Never Doubt Me (8 page)

So I say, “Yeah, I do believe it.”

She inquires softly, “Does that mean you’ve fully forgiven me for not telling you about what happened between me and Chase?”

I’m truthful and sincere when I say, “All that stuff is in the past, Missy. It doesn’t matter, anyway. I didn’t even know Chase back then.”

Missy suddenly leans over and gives me a hug. It feels like one from the heart.

“Thank you, Kay, thank you. I have a feeling I’m going to need a friend to get through this.”

I close my eyes and realize I want to be there for Missy. I want to be her friend.

Chapter Five

Chase

O
n Friday morning, the day Cassie’s mom is due to come into town to pick her up, Kay is in a great mood. I ask her what’s up when I find her in the kitchen, cooking up a big country breakfast.

She smiles and keeping her eyes on a skillet filled with scrambled eggs as she stirs, says, “I don’t know, nothing in particular. I just feel happy today.” She turns away from the stove and stands on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. “Now, sit down. I sent Cassie upstairs to get Will. The eggs are almost ready.”

“Who can argue with that?” I remark as I follow my girl’s instructions.

When Will wanders into the kitchen a minute later, I pay close attention to his demeanor. He seems to be in pretty good spirits despite the fact his girlfriend, who is trailing behind him, is leaving in a few hours.

After we’re seated and have started to eat, Will glances my way. I’ve been watching him from across the table, but he’s only just now noticed.

He raises a questioning eyebrow, but I just shake my head and smile. I give him a “Life is good, yeah?” kind of look, and his lips curve up into a smile of his own.

Cassie scoots her chair a little closer to Will. She places one hand on his knee and picks up her juice glass with her other hand. “Everything is really delicious,” she says to Kay. “Thank you for doing this.”

Cassie proceeds to nod to the assortment of breakfast foods on the table, and Will and I chime in with our own gracious sentiments.

Following the compliments to Kay’s cooking, Cassie says to her, “I wish you could have taken off work today, like Chase. I was hoping you could meet my mom when she gets here.”

“I know.” Kay sighs. “I wish I could have, too. I planned to take today off, but Father Maridale has an out-of-town meeting that will last all day, and someone has to man the office.”

“Well,” Cassie replies, toying with a crispy piece of bacon, “if you and Chase ever make it out to Vegas, you’ll have to stop by our house and visit. You can meet Mom, then.”

Kay promises that when—not if—we fly out to Vegas, we will most assuredly visit with Cassie and her mom.

“And on that note”—Kay glances over at the digital clock on the stove—“I better get going.”

“Hey,” I mumble to Kay through a mouthful of pancake, “hold on a sec and I’ll walk you out.”

I finish off the last bit of syrup-covered goodness from my plate and push back my chair. “You two get started on cleaning up in here,” I say to Will and Cassie as I stand.

Will groans and insists he’s too full to move, but Cassie elbows him and quickly interjects, “Of course we’ll clean up, Chase.”

Out in the driveway, when we reach Kay’s car, I lean forward to open the door for her. But when she places her hand over mine, stopping me, I ask, “What’s up?”

She sighs. “I didn’t want to say anything last night, or this morning in front of Cassie and Will, but Missy stopped by the church office yesterday afternoon.”

I roll my eyes. “What the fuck did she want?”

Yeah, I’m still a little aggravated with the way things went down at the church carnival, the night Kay learned of my hookup with Missy. And I’m less than thrilled when I think of how Missy blew off Kay at the Anchor Inn to go fuck around with Nick Mercurio and his cousin. But, hey, when it comes right down to it, who am I to judge?

Kay stares down at the keys in the hand not still on mine and mumbles, “Uh, Missy wanted to talk about next month’s rummage sale.”

Kay’s acting a little strange, like there was more to Missy’s visit, so I ask, “She didn’t upset you, did she?”

“No, not at all. But she did have some…news.”

“Oh yeah? What kind of news?” With Missy, I can only imagine.

But even I’m shocked when Kay blurts out, “The baby kind of news, Chase. Missy is pregnant.”

“Holy fuck.”

There are these few drawn-out seconds where Kay and I just stare at each other. I squeeze her hand, all the while, thinking one thing:
Thank God I never fucked Missy Metzger
.

Kay glances away, probably thinking the same thing. She says, “For the record, Missy knows who the father is—Nick’s cousin, Tony.”

“How does she know it’s not Nick’s?” I chuckle, recalling how Kay told me Missy had been with both Tony and Nick.

