Southern Summer

Never Off My Mind

    It's been a week since she left Brooks standing in the rain. Cassandra has tried to keep herself busy packing, changing addresses for important mail, quitting her mundane job at an attorney's office, and finishing out her spring semester at her current college and getting ready to transfer to Valdosta State. Luckily, all of her credits transferred and they have a wonderful Art Education program. Cassandra was only two semesters away from finishing her Bachelors degree, and thankfully since her credits transferred she will still be on track.

    Brooks was always so supportive of her dreams to become an art teacher, it had always been her passion. That's definitely one thing she's going to miss the most about him. The doorbells rings, its almost 11 a.m. Cassandra throws on her soft knit gray cardigan and checks the peep hole on the front door. She sees a delivery man standing there waiting patiently – with a large bouquet of vibrantly colored flowers. She steps back and opens the door and is greeted with a warm smile.

    “Good morning, ma'am! Are you Cassandra Holland?,” he asks, presenting the flowers.

    “yes, sir. May I ask who they're from?” she smiles, reaching for the bouquet.

    He hands the bouquet over and starts to leave, “It will tell you on the greeting card! Have a nice day!” He hops off the steps and into a delivery truck and speeds off.

    Cassandra closes the door and takes the beautiful arrangement into the kitchen and takes out the greeting card nestled in between the bright yellow and white and pink flowers.

    'Happy Birthday.

-Forever waiting, Brooks'

    She lets out a deep, sad sigh and leans onto the counter, putting her head in her hands. She loves him. But she was tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of the same routine everyday. Tired of not taking any risks in her life. She used to be adventurous, but after things got serious with Brooks, it seemed like life stopped. He wanted to settle down, which sounded good at the time, but now she's itching for change. She really believes if something is meant to be, it will be. So, she stands up, takes a deep breath, and decides to just let it be. 'its in your hands, fate.' she thinks to herself.

    She picks her phone up off of the counter top and text Brooks.

    'Thanks for the flowers, they're beautiful.' she hits send, almost regretting it, but it'd be rude to ignore the thoughtful gesture. And truth be known, shed almost forgotten what today was. Maybe she had kept herself too busy.

    25 years old. A quarter of a century. New quarter new her, maybe? Either way, it's time to start over. The moving company is supposed to be here at 2 today to load up the embarrassingly few boxes she had to take. After talking again with the estate executor, he told her she didn't need to worry about anything, aside from personal belongings, that the house was fully furnished. It wouldn't have taken much convincing to get her to leave that horrid green couch behind, anyhow. The moving company was sent by the executor, as is the car that will be driving her to the airport to catch her – paid for also by the estate – flight tomorrow at 6:15 in the morning.

    Her phone rings, startling her. It's her mother. She sighs, relieved its not Brooks.

    “Hey, Mom,” she answers.

    “HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE,” Janet yells through the phone, almost deafening her.

    “T-thank you! You definitely caught me off guard with that.”

    “Haha, you're welcome! So do you have plans tonight?” her mother asks, Cassandra feels like she may be wondering if she's got plans with Brooks, even though she knows they broke up.

    “No, I was just going to finish up around the house, clean everything before I leave in the morning.”

    “Great! Let's go to dinner tonight! We'll go to your favorite place one last time before you leave me forever,” Janet says, very dramatically.

    “Alright, I'd like that. And Mom, you know I'm not leaving forever,” Cassandra still feels a little guilty, even though her mother was the one to say she should take this leap.

    “I know, I know. But let me have my moment, OK?”

    “Of course, Mother, bravo,” Cassandra laughs.

    “Is 6 o'clock good?” Janet asks.

    “Yeah, that's good. See you then, love you,” she wonders if she'll ever get the chance to clean like she had hoped.

    “Love you more!”

    Cassandra smiles as she ends the call. It will be hard to be that far away from her mother, but maybe it'll be good for her. Just then her phone buzzes. She looks down at the named, popped up on her screen, and her heart drops. Brooks. She sets the phone down, and debates whether to open the text or not. Well, at least it's not a call, she thinks to herself. If she opens it, she doesn't have to reply right away.

    'You're welcome. Do you have plans tonight?'

    Thank God, she actually does have plans, she'd hate to lie, but she was definitely not going to say no. She quickly types her text but waits to hit send, she doesn't want it to look like she just been waiting to hear from him. After a couple of minutes, she sends it.

    'Yes, my mom and I are going to dinner.'

    He doesn't text back. She does some light cleaning, and picks out what she's going to wear tonight, then checks her phone again. Nothing. It had been over an hour. She unpacks her favorite nude heels to wear with the dress she picked. She bought it forever ago but never wore it, though she loves it. It's a soft peach, with a deep V-neck and floral designs. She loved how light and airy it was, and how it reminded her of warm summer days.

    Maybe Brooks didn't really care whether or not she had plans and was just trying to make small talk, she thought. Oh well, she decides to just forget about it and go ahead and start cleaning the kitchen. She wipes down the cabinets, inside and out, and then the refrigerator. Then she sweeps and mops. By the time she was finished it was almost 4:30. She gets in the shower, the hot water relaxing her and making her wish she didn't have to leave, so she could just go to sleep when she got out, because there's nothing like taking a long hot shower and then curling up in bed. But, that's not the case tonight. She gets out, drying off and throws her long hair up in a towel. She wraps her black robe around her and goes to her room and sits down on her bed that's now her vanity. As she's putting on her make up, her phone buzzes. She finishes her eyeliner, then reaches for the phone. Its not him. But its her best friend, Natalie, who's currently in Nevada visiting family.

    'Happy birthday, girl! Sorry it's so late, my family's kept me going allllll day. I love them, but I can't wait to be back home lol' Cassandra smiles, reading the text, then her smile fades as she realizes she won't be here to see Natalie when she comes back.

    'Thanks! Don t worry about it, I know how it is haha. I hate I wont be here when you get back, but promise me you'll come down to Georgia soon as you can?'

    'I hate it, too. But trust me, I will!' She smiles, at least Nat texts back.

    Cassandra and Natalie had been friends ever since 2nd grade. A couple of states distance between them wasn't going to break that kind of bond.

    She finishes up her makeup, and starts drying her hair. She starts to curl her honey-blonde hair, attempting to make big, bouncy waves. After about 30 minutes, she feels like it's perfect – or at least as close as she's going to get. She glances at her clock by her bed and gasps as she sees that its already 5:30. She throws her dress and heels on, grabs her purse and phone, and dashes out the door. Catching a taxi, she gets to the restaurant, 'The Terrace', just a few minutes past 6. She rushes in, and quickly finds her mom at a table towards the back, waving. It wasn't a very busy night, probably because it was a Tuesday. She walks up to the table and Janet gets up to hug her and tell her 'happy birthday' again. 

    The waiter takes their order, then comes back a few minutes later with a bottle of Cassandras favorite red wine. It wasn't a cheap wine, by no means so she didn't drink it very often.

    “Thanks, Mom, but you shouldn't have,” she says as the waiter pours them both a glass.

    “As much as I'd like to take credit, I actually didn't order it,” Janet says, looking at the waiter, about to ask who did.

    “The man standing over there, he said he wanted to surprise you with it and to tell you 'Happy Birthday',” the waiter tells, then walks away to the back again. 

    Cassandra looks around her mother to where the waiter said the man who ordered the wine was standing and feels her heart drop to her feet.

    Brooks was there, leaned up against the wall, smiling at her. That damn smile.