36. Cassandra
I climbedinto the back seat of Becca’s SUV with a faint smile. “Hey, sister.”
“Hey yourself.” Becca frowned. “Give us some notice next time. You’re lucky we got stuck in gridlock outside of Boston. Otherwise, you would have bankrupted yourself on renting a car.”
My fingers brushed my pants pocket with the five-figure check.
“Sorry. Last-minute change of plans. I got scared it’d snow tomorrow and didn’t want to risk driving in the snow,” I lied.
“Been in the south too long?” Cal joked from the driver’s seat.
“Something like that.” I opened my phone. Two missed calls from Diego, no messages, no texts. I took a deep breath and forced my shoulders away from my ears.
Even in the relative luxury of a first-class seat direct from Norwalk to Manchester, the uncertainty of what exactly had happened between this morning when I woke up in Diego’s arms to the flight home had me wired. I’d downed two in-flight drinks, hoping some alcohol would ease the stress. Instead, it’d only made me sad, almost weepy. And that, along with telling my sister the real reason I’d come home early, was the last thing I needed.
“So, all done playing Diego’s girlfriend for the season?” Cal asked, eyes catching mine in the rearview.
I swallowed a lump in my throat. “According to the NDA I signed.”
“Are you supposed to be talking about that?” Becca asked.
“Probably not. James figured out I hadn’t read the thing and is hooking me up with a lawyer to go over the terms.”
“He should have done that in the first place. I would have told you that if you’d asked me. Instead, I spent two weeks thinking you were actually dating Diego,” she muttered. “Which was absolutely ridiculous.”
Cal reached across the seat and squeezed Becca’s knee. “I don’t know. Cassie and Diego made sense to me. And my fantasy football league absolutely gushed over the two of you. We started a side bet for if they’d televise your post-game kiss.”
“Please say you didn’t,” I groaned, sinking into my seat.
Becca gasped. “Wait, what post-game kiss? You’re not serious. Why didn’t you tell me.”
“You’re not in the league because you know too much.” He grinned at Becca before winking into the mirror at me. “And we certainly didn’t share those videos with Becca.”
“Thanks for doing the bare minimum, Cal,” I said through a forced smile.
“How many were there? I thought it was just one.” Becca demanded, eyes flitting between me and her boyfriend.
“One,” he lied. “Only one.”
“Liar,” she decided. “And it doesn’t matter because Diego is in a world of hurt this summer. I can’t wait to jack up my price and run him ragged through the mountains. Hell, I might make him compete in the Highland games.”
The visual of Diego in a kilt filled me with an unmanageable level of lust, and I redirected the conversation to Cal and Becca’s new life in Massachusetts instead. Solid ground that wouldn’t start a fight, not the up-in-the air uncertainty filling my chest. An uncertainty that wouldn’t go away until Diego called me back.
If he called me back.
The familiar twisty mountain highways eased away the anxiety wracking my body, and the distinct lack of cell phone service through most of the mountains made it pointless to obsessively check my phone for some reply from Diego. He’d call back and whatever he’d decided, I was fifty grand richer. And depending on what he said, I’d be a little wiser or happier.
By the time we reached the well-worn sign announcing our arrival to Franklin Notch, the conversation had meandered far away from the Norwalk Breakers and Diego and onto Christmas presents and plans for Becca and Cal’s brief trip home.
An early Christmas celebration with my family. Dinner with his. Lunch at the diner. Visiting friends. And then back home to their real life.
And once again, I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t have an apartment or a job or even a couch. But for the first time, that lack of stability bothered me. Made me sad. Made me wish for something more.
“Home, sweet home,” Becca smiled as we pulled in front of our childhood home. What my parents couldn’t provide in designer clothes or extravagant gifts, they made up for with a stable, loving home. Besides a new roof and a fresh coat of paint, the century old blue farmhouse hadn’t changed in decades. A birdhouse I built in high school sat in the front yard, and from the driveway, I could see the outline of the sunflower sun catcher on my bedroom window. Touchstones that reminded me that by coming back here, things would be okay.
“They couldn’t even wait to invite people over,” Becca muttered, jerking her head to the sedan parked in front of the house.
“Probably Uncle Ron. He got into parlay betting this season and needs some insider tips for the next New England game,” I teased.
She rolled her eyes. “In case he’s here for Breakers’ news, please remember that you’re under an NDA.”
