Page 42 of Her Kensington
Nothing more is said but the air around us is much more relaxed and I can genuinely smile for the first time since meeting Cassie yesterday.
“Okay so…” Cassie starts, and suddenly I’m not feeling quite so relaxed. “You’ve taught me that coffee isn’t so bad. Now I’m going to teach you something.”
“What?” I ask, nerves evident in my weak voice.
“How to shop, designer style.”
“Cassie, no. I—”
“Oh shush. You can’t tell me that you don’t have one of Dad’s credit cards in your purse, and you also can’t tell me that he hasn’t told you not to spend anything.”
“Shit.” I mutter under my breath, but it’s not quiet enough.
“Exactly. Now hurry up, we’ve got a busy day ahead.”
* * *
Harrison and Alfieare already home when we get back hours later with more bags than I ever expected to be carrying. We find them in the living room watching the football highlights. Dropping the bags at my feet, I fall back onto the sofa, exhausted. Cassie does something very similar on the chair the other side of the room.
“You two had a good day?” Harrison asks hesitantly.
“It was all right,” Cassie mutters, and I fight to keep in my smile.
“It looks like it was better than all right,” he says, eyeing the bags around both our feet.
“Okay yeah. It was amazing.” Her smile lights up her face as she tells her dad all about our day. About the clothes we both tried on and the things we bonded over. I sit there listening, my cheeks hurting with happiness.
It may have taken Cassie a little longer to accept me than it did Alfie, but once we found level ground, our relationship was soon off and running.
When she eventually finishes talking and Harrison is able to look away, his eyes meet mine. They’re full of tears and his smile melts my heart.
When I crashed into him all those weeks ago, I never expected he would be anyone I’d think about after that night, but being here sitting with him beside me as my husband with his kids filling the room with laughter, I can’t think of anywhere in the world I’d rather be. We’ve still got a few hills to climb to get our lives exactly as we’d like them, but I’m so excited to have someone by my side as we write the next chapter.
