Real Challenge (Atlanta #2) (24 page)

Scott followed Cassie again until she found a hot-pink see-through scarf that was perfectly square. Tassels dangled from the edges and she nodded. “See? Huh? Perfect! This will look good with my curtains.” They couldn’t find anything in the way of chairs, so they packed up the spool and cloth and headed out for her favorite, biggest thrift shop.
 

Right away they found two old bar stools cut off to chair height. They were painted black, which didn’t really fit Cassie’s house, but she didn’t seem to mind.
 

“I’ll either repaint them or — OH! I know. I’ll weave some cheap rope around all the legs and staple some pillow-fluff and fabric over the top. Poof. Chairs fit for a Cassie.”
 

He pulled her in for a hug while he chuckled at her exuberance. He was having fun again, and only because of her presence. They picked up the stools and checked out at the counter by the door. The grand total for the table, cloth, and chairs was less than $50. The rope might add another $10 and she had an old pillow and cases she could use for the seat tops.
 

“No wonder you have such a decked-out house. You probably did it all for $500.”
 

“You’re not that far off,” she said with a proud smile. “See why I love junking?”

“Yes, I actually do.”

“Well, with all the money I’ve saved with this hobby, I’d like to take you out to dinner,” she offered.

“You don’t have to do that. Don’t spend your money on me. I’ve got it,” he said in protest. He hated the thought of her spending what little she had on a date with him. The very thought went against his upbringing, and frankly his ego.

“I know I don’t have to, but I want to. You’ve taken very good care of me and I want to return the favor. I’m not planning on spending much, if that makes you feel any better.”

“Barely,” he smiled, but he didn’t want to upset her by protesting any more. He witnessed one of those rare moments of sincerity just then without all the flash of her usual boisterousness. He couldn’t deny her. “Where are we going?”

“A little diner by my brother’s gym. It’ll take while to get there. It’s on the other end of the city. You game?”

She called Marcus on their way and arranged to meet him and Erin for dinner. When they arrived, Cassie hugged both her brother and Erin while Scott shook Marcus’s hand.
 

“Good to see you guys,” Scott said with genuine warmth.

They sat down at one of the larger booths and called their orders over to the greasy-aproned man behind the counter. Marcus called him by his first name. This had been his old neighborhood. The short order cook, Hank, told him how much he missed having him around.

The atmosphere was warm, simple, and fun and the two couples laughed a lot and shared stories of their adventures in dating. Mostly they laughed about Cassie and her fort. She grinned proudly at her own playfulness and told them all they were jealous.

“Oh, hey Erin, guess what,” Cassie said abruptly.

“This should be good,” Erin grinned a knowing smile.

“I got a giant wooden spool today.”

“Yep, that’s a good one. The big question here is
why
,” Erin smiled at Cassie.

“Scott bought it for me as a table. Now I don’t have to eat on the floor.”

Marcus smiled at Scott. He seemed to like the fact that his sister was happy, that Scott was treating her well, and accepted her as she was. Scott knew there was nothing Marcus wouldn’t do for Cassie, and Marcus would accept nothing less from anyone who wanted a relationship with her.

“I might not have to kick your ass, after all,” Marcus said, smiling to Scott.
 

“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of your sister,” he said, matching Marcus’s smile.
 

Cassie enjoyed making a show of paying for her and Scott. Marcus raised an eyebrow at Scott.

“Hey — it was her idea. I tried to stop her, but I’m sure you know how impossible that is,” Scott said with his hands up. “It’s the first time I let her pay, I swear.”

Cassie spun around and threw her hands on her hips, an incredulous grin on her face when she did it. “
LET
me pay? As if I need you to
LET
me do anything!”
 

She laughed at the uncomfortable look on Scott’s face, as he glanced over at Marcus. Marcus was just shaking his head and Erin told Cassie to behave. The relaxed evening came to an end as Marcus and Erin hugged Cassie goodbye and Scott shook Marcus’s hand one last time. Scott gave Erin a side-hug and then ushered Cassie back to his SUV.
 

