Page 73 of Free to Dream
“If Genoa delivered this far out, I’d have to run six miles each day,” Ali moans as she reaches for another slice of pizza.
“You can run my miles for me, sister,” Phil is quick to offer. “In fact, starting tonight. You know you want to.”
We all laugh at the face Ali makes at Phil. Keene’s lips even tip up, I note.
Corinna spins around with a gloriously decorated cake and says to Phil, “If you run your miles, you can have a slice of the leftovers of this. Otherwise, you have to wait until the night of the wedding.”
Phil practically salivates. “That’s the Lockwood-Dalton tasting cake. Sweet Jesus, Corinna, that is beautiful. What flavors did they end up choosing?”
Corinna waves her frosting spatula near his lips. “Dark chocolate with ganache filling, alternating with lemon and a lemon curd. Topped by a lovely white chocolate icing.” She stands back and moves toward the sink. “But, since you don’t want to run and just want pizza…” Her voice trails off.
Phil stands up and stalks toward the sink. “Give me that spatula.”
Corinna, no one’s fool, “Maybe I’ll save it for Em. She ran this morning.”
“Em is not the one who raised you from the time you were sixteen. Hand it over.” Phil is a white chocolate addict.
Ali has her head thrown back, laughing. She’s in a tight-fitting suit that sets off her eyes and long legs. I glance quickly to my left and see Keene’s focus is entirely locked on her. Hmm. Something to think about later.
Holly, who normally remains so unobtrusive, says, “You know we only have a few more minutes for lunch, and I think I would like to eat and not take pictures of Phil’s continued entertainment value or the rising tension in the room. Can we just finish eating so Cassidy can mother-hen us and we can all get back to work?” I catch Holly’s eye as she winks. She hasn’t missed a thing behind her camera’s eye.
Keene’s attention turns to me. “Mother-hen?” He sounds amused.
Corinna pipes in. “Oh, totally. Even if Phil was the one who tried to adopt us, Cassidy was the one who was our “Mommy” while they finished raising us.”
I jump in with a gentle, “Corinna, I’m not sure Keene’s interested in our complicated history. He just came by to drop off lunch.”
Corinna waves me off; not a shy bone in that girl. “Listen, if Caleb’s going to be around, Keene’s going to know eventually, right?”
I open and close my mouth like a guppy, turning to Ali beseechingly for help. Her face serious, she glares at Keene for a few moments before shrugging.
“Then I get to tell it, Corinna.” Phil wipes his mouth. Taking a drink of his soda, he leans against the counter. His eyes brook no argument and I relax. Corinna—for all her enthusiasm about life I wouldn’t tamper for anything—believes the world is her best friend. Phil takes a deep breath and gives Keene a very edited version of our early years.
“I met Cassidy when I was thirteen and she was nine. Both of us in horrific living situations, we escaped them together. A few months later, we met Em and her aunt who were a gift from God. They took us in until I was eighteen, and Cass and Em weren’t quite sixteen before she passed away. Instead of letting the girls go into foster care, Cass, Em, and I battled the lovely state of South Carolina for about a half a year until the girls’ case could be heard to declare them as emancipated minors. When I was twenty, and Cass and Em were eighteen, we met Ali, Corinna, and Holly, who were all just about to turn sixteen. They’d been removed from their homes and had no desire to return. They also decided to go the emancipation route. All the girls and I moved to Connecticut to begin our lives free from the past.” He takes a deep breath and I smile softly at him. A million memories pass between us in an instant. “So, that’s how I ended up with five very annoying sisters, Keene. One of whom still won’t give me the white chocolate spatula.”
Corinna shakes her hair and hands him the coveted spatula. He pulls her close and kisses the top of her head. “Now, get that cake out of my face before you have to make a new one.”
A burst of laughter comes out around the room. Keene shakes his head and attacks his salad.
Em strolls in and says, “What’d I miss? And it had better not be the pizza. I’m already ready to go out and hose off the Collyer senior class making Windex squeaking sounds every time I get into a sketch.”
* * *
“We really do appreciateyou bringing lunch by, Keene,” I remark as we’re climbing the stairs back to my office. I’m not quite sure why he’s following me back up, but I can tell he has something on his mind.
“It wasn’t any trouble, Cassidy. I had business in the area, and Caleb asked me for a favor,” he replies easily. Stepping slightly past my door, he waits for me to precede him into the office. “Do you prefer this open or closed?”
“Open, thank you.” I’m not comfortable enough with Keene to have a closed-door conversation. Despite the slight warming during lunch, he’s still not one of my favorite people. I’m so grateful Phil stepped in to give our very edited family history because I can only imagine what Corinna would have shared. I drop into my chair behind my desk and contemplate the mounds of work ahead of me.
Keene sits down in one of my chairs and steeples his hands in front of his mouth. I can tell he’s thinking, so I finally decide to break the silence to move him along.
“Don’t you have somewhere you have to be, Keene? I actually hate to be rude, but I have quite a bit of work to get through today.”
He leans forward, elbows resting on his knees. “What happened to you, Cassidy?”
That’s what he wants to ask? The fucking audacity. “None of your damned business, Keene. Now get out.” I stand, despite my knees shaking in anger. I only hope my voice isn’t betraying me.
“What happened to take you away from your family? You have to have one. Don’t you remember anything?” he asks, ignoring my anger.
