That Witch! (15 page)

They rode in silence save for the radio playing softly. The music served more as background noise than entertainment or distraction. Cassidy simply couldn’t be distracted. She was like a geek with a new science project, eagerly anticipating the steps she had to take to ensure the big shiny award at the end went to her while her competition wept in defeat. Oh yeah. Laura was going to regret ever becoming a blip on her radar, and she was definitely going to suffer extreme torment if she caused Brynn even an iota of pain or embarrassment.

Rounding the corner, she stopped the car in front of her house and turned to Brynn, who sat quietly looking out the window. “Do you mind if I park here and we walk over to your house? I don’t want your parents asking about my car if they see it.”

She didn’t want Brynn to think Laura’s little stunt had in any way ruined their plans, because she refused to let it happen. It was a simple matter of getting a rental car while her Scion spent a few days getting painted. No big. The car wasn’t a huge deal. It was Laura’s choice of word that fueled Cassidy’s anger. For the moment, though, she pushed it all aside and focused on Brynn, hoping like hell Pinky still wanted to have a sleepover.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Brynn said, keeping her stare on the goings-on outside the car. “I don’t think I could explain that to my daddy.”

“Yeah, I’m not looking forward to explaining it to my mom, either.”

Brynn finally turned her head toward Cassidy. The rims of her eyes were red, as if she’d been sitting there the entire time quietly crying. “Your mom doesn’t know already?”

“Nope. She’s huge on LGBT rights, though, so I think she’d understand. I just haven’t had the chance to talk to her about it since we’ve had… um, other stuff going on.”

“I just assumed you guys talked about everything. You seem like the type.”

“We do. Usually.”

Cassidy pulled into the driveway, cut the engine, and took a deep breath. Before she had a chance to think of the best way to explain the situation, her mother and grandmother walked out of the house dressed in their gardening best.

Crrrraaaap.

Miranda’s eyes widened, and Nana dropped the basket of gardening tools she was carrying. “What in the Sam Hill?” her grandmother cried.

“Who did this?” her mother demanded, storming over to the car with Nana hot on her heels. Cassidy slid from the driver’s side and looked over the roof of her car at Brynn, who was standing in her all too familiar “earth swallow me now” pose.

“Laura Dorien did it while Brynn and I were in the mall.”

“Why?” her mother urged again.

“Teen girls nowadays are little—” Nana cut herself off, probably for Brynn’s sake more than anyone else’s.

“She thinks Brynn and I are lesbians ’cause we were holding hands.” Maybe Brynn didn’t want that particular detail aired, but Cassidy had no shame when it came to her divorced mother and widowed grandmother. The three of them were close, and she briefly wondered why she hadn’t sat down earlier with her mom and told her about her sexual orientation.

“Holding hands?” Nana looked like she’d been slapped hard. “Some girl did this because you were
holding hands?”

“That’s preposterous! Girls hold hands all the time,” her mother chimed in.

Nana pursed her lips. The look on her face was one Cassidy knew all too well. She’d worn it almost permanently when Cassidy’s father had been moving out, and it crossed her features every time Miranda mentioned the man, even in passing conversation.

“Lesbians? Because of a little hand holding? I’ll show her a lesbian!”

Cassidy caught Brynn’s equally surprised expression from the corner of her eye, just before she focused on her grandmother. “Calm down, Nana. It’s whatever. The insurance can cover it, and I’ll handle the chick at school.”

Apparently, Cassidy’s mother wasn’t as willing to ignore Nana’s previous statement. She glanced over at the elderly woman, one brow quirked in curiosity and a half smile on her face.

“What do you know about lesbians, Mom?”

“I’ve been in love with a woman before—” Nana turned to Cassidy, offering her a smile. “Before your grandfather, of course. It was a long time ago, but we were happy until her family moved away to England. We did a whole lot more than hold hands too.”

“Mom!” Miranda exclaimed as she laughed softly.

Brynn giggled, the sound eliciting a broad smile from Cassidy.

