Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,38

Jake slowed and waited outside the door.

“Because, Marianne. I lost my job to stay here for a month to help Dad out, but I still need to pay my rent.” Jake was proud of Cassie for standing up for herself.

“But if you’re here for a month and jobless, why do you even need a property in New York?”

“Marianne,” Chris warned.

“No. I mean. We are all pitching in to pick up the slack.”

“Dad. I need to go,” Cassie said. “I’ll send you my bank details. I’ll leave you to sort this out with Marianne.”

Jake knocked on the open door. “Hey, Chris. Marianne.” He looked pointedly at the woman. How a woman so attractive on the outside—that nobody would have guessed she turned fifty her last birthday—could have such a black heart when it came to her stepdaughter was beyond him.

“Jake.” Chris motioned him over. “I wanted to thank you and Em and Liv for looking out for Cass. I appreciate you taking care of her.”

Jake looked at Cassie and winked. “I think she’s more than capable of taking care of herself, but she’s more than welcome to stay with any of us while she’s doing that. She’s been working damned hard at the distillery when we’ve seen her.”

He added that more for Marianne’s benefit.

“Yeah, she spent the afternoon walking me through where everything is at. She’s the breath of fresh air the business needed.”

Jake turned to Cassie. “You ready to go? I can come back and pick you up later if you want to stay a little longer.”

“I think I’m good. You need anything else, Dad, before I head out?”

“No. You’ve done more than enough since you got here. I appreciate it, sweetie.”

When they stepped out into the corridor, Cassie sighed, and Jake reached for her hand, squeezing it three times before simply holding it. Her fingers were cold, thanks to the overly zealous air conditioning. “I see Marianne is still her usual charming self.”

Cassie snorted at the comment. “Yeah. It’s always a delight to spend time with her.”

“You know, I sometimes think about my dad. How he loved Mom so hard it didn’t even occur to him to get married again. It must have been really lonely for him the last few years.” He respected the depth of devotion, even hoped he’d find it someday. But Cassie didn’t need to know that. At least, not yet.

“I envied you . . . not having a stepmom to deal with.”

“Yeah. We certainly haven’t had to deal with the kind of bullshit you and Carter have been through. Maybe that’s why you and Carter both went looking for jobs so far away and we stayed close.”

They stopped by the hood of Jake’s truck. “What do you mean?”

A stray hair escaped her ponytail and Jake pushed it gently behind her ear. “I’m not sure. We felt the need to stay close to Dad, to help him bear the loss, I guess. We stuck together after she died. And you and Carter had parents who lived in two different places, and your dad found someone else who obviously didn’t want children. Listening to Chris, I wish he’d pick you. Defend you. But given he lives with Marianne, and only sees you and Carter a couple of times a year, he knows it would cause him too much strife. So, you’ve never felt the need to stay.”

“It’s awful, but true. It’s part of why I’m so angry he’s asked me to stay and help. It’s only because he needs me. He’s still letting her talk to me like shit. She doesn’t think I should get paid for my work . . . out of the business. It’s not like I’m walking her to the bank and making her take it out of her personal checking account. It’s not like she’ll get less manicures because of it.”

“Heaven forbid.”

Cassie looked up at him, sighed, and then smiled. “Thank you for letting me vent.”

“Any time. Look, we don’t need to go out tonight. We can watch a movie, eat popcorn, make out on the sofa.” He pulled her to his chest, and she took a deep breath.

“No. I want to rate your dating skills. Take me out and let’s pretend none of this other stuff is happening.”

“It’s a deal.”

And when he stood outside his own spare room two hours later, he found he was nervous. At least, that’s what he assumed the jitters in his stomach were.

He’d dressed as dressily as he ever did. Still jeans, but dark denim.