Do you take this rebel - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,36
just that the whole time you’re trying to sound so outraged, there’s a very becoming blush on your cheeks.”
“Because I’m furious.”
“Why? Because he kissed you or because you liked it?”
“I did not like it,” Cassie said emphatically.
Gina looked skeptical. “He’s lost his touch?”
“I never said that. It’s not important whether or not he’s a good kisser. The point is that he had no business kissing me in the first place. We were fighting. It was a sneaky, low-down way to make me forget that.”
“He wants you back,” Gina said.
“Don’t be crazy. He doesn’t want me back any more than I want him.”
“If you say so.”
Cassie scowled. “I do,” she said, even though her conviction was weakening.
“Okay, then. There’s nothing to worry about. You’re not going to be swayed by a few harmless little kisses, then, are you?”
There had been nothing harmless about those kisses. They had been devastating, Cassie admitted to herself. She could deny it to her friend from now till doomsday and it wouldn’t change the truth. She sighed. Everything was so blasted complicated.
“Let’s forget about Cole,” she said.
“Okay by me.”
“I want to hear about you. Who is that handsome man you were with over the weekend? I’ve never seen him before. Is he a friend from New York?”
Gina suddenly looked uncomfortable. “I have no idea who you mean.”
“The man who was following you around like he’d never met such an exotic creature before.”
“Oh, him,” Gina said, then shrugged. “He’s a nuisance. Nothing more. He’s probably gone by now.”
“I don’t think so,” Cassie said, glancing pointedly outside, where the very man under discussion was lurking on the sidewalk.
Gina followed the direction of her gaze, then sighed heavily, her expression miserable. “Well, hell,” she muttered under her breath.
Cassie studied her intently, saw the genuine worry in her friend’s eyes. “Gina, what’s really going on? Who is he?”
“Nobody important,” her friend said staunchly, but she slid out of the booth. She gave Cassie a hug. “See you later. If you ask me, you ought to consider what Cole’s offering.”
The comment was enough to throw Cassie and keep her from asking all the other questions on the tip of her tongue as Gina left Stella’s. She watched idly as Gina marched up to the man, appeared to exchange words with him, then took off alone in the direction of her car. Another example of true love not running smoothly, perhaps?
And speaking of that, what the heck had Gina meant with that comment about taking what Cole was offering? As far as Cassie could see, he wasn’t offering a blessed thing. A few stolen kisses didn’t add up to anything…except maybe trouble. And frankly she had more of that in her life these days than she could possibly cope with.
Dismissing that and Gina’s odd behavior, she went back to work. Stella’s was as busy as ever at lunchtime. Cassie was on the run until almost two.
“Go,” Stella said, taking her last order from her. “I know you have to get your mother to the hospital. And I don’t want to see you anywhere near here in the morning. I can manage. You stay right there until she’s out of surgery and you know how she’s doing.”
“Thank you, Stella. You’re an angel.”
“Good heavens, don’t be spreading that around,” the older woman pleaded. “The only way I keep my customers in line is having them think I’m a tyrant.”
Cassie laughed. “I hate to tell you this, but you don’t have anyone in town fooled.”
Stella looked genuinely disappointed. “Well, shucks. I guess I’m just going to have to work a little harder at it. Now, scoot.”
“Hey, how about getting that burger over here before I starve to death?” Hank Folsom hollered.
“Keep your britches on, Hank,” Stella shouted right back. “If you don’t like the service in here, you can just march right through the door and get your lunch someplace else.” She winked at Cassie. “How was that?”
“Tough as nails,” Cassie assured her. “Unfortunately, it’s an idle threat. There is no place else in town to get a burger.”
“I know,” Stella said with satisfaction. “Works out real nice, don’t you think?”
Cassie was still chuckling over that when she got home and found her mother sitting on the sofa in her best dress, her suitcase sitting beside her. Jake hovered nearby, looking worried. They had told him about the surgery the night before, talking about it only in the most upbeat and positive way, but it had clearly rattled him.
“I’m going to the hospital with you,”