Chapter 7
Chapter seven
Cash
Istopped by the house early this morning and hung some gauzy white curtains in the kitchen window that looked over the backyard.
I also went over the stove and countertops with a damp cloth to clean the dust off everything.
There wasn’t time to hit up the home store in Ayre before I planned to stop by Cece’s and take her for a ride out to the property.
Plus, I don’t know what the hell to buy for a kitchen, and I figured if my plan works, Cece and I will be making a trip out there soon enough to get everything she needs.
It will be the first time anyone other than Cooper or I have set foot in the house since I bought it. But as soon as the idea struck, it felt right. Cece was the calm to my chaos when we lost Copper, and it’s fitting that she be in a space that always felt like ours, even though she never met him.
Thankfully, Cece’s car is in the driveway when I pull up to her house on my bike. At first, I thought of calling her, but I decided maybe a surprise visit would work in my favor. I can’t force her to do anything she doesn’t want to, and I would never try.
But catching her before she can make excuses about why she can’t come with me this morning isn’t quite the same thing.
Knocking on the door, I wait a few moments before the sound of footsteps walking toward the front of the house reaches my ears. When Cece opens the door, she’s still in her pajamas—looking adorably sleepy.
“Hey. What are you doing here?” she asks in a raspy voice as though she just woke up.
“I was thinking we could go for a ride. There’s something I want to show you.”
She’s silent for a few moments, blinking up at me with uncertainty in her blue eyes. “Cash…”
“I know we left things on a bad note the other day. I’m not going to apologize for caring about you, but I can see your point, too. I don’t want to lose you, Cece. You’re important to me, and I’d like to think you feel the same way.”
She chews her bottom lip and looks at her feet before meeting my gaze again. “What do you want to show me?”
There’s no fighting the grin that stretches across my face. “Why don’t you get dressed, and we’ll take off?”
Her eyes narrow as she stares at me, but then a small chuckle escapes. “Okay, Cash. I’ll go with you.”
I nod and she opens the door wider for me. “Come on in and have some coffee. I’ll be a few minutes.”
“Sounds good, sweetheart.”
Stepping into the house, I close the door behind me, feeling triumphant and hopeful. My idea might actually work.
When I’m in the kitchen pouring myself some coffee, Jude walks in.
“Morning,” I say, holding up my fresh cup of coffee.
He grunts in my general direction and walks over to the cupboard, pulling two mugs down.
“What the hell are you doing here so early?” he asks. Jude has never been what one would call a morning person.
“Taking Cece for a ride out to the house.”
Jude turns to face me, crossing his arms over his bare chest. He wears a stern expression on his face that’s more than his usual morning grumpiness. “Surprised you’re up this early after a night at Midnight Rose.”
Ah, there it is.
“Your big-brother intimidation attempt would pack a little more punch if you weren’t wearing pajama pants with Lucy’s face all over them,” I say, looking pointedly at the ridiculous pants.
“Feck off, arsehole. It’s laundry day, and I didn’t expect you in my house so damn early.”
I chuckle, but his stoic expression remains.
“Left early,” I say with a shrug. “It wasn’t where I wanted to be.”
He turns toward the coffeepot and fills both mugs. “Where you want to be better not be Cece’s knickers.”
“It’s just a ride, brother. No need to get your knickers in a twist.”
He sets the pot down and turns back to me.
“Listen, Cash. You’re my brother, and I have your back on just about everything.
Key words just about. Fucking around with strippers, then coming over the next day to take Little Bit on a ride, doesn’t sit well with me.
I won’t have anyone playing with her like that. Brother or not.”
“Jesus Christ. I didn’t fuck around with anyone, and I’m not playing anything.
Cece and I are close, and things have been rocky for her lately.
I’m being a friend the best way I know how, and that’s taking her out on my bike and letting her clear out all the shit in her head.
We’ve been doing it for years. She needs someone who understands that right now, not everyone trying to fix her. ”
“That someone is you?” he asks, his stare boring into me.
My spine straightens, becoming rigid. If having it out with Jude in his kitchen this morning is what needs to happen, then so be it.
“Yup. It is.”