The three women in Cassidy’s life were all standing in the sunshine, laughing despite the catastrophe that had just befallen her precious car. It made her realize nothing was really as bad as it seemed, and for a moment, she even contemplated letting Laura get away with what she’d done. That only lasted a moment, though.

When Nana offered to make a batch of her famous white chocolate chip macadamia cookies, Cassidy explained they were going to Brynn’s house for a minute but they’d be back to have a sleepover and eat plenty of cookies in a little while.

Her mother walked over, closing the distance between them. The soft smile on her beautiful features made her big blue eyes crinkle at the edges, but it didn’t diminish the dynamics of her mesmerizing stare. She lowered her forehead to rest against Cassidy’s. “I won’t pressure you about it, but you do know that you can talk to me about anything, right?”

“Yes, Mom. I know. And I will. Promise.”

“Okay, sweetheart.” Miranda pressed her heart-shaped lips to Cassidy’s warm cheek in a loving kiss before pulling away and smiling over the roof of the car at Brynn, who still stood on the passenger side.

“Brynn, I’ll see you later?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Brynn said.

“Call me Miranda, please. Ma’am is for my mother.”

Nana snorted. “Not even. You can call me Nana.”

For the second time since discovering Laura’s handiwork, Brynn smiled. “Okay, Miranda and Nana it is. Um… I guess we’ll be back in a little bit?” It was more of a question than a statement, one directed at Cassidy, who took that as her cue to close the car door behind her before walking around and boldly lacing her fingers through Brynn’s.

“Yep. Be back in no time.”

Nana smiled proudly. “Before cookies, let’s get back to those petunias, shall we? They won’t prune themselves, you know.” With that, Cassidy’s still-smiling grandmother took Miranda’s arm and led her back to the garden bed and the step where she’d dropped the basket of tools moments before.

Cassidy turned to Brynn. Even though Pinky was still smiling, a hint of worry remained in the depths of her gorgeous gaze. If she could take a stick to Laura’s head for every time she had caused that needless worry to blossom, the chick would be a puddle of pulp by now.
That
was what irritated Cassidy the most—no matter how many times she tried to convince Brynn that Laura couldn’t do anything, she still let worry over the possibilities cloud her happiness.

T
HE
moment Brynn’s house came into view, she let go of Cassidy’s fingers and stuffed both hands down into the tight pockets of the white jeans Cassidy had dressed her in before leaving for the mall. She didn’t want her parents to see the two of them holding hands, didn’t want them getting any ideas—whether their ideas were wrong or right. No way could Brynn begin to explain the relationship that had formed between her and Cassidy.

She felt Cassidy staring at her, though Brynn didn’t want to acknowledge it. It was bad enough she couldn’t come clean to her folks, but to have to apologize for being so afraid of everything made the situation ten times worse.

“We’ll just tell them I’m spending the night at your house so we can work on our project,” Brynn offered, keeping her nervous stare trained on the house.

“Whatever you wanna do.”

“It’s not exactly what I
want
to do. It’s kinda what I
need
to do right now.”

“I understand.”

And she was so glad Cassidy did understand. Most people would’ve been completely put off by having to sneak around and hide, but apparently, Cassidy wasn’t most people—a point she continued to make every time they hung out.

Brynn opened the front door, and she immediately heard her little sister’s video game screeching through the otherwise peaceful house. They rounded the corner into the living room and were met with the seizure-inducing strobing lights bouncing off the TV.

“Where’s Mom and Dad?” Brynn asked.

Her little sister didn’t even raise her head. “Mom’s outside, and I think Daddy is in his office.”

“Thanks.”

Nothing. Not so much as a “You’re welcome.” Brynn rolled her eyes, then nodded, signaling for Cassidy to follow her to the backyard. They found Brynn’s mom kneeling down in the grass on the edge of one of her many flowerbeds, tilling or digging or whatever people did when they worked in the garden.

“Mom?” Brynn said softly.

