Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,16
But I think it’s safe to assume I won’t be back this week, and that’s what we need to plan for.”
“Fine. But make sure you spend enough time with Brandon every day. This still leaves me in shit with the school board.”
The screen went blank.
“Well, he sounds delightful.” Jake squeezed Cassie’s shoulder in sympathy.
She hadn’t heard him come home. Cassie placed her hand over his for a moment and allowed her shoulders to slump. “Yeah. He’s really not happy I’m here.”
Jake took a beer out of the fridge, wiggled it in her direction, and when she nodded, he popped the lid before repeating the action for his own beer.
Jake nodded and took a swig. “Want to go sit out back?” he asked, grabbing a jar of peanuts.
Cassie stood. “Sure. I feel like I’ve been cooped up inside all day.” She was used to spending time outside. Lots of it. For her job, for recreation, while she was exercising.
When she stepped onto the patio, she grinned. “Have I told you how much I love your backyard?” It reminded her of a fancy hotel she’d stayed at once in Mallorca in Spain. Whitewashed walls, crisp green lawn, and black slate paving. The design was straightforward, lots of architectural plants in shades of green punctuated with the occasional white flower.
And on the patio was a fire pit surrounded by comfortable wicker sofas and a hot tub, currently covered.
“Thanks. I saw a picture of something like this in a magazine. I guess I wanted something easy enough to manage and relaxing.”
Cassie dropped onto the sofa and allowed her head to fall back. “Well, you nailed the relaxing part. I’d forgotten what it was like to have a garden after living in New York for as long as I have.”
“It’s the perks of living in Morrison instead of in the city. Wide open space and sky.”
Jake joined her on the sofa, tossing peanuts into the air, and always catching them in his mouth.
A happy quiet settled between the two of them. She glanced over at Jake’s profile as he chewed. A strong jawline, wide dark eyes. Thick waves of dark hair a supermodel would be envious of.
“So, other than your boss being a grade-A jerk, how was your day?” Jake asked. “How was your dad and Marianne?”
Cassie rubbed her hand up and down her bicep. “Dad was as well as can be expected, although very medicated. He’s going to need several surgeries to fix his legs. But the doctors seem very confident in his recovery. Things with Marianne were, well, chilly. One of the first things she said was I couldn’t stay with them because they are in the middle of having the guest room redecorated. I think she forgot I’ve lived there and know the goddamn house has four bedrooms.”
“You know you’re welcome here as long as you need, right?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s more than where I’m staying. All day she’s been trying to get rid of me. She tried to exclude me from the conversation with the doctor, but she couldn’t because Dad had asked that they qualify both of us as next of kin. Then, she didn’t want me in the room with her and Dad, trying to argue it would be too much for him, which—given he barely moved beyond breathing thanks to his level of sedation and pain meds—was ridiculous. And then, when I had to leave to call my boss, and told her I couldn’t get a signal in the hospital and was coming here, she called me uncaring and said I was abandoning him.”
Jake faced her and rested his arm on the back of the sofa. “She’s a bitch.”
“Yeah, well. It took me a while to get a cab and I was pulling out of the hospital when I saw her heading toward her car. She couldn’t have been there more than three minutes longer than I was. I think she was simply trying to outlast me.”
“Honestly, I think the world of your dad, but I’ve never understood why he married Marianne.”
Cassie rubbed her finger back and forth over the corner of the label on her beer bottle. “Urgh. I think it’s some kind of mash-up of her needing someone older and wiser and preferably wealthier to look after her. And Dad being lost after Mom left. I think he was threatened by the idea of marrying another strong and capable woman who would leave him if she was unhappy. It’s more codependence than love.”