“I had a really nice time,” Scott said. “I’ll admit that your brother still scares the crap out of me, but I had a really nice time.”

“I already told you, he’s a softy as long as he’s happy.”

“Yeah, he has ‘Mr. Fuzzy Bear’ written all over his face,” Scott said, still intimidated by Marcus.

Another refreshing weekend with Cassie led to another dissatisfying week at work. Scott wondered if he had ever liked his job at all. He wasn’t sure, because he never looked at his job in those terms before Cassie came along. Before her, work was a checklist of goals and successes. The concept of “enjoying” work never even occurred to him.

Now, Scott was beyond frustrated with his job, but mostly because the job hadn’t changed. The last several years weren’t any different at the office than now, but Cassie had him so turned around he didn’t know which way was up. He could play in the other parts of his life, but he had yet to figure out how to make his work feel like play. That didn’t really seem possible with accounting, but Cassie seemed to be in on some secret. Maybe with enough focus and effort, he’d catch on.
 

When he drove home on Thursday, he reminded himself that there was only one more day until he had plans with Cassie again. Only twenty-four hours until she would be in his arms and the world would be right again. He could not believe the change in himself since meeting her. Her attitude and sense of fun completely filled every cell in his body, even when she wasn’t around. He honestly didn’t understand how one person could affect another so completely.
 

He shook his head again and walked down the hall toward the door of his apartment. Only twenty-four more hours, he reminded himself again. He unlocked his door and resigned himself to another evening of thinking in circles. But when he walked in, he stopped short. Cassie stood at his stove, stirring something that smelled delicious. She looked over and gave him a huge smile. “Hi, honey, you’re home!”

Scott laughed and walked straight over to the kitchenette. He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up to hold her tight while he kissed her.
 

“This smells amazing. What are you making me?”

“Who says it’s for you?”

“I do. So what are you making me?”

Cassie laughed. “Quinoa with Chicken and Mushrooms.”

“I don’t even know what that is, but it looks great. Let me go change. I’ll be right out.”

Cassie finished up dinner and laid it out on the countertop bar for them while Scott came back out in black track pants and a Georgetown tee. Cassie, of course, had put together a comfortable outfit with a hint of her unique style. She had on jeggings, toe-socks, and an orange t-shirt that had somehow been cut and braided back together in certain areas causing wavy stripes of gathered fabric down the left side of her ribs.
 

Scott wrapped his hands around her from behind and kissed her ear while she poured them water. “What’s the occasion?”

“Well, you gave me that key and I thought I should make good use of it. Other than that, it’s just me being awesome.”

“Yeah, it is. Thank you. I was getting in a bad mood on the way home, and the sight of you in those jeans cured it,” Scott said as he squeezed her cheeks playfully.

“Why a bad mood? Cassie asked, pushing her bottom back into his hands. “That doesn’t seem acceptable.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Scott smiled.

Cassie turned herself around and kissed him sweetly a few times. “Then lets enjoy our meal and banish bad thoughts.”

They ate together as Scott tried to dodge Cassie’s questions about his mood. He didn’t really want to have the same discussion again, but he couldn’t seem to avoid the topic with her apparent inability to let things go and his apparent stupidity for bringing it up in the first place.
 

“Ok, Cass, look. My mood was just the same old thing. You think I don’t know who I am, I think I do, but somehow I keep finding myself unhappy with things that used to seem fine. I can’t make sense of any of it and I feel pretty damn stupid. That’s not something I’m used to.”

“Come on, Scott. You’re not stupid at all. Don’t think like that,” she said sympathetically. “This is just a new way of thinking that you’re not used to.”

“I don’t really want to talk about it, Cass. To be honest, I only told you to get you off my back about it,” he said with a smile that told her he loved her but the discussion was over.
 

