Page 1 of One Night In Winter

Chapter 1

Cassy

“Cas, are you going to stare out that window all day? I could use some help before the dinner rush,” my older sister Myka pestered.

“Okay, I’m coming.” I stood up and pulled my eyes away from the cars and people making their way through the snow and cold. I started preparing the napkins and silverware together to meet our needs for dinner. It was a task I could do in my sleep.

I was the youngest of four sisters and I’d worked at Trudy’s Diner with my sisters. My oldest sister, Dina, found the diner was for sale when she picked up some dinner for all of us. She got the idea to use the life insurance we’d received from the death of our parents, thanks to a drunk driver, to provide some financial stability for us. It was a great idea, and even our cousins worked at the diner when we needed them.

The locals welcomed the change in ownership and menu as a place where people could meet with each other and do what everyone around here enjoyed… sharing gossip. That gossip was how I’d heard about the return of Devon Alexei, the wayward son who simply left town one day and hadn’t been back in five years.

He’d been everything my little teenage self wanted and dreamed of. I kept my crush secret as the sheer idea embarrassed me. I was sure that I was the only one who knew about my crush, or so I thought. I knew that Devon didn’t, I doubted he even knew I existed.

In my senior year of high school, I convinced myself I was over my silly crush. Unfortunately, I wasn’t and when he left Iwas devastated. Mom and my three older sisters were there to help me pick up the pieces of my heart. My crush was common knowledge to them, but they never teased me. Even Dad knew and he was clueless about our teenage angst. He was always there for all the hugs I wanted or needed while mumbling about killing every boy out there.

I continued to work on the silverware while the thought of my parents saddened my heart. I missed them so much. Refusing to let myself dwell too on our loss, my mind returned to dwelling on Devon. Where had he gone? Why was he suddenly back? Devon had an older brother who lived here with his wife and new son. We didn’t see their parents much but I knew they had health issues. Was that why he returned?

“Lil Sister, what has you inside that pretty head of yours?” Katrine the cook in our family asked me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

.

Myka smirked as she answered before I could, “What else, the return of Devon Alexei. I saw him at the store earlier today. He’s all man now, and I must admit, I wouldn’t mind a shot at him.”

My head whipped around to her and I growled, making Myka and Katrine laugh. I rolled my eyes at them before sighing heavily, “I doubt he even knows I exist.”

Myka smiled a knowing smile to Katrine who continued to chuckle. They knew something, that much was obvious. Myka wrapped her arms around me saying, “Cas, he knows enough to ask about you.”

I gasped as her words sunk in. “He did what?”

“He saw me before I saw him. I was surprised when he approached me and asked about our family as he’d heard aboutour parents. I told him we were doing well. Then he asked, ‘How is Cassy? She was always so quiet and shy in that way of hers when we were in school.’ So, yes, he asked specifically about you. I told him you worked at the diner if he wanted to see you.”

I felt my cheeks blush furiously. I was both horrified and excited at the prospect of seeing the man he’d become. I was still shy but working as a waitress continued to help me overcome it. I just knew seeing Devon would leave me tongue-tied. “Myka, if he’s as handsome as you say, how will I ever be able to talk to him? I’ll be gaping like a fish out of water. It’ll be horrible.”

“Do you remember when you had to do a class presentation? What was the trick Dina taught you? All you need to do is picture him wearing something ridiculous. Think of it, bad boy Devon Alexei wearing a banana suit around like it was perfectly normal. Can’t you just picture him strutting his stuff trying to be cool as a bright yellow banana?.”

I couldn’t help the giggles that burst forth at the images she evoked. The whole scenario was really funny. “Thanks, My. That helps.” I hugged my sister tightly. My sisters made everything better for me and I knew I’d do anything for them.

“Always, Cas. We got you.”

As we broke apart the door chime rang letting us the early bird customers were here. With a bright smile on my face, I turned to the older couple just arriving. “Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Willowby. Please have a seat anywhere you like.”

Chapter 2

Devon

I sat in my car and watched Cassy smile as she moved from table to table. She wasn’t the shy girl who watched everyone from the shadows any longer. She’d blossomed into a beautiful woman who could light up a room with her smile.

I realized I was nervous. I didn’t have any right to intrude on her life and yet, I found myself drawn to her even more now than when I’d been a teenage asshole. I thought about the first time I’d ever seen her. I was a year older than her so I was in my second year of high school when she first appeared nervously with a deer in headlights look. One of her sisters was a senior and appeared to help her get settled in.

The smile she wore when she saw Myka was so beautiful and I knew then and there she was it for me. I kept myself away, knowing that being with me would make her a target and I could never do that to her. In the years that followed, I found myself looking for her smile. Seeing it always seemed to calm my soul even when it wasn’t meant for me.

After I graduated high school, I realized that I was not the man Cassy would ever deserve and practically overnight I decided to join the Army. I spent the last five years working to become someone who could proudly stand beside her.

I discovered that being away was torture in itself. I regularly had nightmares that Cassy had found someone else and I’d lost my chance. Whenever I spoke to my Mom or my brother, Chris, over the past five years, inevitably at some point I’d find myself asking about the Johnson sisters and Cassy in particular.

Now I was back and relieved that the nightmare was just that and not reality. I watched as old Mr. Willowby said something to her, making her laugh. I couldn’t help but smile watching her. I wanted that with her, my heart was pleading with me to get out of my car and take the first steps to a brighter future.

Turning off my car I did just that. It was a bitterly cold winter night but winter in Montana was amazing and beautiful. Pulling my coat tighter around my body I took step after step, keeping Cassy in my view. I entered Trudy’s to a round of welcomes from the town residents.

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