Page 46 of Cass

“No. Tell me the story.”

“There’s not much of a story. My father left when I was in elementary school. I saw him maybe once or twice a year.”

“Did he live far away?”

“No. He just didn’t want to see me. Even when my mother died, when I was a senior in high-school, he didn’t want me. I don’t know what I did, but he had no interest in me. He got remarried around that same time, and had another daughter when I was in college”

I’m in shock at this new revelation. “You have a sister?”

“Darian is my sister.”

“Seriously, you have a blood-related sister?”

She shrugs. “Technically, I guess I do. I don’t know her at all. She’s never been in my life, even when he was alive.”

“When did you last see her?”

“Sometime when I was in law school. At his funeral.”

“What? You’ve never seen her since? Not once?”

“No. Honestly, I had only seen her like twice before that. I didn’t have a big happy family like you did. I know yours wasn’t perfect, but it was a lot closer to perfect than my screwed-up family.”

“You’re telling me that you have an adult-age sister, and you haven’t seen or heard from her in like twenty-five years?”

She nods. “That’s correct.”

“What about his second wife? Do you ever see her? Do you ever talk to her?”

“I haven’t seen her since the funeral either. She did call me a few times over the years to try to get me to have a relationship with Lizzie, that’s my half-sister, but I never returned her calls. Eventually she stopped trying. I genuinely haven’t thought about either of them in years. They’re not my family. The Lawrences are my family. They’re the only real family I’ve ever had.”

“How did you leave things with your father?”

“He called me on the morning of my college graduation to tell me that he couldn’t come because of Lizzie’s ballet recital. When I mentioned that she was three-years-old, he told me I was being selfish. That was the last straw for me. I never spoke to him again. He knew he was the only family I had left, and he chose not to come. As always, he chose them over me.” She looks down, the hurt written all over her face.

I rub her arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m over it now, but I was pretty upset after that call. It was the first time Scott helped me through something.”

She smiles. “I remember that day vividly, because that was when Darian told me she was pregnant with Harley. It was a few weeks before their wedding, but she was so excited about it. I knew it was going to be a little girl. We were already planning on dressing her up like a doll. Executive Barbie, of course.” I smile at that.

“That’s also when she told me she wouldn’t be going to law school with me like we’d planned. I was devasted. So between her news and my father, I was pretty down.

“Scott was there to pick me up even though he’d learned five minutes earlier he was going to become a father. He told me I’d always be a part of their family. It meant a lot to me because I had no family of my own. That’s how he treated me from that day on. Like family. That’s what we are.”

I can’t help but look at her. She shows the world a hard-shell exterior, but inside, she’s a soft marshmallow. Deep down, she just wants to be loved, and I do love her.

“Cassandra?”

“Yes, Trevor.”

“I’m in love with you.”

CHAPTERNINE

CASSANDRA

I’m awakened by a finger poking on my bare back. I’m naked, facing down, in Trevor’s broken bed. The sheets are pooled at my waist. I mumble, “Seriously, Trevor? How could you possibly have any fluids left after that marathon last night?”

---