Page 10 of Simply Yours

Get the shake, then!

(You barely count, bro – no offense)

(none taken!)

Caitlin’s phone buzzed again, the screen lighting up with another of Matthew’s texts, and she couldn’t help the burst of laughter that escaped her lips. She pressed a hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking with the force of it. Her best friend had always known how to make her laugh, but now, with the distance and time that had passed, it felt different. The texts, full of inside jokes and memories of their shared childhood, brought a warmth that Caitlin had been craving for a long time. It wasn’t just a simple friendship anymore. No, this was something more complicated, something deeper.

Matthew had changed. It was obvious. Caitlin’s heart fluttered in a way that confused her. The carefree guy she had grown up with, the one who had always been there to share a laugh or talk about the future, was now… different. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it was like he had come into his own. The scruffy hair he had let grow out now framed his face in a wild, untamed way, and the tattoos he’d collected over the years told stories she hadn’t heard yet, stories that were his and his alone.

And then there was the matter of his relationships—or rather, his lack of them, at least with her. He'd gone through a parade of girls, each one a fleeting distraction, leaving Caitlin to wonder, with an odd mix of curiosity and jealousy, why he couldn’t look at her the way he looked at them.

Not that she wanted him to.

Not really.

But the difference between the boy she had once shared everything with and the man he had become was sharp. And yet, despite the changes, Matthew was still the person she could reach out to, the one who made her feel like she wasn’t entirely alone in the world.

The thought made her chest tighten, a strange sadness filling her as her thumb hovered over the keys to respond. But before she could send anything back, her mind wandered to another place, another time. The memory of their first kiss flashed like a slap in the face.

Her junior prom. The gymnasium was buzzing with the frenetic energy of a hundred teenagers, all trying to figure out how they were supposed to be adults. Caitlin remembered it vividly—how Matthew had kissed her. Not because he wanted to but because she’d insisted. She couldn’t even say why. Maybe it was because everyone was whispering, teasing, making up stories about them. Everyone had assumed they were secretly in love, that they were destined for more than just friendship. Caitlin had wanted to shut those rumors down. She had wanted to be sure.

There was nothing.

No spark. No fizzle. Zilch.

It wasn’t an explosion of feelings, no spark igniting inside her chest. It was dull. Flat. The way two people who had been friends for far too long could kiss and somehow feel… nothing.

She could still hear the awkward chuckle that had followed, the relief in his eyes mirrored in hers. They had laughed together, but it wasn’t the joyous laughter of old friends—it was the sound of something breaking. A silent agreement that they were never meant to be anything more than what they had always been.

Friends.

Nothing more.

But that kiss had marked something for Caitlin. As much as she had tried to convince herself otherwise, it had only deepened the longing she had always felt for someone else—the one person she couldn’t have.

Jason – Matthew’s brother.

The man who barely tolerated her presence in the past made her feel like she was invisible no matter how hard she had tried. The man who seemed to hate her for reasons she couldn’t understand. She had tried everything and had put herself out there in ways that would have exhausted anyone else. When his father passed, she had flown home to be here for the funeral. When Becca got married, she sent flowers immediately. She’d given Jason space, offered him silent support when he needed it, and even tried to be the soft place to land when any of the family was hurting.

But it didn’t matter. Nothing worked.

Jason didn’tseeher.

Caitlin exhaled slowly, the weight of that truth pressing down on her chest.

She had been in Texas for three weeks now, waiting for the house she’d bought online to close, and today was a day to celebrate. Connecticut had never felt like home, but this—this was. This place, this town, was where she was going to start her new life. No more being the girl who wasn’t enough for anyone. No more waiting around for Jason to finally notice her. She had made the decision. It was time for her to be someone else, someone new.

In fact, she had accepted a job an hour ago at Pizza Palace simply to have a steady check coming in that did not involve typing or making some jerks coffee on a daily basis. Yup. She wanted to be her own person, let her hair down, and discover what life had to offer in Yonder.

Without Jason Baird in it.

* * *

Six months had passed, and Caitlin was beginning to carve out a life for herself in ways she hadn’t imagined possible back then. The quiet hum of her sewing machine was a constant companion, the soft clinking of her scissors a rhythmic comfort.

She had made her small two-bedroom house into a sanctuary, each corner filled with the things that brought her peace. The old table she’d bought from a yard sale stood at the center of it all, its weathered surface now serving as the base for her sewing machine. It was a symbol of her new beginning.

Fabrics—rich, textured, and colorful—lined the shelves in neat, orderly rows, a far cry from the chaos that had consumed her life just months ago. Her dress mannequin stood in the corner, a silent witness to her endless creativity, its shape like an echo of her own hidden desires. Pins were scattered around it, glinting like tiny promises of the dresses she would create, the future she would build. Cardboard was fastened to the wall just so—an impromptu pinboard to which she attached sketches, ideas, and snippets of fabric, anything to help her visualize her dreams.

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