“Okay, I’m ready,” Cece says, walking into the kitchen as Jude and I face off. “Oh, good morning. I didn’t think you were up.” Her eyes dart between Jude and me, probably sensing the tension in the air. She turns toward me. “Ready?”
“Let’s go,” I say, dumping the rest of my coffee into the sink. “See you later,” I say to Jude, and he grunts his reply.
When we step outside, Cece turns to me with a question in her eyes. “Everything okay?”
“Just Jude being his charming self, sweetheart.” I give her a smile, and she returns it before putting her helmet over her head.
Jude can think what he wants. I know where I stand with Cece, and I don’t need his approval. This is—and always has been—between her and me.
The ride to the house is peaceful and fucking killing me inside at the same time.
Having Cece behind me feels so goddamn right.
The second she slid her arms around my middle and leaned against me, it felt as though my entire body exhaled.
There are a million reasons why being more than her friend is a tricky situation to maneuver through.
But having her wrapped around me like she’s been so many times before makes me wish all those reasons didn’t exist. It also makes me wonder if they’re really as big and insurmountable as I’ve always convinced myself they were.
The instant I felt more for her than simple friendship, I shut the thoughts down. Now I’m wondering why. Maybe even kicking myself a little for it.
We pull onto the gravel road that leads to the house. When the road opens to the property and she sees the house for the first time, she cranes her neck around me. I stop the bike, and Cece hops off, removing her helmet.
“Wow, Cash. This place is beautiful. Is it yours?” she asks, spinning in a circle. The house sits on a couple of acres with trees surrounding the perimeter.
“Bought it a few years ago. Cooper was helping me remodel before…everything.”
She watches me get off the bike and hands me her helmet before I set both of them on the bike.
“It’s really amazing, Cash,” she says with a smile.
I look around the property and the house, trying to see it through her eyes.
I thought the same thing when I first bought the place, but the last couple years have changed things for me.
But now, seeing Cece here and as impressed as I was when I first came out here, it’s changing again. And I really like that.
“Come on,” I say, grabbing her hand. “Let me show you inside.”
We walk up the stairs, and she takes in the unfinished porch. “You need some rocking chairs out here. This place must be gorgeous at dusk.”
I smile and unlock the door with my other hand, not willing to drop hers. If she notices, she doesn’t say anything, but I don’t miss the fact that she hasn’t let go of my hand either.
When I swing the door open, Cece steps inside, her smile widening. “Wow. This place is great.” She heads to the living room, where I’ve set the table that I flipped last week back to rights. “It needs work,” she comments, “but that fireplace is spectacular.”
“The whole house is still a mess. Except for one room,” I say and she sends me a questioning look that I return with a half grin. “Come on.” I hold out my hand and she takes it again.
As I lead her into the kitchen, a wide smile stretches across her face. “It’s like you plucked exactly what I would have picked right out of my head.”
I kind of did.
Cece and I talked about the future a few times, and she always said she wanted a light-yellow kitchen and all the gadgets to bake whatever her imagination conjured.
She dreamed of a nook where she could curl up and sit in front of a window and enjoy the scent of fresh-baked anything and the breeze from a summer wind.
She walks over to the stove and runs her hand along the wide eight-burner top then opens the door to one of the double ovens.
“This thing is huge,” she says with a giggle before looking inside the other oven.
“Yeah, I don’t know why I bought one so big, but I had the space and pretty much an unlimited budget.”
Cece closes the oven door and walks over to the window as a soft breeze blows inside, causing the gauzy curtains to billow out, wrapping her in the sheer fabric.
“It’s beautiful,” she says, staring out the window.
“It is.” I’m not looking outside, though.
The sight of Cece in this space that I created for her has my chest tightening with emotion.
She looks beautiful standing in front of the window where I’d planned to build a breakfast nook before I’d even met her.
Now I imagine her sitting there with a coffee in her hand, looking just as serene as she does now.
This feels right. More right than anything else has in a long time.
“I was thinking you and I could head into Ayre and pick up whatever you need.”
She turns toward me. “Need for what?”
“I had an idea that this could be your kitchen. Maizie said you’ve been thinking about doing some baking for Betsy, and this place has a huge oven without anyone to bother you. You can blast any music you want and bake double what you can at Lucy and Jude’s.”
Her eyes nearly bulge out of her head when she hears my offer.