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Chapter Fifty-Six

V ending machines were a pretty evil contraption. They preyed on the hungry, desperate passerby who had no choice but to buy their garbage that would do nothing to fill their growling stomachs.

I was sure as hell that, at least in my case, a bag of chips or a few M&M’s would have no effect on mine.

I sighed, settling on a skimpy bag of trail mix that was probably filled with more sugar than anything that might replenish me after those ruthless two hours I put into the game the night before.

What time was it now? Late in the night? Early the next morning? All I knew was that I was starving and jittery and praying to God that Cassie was going to be okay after her mother’s latest—and apparently most dire—health scare.

I watched as the mechanical arm pushed the snack forward, and it dropped to the bottom. I bent over to reach for it, jerking back when a voice came from behind me.

“I thought you left,” Cassie’s voice said and I turned to see her standing behind me, arms crossed across as she watched me. She looked slight in the dim fluorescent lights. So fragile, though I knew she was far stronger than most people I’d met.

“I told you I’d be here.” I watched her as if she might disappear if I looked away for a second.

“Yeah,” she said. “You always do what you say you’re going to do.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I held the bag of trail mix as an offering. She smiled and shook her head.

“I’m okay, thanks.” She looked toward a pair of empty chairs. “Can we talk?”

“Uh oh,” I said lightly, trying to laugh it off. “The dangerous words.”

“No,” she said, staring up at me. “Nothing bad.”

Relief hit me like a tidal wave.

I walked with her toward the chairs and sat down beside her, watching as she breathed in and out as if trying to hype herself up for whatever she was about to say.

She looked at me for a minute, unspeaking, and then off to the TV in the corner of the waiting room. I didn’t notice at first that it was a recap of the game playing until she spoke.

“I can’t believe you left,” she said, staring at the headline of how the Harbor Wolves won scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

Good, I breathed. They’d stayed strong and secured the win even without me there. I didn’t have to feel guilty about leaving. Not that I did, but at least I didn’t have to act like I was when I saw everyone.

“Looks like it didn’t make a difference.” I nodded up toward the screen. “They did okay without me.”

“I wouldn’t.” She turned to look at me, eyes shining. “Do okay without you, I mean.”

I stared at her, a thousand questions on the tip of my tongue. Cassie was like this butterfly that had landed in my life, and any wrong step could send her fluttering off.

“I wouldn’t do okay without you, either,” I told her the honest-to-God truth.

Hell, it had only been a day, and I’d fallen apart.

“Aren’t you going to regret not being there, though?” She bit her lip. “They said this was a pretty important game.”

I laughed, causing her to startle.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I assured her. “I just can’t believe you’re talking to me about a hockey game right now.”

“It’s important to you,” she protested.

“You’re important to me,” I said, reaching up to touch her cheek. “Don’t you know that?”

She pressed her eyes shut, leaning into the palm of my hand. When those blue eyes opened, they were blinking back tears.

Fuck, I loved those eyes.

“Did I mess everything up with us?” she asked.

“No, baby,” I told her, “Not even close.”

I wanted to tell her that we could take things at her pace. That everything was going to be okay, and we would work out everything together because honest to God, I couldn’t imagine a life without her in it anymore.

But as I opened my mouth to tell her that, another doctor approached, pulling her attention away from me. I couldn’t begrudge him for it. Right now, her mom was our priority.

“Cassie?” It was the same one from before. “Your mother’s a bit more lucid now. She wanted to speak to you.”

Cassie stood up, looking at me as if it pained her to leave the same way it did me. Maybe she was just scared of going to see her mom. But I knew from the determined set of her shoulders that this was something she wanted to face alone.

“I’ll be waiting right here. I promise,” I told her.

She nodded, offering me a smile, and then she was gone.