Page 2 of Make Me Forget

“Yeah. They offered me a full scholarship. I just wanted to get away from home too. I needed to somewhat reinvent myself. I needed to start over with new people who I could form a new first impression with. I didn’t really have friends out here. I mean… you know that.”

She looked away as a pain hit me in the chest. “What’chu mean, Cassie? We were friends. You just stopped coming around and stopped taking my calls.”

She glanced at me and only said, “Yeah.”

I caught the hint. She didn’t want to get into all that. “Well, when did you get back?”

“I came back about ten years ago after I got my master’s degree.”

“What did you major in?”

“Elementary education. I’m a professor at Lamar now, teaching an elementary art class. It teaches students how to create lesson plans for elementary students regarding art projects. I’m also taking classes there to receive my doctorate degree.”

“Damn, that’s cool. So I guess you followed in Missus Kendall’s footsteps, huh?”

“Yeah. You know how much I look up to her. That’s my mama.”

Kendall was Cassie’s stepmom, but she started out as her third-grade teacher. She stepped in, treating Cassie like a mother would from jump. I nodded then glanced at her ring all over again. Bringing my eyes back to hers, I asked, “Are you married?”

She glanced at her ring also then looked up at me and smiled. “No. I’m engaged though. We got engaged about three months ago, but no real plans have been made. He wants to finish school first. He’s getting his doctorate in psychology.”

I nodded again. I didn’t give a fuck about her nigga. Her confirming her serious involvement with someone pretty much shattered my hopes for us. That was what I got for waiting.

“So are you still cutting? What do you do?”

“That’s what I do for a living. I just left a competition.”

“Oh wow! That’s great. You loved doing that. How did you do?”

“I won first place.”

“Daaamn. I’m sure that was a pretty big prize.”

“Yeah. Seventy-five grand.”

We used to talk about the prize money involved in cutting and other rodeo events when we were younger, and I had expressed that I wanted to do it professionally. Her eyes widened significantly. “I’m proud of you! I knew you would be great at whatever you decided to do. I see you still have all this hair. It looks really nice on you. I umm…”

She turned away slightly and cleared her throat then looked back at me. “I would love to rekindle our friendship. It seems I’ve missed a lot. We can catch up by phone.”

I stared at her as I handed her my phone. I couldn’t take my eyes off her to even save her number in my phone. She looked at it then back up at me. “It’s locked. What’s the code?”

“The code is still the same, Cassie. You remember it?”

She looked to have stopped breathing for a moment. The undeniable chemistry between us was still ever present, and I didn’t know what to make of that, being that she was engaged. She smiled slightly then unlocked my phone just as a text came through.

“Your dad wants to know where you are.”

“I’ll call him on my way home.”

I licked my lips as I watched her save her information in my phone then call herself. When she was done, she handed me the phone back. “We should go out and celebrate your win. The whole crew. How is everybody?”

“They’re good. Rylan is married and expecting his first kid.”

“Wow. I can believe that though. I saw that in him. You and Christian, not so much.”

I chuckled. “I wish I knew then what I know now.”

She stared at me as I stared at her, seeming to stare into my soul and completely suck me in. Cassie could have whatever she wanted, even with a fiancé. That nigga wasn’t my business. If she didn’t give a fuck, neither did I. Doing as I hoped she would, she asked, “And what’s that?”

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