Chapter 10 Cassidy
TEN
CASSIDY
“Idon’t know, Liv,” I murmur, chest heavy as I look towards the loft where the kids sleep. The fire roars, keeping the space warm, though I can’t shake the chill heavy in my bones.
“Well, I just made it to Saddlehorn with Christopher. You could always bring the twins and join us,” she says, voice tired, exhaustion clear in her tone.
“I could rent us an actual house temporarily. You should sell the land. Everyone says it’s worth a fortune.
You could take that money and put it away for college, set Arlo and Cleo up for a good future. ”
I release a breath and rub my forehead, my own exhaustion slowly catching up. I’d already known I wouldn’t get any sleep here, but not from being wide awake.
I miss Caleb. Deeply. And it hurts so much more than I realised it would. I miss him more than I do my ex-husband, even more than my children’s father. It doesn’t make sense.
“I know that’s not really what you want to do, though,” Olivia says quietly. “You wanted it to work up there.”
Chewing my bottom lip, my eyes dart to the loft. “I saw a future here, you know? It’s so beautiful, even during a blizzard. And for a little while, it wasn’t so bad.”
“Because you were with him.”
I press my lips together, immediately guilty. “Yeah.”
Olivia sighs. “Cass…”
“I know, I know. It’s not smart. And it’s reckless as hell. But I don’t know, I just…clicked with him. And they did, too.”
My sister hums under her breath softly, so as not to wake her own baby, I suspect. I miss the baby stage. Living with her when Christopher was born had been both stressful and yet so fulfilling. It’d been hard, but watching my sister blossom as a mom had given me so much hope for the future.
“Will I be seeing you at Lennon’s bachelorette party at least?” Olivia asks. “I do miss my sister.”
Tears burn my eyes, emotion a heavy lump in my throat. But before I can find my voice to respond, my phone beeps with an incoming call.
“Hold on,” I say, clearing my throat. “Someone is trying to call me.”
My heart leaps into my throat as I look at the screen. But instead of Caleb’s number—which I realise I don’t actually have—I find Winnie’s name popping up.
“You should go get some sleep while Chris is down,” I say, heart pounding. “Okay? I love you. And yes, I’ll see you in Vegas. Two months and we’ll be together again.”
“Okay. Good night. Call me tomorrow. We’ll figure this out. I love you.” With that, she hangs up, and I quickly call Winnie back.
It’s almost ten. I highly doubt she’d be calling me if it weren’t an emergency. I’d taken a risk calling Liv, but Winnie would have texted first.
“Hey,” I say when she answers. “What’s wrong?”
“Have you talked to Caleb since you left?” she asks, concern bleeding into her tone.
“No,” I admit. I’d already called her and told her everything. Except for the part where I slept with her brother. Just the bits about him bonding with the kids, then blowing up my chance at getting a job in town. “Why, what’s wrong?”
“He, uh, I thought I saw someone sneaking over to your cottage and told him about it. Caleb came over to check it out, but now he’s passed out in his truck,” she says in a rush. “I thought he’d tell you he was stopping by to check on it, but then he walked around and just…I don’t know.”
My heart sinks into the pit of my stomach, my chest constricting. For a moment, every bad thing that happened today disappears, leaving me desperate to get to him.
“Is he okay?” I ask, voice quaking.
Winnie makes a sound in the back of her throat. “Mom and I are going to pull him in. I think he’ll be fine. But I figured you should know about the potential break-in.”
That’s not at all what I care about. I jump off the sofa I’d been curled up on and grab my coat after hanging up.
Creaking wood makes me pause, and I turn around to find my children crawling down the ladder leading to the loft.
They’re both sleep rumpled but wide-eyed and worried, holding hands in a way that tells me they’re worried.
“Is something wrong with Mr. Caleb?” Cleo asks softly, voice trembling.
I move towards the pair and capture both their cheeks between my hands. “Winnie is just worried about him. Said he’s not feeling well.”
“Mom, you don’t have to lie to us,” Arlo says, more confident than his sister. “There’s something wrong.”
I press my lips together and look towards the ceiling to stop myself from breaking down. All day, I’ve only barely kept them at bay, holding them back with the little strength I have left.
But right now, they threaten to overwhelm me, to pull me down and drown me.
“You’re right,” I murmur, sucking in a breath to calm my racing heart. “There is something wrong. And I’m a little worried about him, honestly.”
“Why did we have to leave?” Cleo asks quietly.
“Because I was scared,” I murmur, finally looking at them.
“Of him?” Arlo asks, leaning into my touch, eyes sparking with tears.
I shake my head slowly. “Of how he makes me feel. And I was scared he might break your hearts.”
Arlo and Cleo are quiet for a long moment, the silence stretching between us. I can’t make myself break it or ask them what they want. Can’t bring myself to have my own heart broken.
My priority is them. It always has been and always will be. A man will never come between that again.
Even a man who makes me feel like there’s hope for a future here—for all of us.
“I think we should go to him,” Arlo declares. “He would come for us.”
That’s all I need to hear. “Jackets and boots. Then we go.”
It takes almost twenty minutes to get from the ranch to our land. The sky is clear of clouds, allowing the stars to shine for the first time since we arrived. The moon hangs in the sky, not quite full but not small either. Out here, light pollution doesn’t even touch the darkness.
I pull in behind Caleb’s truck, breath falling from my lips in a rush. “I’m going to leave the car running. Just stay here for me, okay?” I say, glancing over my shoulder.
Bundled in their hats, gloves, and heavy winter jackets, I only barely catch their nods of agreement.
That’s all I need. I jump out, entering the icy air, and suppress a shiver as I make my way to the truck. The engine is off, but there’s a figure in the driver’s side.
My heart leaps into my throat. In the distance, a door opens, and footsteps sound on a wooden porch. In the back of my mind, I know it’s Winnie, probably her mother, too.
But my focus is on Caleb.
I open the door with a trembling hand. His scent hits me: earth and mountain and rain, all of it crashing into me as I watch him stir.
“Caleb?” I call quietly, reaching for him. There’s a part of me worried he might be drunk, and that’s why they left him here. I literally don’t know enough to be sure.
But when he sits up and those blue eyes fall on me, a breath catches in my throat. “Cassidy? What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be out in the cold.”
A lump forms in my throat over his concern. “Winnie called. She was worried about you.”
Caleb looks from me to the cottage with a frown. “I—I came here to check on it,” he admits. “But I think part of me just wanted to be close to you. I couldn’t go back to the cabin without you—without them, either.”
The lump turns into tears. “Caleb…”
“I can’t…Cassidy, I don’t think I can’t not fight for you.” He looks at me, eyes full of fire. “I’ve been falling in love with you since the moment I caught you in my bathroom. And I can’t let you go again.”
My breath catches in my throat, hope and fear thumping in my chest. “You—you’re what?”
“Let me fight for you,” he whispers, grabbing my hand and holding it to his racing heart. “Let me fight for them, too. Let me help you build the life you all deserve. And please, let me be a part of it. Let me love you.”
I don’t know what it is about those words, but my answer comes in a rush that surprises us both.
“Yes.”