Kay explains that she’s since come to learn Missy was only with Tony.

“Nice,” I say, smirking, “so Nick just watched the show.”

Kay frowns. “Chase, please, be nice.”

Moving my hand from hers, I cup her chin and urge her to look up at me. When she does, I want to know, “So you’re friends with Missy now?”

“Actually, I do want to be her friend. I think she needs people to support her.”

I have a sinking feeling this includes me. “I guess that means she’s my friend now, too?” I raise an eyebrow.

Kay smacks me in the chest. And I suppose to show me she’s not holding my indiscretion with Missy against me—or Missy—she teasingly says, “Not too good of a friend, buddy.”

I laugh, but then, just to make things clear, I lower my lips until they’re touching hers.

“Hey, it’s you I love,” I murmur against her mouth. “I have no desire to ever be with anyone other than you. You know that, right?”

“Mmhmm,” she replies, before placing her hands on my sides, standing on her tiptoes, and kissing me with everything she’s got.

Shit, Kay’s enthusiasm has me muttering between heated kisses, “Fuck, I wish we could go back inside right now.”

Kay lets out a little moan that does nothing to make me want to stop. But before I end up lifting her pretty summer-green dress, pulling down her panties, and fucking her against the side of the car, I pull away.

Giving her a light swat on the ass, I say with a sigh, “You better go.”

After Kay’s on her way, I head back into the house. In the kitchen, I happen upon Cassie and Will, who are apparently having an R-rated moment of their own. Cassie is sitting in Will’s lap, her mouth on his. They don’t even notice me. I chuckle to myself on my way to the sink. But when things threaten to turn X-rated, my brother shifting Cassie’s hand from his thigh up to his crotch, I clear my throat—loudly.

Cassie jumps off Will so fast it takes all my self-control to keep from laughing out loud.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I say with a smirk directed at my brother.

He’s smirking right back, cocky bastard, while Cassie, who’s blushing profusely, busies herself with gathering the plates from the table.

Something is clearly wrong with this picture, though, as I distinctly recall telling Cassie
and
Will to clean up after breakfast.

Turning to Will, I say, “You’re supposed to be cleaning, too. Help your girlfriend.”

“Dude, she’s got it,” he whines.

I then insist Will help his girl.

“You could use the distraction,” I say, nodding to where he’s adjusting an obvious hard-on.

I decide it’s probably prudent to stay in the kitchen, so I start cleaning up, as well. My presence, however, doesn’t deter Will from feeling up Cassie every time he thinks I’m not paying attention.

Damn, it’s a good thing she’s leaving today. I don’t know how much longer I could keep those two apart.

But I need not worry. Mrs. Sutter arrives shortly before noon, right on schedule, to pick up her daughter. Will, Cassie, and I meet her out in the driveway. Will carries Cassie’s suitcase over to her car as the taxi Cassie’s mom arrives in drops her off and backs out of the long driveway.

Mrs. Sutter then rushes over to her daughter.

“Mom,” Cassie cries out as the two meet in a reunion embrace.

On his way back from Cassie car, Will glances over at the mother-daughter love-fest. When he reaches me, he says, “Mrs. Sutter is kind of hot, dude. Am I right or am I right? She’s like an older, curvier Cassie.”

I roll my eyes, refrain from commenting. Will’s teenage-boy hormones are in overdrive this morning. But it is true that Mrs. Sutter is attractive. And like Will commented, she’s definitely an older version of her daughter, with long blond hair and a thin body, but, also like Will pointed out, she’s far curvier. Another striking difference between mother and daughter is their attire. Cassie has on cutoff, white denim shorts and a graphic tee, while her mother is dressed for success. She’s wearing a smart business suit and expensive-looking pumps.

Following what feels like a five-minute hug, along with a few tears and apologies, Cassie and her mom finally break apart. They step over to where Will and I are standing.

Will introduces me to Cassie’s mom, and she kicks off the conversation by thanking me for letting Cassie stay at my house, to which I reply, “It was the least I could do, Mrs. Sutter.”

Cassie’s mom juts out her hip, then places her hand on my forearm and squeezes lightly.

“Still,” she says softly, “it was very kind of you, Chase. And I really appreciate that. Oh, and please just call me Stephanie.”

Cassie’s mom is clearly hitting on me. She continues to thank me and thank me for keeping an eye on her daughter all week. I mostly just nod and brush it off, prompting her to move closer to me, all smiling and giggly.

