Page 46 of The Paradise Plan

He faced her again.“If you’re willing, I’d like to know who it is.”

Cass swallowed and re-folded her arms, pressing them against her stomach to try to calm it.“It’s Harrison, son.Harrison Tate.”

“The guy down the street?The construction guy I’m eating dinner with tonight?”

Cass seriously didn’t get why everyone only saw that about him.She supposed she wouldn’t want her son to find Harrison as sexy as she did.Bea either.Still, they acted like Harrison wasn’t worthy.“Yes,” she clipped out.“The construction guy.He’s sweet and strong and sexy and—”

“Gross, Mom, stop.”Conrad held up both hands.“I don’t need to hear about howsexyhe is.”

Cass grinned at him but didn’t say anything else.She and her son looked at each other across the kitchen, and Conrad finally relaxed.

“Why did you come home?”she asked.

“Harrison doesn’t have any Miracle Whip for the burgers, and I said we did.Grant asked me to come get it.”He opened the fancy fridge.“But I couldn’t find it.”

“It’s not in the fridge,” Cass said.“We haven’t opened it yet.”She moved past the island and the fridge and into the pantry.She plucked the bottle from the shelf there and turned to hand it to her son.

He’d followed her, and she pressed the bottle into his chest.He stood a few inches taller than her, just like West, and she looked up at him.“Conrad,” she started, but he shook his head.

“You don’t owe me any explanations,” he said.“Honest, Mama.I’m sorry.”He enfolded her into another hug, this one with less emotion and no tears.She held him as tightly as she could, squeezing her eyes closed in the process.“I’m sorry I abandoned you last year,” he said.

“You didn’t,” she whispered.“I wouldn’t have wanted you to do anything different.”

He pulled away and peered at her.“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said.“Of course, Conrad.You’re nineteen years old.Your father died.It’s terrible and sad, but that doesn’t mean you have to live in terrible sadness every day of your life.You don’t need to stay here with me.You can go back to Waco and work, find a pretty woman to fall in love with, and make your films.All of that.You have to keep living.”

And so did she.

“And so do you,” Conrad whispered, to which Cass nodded.

“Yes,” she whispered back.

He took the Miracle Whip and backed out of the pantry.“I suppose I have to go back over to that guy’s house and pretend like I don’t know he’s kissing you.”

Cass trilled out a laugh.“We’re not kissing, Conrad.I’ve known him for about a month, and we’ve been on one date.”

“So you don’t approve of kissing on the first date?”Conrad asked, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

“Conrad, you be nice to the girls in Waco.”

He laughed, and Cass found that wildly better than watching her son cry.“I’m nice, Mama.”He went toward the front door, and Cass watched him go.She sagged against the couch in the living room as the front door closed, and then she looked up to the vaulted ceiling.

“That could’ve gone better,” she said.But gone it had.

“Cass,” Bea said gently.“You okay in here?”

She turned and faced her friend, then the backyard.“Yes,” she said, though she wanted to call it a night.She wouldn’t see her Supper Club until the third week of August, and she walked toward Bea.“I’m okay.”

Bea drew her into a hug and said, “I didn’t mean to imply Harrison wasn’t good enough for you.He’s a great man.”

“Thank you,” Cass whispered.She stepped back and looked into Bea’s bright blue eyes.“We’ve been on one date, Bea.One.And I’m not calling you every night to tell you what happened.Or didn’t happen.”

“Of course not,” Bea said.“Though I would like to remind you that I told all of you about me and Grant.”

“Not immediately,” Cass argued back.“And besides, I’m not you, Bea.”

“Leave her alone,” Lauren called from the patio.“Come eat, you guys.Supper Club isn’t Supper Club if we’re not all together.”

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