Her mother raised her head, strawberry blonde curls framing her rosy, freckled face. The sweat on her forehead glistened in the afternoon sun. She stood from the foamy pad she’d been kneeling on and pulled off her gloves, smiling as she looked the two of them over.

“That’s a cute outfit. Where did you get it from?” her mother asked.

“It belongs to Cassidy.” Brynn thumbed over her shoulder to Cassidy, who’d been quietly standing behind her. “This is Cassidy Rivers, Mom.”

Both Brynn’s mother and Brynn’s new gal pal/girlfriend-type-person took a step forward, offering their hands. Brynn’s mother smiled and said, “Nice to finally meet you, Cassidy.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Michaels,” Cassidy replied with a polite smile.

“So, Mom,” Brynn said. Her mother released Cassidy’s hand. “I’m gonna spend the night with Cassidy, if that’s cool. We have that project thingy still, and we both want to get a jump on everyone else. Is that okay?”

“Did you ask your father?”

“No, ma’am. I didn’t see him.”

“Well, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.” Brynn’s mom looked over at Cassidy and asked, “You live just around the corner, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Cassidy nodded, pointing in the direction of her home. “At 6830 Briarwood Lane. At the end of the block and around the corner.”

“Well, I suppose it’s okay, as long as Cassidy’s mother doesn’t mind. Just leave the home phone number on the whiteboard on the fridge, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Brynn responded dutifully.

“It was nice to meet you, Cassidy,” her mother said.

“Likewise, Mrs. Michaels.”

“You girls have fun.”

“We will,” Brynn said as she grabbed Cassidy’s wrist and quickly dragged her back into the house before her mother had a chance to ask any more questions or make any more demands.

They stopped at the fridge, and Brynn handed Cassidy the dry-erase marker so she could write down the number, then they headed upstairs and into Brynn’s bedroom.

It was the first time Cassidy had ever been in her room, and Brynn was so anxious to grab her things and haul out of there, she hadn’t stopped to consider what Cassidy might think of the dark, emo design of the cave where Brynn often hid away from the world. Brynn chewed her bottom lip as she looked over the black and purple decor. Surely, Cassidy had plenty of little quips just begging to spill from her lips. God, if Cassidy started cracking jokes….

“Let me just grab something to sleep in and my laptop, then we can go back to your house,” Brynn said.

Cassidy walked over to the big beanbag and plopped down, seemingly comfortable with her surroundings. Her gaze shifted from one end of the room to the other. She looked like she was taking in every last little detail in order to better arm herself with commentary. When she looked back at Brynn, there was a hint of a smile tugging the edges of her lips upward.

“You know, this isn’t what I expected at all,” Cassidy finally said. “I was thinking there’d be sparkling vampires and skulls everywhere. This is… serene. I like it in here.” She leaned over and picked up one of the books at the base of the purple beanbag.

Brynn frowned. She waited for the punch line, waited for a snippy joke, but Cassidy only sat there thumbing through the book she’d picked up. Brynn opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. “No jokes?”

“Jokes about what?”

“About my Batcave room….”

“Um… do you want me to joke? I already pointed out the lack of sparkly fangers.”

“No. No jokes, please.” Brynn went back to digging in her dresser for some pajamas. “I’m already freaked out about you seeing my room.”

The book landed on the floor with a soft thud. Brynn heard it but didn’t turn around. She assumed Cassidy was off to do a little more exploring, which honestly scared the hell out of her. Not that she had anything to truly be embarrassed about. She just didn’t want Cassidy Rivers thinking her any stranger than she already did. But then she felt Cassidy’s arms wrap around her waist and felt Cassidy’s chin on her shoulder. She smelled the floral perfume and the strawberry scent of her lips, and the breath caught in Brynn’s throat.

“Why are you so freaked about me seeing your room?” Cassidy whispered. “It’s nice. There’s touches of feminism, and there aren’t any bloody, headless bats anywhere. Chill, yeah?”