Chapter 9 – Cassie
Okay—full transparency—I was having the time of my life.
Between the delicious fried foods and the energy of the stadium as the Grizzlies took the lead, I never wanted this night to end. Tonight made me realize I needed to go out more often.
Getting out of the house or the coffee shop and having a good time without any responsibility or stress was never high on my to-do list, but the longer the night went on, the better I felt. It was like my body was resetting, all the worries from my life fading away, even if just for the night.
As the kicker sent the ball hurtling between the goalposts, I jumped up cheering.
“Hell yeah!” I yelled as everyone in the stadium cheered with me, the guys in front of me all high-fiving each other. Jace just stared at me, smiling. Not thinking, I jumped into him, wrapping my arms around him for a hug.
“Having a good time are you?” he teased.
“I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun, honestly. I’ve been so busy with the coffee shop and making sure my mom is taken care of, I didn’t realize how badly I needed to get out and let loose,” I admitted reluctantly.
“So, you admit I had a good idea?”
“I’m not ready to admit defeat yet. The night is still young. It might turn into a shit show, you never know.”
Jace looked down at the boot on his broken foot from our incident earlier this week. I could tell he was studying all the signatures on it. Between then and now, he had his mom and dad sign it. He also managed to get his childhood best friend Liam, Silver Creek’s only town sheriff, to sign it too.
The signatures were all from the most important people in his life.
All except mine. I’d been forced to sign his boot by June, not expected to like everyone else in his family––because I wasn’t a part of their family.
I’m not sure why, but that realization made me sad.
I guess it made me realize how alone I truly was.
I didn’t have a big family I could lean on when times got tough.
Unlike Jace, I only had myself to rely on.
“Why did you draw butterflies next to your name?” Jace asked, pulling me out of my sad trance.
“Well, growing up I loved to spend time outside. It helped take my mind off the bullshit life I had. A lot of times I’d see butterflies flying through the air.
Sometimes they’d land on my hand or arm, and I’d sit there, just watching them.
It was like they were speaking to me somehow, telling me everything would be okay.
I know that sounds crazy, but it’s the truth.
For me, butterflies represent a new beginning, like the one I was given after I left home.
Since everyone else drew something to represent themselves, it only seemed fitting that I draw butterflies,” I answered truthfully.
I couldn’t tell if the alcohol was pushing the truth out or if I just felt more comfortable sharing things with Jace.
He already knew about all my childhood trauma, so why stop now?
Cheers erupted around us as the Grizzlies got another touchdown, breaking up the serious moment we had sparking up between us.
As I jumped up to cheer with everyone else, my feet wobbled underneath me. That was my first indication that the liquor was starting to take hold of me.
But not long after, I drunkenly shotgunned my final beer with someone in the row behind me who’d insisted it was tradition.
The music hit a higher note, and so did everything else: my head, my heart, my limbs.
I laughed until my ribs hurt and then laughed some more, because laughing made the lights blink pretty colors.
Jace just stared at me the entire time, a smile on his face I had never seen before.
As the game came to a victorious end, the exit seemed much farther out of reach than it had when the game first started. As people shuffled out of the stadium, it was clear to me that my trek back to Jace’s truck would be much harder than it had been coming into the stadium.
As we made our way up the stadium steps and onto the main platform, Jace wrapped his cool fingers around my arm on more than one occasion, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stay steady on my feet.
He stopped in front of me, bending down with his back toward me.
“Here, get on my back,” he said, motioning for me to put my legs around his sides.
“Are you crazy? You can’t carry me. And even if you could, your foot is broken. That can’t be safe for the bones trying to heal,” I argued.
“I’ll be fine, I promise. Besides, if you drunkenly fall and hurt yourself, I’m going to have to carry you out either way. So let’s go, sugar,” he said, justifying the piggyback.
I stood there for a second longer, trying to decide if this was a good idea or not.
Fuck it.
I gently wrapped one leg around Jace’s right side, then he reached back and grabbed my left thigh, pulling me in and lifting as he stood up straight.
I had to admit, this was ten times better than walking.
A ten-out-of-ten idea from Jace McDreamy.
