Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“I can’t believe you’re really staying,” Lyra said as she stacked a cardboard box onto another one.
“I know. I’m probably crazy for doing this, but I kind of don’t care.” Cassie stopped at the edge of the walkway and took in her new home. It was hard to believe that the long weekend in her birth mother’s hometown had turned into a permanent stay.
But the house was everything she’d ever dreamed. A quaint little Cape Cod with a fenced-in backyard and a beautiful porch.
She could already imagine curling up in a rocker with a good book. Later, she would add some native plants to the front garden. And there was a perfect spot in the living room to put up the Christmas tree—which she would do whenever she damn well pleased.
It was her own. Hers. And no one could take it away. Not even a bank because the proceeds from the sale of their house in San Diego had covered it all. Things would be tight for a while with opening the clinic, but she would manage.
Hopefully, this was the first chapter in her beautiful new beginning. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she fished it out. Her mom was calling. Nope. No favors today. She ignored the call and tucked it away again.
A noise at the house next door drew her attention. Shit. She had almost forgotten that her next-door neighbor was about to be GrumpAss Landlord Noah. But how much would they even see each other, anyway?
Lyra side-stepped Cassie on the walkway and led the way to the front door. “You’re not crazy. I love this town. I probably would’ve made a lot more money if I’d set up shop in Annapolis or DC, but Aster Hollow is home. Can we get inside already? This box is heavy.”
“Oh, shit. Sorry.”
Cassie stopped staring at Noah’s house and jogged up the steps to her porch. She shifted the cardboard box over to one hip as she fiddled with the keys.
Finally, the door swung open. Home.
She stepped inside and held the door for Lyra.
It definitely needed a lot of sprucing up.
The walls were covered in dings from Tina’s four young boys growing up.
Then there was the violently maroon carpet that simply had to go.
New appliances in the kitchen, definitely a gas hookup.
Lots to be done. But the clinic wouldn’t be ready to open for at least a month, so the renovation would be a great distraction from the clusterfuck that was her life.
A very nice truck pulled up outside, and Lyra lifted her head. “I hope you don’t mind, I called for reinforcements.”
“Andi?” Cassie’s heart thumped uncomfortably.
“No. I asked her, but she ignored me. It’s just Will.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
It would be nice to see Will again. He was funny, and he had a way about him that immediately put her at ease. Pretty much the antithesis of Noah.
“Why is Will still single, anyway?” she asked quietly as the man of the hour jumped down from his truck. He was wearing Timberlands, jeans, and an athleisure shirt. Must have run out of flannels.
Lyra snorted. “Classic ne’er-do-well. He’s allergic to commitment, wants nothing to do with marriage or kids. He’s a good guy, but he’s left a trail of broken hearts from here to Los Angeles. Trust me, you don’t want to get involved.”
“LA?”
“We’ll talk about it later.”
At that moment, the door crashed open and Will walked in, carrying two boxes. “What’s up, party people? Where do you want these?”
He had the enthusiasm and confidence of a golden retriever. What was it like to feel like you belonged in every room you entered?
“Hey, Will. Thanks for coming. You can just put them in a pile over there.” Cassie pointed to the corner of the living room. “I’ll sort them later.”
“It’s my honor to help the prettiest doctor in town move into her new abode.”
While his back was turned, Lyra shot her a look and shook her head.
“No offense to Dr. Volchansky,” Will continued. “I’ve heard ear hair is very attractive to some people.”
“Oh, yeah. Can confirm,” Cassie said with a smile.
It was kind of nice to have someone fill the silence. There were no awkward pauses.
Will smiled too. “What’s next, Doc?”
“Just Cassie. Think we can tackle the couch?”
“Let’s do it.”
The three of them spent the better part of two hours hefting all that remained from Cassie’s old life into her new house.
It was weird to see things from San Diego sitting here in Maryland—an award from the zoo, a beautifully patterned Dutch oven she had found at a farmer’s market and hidden in the corner cabinet so that Dave wouldn’t force her to give it up.
It was sparse. Her last apartment had been furnished, so she’d pulled what little she had from her storage unit. There were whole rooms with nothing in them. The TV was currently on the floor, and she had a mattress but no bed frame. She definitely had shopping to do and a lot of projects to start.
They collapsed on the living room floor, sweaty and breathless.
Cassie picked up her phone. “I’m gonna order a pizza or twelve. What’s the best place?”
Lyra glanced at her watch. “Shit. I’ve gotta meet my flour guy for a delivery.”
Cassie sat up. “Oh, no. I didn’t even get to say thank you. Want to come back afterward?”
“Yeah, you should come back,” Will said with a long look. There were definitely some vibes there.
Lyra glared at him. “Wish I could. I have to prep some dough for tomorrow. Every time I let Ginny do it, the croissants come out looking like hockey pucks.”
“Okay, dinner this week then. Once I get a dining room table.”
“Done. See you later,” Lyra called on her way out the door.
Oh, boy. Now she was alone with Will.
He sat up and looked at her. “How about you finally drop off that U-Haul you’ve been dragging around like a security blanket and I’ll take you out for pizza?”
She hesitated.
A smile curled his lips. “Lyra warned you about me already, didn’t she?”
“No comment. But it wouldn’t matter anyway because I have no desire to date ever again. It’s just going to be me…and probably half a dozen dogs,” she said as she scanned the house.
He held his hands up. “Perfect. No strings. Nothing creepy. Just two new friends eating pizza. Maybe some mini golf.”
