Melt Your Heart

Chapter 23: The Other Side of the Door

The next day, Cassie paid another visit to the town's resident realtor. Ryan was more than pleased to see her, even if her reasons for being there were business rather than pleasure. For once, he had something that she wanted, and it was something that she couldn't acquire from Sam Radford.

That shouldn't have made Ryan feel smug, but it did and he couldn't help it.

"If you're buying property, I assume you're thinking about making Middleton your home on a permanent basis?" he asked, his eyes glowing with that hopeless puppy look.

Cassie suppressed her sigh. Even without any kind of Merriwick magic, she could tell that Ryan had feelings for her. She wished she could be flattered, but in truth it just made her uncomfortable. Especially because she was already falling for Sam harder than she would have liked in such a short space of time.

"I think so," she replied. "It feels like home."

"Well, generations of your family have lived her going back hundreds of years." Ryan pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm just now finding that out," she replied, a little warily. Had Ryan been checking up on her, or was the Merriwick legacy just common knowledge if you'd been a resident of Middleton for a while? Something else to ask Abigail.

"Well, I'm pleased to welcome you to Main Street as well," he said, grinning as he held the keys to Cassie's new premises just out of her reach. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you planning to use the space for?"

Cassie didn't mind, but she also didn't want to go into too many details. Not with Ryan anyway, and not before she spoken to Sam about it. If they were going to make a go of this relationship, she had to be more open with him.

"I'm going to open a shop," she replied, snatching the keys from his hand with a little more force than was really required when he finally waved them within her grasp.

"Ah, that must be a Merriwick trait also," he commented, leading the way towards the front door. All of the paperwork was signed now and, as much as he'd like to stay chatting to her all day, he had other clients to call and deals to close.

"I suppose so. I can only hope I'm as successful as Abigail is with her flower shop."

Ryan smiled warmly, pushing on the door and holding it open with his backside leaning against it.

"I'm sure you will be," he replied, thinking of the surly customer service he received whenever he attempted to buy bouquets from Abigail. He'd never tell Cassie, but he'd taken to ordering flowers online when the need arose, which hadn't been often recently.

Cassie reached out to shake his hand, just as Ryan clumsily moved in to embrace. They settled on an awkward hug, with Ryan pressing a kiss to Cassie's cheek.

Waving goodbye, and grateful to be out of his company, Cassie clutched the keys in her free hand. It hadn't been the most comfortable encounter, but she was now the proud owner of her first ever shop.

Sam halted outside The Bistro, his takeout coffee grasped so tightly in his left hand that he'd nearly crushed the Styrofoam cup. He blinked several times, trying to clear the vision from his eyes, even as his brain tried to catch up with what he had just seen.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Cassie. No, the opposite was true. He knew she was loyal. But Ryan? He didn't trust that weasel as far as he could throw him. And honestly, he'd like to see just how far that might be.

Surely Ryan had to know that he didn't stand a chance with Cassie? As far as Sam knew they'd hardly spent any time together since Cassie had arrived in Middleton, and he certainly hadn't showed any interest in getting to know James or Catherine.

Yet, he'd just witnessed some kind of embrace between the two of them, and he didn't understand it.

He wasn't a jealous guy, not by nature, and also because he'd never really had an occasion to be envious before. He'd always out-performed every other student in his classes at medical school, and he'd never been passed over for a job opportunity that he'd wanted. And Linda, though she'd tried, had never inspired that kind of reaction from him. Not even when she actually had been cheating on him.

But watching another man put his hands on Cassie, well, it had woken up the green-eyed monster from its decades long slumber.

Cassie went straight from Ryan's office to the new premises, her new premises. She felt a little giddy as she unlocked the door and gave it a hefty shove, the same way Ryan had when he had showed her around.

Now, she was blissfully alone, and it was all blissfully hers.

Blowing her bangs out of her eyes, Cassie surveyed the space through new, more realistic eyes. It seemed less romantic, less magical now but she was still thrilled to call it her own.