“I feel like you’ll make sure I don’t forget.”
“I’m just saving you from yourself, sister.”
When our parents didn’t materialize on the porch, Cal stayed behind to unload our bags while Becca and I headed for the door. I paused at the bottom of the steps, rooting around in the mulched flower bed to find the fake rock my mom placed when Becca and I got locked out in grade school, unlatching the secret compartment, and taking the key.
“I can’t believe they haven’t gotten rid of that,” Becca sighed. “Everyone in the neighborhood knows about it.”
“All our friends, anyway.” I slotted the key into the lock and pushed the door open. “Mom! Dad! Your favorite daughter is home!”
“And she brought Cassie!” Becca yelled after me.
I elbowed her in the ribs, but she slid past me into the entry.
“We’re in the living room!” Mom yelled. “And we have company!”
Becca groaned, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “Forget this. Let’s go to Bob’s for a drink.”
I nodded. “Quick hello and then let’s get out of here.”
We walked to the living room, pushing open the heavy wooden door that kept the heat from the stove in.
“Welcome home,” Mom said, standing from her seat on the couch. Dad sat behind her, and I stopped cold as I recognized the back of the head of the person sitting in the floral armchair across from them.
Diego sat up, a tentative smile on his face.
“Diego, what are you doing here?” I blurted out, a mixture of raw emotion and shock.
“You’ve got an absolute pair of balls to show up unannounced,” Becca said, eyebrow raised and hand on her hip. “What were you thinking?—”
“Rebecca,” Mom said, her voice low but firm. “Why don’t you help me in the kitchen? I’m sure Diego and Cassie would like a couple of minutes alone.”
Becca’s eyes narrowed, gaze set on Diego, but she followed Mom and Dad out of the room.
“Cassandra.”
My name dripped off his lips with a tinge of sadness. I bit back a sudden surge of tears.
“Hey stranger,” I said shakily. “Fancy meeting you here.”
He stood stock still, eyes locked on mine and his breathing slow.
“What are you doing here, Diego?” I asked with a fake, desperate levity. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“Cassandra,” he breathed, bridging the gap between us and wrapping me in his arms. “I thought…”
“I boarded a plane to New Hampshire?” I murmured into his sweater, inhaling clove and turf. An all-too familiar scent that made my entire body relax and my mind block out the anxiety of the last few hours.
“You left. You wanted to leave.”
I laughed. “Says the man who booked me a one-way ticket back home.”
He shook his head, tipping my chin up. “Not me. James. He was doing me a favor. You a favor. Or he thought he was, anyway.”
“Some favor.”
“I’m firing him tomorrow,” Diego murmured, his lips tipping up in a grin.
“Poor James.”
“Poor me.” His grip tightened on my shoulders. “I should have taken the day off practice, asked you as soon as the contract was signed.”
“Asked me what?”
“Cassandra, date me. Fuck, live with me. Don’t leave Norwalk. Or, if you need to, tell me where you’re going, and I’ll follow.”
A rush of relief flooded me. “Seriously? What if I plan to move to Alaska?”
“I’ll transfer to Washington. The commute can’t be that bad.”
I laughed. “Australia?”
“Not a huge football country, but I think Aussie rules are close. I’ll make a career change. How hard can another sport really be?” He grinned. “Honestly, it’d be easier if you just came back to Norwalk with me, but that’s all up for negotiation. As long as you say you’ll be with me.”
I took a step back, pressing a finger to my chin as if considering the offer. “On one condition.”
“Anything,” he breathed a sigh of relief, jaw unclenching and shoulders deflating.
“You tell Becca.”
Diego closed his eyes with a wince. “Okay. Only because I love you.”
I melted. Full on, heart stopping melted. How do knees even work after a guy like Diego says he loves you?
“You love me?”
“I’m hoping the feeling is mutual. Or at least you can lie so that when Becca verbally destroys me in front of your parents, I have some hope that you’ll come back to Norwalk with me, anyway.”
I threw my arms around him, wrapping my legs around his waist in a full-on monkey crawl. “I love you, too. I love you so much that I’ll stand by you even after you’re embarrassed in front of my entire family. In fact, wait an hour so my aunts and uncles can witness it, too. Just so I can prove how much.”
“Let’s save that humiliation for off season, okay?”
“Done,” I promised.