“Ok, I’ll quit…after I say this: you’ve never gone after happiness before. Consider it a new goal if that helps. The first time you went swimming you would have drowned without help, right? Then you got good enough to swim on your own. Now look at what you achieved. You’re not
stupid
, you’re
amazing
. So, I’ll be your happiness coach and keep you from drowning until you get good enough on your own. Then by the time you get a Gold medal in happiness, you won’t even believe the life you have.”

Scott smiled at his girlfriend/philosopher. Already he felt better. “Ok, coach. So what’s my first step?”

Cassie pulled him off the barstool and toward the bedroom. “First? Jump in with both feet.”

Scott laughed and followed her beautiful smile to his room. Finding happiness wasn’t difficult with an instructor like Cassie. He hoped he could find that feeling on his own soon, because the more often he was with her, the more he wanted that kind of joy and peace all the time.
 

When they got back to the bedroom, Cassie stopped him beside the bed and climbed on by herself. She laid back with a sweet smile and said, “What do you want?”

“You. Obviously.”

Her smile got wider. “Ok, but I’m your coach here, remember. We’re going for happy, not just satisfied. So right now, what would make you happiest?”

“Same answer,” he said with an ornery grin.

“You’re obnoxious. Work with me here. Close your eyes and just
feel
for a moment. What will totally erase everything from your mind but happiness and love in
this
moment. Right now.”

Scott closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He probably looked a little ridiculous, but he didn’t have to worry about that with Cassie. He didn’t really have to worry about anything with Cassie.
That’s
what made him happy. He didn't have to think or try at all. He just had to be.
 

Finally, a small smile played across his lips and he crawled on the bed to kiss her deeply. “Same answer,” he said with his sweet smile. “But this time I get it.”

Her arms wrapped up around him while she let him find his happiness with her. They teased each other and played together for nearly an hour before each was smiling and fully satisfied.
 

“Good lesson, coach,” Scott said with a grin. “But I think more tutoring is in order. Stay tonight?”

“I could never say no to my star pupil,” she grinned. “And since you didn’t ask, here’s your next lesson. I want to tell you why I just won’t come out and say what I think you need to do. I know that irritates you and I want to explain.”

“Ok, then why?”

“Picture this: your swimming coach tells you, standing by the pool, everything you needed to know to be an Olympic athlete. He explains the strokes, the training schedules, the pressure of competition, all of it. Then you don’t do anything but show up in Athens…do you win gold?”

“Of course not. You have to be in the pool, practice, figure out your strengths, and shut up. I get it,” he said with another smile.
 

“You’re a very good student,” she said with another kiss.

“And you’re an adorably annoying coach.”

“And a naked one.”

“Yeah, that too,” Scott said with a gratuitous smile. He reached around her again and pulled her against his body. “Can’t waste an opportunity like that…”

Friday morning Scott woke up next to Cassie and couldn’t help smiling again. She was upending his entire existence. He couldn’t explain the shift in himself, he only understood that the change was core-deep…and happy. Scott was living for his time with Cassie as much as he lived for his time in the pool. And if she was right, there was a way to feel that kind of happiness all the time. He hoped she was right. Now that he experienced it, he only wanted more.

The pool was calling so he kissed her forehead gently and went to get his swim bag together. He pulled on his track pants again and put clothes in a garment bag for the office. He smiled to himself again at his choice of corporate-wear. Before Cassie, he never participated in Casual Friday. Now, he packed khakis and a green button-down because he couldn’t imagine
not
dressing down any chance he could. He loved the excuse not to be in a stiff suit.

“Hey,” she said sleepily from the bed.

“Hey,” he smiled back. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“That’s ok. I had to ask you something before you left anyway. I don’t have to work today and I brought my study stuff. Do you care if I stay here today? A change of scenery might do me some good.”

“Of course you can. I love it. That will motivate me to come home even earlier than I was planning anyway.”

He watched her stretch and then curl back up with her eyes closed. “Thanks,” she said softly. “What do you want for dinner? I can shop for a study break.”

“You’re going to cook for me again? I could get used to that. Surprise me.”

“Ok. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Bye, Cass.”

“I love it when you call me that,” she smiled through her sleepy state.