It was going to take a lot of work, but it was work that Cassie could handle.

She walked through to the back of the shop and into the room that must have been used for storage and housing the cleaning supplies when the last owner operated here. Some of the things might be usable, she considered, taking a notepad out of her purse and starting to make a list.

Pushing aside a dust-covered mop, she couldn't help but grin.

Buried behind the ancient vacuum cleaner and a stack of paper towels, stood a broomstick.

An honest-to-goodness broomstick.

Yes, she had a good feeling about this.

By three o'clock that afternoon, Cassie's good feeling had dulled some. For a few moments she wondered if perhaps Abigail had been right when she warned Cassie that she might be biting off a little more than she could chew.

But it was do-able.

It just meant she might have to review some of her priorities.

That really did take the shine off her new acquisition, and her plans for the future.

With Halloween coming up on Sunday, she knew that there was really only one corner of her life that she could make cutbacks in.

And she really didn't want to.

But it was still too early, and they still both needed time to adjust to what was happening between them.

She knew, and she felt like Sam did too, that what was growing between them was special. Precious, even. It wasn't going to be a quick flash in the pan of lust and mutual attraction. If it was, they'd have given into their feelings long ago.

No, what they were building was the kind of love that lasted, and that delighted Cassie but it terrified her too. She'd had that kind of love before, and it had been ripped from her. She still had the scars from that loss, and always would. It had left its mark on her children too, and the last thing she wanted was for them to get used to Sam being around and then lose him, too.

None of them could bear that.

Biting back a sigh of disappointment, Cassie took out her cell phone.

"Hi Sam," she greeted when he answered, trying to keep her voice light. "Do you have dinner plans for tonight?"

"Well, I'm hoping my gorgeous neighbour will invite me over, but if she's busy…"

Cassie laughed softly, just talking to him always made her feel better. "I'd hate to break up that party, but if you're free, I'm making chicken alfredo."

"I'm salivating already," he assured her. "I finish around six, so I should be there by six thirty."

"I'll see you then," she confirmed. "I have something to talk to you about."

They ended the call and, though he was supposed to finishing up filling out patients' charts, Sam could think of little else other than what Cassie wanted to discuss with him.

She hadn't said we need to talk, but Sam was an intelligent man.

An intelligent man who understood subtext.

"Do I spy a new set of keys hanging on the hook?" Abigail asked, draping her leather jacket over the back of one of the kitchen chairs and inhaling deeply. How did everything Cassie cooked always smell amazing?

"You do," Cassie replied with a smile. "I signed the paperwork today, and Ryan just handed them over. I've already started work on cleaning it up."

"Wow, you do move quickly," Abigail commented, with a touch of pride. Since they'd met, she had thought of Cassie as the more sensible, measured, practical one of the two cousins, but it was good to know she could still be surprised sometimes. "Can I get the grand tour sometime?"

"Of course," Cassie said, dipping a spoon into the pot that was bubbling on the stove and tasting the sauce. "I'm planning on roping the kids in to help once I'm sure everything is safe and hazard free. I'd love to get your input on what to do with the space."

Abigail smiled. It meant a lot to her, not that she would admit to it of course.

That would ruin her whole aesthetic.

"Do I also spy that you've set an extra place setting for dinner?"

"I've invited Sam" Cassie confirmed. "I'm going to tell him about my plans tonight."

"Oh," Abigail replied, narrowing her eyes. "And, um, what plans are these?"

"About opening my own store, obviously," Cassie said, but she was careful to keep her back to her cousin.

"Sam's pretty handy," Abigail pressed, and it reminded Cassie of the way he had fixed his own window after James' wild throw. "I'm sure he'd be happy to give you hand with any maintenance, especially if you repay him well."

Cassie did turn around now, arching an eyebrow at her cousin.

"With baked goods, obviously." Abigail added, but Cassie didn't return her smile.

"Whoa, wait," she continued, Merriwick intuition flaring up. "You're not getting cold feet about you and Sam, are you?"