Lord help me.
It isn’t the first time I’ve been hit on by an older woman. And in another life, I would have been all over that MILF shit. But I am not that guy anymore. I’m with Kay—body, heart, and soul. My girl is it for me.

So, while Cassie and Will talk amongst themselves, I casually ignore every last one of Stephanie’s come-ons.

Eventually, though, I’ve had enough. To get her off my dick, I pointedly ask, “You sure you have everything straightened out at home? That deviant who was harassing your daughter is definitely gone, yeah?”

Apart from tiring of the misplaced affections, I figure I have a right to make sure my brother won’t have any reason to run away with this woman’s daughter a second time.

The serious turn in which I’ve steered the conversation is effective. Stephanie drops the flirty act and says somberly, “Yeah, Paul is gone for good. He didn’t even leave a forwarding address, which is just as well. He isn’t coming back.”

“Well, let’s try to keep it that way,” I strongly suggest, hoping she’s not the kind of woman who will eventually forgive him and let the dick move back in.

Perhaps detecting my skepticism, she says, “I’ll never let that man back in my house.”

Cassie and Will have quit talking, and she says quietly, “Come on, Mom, we better get going.”

Before they depart, Will gives Cassie a good-bye kiss that makes Stephanie clear her throat. And then mother and daughter are off.

When Cassie’s car, with her mom at the wheel, disappears from sight, Will’s eyes remain downcast. Wearing the same scuffed, black Chucks he arrived in, he grinds his toe into the gravel.

“You okay?” I ask.

He nods once. “Yeah.”

“Would you want to do something this afternoon,” I throw out.

He nods, and I ask, “Like what?”

“I don’t know, Chase,” Will says impatiently. “But, shit, let’s do something.”

He glances over at me. He’s squinting from the sun, and his eyes are watery. But, fuck, that wetness isn’t from the bright summer day.

“Hey.” I pretend to punch his shoulder to lighten shit up. “Let’s go fishing down at the creek. There’s a great spot right over the hill.” I point to beyond the tree line. “I took Kay there a while back. We didn’t catch much that day, but she still had a blast.”

“Yeah, sure, fishing, okay,” Will mutters dejectedly.

I drape an arm around his shoulders and nudge him toward the house. “Come on, let’s go grab the gear. Hey, you never know, you may actually catch something.”

I’m trying to get Will to laugh, but he just gives me a sad smile. “Yeah, maybe I will.”

Little bro remains mopey as we trudge down to the creek. He perks up considerably, though, once we’re set up and he does indeed start catching fish.

The hours pass. We don’t talk a lot. We’re content to just kick back and savor the tranquility of sitting side by side on the creek bank, casting lines and enjoying the day. As the sun shifts in the sky, and late afternoon nears, we begin to pack up our gear, along with the several fish we caught.

Out of the blue, Will asks, “Hey, Chase, can you do me a favor?”

I close the latch on the tackle box. “Sure, what do you need?”

“I was wondering if you’d take a look at some stuff I’ve been working on for my comic book. I need an opinion from someone I trust.”

I am touched as hell that Will trusts my opinion, that he cares what I think of his work.

But when I respond, I just leave it at, “Of course I’ll check out what you’ve drawn.”

“Cool,” Will says, nodding, like this is a burden off his mind.

We walk back from the creek to the house, and as we approach the back porch, Will wants to know, “What’s for dinner?”

I hold up our catch. “Fish?”

“Nah…” Will shakes his head. “Kay shouldn’t have to cook again. She just made us that great breakfast.”

“Good point. We can always just fry them up ourselves,” I offer.

But when my brother shrugs, I sense he’s not in the mood to eat what we’ve caught.

“You got something else in mind?” I ask him.

“Yeah, what about takeout?” We reach the back porch and set our fishing gear down. “I could go for some pizza.”

I instantly think of Pizza House, since it’s the only game in town if you want really good pizza. Kay and I tend to avoid the place, though. For one reason only—Nick Mercurio. Kay used to date him—kind of—so she isn’t entirely comfortable dining there. She thinks our presence at the restaurant might make Nick feel uneasy. I really don’t give a shit how the dude feels. Fact is, Kay is with me now, and Nick will never again have a chance with her. Not that the guy ever really had a shot in the first place.
Jackass.

I guess when I really think about it, I, like Kay, am not too into the idea of hanging out at the place where Nick Mercurio works. But if Will is set on pizza, then Pizza House it is.

Of course, as luck would have it, Nick is standing behind the front counter, ringing up an order, just as Will and I walk in the place.