CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Haden
The winter sun reflects off the thin layer of snow that lines the gravel road as I drive back to my cabin.
The February air is crisp as I pull my truck into my driveway, a piping hot coffee in my hand.
I’m just getting back from helping the boys put a massive feed delivery away in our newly mouse-shit-free bins, and I thought I’d grab an early lunch before my afternoon work starts.
We had a great training session with Angel’s Wings earlier this morning.
Ivy having Billi has really given me the opportunity to work in an area I normally wouldn’t.
I’ve gone from watching Angel learn how to spring from the gate last year to recording her fastest breezing time yet this morning.
Watching her damn near made me feel as free as she looked.
She’s about to start her championship series next month—a time where she can earn some real points en route to the Derby in May—and she’s ready to race.
All in all, this should be a pretty easy start to my day, right? Wrong.
Because as I park and cut the engine, I almost drop my coffee in my lap.
The very woman I’ve done my damned hardest to forget about over the last five months is moving what looks like suitcases into Stardust next door, and Wade is helping her.
He’s also signaling for me to come over to say hello.
Hell, Wyatt was right again. Because here’s that storm I felt coming.
I cautiously get out of my truck and watch as Cassie comes back out of the cabin.
I inhale a sharp breath at the sight of her.
Her hair is longer and even more blonde than the last time I saw her.
She is so much thinner than when she visited last fall; still beautiful, but so different.
She wears flared light blue jeans with boots and a big fluffy white sweater.
Her hair is pulled back into a high ponytail and she’s wearing large sunglasses.
It’s impossible to read her expression when she turns her head toward me.
I hate the pull I feel to her still. I think of the things I’ve heard from the news and Wade and Ivy about what happened at Rustic Chords as I make my way over to Stardust. Ivy had said she was thinking of going to stay with Cassie. But instead, Cassie came here.
Makes sense, I suppose. She’s obviously here for a family visit to recenter herself.
Probably just for the weekend. I can do a weekend of pretending she isn’t here: act civil, say hello, goodbye and all that.
But I won’t get pulled in by her like last time.
Thankfully, I have lots to catch up on at Penny Lane and my dad needs the seal on his roof reworked.
He’s been bugging me for days to help him out.
“Can you give us a hand? There’s a couple bigger suitcases in the back too,” Wade says, gesturing to his truck.
“Christ. Has she got enough shit?” I glance quickly at Cassie as I round the back of his pickup.
She’s talking to Ivy, who’s holding a squirming Billi in her arms. Cassie pushes her sunglasses up onto her head and takes Billi from Ivy, kissing her head and nuzzling her close.
She holds Billi like she’s really missed her, and I hate that it makes her more human and gives me a softer side of her when I’m really not looking for it.
I turn from her and get back to pulling another heavy suitcase from the truck.
“Thanks,” Wade says, lifting the other, clearing the back of the truck.
“How long is she here for?” I nod to Cassie, trying to appear casual.
Wade sets the suitcase down and closes his tailgate. He looks over at her then back to me.
“Not sure. Ivy just said she needed some time. Some rest. And Stardust is vacant, so Ivy and Glenda cleaned it up last night. We picked Cassie up from the airport this morning at six. She flew in on the red-eye.”
I nod, unsure of how to respond. It doesn’t get any more awkward than reuniting with a woman who kept her identity from me, ghosted me, and then made a small fortune off a song—an ass-backward song, I might add—about me. Now, it seems she’s going to be my neighbor. Fucking perfect.
“You remember the great Haden Westbrook?” Ivy says to Cassie as I climb the steps with her suitcase.
Cassie looks up at me with those icy blue eyes and a forced smile on her face as Wade brushes past me. Ivy scoops Billi from Cassie’s arms and follows behind, telling him where to put the suitcase.
“Guess we’re gonna be neighbors,” she says with a shrug, glancing toward my cabin.
After months of simmering feelings about her and that night, I have zero filter and apparently zero control. I head straight for it.
“You didn’t think to tell me you were Ivy’s little sister?” I say as quietly as I can.
“I’m sorry,” is all she offers. But she doesn’t meet my eyes. I feel the muscles in my jaw twitch and glance out to the road. Then back to her.
“Do you have any fucking idea what kind of position that puts me in with my boss? Your sister is practically his wife. So, technically, she’s my boss too.”
“I guess I didn’t really think about it back then.” Cassie shifts and puts her hands in her pockets. “Look, I can’t change the past, and if it means anything I didn’t think I’d be back here any time soon.”
“Yet here you are,” I scoff.
“You know, I didn’t exactly hear you asking my last name, Cowboy.
” She looks up at me expectantly. Fuck. I hate that she’s right.
“And we’re both adults. Surely we can put that night behind us?
I know I can and I won’t be here for long.
” Then she softens her expression. “Look, I just need to be here right now. I won’t bother you at all. You won’t even know I’m here.”
My chest tightens. I can’t help but wonder what has happened to her aside from the incident at her show last week.
Something else is off about her. She speaks the way she did before, but the spark I remember, the free spirit I saw the moment I met her, is missing from her eyes.
It reminds me of the broken, and neglected horses we bring in at the rescue ranch.
Cassie Spencer looks like she’s been through the ringer the last few months.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve spent so long being pissed at her, or whether it’s the way I couldn’t help myself watching her concerts online and thinking about her way too much, but whatever the reason, I move closer to her—ignoring how good she smells, how it feels to be near her again.
A small part of my brain registers that how well I remember her peachy scent is ridiculous. Fuck it. I’m asking.
“I need to know if it’s about me. And, if it is, why you thought using a private night between us and twisting it into something it wasn’t was a good idea.”
If we’re going to live next to each other, we need to clear the air, and I’m not going to beat around the bush. I watch as her mouth pops open, but she offers no words.
“The song,” I say clearly. “It’s a lie and we both know it.”
Cassie looks into the cabin where Wade and Ivy are talking, then back to me.
“Not all of it is a lie … it’s nothing. It’s just a song,” she says meekly.
Fuck if those words don’t cut me to the quick. If it’s just a song, then I guess that makes us just strangers, and that, in turn, makes me take the asshole route.
“Okay … truth is, you’re right, it was just a song,” I bite out.
Smooth, dipshit. As if I haven’t thought about her every fucking day.
She narrows her eyes at me but I keep going.
“It was just a night, right? So it’s already forgotten about, Princess.
Oh, and I’ll make sure I stay in my own yard so you don’t get any ideas about writing another one. ”
I tip my hat to Cassie, nonchalantly, in a bid to drive home just how much I don’t notice how frustratingly beautiful she is. Then I turn and make my way inside, carrying her suitcase and setting it down in the bedroom where Ivy is asking Wade to add some shelves. I clear my throat.
“Need me for anything else? I’m just gonna grab a quick bite to eat before—”
“Oh, about that. Don’t eat yet. My mama and CeCe are cooking a big brunch up at the main house for everyone,” Wade says as he checks his watch.
“Should be ready within the hour. Can you text Dusty and some of the other guys to come? CeCe wants as many there as possible. Says they have an announcement.”
“We’re just gonna get Cassie’s things sorted and then we’ll all be up too,” Ivy adds as Cassie comes into the room. This time she doesn’t even glance my way. Good.
“Great. I am hungry,” Cassie says, turning to Ivy. “Thank you for letting me stay. I’m looking forward to a month of spending some quality time with y’all and playing with this little one.” She tickles a smiling Billi before turning to face me with that hollow look in her eyes.
It’s at this point that my jaw falls slack, because I might be able to pretend for a weekend that Cassie Spencer doesn’t exist. But a month? Christ. Is it too early for a drink?