Chapter 11 #2
Drea rolled out the blank canvas along the hardwood floor in her bedroom and placed one of the wood frames she had built on top.
She knelt over the canvas, starting a cut with her knife before tearing it the rest of the way.
As she folded the canvas over one of the edges of the frame, she grabbed her staple gun and secured the canvas to the wood, then continued working around the perimeter of the frame.
When the stapling was done and she had turned it over to make sure the canvas was stretched tight, Pickles joined her.
He hated the sound of the staple gun and always waited until that part was over to inspect.
Drea sat back on her heels and petted him as he rubbed against her. “Sorry, bud, there’s two more to go.”
After the three panels were stretched, primed, and dried, Drea stood with a glass of whiskey, staring at the canvases leaning against her wall. She thought back to Nellie’s story about how she and Katherine had met and began to sketch a design across the three panels.
A while later, after she had completed her sketch, she grabbed her paint and set the first panel on the easel.
Pickles watched her from his usual spot on the bed, supervising.
After a few minutes, Drea entered the zone, her brushstrokes free and easy as her natural ability steered the ship and her mind wandered to Cassie.
She had been standoffish at work ever since Thursday night at the wedding venue.
At first, Drea thought maybe it had to do with Molly, but then she remembered Cassie asking how she knew Katherine and how things had felt off when Cassie left.
Drea grabbed a different brush and color, building on the base she had created.
Was Cassie worried that there was something between Katherine and Drea?
Was she jealous? Drea’s hand stilled at the thought.
Women being into her wasn’t foreign territory, but other than the playful banter, Cassie had never done anything to indicate she might be interested in her as anything other than a coworker.
Sure, Drea had occasionally had thoughts about Cassie, but only because she was cute—well, attractive.
Cute and attractive. And Drea noticed most women in that way.
It didn’t mean anything. At least that’s what Drea kept telling herself, unwilling or unable to comprehend why something about Cassie stayed with her, lingering in her mind long after their time together.
She didn’t want to entertain such thoughts, that any woman might have an effect on her.
That was dangerous territory she had spent her life avoiding.
Plus, Cassie was probably too busy with the wedding and work to even entertain such thoughts.
It was probably just due to stress from Molly and all of the extra work Cassie had been dealing with.
Though Cassie admitting Drea’s drawl was sexy and how uncomfortable Cassie got after realizing her slip made Drea chuckle.
She returned her focus to her painting, pushing back the part of her that enjoyed the idea of Cassie being into her.
Ridiculous. They were friends. Nothing more.
Friends. Drea sat with the word, rolling it around in her mind.
Is that what they were? She did enjoy her time with Cassie, and since there could never be anything more than that between them—it would go against the rules she had set for herself, rules she wasn’t willing to change for anyone—maybe friends was perfect.
Feeling more certain that everything was fine, Drea took a sip of whiskey and continued painting into the early hours of the morning.
Cassie glanced at Drea’s desk. Again. Ever since Drea’s vague explanation of how she knew Katherine, Cassie had retreated from the natural back-and-forth that she and Drea had developed.
She had convinced herself it was about the wedding, using the past six days to envision every scenario possible where the wedding planner, having slept with one of the brides, would cause disaster.
But when she quit spinning out doomsday scenarios, she recalled no animosity in Katherine’s voice when speaking to Drea and the way that Katherine and Nellie looked at each other.
There was no threat to the wedding. The threat was the pang of jealousy she felt deep in her chest when she thought about Drea hooking up with Katherine.
She wished she didn’t care. And the fact that some part of her did scared the hell out of her. But with only one and a half weeks left until the wedding, she needed to touch base with Drea.
Drea was working on her laptop, her feet crossed on top of her desk. But something about Drea seemed off.
Cassie took a deep breath and walked over, but Drea didn’t seem to notice. “Hey,” Cassie said.
Drea looked up, the bags under her eyes apparent. “Hey yourself.”
Cassie nodded to the break area. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure,” Drea said, putting her laptop on her desk and following Cassie.
When they had some privacy, Cassie continued. “I wanted to touch base with you about the plan for the remaining wedding tasks to make sure we’ve got everything covered and are on the same page.”
“Okay,” Drea said as her gaze wandered out the window.
Sensing hesitation in Drea’s response, Cassie jumped in. “Look, if you’re too busy or whatever, I can do this. I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything.”
Drea met Cassie’s eyes. “I don’t feel obligated. I’m happy to help.”
Cassie searched Drea’s face but only found sincerity. “Okay, thank you. Do you have time we could talk tonight?”
Drea leaned back against the counter. Cassie’s brain tried to comprehend how such a basic outfit, a black button-down with a few buttons open at the top and jeans, could be so effortlessly sexy. But that was Drea. “How about Rosie’s?”
Cassie forced her mind to focus on the words and not the visual in front of her. “Rosie’s?”
“Yeah. Seven?”
“Perfect. See you then.” She headed back to her desk, feeling Drea’s eyes on her.
When Cassie found Drea in a booth at Rosie’s a few hours later, she was sipping a margarita and seemed more relaxed than earlier. Cassie took off her jacket and noticed the iced tea in front of her. She glanced at Drea. “For me?”
Drea nodded and raised her glass in the air. “Cheers.”
Cassie raised hers and peered around the club as she took a sip. The Wednesday evening crowd was more chill than on the weekend, but a fair number of people still filled the space.
She filled Drea in on the cake tasting and all of the amazing flavors Jody had made for them. “I’ve been dreaming about those cakes ever since Sunday.” Cassie swooned at the memory and Drea laughed. “What kind of cake would you want for your wedding?” Cassie asked.
For the first time since Cassie had known her Drea seemed at a loss.
“What?” Cassie asked.
Drea shrugged. “I have never once thought about that question in my entire life.”
“Oh, not a big cake person?”
“Not a wedding person.” Drea took a sip of her drink, but held Cassie’s gaze.
“Ah.” Cassie had no idea how to respond, feeling like she had gotten them both into a deeper conversation than she had intended, so she sipped her iced tea to buy time.
“I suppose you are.”
Cassie laughed. “My views on weddings and marriage are . . . complicated. But I would marry those cakes.” She arched her eyebrow and Drea burst into laughter.
Cassie pulled out her notepad full of wedding details, and they discussed the timeline until the wedding and the remaining duties needing to be covered. As Cassie plowed on, Drea’s energy seemed to drift.
Cassie stopped what she was saying. “Are you okay?”
Drea had been staring at her drink, twirling it slowly on the table, but the question got her attention. “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Another pang of jealousy hit Cassie as she imagined what, exactly, had kept Drea up all night.
Damn it. Cassie had no interest in hearing details about whoever Drea had been with the night before.
She looked down at her notepad to see what else needed to be decided on.
“OK. What did you decide about the painting? Are you still up for that or do we need to think of another plan?”
“I sketched it out and have a lot of the first panel done.”
“First panel?” Cassie perked up, intrigued.