Melt Your Heart
Thank you guys for the reviews/comments/favourites etc on the previous chapter. Sorry for the delay in updating. Life is back to being almost pre-pandemic busy again so I've had less time to write unfortunately. Hope you enjoy this chapter - it's pretty fluffy and Abigail definitely 'ships Cassie & Sam ;)
Chapter 7: Under Your Spell
Cassie and Sam found a table for two near the back of the Bistro. They both ignored the looks from the other customers, Cassie was becoming used to people's curiosity and she guessed it was only natural. It was also worth it to sample more of Stephanie's delicious cooking, and to perhaps turn what had been a complicated association into a friendship with Sam.
Stephanie bounded over with menus as soon as they had taken their jackets off and were settled at the table.
"How did the course go today, Sam?"
"Pretty good," He replied. "Mostly the same turn out as last year, but Cassie joined us this time."
Stephanie smiled at her. "Sam taught me and everyone who works his the basics of first aid, too. The last we need is someone getting food poisoning or choking on their coffee!"
Cassie studied Sam carefully across the table. She wondered how much of the grumpy bachelor act was really just a front. Surely you didn't decide to practice medicine if you didn't care about people? Cassie had always been more interested in natural and alternative remedies herself, but had decided early on that it might be best to keep that quiet especially where Sam was concerned.
"Let me know when you've made up your mind and I'll come back and take your order."
They both looked at the menu, the day's special items clipped to the front. Deciding what to eat and drink saved them from the slightly awkward lull in the conversation that had started as soon as Stephanie had left. When she came back they both ordered the day's lunch special but while Sam ordered coffee, Cassie chose a herbal tea.
"I'm surprised you drink so much coffee," Cassie commented when Stephanie had left them alone together again.
Sam frowned. "Why? Most of America functions on coffee."
"But you're a doctor. Surely you know how bad caffeine is for you, and what coffee does to your insides."
"Well, sure," Sam replied. "But when you're prepping for a six hour surgery, camomile tea isn't really going to cut it."
"I have a blend I think you'll really like," Cassie replied. "You won't even know it's not coffee."
Sam scoffed at that. "I'm not sure that's possible, but I appreciate the offer. If it's half as good as your curry or your cake, then I might have to give it a try."
Stephanie came back with their drinks and their food, and they were both silent for a few minutes as they both realised how hungry they were.
"You know, Martha had already roped me into helping with Halloween and it's not even October yet," Cassie said, swallowing a bite of the roasted vegetable tart.
Sam chuckled, wiping his lips with a paper napkin. "I'm surprised she waited this long, I thought she would have been on your case the moment you arrived in Middleton."
"I think Abigail was trying to keep her at bay, but I imagine it's like trying to hold back a tornado."
He laughed again, and Cassie realised she liked the sound. She liked knowing she was still interesting and amusing to attractive, single men and not just to her two young children.
"It really is best to just go along with it," Sam said, with the slightly weary tone of someone who had tried to go up against Martha and had failed. "And to be fair to her, Halloween in Middleton is always pretty incredible."
"I do love Halloween," Cassie admitted.
"I didn't care for it until I moved here, but Middleton really goes all out. One year, not long after I moved here, I was given the delightful task of building the Halloween maze out of bales of hay. It wasn't my finest moment."
Cassie found herself laughing along with him as he told the tale, and she forgot to feel awkward or uncomfortable. She forgot to feel anything at all, and just enjoyed the moment. It was something she hadn't been able to do for a long time; not since losing Jake. As much as her children delighted and distracted her, being with them always reminded her of what the three of them had lost. Every day she was discovering new similarities between them and their father, whether it was their appearance or their behaviour. Middleton had started working its magic on them, and now it seemed to be having an effect on her too.
Sam insisted on paying for their lunches even when Cassie reached for her wallet.
"No, I insist. You saved me from another encounter with Sally Atkins today, for which I'll always be grateful."
Cassie smiled. "It wasn't so bad. I feel like I learned some useful things today."
They said goodbye and went their separate ways, but Sam couldn't help but wonder if she had been referring to what she had learned from the course or from their conversation.
"How was the first aid course?" Abigail asked later when they were both in the Grey House kitchen.
Cassie was peeling potatoes at the sink, keeping an eye on the twins who were playing outside. She didn't want to another window to get broken.
"Very interesting, I feel like a learned a lot," she turned back to her cousin. "You could have told me that Sam was taking the course."
"Oh, I assumed you knew." She grinned. "Anyway, what difference does that make?"
Cassie sighed. "I don't know, it just would've been nice to know."
"So you could have changed your mind about going?"
"Of course not."
"It can't have been that bad, I saw you going to lunch with him."
Cassie blushed. She still wasn't used to living in a small town where everyone knew everyone else's business.
"Sam and I may have got off on the wrong foot, so I guess we're trying to be friends."
