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“Baby?” Cass fell to her knees, checking Rebecca for any injuries. “Becca? Baby, can you hear me?” She was on the brink of calling 911 when Rebecca stirred.

“Mmm, Cassidy,” Rebecca smiled. “You’re home.”

“Are you okay?” Cass’s hands were everywhere all at once.

“Cassidy!” Rebecca swatted at Cassidy’s hands. “What are you doing?”

“Are you hurt, baby?”

“Why would I be hurt?” Rebecca sat up, looking around her in confusion. She must’ve fallen asleep while meditating.

“Becca, I’ve been calling your name and searching the entire fucking house for you!” Cass was so scared she was angry. Not at Rebecca. She couldn’t be angry at Rebecca. But Cass never should have agreed to let this Buck McEnroe get away with whatever the fuck his game was. “I was about to call the damn cops!”

“Do not yell at me, Cassidy.” Rebecca’s tone was cold. “You don’t ever yell at me. I will not go through that again.” She pulled away from Cassidy’s touch and stood up.

Cass knew better than to grab Rebecca, so she took half a second to calm down. “Becca, baby, wait. Please. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I was just scared.”

“Scared of what?”

Cass scrambled to get up, taken aback by Rebecca’s attitude of late. She knew Rebecca was making a significant change in her life, but Cass sincerely thought Rebecca was doing what she wanted. That’s why she didn’t understand Rebecca’s mood swings.

“Babe, I came home to find dinner burning in the oven and you missing.”

Rebecca frowned. She inhaled, ready to tell Cassidy she was wrong, but the smell of smoke in the air confirmed Cassidy was telling the truth. But that didn’t make sense.

“No, I… I was meditating, and I guess I dozed off.”

“You were meditating again? Is something bothering you, Becca?” Hesitantly, she took Rebecca’s hands in hers. “Baby, if there’s something you need to be doing to be happy, please tell me.”

“Oh, Cassidy.” Rebecca pulled Cassidy close, kissing her. “I am happy.” She sighed. “I haven’t been sleeping well, and I guess it just caught up to me.”

“I know, baby. And I think if we did something about this McEnroe guy…”

“Cassidy, we haven’t heard from him since. This is my issue. I’ll do better at not making it your issue, too.”

“Babe, I’m your wife. That means we share the load.” Cass kissed Rebecca’s forehead. “I think maybe we should talk to Aunt Wills.”

“You want me to start seeing a shrink again?”

“No, baby. I want us to talk to Aunt Wills to see if there’s anything we can do to help you let go of the past again. You know I like exorcising your demons,” Cass grinned. She hoped to hell she was saying the right things. With Rebecca’s fluctuating moods, it was hard to tell what would set her off at any given moment.

Rebecca smiled. “Why don’t you help me salvage what we can of dinner? Then you can exorcise all the demons you want.” She kissed Cassidy again, putting passion and love behind it with full force.

“Sounds like a plan,” Cass answered close to Rebecca’s lips. Yeah, she noticed Rebecca didn’t answer her about Aunt Wills, but Cass would let it go for now. If the restless nights and irritability continued, Cass would bring it up again. “But I think the lasagna is a goner.”

“I’m so sorry, Cassidy. I wanted to have dinner ready for you when you got home. I screwed up. I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.”

Cass watched in horror as Rebecca actually cowered in front of her. Fucking Samantha. “Baby, hey,” Cass deliberately kept her voice soft and soothing. “Hey, hey, hey. Everything is fine. It’s just lasagna, yeah?” She wrapped her arms around Rebecca, closing her eyes to hold back the tears as she felt Rebecca shake against her. “Baby, it’s okay. I promise. We can get some take-out. No biggie. Becca, baby, you don’t even like lasagna that much.” She leaned back to look Rebecca in the eye. “You were secretly hoping we could get some tacos, weren’t you?”

A tremulous smile formed on Rebecca’s lips. “I like lasagna. I don’t like ricotta cheese.”

Cass chuckled. “You didn’t have to put ricotta in there, babe.”

“You like it. I was making it for you.”

“Well, it just so happens that I like tacos even more,” Cass said, wriggling her eyebrows. “Tacos are tasty.”

Rebecca smacked Cassidy’s stomach. “Fiend.”