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1813 Words
Cassia slid the last box into the bed of Andy’s truck. As soon as she got back to LA Cassia had gone to the nearest grocery store to find some boxes and pack up what little was hers. Then she called Andy and asked if he’d help her move back home. He’d jumped at the chance to get in good with her again.
Andy put the tailgate of his truck back up and got into the driver’s seat. Cassia took one last look at what had been her home and then got into the truck. “You ready?” Andy asked.
“Let’s get out of here. I want to go home.”
“Rookwood here we come.” Andy pulled away from the curb and headed east. It would be a long drive. Cassia laid her head against the window and thought about Lance and how hurt she’d been that he thought she’d use him. It broke her heart, but she couldn’t enter into a marriage with a man that didn’t trust her.
***
Lance had taken the morning flight home. Walking into his loft, he noticed an envelope on the island. He picked it up and opened it. Reaching inside, he took out a large stack of money. There was a letter inside. He opened the letter. It was from Cassia. She was settling up. Fifteen percent for her last contract and another five thousand dollars to repay him for the rent he’d paid and the clothes he’d bought.
Lance put the money back on the island and headed for the elevator. He went down to the third floor. He didn’t want the money he wanted to talk to Cassia. When he reached the third floor, Olivia answered the door, and she looked very pleased to see him.
“I want to talk to Cassia.” He said barging in and calling for Cassia.
“You can’t.”
“I don’t care if she doesn’t want to talk to me she’s going to.” He snapped.
“No, I mean you can’t,” Olivia repeated. “She moved out.”
“What? When?”
“Earlier this afternoon. She got in yesterday and started packing. She paid her share of the rent for the next three months to tide us over until we can find another roommate to replace her and then Cassia called Andy, and they left together around noon. She’s gone.”
“Did she leave a forwarding address?”
“No.”
“Did she say where she was going?”
“No.”
“Where is Andy staying?”
“How should I know?”
“She went home,” Charlotte said from her seat on the couch. “She said she was done with modelling and she wanted to go home to Texas.”
“How do you know?” Olivia asked.
“I overheard Cassia on the phone with Andy. She said she was sorry she ever left home and that he had been right all along about her not belonging out here in LA and she wanted to go home.”
“She’s giving up modelling?” Olivia asked surprised then she looked at Lance. “Well then you have a client opening, and I’m looking for a manager.”
“I’m not taking on new clients.” He said getting back on the elevator. He took it down to the parking lot and got into his car. He was going after her this wasn’t over. He refused to let it be over.
Lance went right to the airstrip. He knew Cassia was driving and he could be in the air in an hour and in Texas in two. He’d beet her to Rookwood. He wasn’t going to let her walk out of his life.
***
It had taken two days to reach Texas. They had stopped in a small roadside motel to sleep. Andy had wanted to share a room, but Cassia insisted on two. Just because she was going home with Andy didn’t mean she was back together and she had hoped she’d made that painfully clear but he still looked at her with misguided hope in his eyes.
She didn’t spend a lot of time talking. Andy did most of the talking, but Cassia tuned him out, for the most part, she couldn’t stop thinking about Lance and that stupid prenup. How could he think she was only after his money? It was painful it made her chest ache and her stomach knot.
It was getting late in the day when they reached Rookwood. Andy took Cassia to her father’s house. She had called ahead to tell him she was coming home. Andy helped Cassia carry her things into the house. She’d only had a few boxes and no furniture, so it was a fairly easy move.
Cassia was putting the box in her arms on the kitchen table when she noticed her father hanging up the phone on the wall. “Who were you talking to?” She asked. He was behaving rather suspiciously.
“Just Tom. So, are you going to tell me what happened? I thought you were doing well in LA and now you are home and giving up on all your dreams.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She said sitting down at the table.
“She broke up with that photographer,” Andy said happily only to be glared at by both Cassia and her father.
“Is that true?” Her father asked taking the seat next to her. “What happened?”
“He proposed.” She said sadly.
Her father smiled. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“He wanted me to sign a prenup.” She filled him in.
He made an understanding sound. “I see.”
“He doesn’t trust me.” She sighed. “How can I marry a man that doesn’t trust me?”
Her father took her hand in his and squeezed it. “I can understand how you feel. You love the boy, and you feel insulted that he would ask you to do something like this, but you have to think of it from his point of view. People have likely used him all his life, and he has a lot to lose. You’ve only known one another for a short period asking for blind faith and perfect trust is simply unreasonable.”
She hadn’t thought of it that way. Perhaps her father was right, but it still hurt.
Cassia got up. “I’m going to go put my things away.” She said taking the box upstairs. Cassia considered her father’s words. Maybe she had been too quick to end their engagement the more she thought about what her father said, the more she could understand Lance’s position. Perhaps she should have just signed the damn prenup.
It didn’t matter she’d already burnt that bridge. She wasn’t going back to LA, and she wasn’t going to model anymore. That world was just too small for the both of them. No, she was coming to terms with the fact that she would likely spend the rest of her life here in Rookwood waiting tables and rearing children in a marriage that was both stale and dull. Her brief time with Lance would haunt her until the day she died.
Cassia gave a heavy sigh and sat down on the bed. She would never be truly happy again. A knock at the door drew her from her thoughts. “Go away. I told you I don’t want to talk.”
The door opened anyway, and when she looked up, Cassia saw Lance entering. Cassia came to her feet a little shocked to see him. “I don’t care; we’re going to talk whether you like it or not.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I want to talk to you, and I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth if I have to, so you might as well just talk to me now.” He said shutting the door.
“What do you want?” She asked still a little angry with him.
He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it without a word. It was like he had something to say but didn’t know how to say it. “I want you.” He finally said. “I want you in my life. I want you as my wife. I love you, and I know you love me. I heard you with my Mother. She offered you a lot of money, but you didn’t take it. You have no idea how much that meant to me.” He said taking the prenup from his jacket pocket. “This stupid thing isn’t for me. It’s for my parents. I only want you to sign it so they can sleep at night, it’s not for me. I love my parents, and I don’t want them to worry. But I love you too, and I don’t want this stupid contract to come between us. So, if I have to choose between you and them, I choose you.” He said making to rip up the contract in his hands.
“Wait.” She said stopping him from shredding the paper. The fact that he was willing to forgo the prenup spoke volumes. Cassia walked over to the dresser in the corner where she used to keep her school work, and she found a pen. Cassia took the prenup from Lance’s hands and flipped through the pages then signed it. Putting the pen on the nightstand, she offered it back to him. “You shouldn’t have to choose.”
Lance tossed the document on the nightstand and pulled Cassia into his arms. His mouth ate at hers in a needful kiss that made her knees weak. He pulled back slightly and gazed down into her eyes. “I suggest a speedy wedding before you change your mind again.” Cassia laughed, and he kissed her once more. How could she ever believe she could live without him?
- Writer
