46. Cassie
46
CASSIE
“ D o you have any idea how much Oreo has whined without Rocky here?” Audrey informed with mild irritation evident in her tone. She walked from the kitchen to her bedroom, huffing the whole time.
Once she was back in their line of sight, Matthew held his hands up. “Aud, relax they won’t be apart for a while now.”
Audrey pursed her lips and rolled her eyes once she saw Matthew’s reaction to her annoyance. “Yeah, yeah, what if you two Jersey kids find a house tomorrow?” she inquired, crossing her arms.
“In this market?” I admonished, petting Oreo. I finally caved to giving the demon cat a chance.
Matthew snorted and said, “You’re also forgetting that my apartment hasn’t sold, and I’m jobless, so until that money comes in, I’m broke.”
The real estate agent assured Matthew it would be a quick sell, but he remained unconvinced.
I caressed his cheek and laughed. “Oh you’re not broke, honey. I’ll be your sugar mama with my big fat check from Marcus.”
Audrey huffed once more and walked away to finish getting the cats settled for the night.
Matthew and I cuddled on the couch, surrounded by the animals and a crazy Audrey.
We couldn’t help but think how lucky we were.
“I can’t believe the apartment sold so quickly,” I commented as I looked around at the bare walls. The movers did a fast job of getting our stuff out of there. Not that there was much for us to take after the raid.
“Yeah, it’s a sign I accepted too low of an offer,” Matthew joked, as he inhaled a deep breath.
We came to say goodbye to the place where we’d rekindled our love. A place that housed Matthew through lonely times. A place that held memories we would rather move on from.
I took a bite of the ice cream cone that Matthew got from the truck around the corner. Mid-bite, I spilled one of the scoops on the floor. I frowned, licking my lips.
Matthew was closest to the paper towels on the counter, so he crouched down to clean up the mess. As he was wiping chocolate ice cream off the floor, Matthew set down the paper towels and laid on the floor.
I looked at him questioningly. He’d full-on lost it.
Matthew gasped and reached his fingers farther under the fridge to grasp what had caught his attention. After a moment, he crawled up on his knees, his fist clutched around a familiar-looking object. My locket.
Matthew laughed and shook his head. He held it up and looked at me, as I stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
I thought it was gone forever after I’d tossed it aside in Matthew’s car all those years ago. Matthew hadn’t shared how he kept it ever since.
“Wow. You kept it?” I asked, stunned.
Matthew nodded once. “Yes.” He smiled, sighing and looking at me with a strange expression on his face.
“I had always hoped things would turn out okay in the end,” he admitted, still kneeling on the kitchen floor.
“Just okay?” I scolded, making a pretend pouting face.
“Well, it will only be more than okay depending on your answer to my question,” Matthew shared as I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
He was talking in riddles. Maybe he and Audrey were spending too much time together.
He placed the locket in my hand and muttered, “Open it.”
A light bulb went off as I realized he was finally giving me the green light to open the locket and see the engraving it mysteriously held.
Tentatively, I opened the locket, taking in the words he’d so carefully chosen at such a young age. My eyes widened and then the tears fell. I couldn’t control them. Wow, I almost lost this forever.
“Cassie?” Matthew questioned, worry covering his features as he awaited my response.
I nodded. “Yes,” I whispered softly, blinking through the tears to see his beautiful green eyes shimmering up at me.
“Yes?” he confirmed, taking my hand in his. Matthew muttered curses about not getting a ring, but he wanted me to pick it out myself.
I nodded and tackled him much like that fateful day when we first met in Helen’s kitchen.
“I get to stay with you forever that means.” I laughed, thinking back to our first encounter.
Matthew pressed his lips to mine. I kissed him back roughly and began ripping off his clothes. He quickly helped me out of mine. I straddled his hips, sinking down on him, moaning as I did, causing him to throw his head back in pleasure.
Rolling around having kitchen floor sex—what a way to make things come full circle.
As we basked in the afterglow of our lovemaking, still on the kitchen floor, our phones simultaneously pinged, alerting us of incoming text messages.
My phone was closest, nestled in my jeans pocket under Matthew’s left leg, so I opened the home screen and saw a group text from Holden.
“Holy shit!” I gasped, looking at Matthew.
He grabbed the phone from my hand and saw the shocking message. It was a birth announcement featuring a picture of a stork carrying a baby. In bright pink font, it read “it’s a girl.”
I did the math and there was no way Bridget could have been pregnant, let alone have given birth already. She was wearing a skin-tight dress just last week for God's sake.
Matthew dialed Holden’s number from my phone as he sat up from the floor.
“Hello, proud daddy speaking.” It was obvious by the way his tone echoed joyously through the speakerphone that Holden was beaming with pride over his new role.
“What the hell is this, Holden?” Matthew demanded, but amusement was clear in his tone.
“Is that any way to speak in front of my new daughter? You’re on the carphone,” he scolded, making a tsking sound.
“Daughter?” I inquired, trying to make sense of the whole thing.
“Yes, our daughter. Well, soon-to-be anyways,” Bridget chimed in, sounding happier than ever.
“What?” Matthew started but was quickly cut off by none other than Charlotte.
“Yes, Matty. I’m getting adopted by these two suckers,” Charlie said giddily.
“Well, first, we have to foster you, you know that, Charlotte, but if all goes well and your good behavior continues, the case worker said he sees no interference coming our way,” Bridget explained. “And don’t ever dare call me a sucker again.” She spoke in the same no-nonsense manner that she often did at the restaurant.
“Yes, ma’am, or should I say Mom?” Charlie chuckled, and then a slapping sound rang out.
“That’s my girl,” Holden said, no doubt giving Charlotte a high five.
Matthew and I looked at each other, taken aback.
“Congratulations!” Matthew bellowed. “I’m so happy Charlotte is finally getting the family she deserves.”
“I never wanted kids until this pipsqueak,” Bridget admitted.
Charlie shrieked, “Ow, you pinched me too hard. That’s child abuse, you know?”
Bridget snorted, and Holden chimed in, “You’re right. Cool it, Bee.”
Next thing I heard was Holden yelping for help. Bridget must have hit him.
“Oh, Audrey is calling back, no doubt she was busy being gaga over Vet Boy. I’ll call you back,” Bridget mumbled quickly, and the line clicked over.
“Charlotte is a mini-Holden so this is really a match made in heaven for all of them. They are good people. Charlie is in good hands. I’m happy for them,” Matthew expressed as soon as we got off the phone.
“Yeah.” I took a deep breath, realizing I didn’t congratulate Charlotte on getting a family.
As mad as I was at the girl who I once considered a sister, I couldn’t not congratulate her on what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of her life.
I looked at Matthew, swaying a little as I grabbed the phone from him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
I typed a message on my phone and let him read it before sending it.
Congratulations!
I added a red heart emoji at the last second. I wasn’t quite ready to forgive Charlie, or to vocalize the love I knew I still had for my sister, so this would have to be enough for now. The ice was thawing around my heart, and while Charlie and I would never be what we once were, given this new information, now she was an unavoidable part of my life.
I needed to make peace, not for Charlie’s sake but for my own. Holding onto the hatred I had for Charlie wasn’t only hurting Charlotte, it was hurting me too, which subsequently hurt my relationship with Matthew and all those around who I loved.
Part of working on myself was noticing these mistakes and making a positive difference.
After all, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results was the definition of insanity. Except when it came to tackling a green-eyed boy in a kitchen.
In that case, you do that over and over again. Forever.