She found her purse among the boxes and threw it over one shoulder. “Oh, you don’t want to challenge me to mini golf. I have the dexterity of a surgeon and the anal retentiveness of a border collie.”
“You don’t scare me.”
She started to open the front door, then pulled her hand back. “I should really change.”
Dave had never let either of them leave the house without being showered, fully made up, and dressed in neatly pressed clothes, like he expected TMZ to be waiting around every corner.
“You look fine,” Will said. “Pizza awaits.”
“You know what? Fuck it. Let’s go.” She opened the door and stepped onto the porch before she could change her mind.
An hour later, the emotional-support U-Haul was finally gone, and she and Will were sitting on the terrace outside a local pizza joint down the street from Lyra’s café.
A gentle breeze wicked the sweat from the back of her neck.
It was a picture-perfect day, even if the river in front of them had brought along a few mosquitoes.
“My god, this is so good,” she said.
The sauce had a hint of sweetness, and the cheese pulled like a dream. It had been so long since she’d eaten pizza.
“Everyone says Del Rossi’s is better. But for me, nothing beats Angelo’s.”
“Thank you for introducing me to it. I’m surprised to see such a strong Italian influence here in the middle of nowhere. No offense. Although I guess I’m also offending myself, since I now live here,” she said thoughtfully.
Will wiped his hands on a napkin and leaned forward. “A lot of people do what you did, leave the city life behind and bring their own flavor to a new town. Speaking of which, I didn’t know at our first meeting that you and Lyra are sisters.”
She nodded. “I also didn’t know until this time last year.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“So what’s the deal?” he asked. “Your dad has a secret family?”
“I don’t know who my biological dad is. I was adopted. His name wasn’t even on the birth certificate, so I guess I’ll never know. Unless I get a DNA test. But I don’t like the thought of my genetic material being out there in some kind of database.”
“Oh, shit. So where did you grow up? California?”
“Baltimore,” she said. She was kind of getting tired of repeating herself. Maybe she should make a pamphlet to hand out.
“You never got to meet Lizzie?”
She shook her head.
He took a swig of Natty Boh. “That sucks. She was awesome. Her house was always open, and she had the best snacks. I spent a lot of time there with Lyra and Andi growing up. Hiding from my dad, mostly.”
She glanced up. Surprise daddy issues. Interesting.
“Was it hard? Being adopted?” he asked after a stretch of silence.
She bit her lip. “Not as hard as it would have been to grow up in the foster care system,” she finally said.
He leaned forward. “I’m sensing we both have some trauma we’d rather not talk about right now. What do you say we squash it down and go play some mini golf?”
“Let’s do it.”
Eighteen rigorous holes later, Will pulled into her driveway.
“I still can’t believe you won. You definitely cheated.”
She sputtered. “How would I even begin to cheat at mini golf? You saw me take every swing.”
“Maybe you bribed the owner to give you a weighted ball, I don’t know.”
“You’re ridiculous, but thanks for taking me out. It was a good distraction. Though I’ll now be sleeping in a house full of cardboard boxes.”
“I could come over tomorrow and help unpack. I’d love to get out of golf with my dad.”
She shook her head. “I’m already indebted to you. You’ve done enough. But thank you. Seriously.”
Will undid his seatbelt. “Fair enough. I’ll walk you to the door. We get coyotes sometimes,” he explained.
“And loose tigers too, apparently,” she teased. She climbed out of the truck and slammed the door. It was almost dark now. She’d been away for too long. A lot of work awaited.
“Shit, I forgot about that,” he said. “How’s Huck doing?”
They traipsed up the walkway to the house. Her house. It was still surreal.
“Way better than expected,” she said. “Stronger every day. Yesterday, he shredded a ball like it was made out of tissue paper.”
She had gone back to the sanctuary every other day or so to track his progress. Gloria showered praise on her like she was the best veterinarian on earth and had sent her home with leftovers twice. It was nice to feel welcome, wanted, even essential.
“I’m glad. I always liked that guy, even though I almost shit my pants when we were trying to capture him.”
“Understandable. You should see them in the wild. They’re incredible.”
“I think I’ll stick to Animal Planet. Platonic hug?” He held his arms out at his sides.
She pulled him in for a squeeze. It was strange. Will was funny, charismatic, a great listener. But there were no butterflies. No interest in anything romantic at all, actually.
It was just as well. She really didn’t need the distraction of a man.
Gravel crunched down the road, and headlights swung over them. They broke apart, and she squinted across the yard.
Ah. The elusive Noah.
He cut the headlights and climbed out of his truck.
“Hey, Noah,” Will called out with a wave.
Noah grunted and slammed his front door.
“Is he always like that?” She nodded in his direction.
“Pretty much. Good guy though. Does a lot for the town. He even let Rosalie pay him rent in handmade lace doilies for two months when she lost her job.”
“Oh,” she said, staring at the closed door. So there was more to the mysterious Noah than just testosterone and unbridled rage.
“See you later.” Will offered a fist bump, then whistled all down her walkway and back to his truck.
She waved, then ducked into the house.
It was quiet. Way too quiet. Back in San Diego, they’d lived in the suburbs, so it wasn’t like it had been nonstop nightlife, but there had always been kids playing outside, neighbors grilling and playing music, or vicious pickleball matches at the park a block away.
It had been alive, crowded, thriving with life. But here, there was nothing but her and Noah on a dead-end street shrouded in woods.
But she didn’t have to be alone.