"No, of course not," Cassie replied, much too quickly.

"Cassie, he's crazy about you," Abigail protested, crossing the kitchen and forcing herself into her cousin's personal space. "What's brought this on?"

"You were right," she admitted sadly.

"I was?" Abigail queried. "I mean, yes, I'm always right, but about what in particular?"

"About taking on too much," she said with a sigh. "You were right. I can't be a decent mom, a business owner, and actually sleep more than four hours a night. Something has to give."

"And that something has to be Sam?" Abigail demanded. How could her cousin even contemplate throwing away her relationship?

"I don't want it to be," Cassie admitted, leaning back against the kitchen counter. "But perhaps it won't hurt to put us on the back burner for a while. I've only been here a few months, and I never intended to get involved with anyone else this quickly. I didn't even know if I could feel this way about someone else again after Jake."

"And you're going to tell him this tonight?" Abigail asked, feeling the hurt and despondency radiating from her cousin.

"Why do you think I made yellow cake with chocolate frosting?" she asked.

"Oh, Cassie," Abigail sighed, wanting to add that she was about to break Sam's heart. It wouldn't help Cassie to hear it, and it wouldn't make her change her mind either.

The Merriwicks were stubborn stock, which Abigail had learned about herself to her cost.

By the time dinner was served and the five of them were sat around the kitchen table, Abigail's appetite had all but deserted her. As soon as their plates were cleared, she offered to take James and Catherine upstairs for their baths. Cassie wondered if Sam noticed that her cousin was quick to make her escape, but he seemed more interested in her.

"So," he began, when it was just the two of them sitting across from each other at the kitchen island. "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Cassie reached into the pocket of her cardigan and placed the key fob on the table between them.

"I think it's a little soon for us to be moving in together, don't you?" he joked.

"I bought a property," she told him. "I still can't quite believe I did it."

"You're moving out?" Sam asked, shocked.

Cassie shook her head. "Oh, no. Of course not. Grey House is my home, the twins' home. I bought a property on Main Street."

"Wow," he replied, the scene he'd witnessed outside Ryan's office making a lot more sense to him now. Although whenever he signed a business deal, he usually exchanged a firm handshake with the salesperson rather than a kiss on the cheek. "That's great, congratulations."

He was genuinely pleased for her, but surprised, too.

"I didn't know you had plans to make Middleton into your business empire," he teased. He was also realising that he actually knew very little about what Cassie had done as a career before moving to Middleton. He did know that she had mostly been a stay-at-home mom when the twins came along, and that she had travelled extensively in her late teens and early twenties, but the rest seemed to be a bit of a blank.

Sam couldn't help wondering if she'd omitted certain details on purpose.

"Neither did I, but the place had been calling to me," she paused, smiling at Sam's reaction. "When I was holding the fort in Abigail's shop while she was recovering, I kept catching sight of it across the street and when I got up the courage to ask Ryan to show the property to me, well, it was love at first sight."

"With the property, right? Not Ryan."

Even though she knew she was about to deliver news that would make Sam unhappy, she couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Definitely the property," she assured him. "And now I'm the proud owner."

"That's amazing. What are you planning to do with the place?"

"I'm going to open my own store," she said then paused, this was the first part she was slightly anxious of revealing to Sam. "I want to sell my own homemade soaps, candles etc, and locally made products like jewellery, and work from local artists…and natural remedies, some of them homemade, essentials oils…"

"I didn't know you went in for all of that kind of thing," Sam began, his forehead creasing into a frown. "But I guess I should've figured that out when you tried to convince me that herbal tea could taste like coffee…which it kind of did."

"And it's so much better for you," Cassie couldn't help but add. "Which you should know, being a doctor and all."

Sam took the hit. "It sounds like you're going to be a busy lady."

Cassie nodded, lacing her fingers together. This was the part she had been dreading.

"Very busy," she acknowledged. "Maybe too busy for this. For us."

He hadn't been expecting this.

Staring at her, he felt his lips moving but no sound was coming out.

