could get a job somewhere. She just had to try. Now that she was home and had a roof over her head, she had some time. But she would take the first job she could get out of Fate Rock. She needed to leave this town as soon as possible before something bad happened.
She opened her laptop and began searching the job listings in Denver for anything even remotely related to fashion design. It wasn't just fashion she could do. She could do graphic design. She could build websites. She'd learned a lot in design school, even though clothing and textiles were her passion.
She found a number of jobs she could apply for. She would sling coffee if it meant getting off her father's property. She couldn't stand to live like this for another day, let alone the rest of her life. She picked up her phone and read Gunner's text after she had applied to fifteen different jobs.
It was so nice to meet you, Cassidy. I'd love to see you again sometime. I hope the interview went well. I'm rooting for you.
She set her phone down and sighed, looking back at her computer screen. It was the hardest decision of her life, but maybe after she'd gotten a job somewhere out of town, she could pick back up with Gunner and he could come with her. They could run away from all the drama.
She thought about him leaving his family. Then her brothers came to mind. They would eventually find her and Gunner. Nothing would change. She had to stay away from Gunner for his own sake.
Someone knocked softly at her door. She knew it would be her mother.
“Come in,” she said.
Her mom slipped through the door and closed it behind her. Cassidy turned to her mom, who sat across from her on the bed.
“I'm sorry about all that. Your father really should stay out of your business. I want you to stay here, and he isn't exactly making a case for the family, is he?”
“You should stand up to him, Mom,” Cassidy said.
She'd always thought that about her mother. Her mom had always advocated for her, tried to shelter her from her father and brothers' meanness and attitudes. She'd tried to shelter Cassidy from the feud with the Wildes. But at the end of the day, her mom hadn't done enough as far as Cassidy was concerned.
Maybe her mother should have left. Maybe she and Cassidy could have gone somewhere else and started a new life. But she looked at her sweet, dear mom and knew that it wouldn't have worked. Her dad was a rough man and could be unkind.
Cassidy knew that her mom loved him, and deep down, she loved him, too, even though she didn't agree with his decisions or the way he treated everyone. He wasn't evil. He was just misguided. He would never hurt her or her mom. And Cassidy could only imagine the kind of drama that would have ensued if her mom had tried to leave. It was a lose-lose situation.
She just wished that her dad and brothers would grow up and stop living in the past. Everything that had happened with the Wildes had been over a hundred years ago, and they acted like it had happened yesterday. If they would just stop nursing the old wounds, they would heal, and they could all move on in peace and harmony with their neighbors.
Cassidy didn't believe that any of them wanted that. Maybe the feud with the Wildes gave them some kind of purpose they were missing, but she didn't want anything to do with it.
“What are you doing?” Her mom looked over her shoulder at her computer screen.
Cassidy closed the laptop and sighed.
“Are you applying for jobs in Denver?” her mom asked with a hitch in her voice.
“I need to get away from here as fast as possible.”
“I understand why you feel that way. I would feel that way, too, if I were you. But can I ask you a serious question?”
“What is it, Mom?” Cassidy asked.
She felt so torn. She loved her mother. She respected her, even though she didn't respect all of her mother's choices. She wanted to be close to her family. It wasn't all bad. There had been times when they had all gotten along and everything was good. But as soon as anyone brought up the Wildes, it all fell apart.
“Were you seeing Gunner Wilde?” her mother asked, her eyes watering.
Cassidy shook her head and