Page 53 of Free to Breathe
“You’re both fucking crazy! Do you know how much this shirt cost?” We turn our heads in Phil’s direction as he pulls chunks of tomato off the lilac silk he’s wearing. “Someone’s replacing it.”
Leaning forward, knife still in hand, I smile. It isn’t pretty. “Don’t say we didn’t warn you.”
Huffing, Phil turns and pushes the door open. “I’m just going to go see if there’s something to change into in my office. If not, I’m going home.” He strides through the door, which swings back and forth in his wake.
“You go home, I’m having Ali dock your pay!” Cassidy yells after him.
His middle finger coming through the door is his answer. Without hesitation, I grab some of the tomato still on my cutting board and hurl it at the door. It lands on his hand with unerring accuracy. Phil screeches like he’s just been shot before yelling down the hallway, “They’ve both lost their minds! Don’t go near the kitchen. I repeat, don’t go near the kitchen!”
Cassidy and I fall on each other in a heap of laughter. Carefully, I place the knife on the counter. “If we’re lucky, Holly never figured out how to wire this place up,” I gasp.
Cassidy’s doubled over. “She would have asked Caleb or Keene. No way that’s happened yet.”
“Sorry about your dress, Cass,” I offer, but the smile I’m wearing contradicts that.
“The hell you are. And I’m not either.” Her grin morphs into something serious. “Matt used to have me break plates.”
“What?” I’m confused. What does our local coffee shop owner have to do with anything?
Shoving the still-edible food aside, she hops up on the cleanest part of the workstation. Gesturing for me to move closer, she wraps her arm around my shoulder. “I used to go see Matt for therapy, Cori. Remember he used to be a VA psychologist?” The lightbulb goes off in my head. Even as I nod, Cassidy continues. “For a long time before I met Caleb,” she muses, “and a while after as well. When the pressure of everything got to be too much, he’d collect all the chipped cups from The Coffee Shop and let me hurl them at the brick wall in the back.” She shrugs as if she hasn’t rocked my world already by admitting she actively sought out help.
“So much has happened to you, Cori. Your foundation has been rocked by so many things. Things I would like to think we’d have been there for over the years. Thinking about it? I can’t say we wouldn’t have smothered you. You’re too precious for us not to.”
I snort. “You’re the only ones who think so.”
Cassidy’s sad smile is like a vise around my heart. “I understand why you’re feeling that way after this week, and I’m pretty certain I don’t know everything. I’d be shocked if you weren’t ready to explode. All I did was give you an outlet.” Giving me a quick kiss on the cheek, she slides off the table. “Talk to us. It’s better than wasting the food. Ali will have a conniption over the budget.
“And to that end, you’ll notice I saved the grapefruits.” She points at the two I cut in half. “They’re next up on your to-do list for the brunch tomorrow. It’s a fresh grapefruit cake.” The grin that flashes across my face is because the move was pure Cassidy. Kill two birds with one stone, and keep on schedule while doing it.
“As for your doctor, I enjoyed smacking him down to reality for a few minutes.” Crap, amidst traumatizing Phil, I forgot I’d given Bryan her number.
“I’m sorry, Cass. I just couldn’t handle it anymore,”
“And that will be the last time you apologize for that.” Her pouty lips lift in a broad smile. “When I explained who I was and that all future scheduling would come through me, he tried to give me a song and dance about HIPAA, unsigned paperwork, blah blah blah. I called Ali into my office. She explained two things. If you gave him the number to my private line, you were waiving your right to privacy. Second, scheduling typically occurs through assistants, not the surgeons themselves. He could have his call yours. De facto, that ends up being me or he could wait for a better time to speak with you. Ali just happened to have a sidebar with me about Caleb and Keene’s personal donations to Greenwich while dear Dr. Moser was debating his options.”
“And it didn’t take long for him to decide to send the information you needed to your corporate email. Since I have access to it, it’s already been loaded into your calendar,” Ali says as she strides through the door. “Wow, Phil wasn’t kidding. You sacrificed the shit out of some produce.”
“It was one tomato. And funny enough, it was from my own lunch.” My stomach growls in protest.
“Meh. Don’t worry about that. We’re bringing in Frances for lunch.” Ali waves me off.
My ass does not need Frances, I think to myself. Or at least, I think I do until Ali smacks it. “Um, these jeans are falling off your ass. You can deal with some good ole Southern cooking. And you’ll enjoy it.”
“Only damn thing that place gave to us worth anything,” I tease my sister, but Ali’s already shaking her head.
“No, Cori. The thing the South gave us that’s worth the most is each other. And we’ll fight to the bitter end to keep it.”
“Damn straight we will,” Cassidy pipes in. “And I know I speak for the others when I say that too.”
I take a deep breath. And then another. As my sisters crowd me, I heedlessly let the tears I’ve been holding in fall. “Damn, cutting grapefruit does it to me every time.”
“I thought that was onions,” Ali muses.
“Shh,” Cassidy says as she hugs me. “Just go with it. Grapefruits can make you cry too.”
27
Corinna
