Page 63 of Tripped By Love
Cassidy
WITH YOU
“When I feel like a storm is on its way and my skies are turning gray
I know that I can take it
As long as I can face it…with you.”
Performed by Keith Urban
Written by Nate / McInerney / Sullivan
Three weeks flew by as mylife shifted and changed around me, and I made plans to go see Ralley in Texas. It was like some weird before-and-after collage that wasn’t quite fully formed yet. The routine that I’d shaped Chevelle’s and my life around had shattered.
Regardless of what we’d both said after our heated kiss in the gym, Marco and I seemed to drift together more than ever. Before summer had hit, I’d see him at the end of my day for our workouts and occasionally for breakfast or when he was with Brady. Now, I saw him multiple times a day, but he hadn’t kissed me again. He hadn’t even come close, and it pricked at my heart, even though I understood it. Knowing that Marco was resisting because he felt like he didn’t deserve the affection only made me want to show him how much he did. I couldn’t, though, because what I’d said to him was the truth. I’d been selfish to start something when I didn’t have the time to give him what he truly deserved.
So, while we were spending extra time together, we also seemed to have taken a small step backward. I was seeing him more but touching him less. Marco and Jonas came to the restaurant every morning for breakfast, and they joined Chevelle and me for dinner almost nightly. Sometimes I cooked, sometimes Marco cooked, and sometimes we ordered in. But now there were four of us at the dinner table instead of two. Chevelle loved every moment of it because he had three people focused completely on him. Jonas was as sweet to my son as Marco was, playing and teasing and making him giggle. It made my heart throb and hurt—the image of a family we made when we were really nothing.
Jonas seemed to bloom before our eyes. Brady acknowledging him and his ideas gave him a confidence that he hadn’t had when he’d first shown up. Whenever I went to the studio to bring lunch, Jonas was offering ideas right alongside Brady. The Painted Daisies band members and their team never seemed to sneer at him just because he was sixteen. Maybe it was because Paisley, the youngest member of The Painted Daisies, was barely seventeen.
Paisley’s sister and leader of the band, Landry, was the only band member to look at Jonas with hesitation, and it was only when Jonas and Paisley had their heads bent together, arguing music and lyrics. It was as if she was unsure of whether to stop the friendship forming between them or to just let it ride itself out. After all, they would be leaving Grand Orchard before the summer was gone.
A couple of days before Marco and I were set to leave for Texas, I returned to the café from the studio, lost in my thoughts about all the things going right and wrong in my life, when a man in a suit approached me at the restaurant’s counter.
“Cassidy O’Neil?” he asked.
I hesitated, but he didn’t seem to notice. He simply stuck out a hand with an envelope. “This is a court order requiring you to provide a DNA test for your son.”
My heart squeezed tight. Fear and anger floated through me even though I’d known it was coming. With shaking hands, I took the envelope, watching as he walked away before calling the lawyer Lee had found for me. It felt as if I was gasping for breath as I waited for Annabelle Green to pick up and as if I was drowning as I explained what had happened.
“We knew this was coming, Cassidy. It’s easier to give in to this demand and establish biological paternity while making our case against his paternal rights and responsibilities,” Annabelle said.
“But it’s a slippery slope, right? I mean…once he proves Chevelle is his biological child, then he can file for responsibility and partial custody.” My voice wavered as I tried to keep the panic from surfacing.
Annabelle’s voice was hard as she came back. “He won’t get rights, Cassidy. He’s paid nothing in child support. You have the documentation where he made it very clear he wanted the child aborted and wouldn’t take any responsibility beyond that.”
She felt we had a strong case, but it did nothing to lessen the dread filling me as I left the restaurant early for the first time in the entire time I’d owned the place. It was just my luck that I left the building right as Marco was leaving the studio. I tried to duck away, but it was too late. He’d seen me.
He jogged the handful of steps it took to join me with a frown, looking from me to the restaurant.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
My voice was lodged in my throat. I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to inch Chevelle any closer to Clayton than he already was. I shook my head, trying to cover my distress, but Marco read it like he was good at reading everyone around him.
He touched my arm, a soft touch that about undid me, and a little sob escaped before I could help it. Without further comment, he wrapped himself around me. I leaned into his chest and clung on, shutting my eyes to hold back the tears that suddenly threatened.
“Talk to me,” he said, his tone deep and quiet.
“It’s s-stupid,” I finally choked out. “I have to…take Chevelle for a DNA test.”
His arms flexed, tightening, and his heartbeat kicked up pace under my cheek. The wave of energy and heat that always seemed to encompass us when we touched raced into existence, but instead of igniting me today, it felt like standing in front of a fire on a winter day. Comfort. Solace. I wanted to stay in his embrace until this entire nightmare blew over. But I couldn’t. I’d made the stupid assumption that I’d never see Clayton Hardy again. The only thought I’d ever given the man was what I was going to tell Chevelle someday when he asked about the sperm donor who’d helped create him.
I pushed away from Marco, and he let me with reluctance. The heat trickling away. The comfort all but disappearing.
“It’ll be fine. It’s just a stupid cheek swab. It’s not like it’s going to hurt him. I mean, the vaccination shots have been worse. I’m just being ridiculous,” I rambled a bit?nervous and upset and trying not to be either. Marco just stared. “Thanks for the hug. I’ll see you later?”
I turned away from him and headed down the sidewalk. Instead of letting me go, Marco simply joined me, his long legs easily keeping pace with mine.