Abigail smiled knowingly, but didn't push any further. There was no denying there was a spark between Cassie and Sam, but Abigail knew that it was too early for her cousin to even think about dating again.
"Speaking of making friends," She changed the subject. "I spoke to Stephanie today, and she's happy for us to start offering dinner as an option to our guests and she assured me we won't be stepping on her toes in the slightest."
Cassie smiled. "That's great news, I've got lots of ideas."
Abigail laughed. "I'm sure you have. How does Friday night sound?"
"Friday?" That seemed to be awfully soon now that she thought about it.
"Too soon?"
Cassie shook her head. "No, it's perfect. I can go and pick up what I need after I've dropped the twins at school on Friday morning." Her mind was already whirring, trying to plan the perfect first meal to prove that she could do this.
Sam had a spring in his step when he started his shift at the hospital that night. He had enjoyed his lunch with Cassie, and as far as he could tell he had kept his foot out of his mouth for the whole conversation. Being with her was easy, but also challenged him in a way that his interactions with other women rarely did.
He wondered if things would have been different between them if Cassie was just a single woman and not a widowed mother of two. Would he have tried to be more than friends with her if she wasn't clearly so broken hearted and still grieving for her husband? He wasn't even sure a woman like Cassie would be interested in someone like him anyway.
It was pointless even thinking about it, Cassie wasn't looking to date and she certainly wasn't looking to date him. If her friendship was all he could have, then he'd be happy with that. He had been missing popping into Grey House after his shifts at the hospital. He used to drop in on Abigail quite regularly, but he hadn't really felt like he could since Cassie moved in. Especially as they had seemed to have got off on the wrong foot. At least he'd been able to apologise to her now for always seeming to say the wrong thing to her.
Even his co-workers seemed to notice that Sam was in a good mood this evening. It wasn't particularly busy at the hospital, no emergency patients had been rushed in and Sam enjoyed checking up on his patients who were recovering from their surgeries. If he was honest, this was becoming his favourite part of the job.
When he was younger, he had loved the adrenaline rush of emergency surgery but now he was older and since settling in Middleton, he had been wondering about a change of career. Ten, even five years ago the idea of practicing medicine in a small town would never have appealed to him but now it was starting to feel like the next logical step. People in town already asked his medical advice and he was involved in the first aid programme at the school. He liked the continuity of care, which he rarely got to be part of in the hospital after his patients had been discharged. He thought the more regular hours would suit him, too.
Driving home at six am when the world was just waking up was starting to wear thin for Sam. Not that there was anyone waiting for him in his bed when he got home, though.
It was fair to say that after his divorce, he had buried himself in his work. If his ex wife was to be believed, he had already done that before their marriage imploded. There might be some truth in that, because Sam has definitely used work as an excuse to escape his relationship problems. He should have known they were headed for divorce then, but it had taken finding Linda in bed with her younger lover for the sad truth to hit home, literally and figuratively.
He had accepted the job at the hospital and moved to Middleton before the ink was even dry on his divorce papers. It had taken some adjusting to, but now he felt like he had made the right decision. Middleton was home, and even if he ended up roped into more town activities than he'd really like to participate in, it felt good to be part of community. He hadn't had that in the cold anonymity of New York, but Linda had loved it there. She never could understand why he had chosen small town life over the big city, and sometimes Sam wondered why they had ever got married in the first place.
His failed marriage made it hard for him to try to relate to Cassie's grief. His divorce had soured him on marriage, and perhaps relationships in general. He hadn't had one that lasted longer than a few months since his marriage ended. It wasn't for lack of options, he just hadn't been interested in pursuing anything long term with any of the women he had dated. He realised that the longest relationship he had had recently was with Abigail, and that had always been strictly platonic on both sides.
He could just tell that Cassie had believed her marriage would last forever, in a way that Sam had taken for granted in his own relationship. It seemed unfair to him that he was happier single and his ex wife was no doubt making someone else's life miserable, but that Cassie had wanted to stay married and fulfil the vows she had made to her husband.
He shook his head, as if to clear her face from his mind. It wasn't healthy for him to keep thinking about her, but she had managed to get under his skin.
Normally a woman with children was someone that Sam would avoid, convinced he wasn't interested in becoming anyone's stepfather. He had long ago faced up to the fact that he would never have the opportunity to become someone's Dad, and thought he had made peace with that. When Cassie had brought James, and also Catherine, to apologise for breaking his window, he had felt something he hadn't expected to feel again: hope.
Even if it took him somewhere outside of his comfort zone, he was determined to show Cassie that he wasn't using them as a means to get to her. He thought about his own relationship with his father, and how cruel it was that the twins had been robbed of that with their own Dad. Of course, Sam would never admit it, not even to himself, but it seemed like he wasn't just falling for Cassie, he was under the spell of her children too.