This was worse than when he'd seen that innocent (at least on Cassie's part) embrace outside of Ryan's office.

"Cassie," he finally said, his voice rough and weak with disappointment. "We can still make this work."

"I should have talked to you about this before I made my decision to buy the building," she admitted. "Abigail tried to warn me that I was taking on too much, but I didn't see that until I'd already made the commitment."

Sam wanted to take her hands, but they were still stubbornly clasped in front of her. He needed to touch her, to make that connection between them.

"When we got involved, I knew that you had other priorities. I never expected you to put me first, not when you've got two kids who need you. I'm prepared to take this at whatever pace you need."

Cassie felt her eyes fill with tears, and it was hard to hold his gaze.

"I know," she said quietly, filled with regret. "It's just too soon, Sam. It's too fast. I've only been here a few months, and I never expected anything would happen between us, especially not this quickly."

"Me neither," Sam agreed with a rueful smile. In a way she was right. It was sometimes hard to believe how short a spell of time she had been living in Middleton, it kind of felt like she had always been there. The man who had fumed at the idea of having two small children living next door to him seemed like another person.

It seemed like another lifetime.

"I'm sorry," Cassie said, finally releasing the death grip she had on her own hands and reaching across the table for Sam's.

"Cassie, are we breaking up?" he asked, confused, hurting, and just wanting a straight answer.

Her breath hitched. "I think so. For now. I don't want to lose you Sam, but I don't have the time to devote to our relationship right now either, and that's not fair to you."

Neither was breaking up with him, Sam thought bitterly. But Cassie, like her cousin, was not the kind of person who was easily swayed when their mind was made up.

He looked down at their hands, her fingers threaded through him. The idea of not touching her like this for God knew how long was tearing at him, destroying him. Later, when he had time to think, he would wonder how this woman had penetrated all of his defences and had got to him like no other lover ever had.

Not even his wife.

He gave her hands a final squeeze and released them. Quietly, he pushed him out of his chair and retrieved his jacket from the back of it. Walking away from her was going to be painful, but it would only get harder the longer he put it off.

There was one final question he needed answering before he left though.

"What about the twins?"

Cassie jerked, a little surprised to hear him speak.

"What do you mean?"

"What are you going to tell them?" he asked. "I don't want them to think I just stopped caring about them."

Cassie realised to her chagrin that she hadn't really thought about that. In trying to protect her children from becoming attached to Sam and then losing him, she had inadvertently made that a reality.

"I wouldn't stop you from seeing them, Sam, or them from seeing you."

"Good," he acknowledged. "That's good."

He zipped his jacket and looked toward the kitchen door. He had always felt welcome here, and now he felt like he was being banished. What did Abigail think about all this, he wondered. She had been conspicuous by her absence, as the twins must have finished their baths long ago and were probably fast asleep by now.

Cassie stood up too and followed him to the door. She felt chilled even though the door remained closed and the Aga was keeping the kitchen toasty warm.

"Good night, Sam," she said sadly, leaning up on her tip toes to brush a kiss to his cheek.

What happened next surprised even Sam himself, but when he thought back on it later that night, he had no regrets about it.

"Sam," she breathed again, in shock and desire as his hands found her waistline, pushing her not particularly ceremoniously against the kitchen door. His lips took hers, the kiss all fire and passion, not the tender, loving kind they'd shared before. Although he knew he was losing her, his body fought to claim her, and hers responded in kind.

In fact, it was her fingers tugging on his hair, the pleasure-pain building in his scalp that brought him back to reality.

"What…what was that?" she asked, fighting to get her breath back.

"Just a little something to remember me by," he said, sounding a lot more coherent than he thought he would considering that every single brain cell he possessed had vacated his head. "So you don't forget what you'll be missing."

With that, Sam fumbled with the kitchen door handle and stepped out into the frigid night, leaving Cassie reeling.

Leaning back against the kitchen door, she took a moment to get her breath back.

Only one question sprung to mind:

What had she done?