Chapter 7
Trick had come for coffee again on Saturday morning. She couldn’t believe he drove across the bridge just for coffee and to say good morning.
He never stayed long, never asked her to step away with him, he just showed up and she liked it.
When the boss sent her home after the lunch rush so she could enjoy the rest of the day, she spent the walk home thinking about the night before.
When she first met him and they’d tumbled into bed, she’d thought he was just a bad idea she’d get over.
But he wasn’t going to let her get over him.
Because bad ideas didn’t show up at coffee shops every day and smile like she was the best thing he’d ever seen.
Or invite her to listen to a cover band on a mostly-finished deck, holding her hand and looking at her like she was precious.
Trick had done that, though.
Once she was home, she changed and got in her car. But she didn’t go to King Lake to see Trick, although that was on her mind. She went to her mom’s.
Lily lived in a small rancher on a quiet street on the far side of Mill Creek, with a backyard full of bird feeders and a cookie jar on the kitchen counter that was perpetually full of chocolate chip cookies.
Cass knocked and let herself in. “Mom?”
“Kitchen, honey.”
Cass found her mom at the table with a cup of tea, still wearing her scrubs from her shift.
“Oh, this is a nice surprise!”
Cass kissed her cheek and pulled out a chair. “Are you busy?”
“Doom scrolling to unwind from a long shift and having tea. Would you like a cup? It’s blueberry.”
“I’m good, thanks.”
Lily took a sip and looked toward the counter. “Cookie?”
Cass smiled. “Now that I’ll do.” She got up and grabbed two cookies, giving one to her mom before sitting again.
“What brings you by, honey?”
Lauren had a version of love, fit into a narrow box because of her childhood and past relationships. And Juliette had a different version, because she was surrounded by wolf-love and not at all objective about anything romance related.
But her mother had lived the life that Cass had held up as a standard for what happened when love hit too fast.
If anyone knew what Cass was going through with Trick, it was Lily.
“Did you fall for Dad fast?”
Lily went still, mug halfway to her mouth. She put the mug down, then leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table.
“Yes.” She paused for a moment, then said, “I fell fast. He was handsome, charming. He made me feel like the center of the world.”
“Sounds romantic.”
“It was.” Her mouth curved into a smile, but it didn’t last. “At first, anyway.”
“Lauren thinks the fast part was the problem.”
“Lauren thinks a lot of things are problems,” she said with a chuckle.
“She said that you and Dad are proof that fast love doesn’t last.”
Lily sighed and picked up the cookie, taking a bite. Then she said, “I can see why she’d say that. But that’s not the whole truth.”
Then her mom shared a tale of two young kids who were completely wrong for each other but got tangled up in the hot and heavy of new love. “It was all dinners out and dancing at clubs, and headboard rattling good sex.”
“Ugh, Mom. Geez. I didn’t ask.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Not about sex with you and Dad. I’m going to need therapy.”
Lily grinned and patted Cass’s hand. “Fine. Honey, fast wasn’t the problem.
My grandparents met and married within six months and had a fifty-year marriage before they passed away.
The problem was that your dad and I were not remotely compatible.
He wanted a stay-at-home wife; I was just starting my career.
He liked the idea of me more than the real me.
And I liked the way he made me feel more than I liked who he actually was.
” She finished the cookie and brushed off her fingers.
“I was going to break up with him. And then I got pregnant with Lauren.”
Cass stared at her mom. “I thought you got married first.”
“That came after the positive pregnancy test. I thought it would be better if Lauren had a two-parent home. But Jim knew that I’d been on the verge of ending it when it happened, and he never really forgave me for that.
Then you came along, and I felt more trapped.
I stayed too long, and we were both so miserable at the end.
I didn’t mean to sour you and Lauren on love, and I’m sorry. ”
“So, it wasn’t because you fell too fast?”
“Nope. Love was not the problem with your dad, or how fast we fell. We just really weren’t meant to be together. Fast is only a problem when it’s not the right guy.”
“How do you know it’s the right guy?”
“You feel it in your heart.”
Cass made a face. “Super helpful, Mom.”
She smiled. “Look, heat is easy, okay? But heat doesn’t make a relationship. Your dad and I didn’t even like the same things. When we weren’t you know, we had nothing to talk about. So the love was born of physical stuff, shallow and hollow, and honey, that’s not going to last fifty years.”
Cass immediately thought of Trick. How she’d discovered little things they had in common, like music, and movies, and how sweet he was, with a dry sense of humor she really liked.
Did she believe in love at first sight?
She wasn’t sure.
But she knew she was falling for him. They might have skipped a few things like going on a date and getting to know each other, but maybe that didn’t mean it was going to fizzle out.
She told her mom about Trick, and without going into too much detail, how she felt like she’d rushed things and then gotten in her own head.
“I just don’t want to mistake heat for forever, you know?”
“Well, that’s fine, honey, but don’t make my mistake in reverse. Don’t walk away from the right guy because you’re afraid of what staying might mean. If you can picture your life without him in it, then I’d wager he’s not the guy for you.”
She pictured it, her life without him.
And she hated it with a deep, resonating passion.
“Then you have your answer.”
Cass hugged her. “Thanks, Mom.”
“When you get things settled with him, I want to meet him.”
“You got it.”
After staying for a while, she said goodbye and headed home.
The only thing she was thinking about was Trick.
And a future with him.
How was your day? She texted Trick for the very first time. Juliette had sent her the number, but she’d never used it. Until she got home.
She expected a who is this, but instead she got, Hey beautiful. Better now. How was yours?
Really good, actually. I hung out with my mom after work.
They texted for an hour. About the tavern, the coffee shop, the band audition, and their favorite songs by decade which had turned into a heated debate about whether the seventies rocked more or the eighties did. He asked about her mom, and she asked about his family.
His answer took longer.
Mine’s complicated, prob too much for texting. But it’s just me and my brothers now. We’re our own pack and family.
That sounds like quite a story. If you’d like to tell me sometime, I’d like to hear it.
You got it.
She fell asleep that night, thinking about the future and Trick, and how a wolf had changed her perception of love just by simply showing up.
When she’d closed up the coffee shop on Monday, she hurried home and changed, then made a decision. She knew what she was about to do was going to change everything.
And she was okay with that.
Although her heart was pounding as she drove across the bridge to King Lake, it wasn’t nerves, it was excitement.
And maybe a little bit of nerves.
She parked and climbed out, shutting the door.
As if he knew she was there, Trick opened the door to The Howl.
This was it.
No going back.
She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it. And that’s why she was putting her heart on the line.
Because he was the right guy.
Her right guy.