationships anyway? Clearly nothing.”

Danielle smiled. “Thank
you for not judging me. It means a lot.”

“That’s what true
friends do, right? Or
don’t
do, I mean.”

“Yes. You’re a
true friend to the core. And just so you know, you’re the only person I’ve told about this.”

They sat quietly
together, both of them absorbing the shift that had just occurred in their friendship. Love was a powerful drug, something Cassidy knew all too well, and while she didn’t enjoy seeing anyone in this position, she was grateful that Danielle trusted her enough to open up about something so personal.

The revelation stirred
something else inside Cassidy. She feared Danielle was in for a painful awakening, but her willingness to straddle a moral line in the name of love certainly shed new light on Cassidy’s own relationship with Brandon, which didn’t seem so complicated anymore.

Or so special.

Had she made
it all up in her head?

Danielle said she
knew
.

Cassidy had never
known
.

She’d desperately wanted
to, but it had never happened.

Her thoughts must
have been written all over her face, because after a few moments of silence Danielle reached over and squeezed her hand. “I hope Brandon figures things out, because he would be really lucky to have you.”