“Are you sure I’m not hurting your foot?” I asked, looking down as if I’d be able to see the pain radiating from his foot or something.
“It doesn’t hurt at all. I’m fine, Cass, I promise” he assured me, laughing.
I guess his laughter was a sign he was telling the truth.
We approached the passenger side of his truck, and Jace pulled the door open, turning around to gently place me in the seat.
“Let’s get you home, sugar.” He hopped into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“The night is still young, McDreamy. I’m not even tired. I’m totally fine. I only had like two beers,” I said, slurring my words.
Jace looked at me as if I were the most adorable, ridiculous thing he’d ever seen—sending a chill straight down my spine. Did I like it when he looked at me like that? Was I going crazy? It must have been the booze.
As Jace drove down the familiar two-lane highway, I rolled down the window, waving my hand in and out of the gust of wind as he accelerated forward.
“I had so much fun tonight, Jace. You don’t know how much I needed this.
Is it bad to say I’m kind of glad I broke your foot?
I mean I feel bad, don’t get me wrong. But if it didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have owed you, and that’s what brought us here tonight.
I’ll never forget how this night made me feel so happy and free. ”
“You need to take more time for yourself, Cassie, seriously. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, you know.”
“I know, but it’s so much easier to do things myself.
Then I don’t have to worry about anyone else.
I can’t fix my mom’s drug addiction, but I can keep her safe.
And I can’t let anyone else run the coffee shop because it’s my baby.
I know every nook and cranny of that building.
No one will run it as well as I do, so it’s just easier if I handle everything.
But after tonight, I’ve realized how much the stress was exhausting me, and I couldn’t even see it,” I said, admitting what I probably should have a long time ago.
“What do you want in life?” Jace asked, catching me off guard.
“That’s a loaded question,” I said, laughing awkwardly, because why did Jace McKinley want to know what I wanted out of life?
“I mean, like, where do you see yourself in five years? What’s your five-year plan?”
I sat there for a moment, thinking. Nothing but the hum of the engine filled the truck cab.
“I know this will sound crazy because everyone sees me as this hyperindependent girlboss who lives to put a man in his place, but the truth is, in five years I want to be married,” I admitted, not sure why I was telling Jace in the first place.
It wasn’t like this was a slumber party and I was revealing my deepest, darkest secrets to a group of my best teenage girlfriends.
I could’ve lied and said something about wanting to double the size of the Daily Grind or any other simple answer.
But no—I opted to share one of my deepest desires instead.
Good job, Cassie.
“What Colt and Ellie have, the wedding vows they’re about to exchange, June Bug… I want all that. I want the happiness of a family I never got to have, and I didn’t realize it until I got to sit front row and watch them fall in love.”
“You’ll get it, Cass. I promise,” Jace said, looking over at me slouched down in his passenger seat.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jace.
Unless he could make prince charming himself appear from thin air, there was no way Jace could guarantee anything about my future husband or lack of one.
I wrapped my arms around my torso, closing my eyes to soak in the moment, not wanting to ever forget the happiness and high of this night.
Based on how warm and fuzzy my body still felt, the alcohol wouldn’t wear off any time soon. The further Jace drove, the sleepier I got. The constant hum of his truck soothed my body—exactly what it needed coming off my high.
At some point, I realized Jace wasn’t driving me home. He turned off the main highway onto an unfamiliar rutted dirt road, the tires continuously crunching over gravel.
“Where are we going?” I asked, sitting up straight, peering out the window as if that would help. Everything outside was a smear of black.
“You said the night was still young, so I’m taking you somewhere that’ll be the cherry on top.”
“Are you trying to murder me? People know I’m with you tonight, you know that, right?”
He just laughed. “Yes, Cass. I’m aware people know we’re together tonight. So no, I am not trying to murder you. If anyone should be worried about being alone with you, it’s me.”
“Then where the heck are you taking me?”
“Remember the other night when I said we should go look at the stars and you told me to fuck off?”
“I’m painfully familiar with the incredibly embarrassing moment.”
“Well, this time I’m taking you by force.”
“Why?”