Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
CASSIE
I’m up before seven.
Which is…annoying.
But sleep was hard to come by last night.
I pace the kitchen, phone pressed to my ear.
“Avery, I’m serious,” I say, rubbing my forehead. “He’s leaving. Like—gone. Florida.”
“Okay,” she says. “And?”
“And I knew this was going to happen,” I say. “I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. I just, I don’t know. I guess I got too excited.”
A pause.
“Have you considered telling him how you feel?”
I let out a short laugh.
“Cass…” Avery says. “Please don’t sabotage this.”
“I’m not sabotaging anything.”
“Uh, let’s recap,” she says. “A hot cowboy literally moves into your house, likes you, cooks for you, plays tea party with your nieces—”
“Maybe.”
“—and now you’re just going to let him walk out the door?”
I open my mouth, then close it.
“I should tell him,” I say finally. “I just, what if…”
I feel my emotions well up. “What if he says he doesn’t like me? And I tried long distance before. You know how that worked out. He was cheating on me the whole damn time, Avery.”
She goes silent. “If I may. As your friend.”
“Yes.”
“You’re letting the past decide your future. From everything you’ve said—”
My phone buzzes with another call coming through.
George.
“Gotta go,” I tell Avery. “This is work.”
“Fine. Call me back.”
I answer.
“Hello?”
“Cassie!” George’s voice booms through the line. “I love it. You’re an early riser too?”
I blink. “Uh—yeah. I guess so.”
“I’ve been watching the numbers,” he says. “This thing is exploding. Such great content. We need to capitalize—more posts, more engagement, behind-the-scenes if you’ve got it—”
I set my phone on the counter, and put him on speaker while I wipe down the countertop.
“Yeah,” I say, distracted, “I mean, he was great…”
Just then, I hear footsteps.
I turn and see Logan standing in the hallway with a bag slung over his shoulder.
He heard that.
“…content,” I finish, my voice quieter now.
Logan stares, tilting his head just a little.
George keeps talking.
“…this is exactly what we want, this is how you build momentum…”
“Hey,” Logan says.
Not forcefully, but not friendly.
I reach for my phone, fumbling. “George, hang on—give me a moment. I’ll call you back.”
“Alright. Call me back in ten,” he says. “We’ll map this out.”
The line clicks dead, and now it’s just Logan standing there, looking at me like something just clicked into place.
“So that’s what I was?” he says.
My chest tightens.
“Just content?”
This is it. This is the moment.
I could fix it. I could just say it.
You’re not. You weren’t. You were so much more.
But if I do, he leaves anyway. And I’m the one left standing here. Figuring out…what, exactly? What this whole thing between us is? Was?
I swallow, and force my shoulders back.
“Logan, that didn’t come out how I…” The words sound all wrong the second they leave my mouth. Like I’m pleading.
Something in his expression shuts down.
It’s not anger; it’s worse. He’s just got this blank expression that I can’t really read.
And after Evan, I promised myself I’d never plead again.
Instead, I try to loosen the blow. “We said this was a rebound, right?”
“We said that. We also said it was just going to be one night.”
“I just, I don’t know where we go from here.”
“Got it,” he says.
“Logan—wait—”
But he’s already moving.
Past me, to the door.
It opens and closes, and a second later, his truck roars to life in the driveway.
Gravel crunches, and then I watch through the window as his truck fades down the road.
And suddenly, the house feels too big. I lean my head back against the wall, close my eyes, and face palm.
“Why did you do that, Cass?”