It Takes a Village

Thank you so much for your review & comments on the previous chapter. I'm so glad you liked it!

Confession time: unfortunately you (well, Cassie) won't be getting her gentlemanly seduction quite yet. But please bear with me, lol. However, there is some domestic fluff instead.

I know this story will have at least 13 chapters and I've already written some dialogue for the ending, I'm cautiously optimistic that you'll like it.

Here goes chapter 10, hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 10: Where Your Heart Lives

"Everything okay?" Harry asked Abigail. They were driving through the town he called home, and he liked having her there with him. Since they had started dating, they had only spent time together in Middleton. He liked the town and the people, especially Abigail's family but it was nice to be the one showing her around.

She had just finished on the phone, and it was now laying in her lap.

"Everything's great," She smiled.

If Sam and Cassie weren't at least talking to each other by the time the flower shop closed, she would be very surprised. Cassie hadn't even sounded particularly annoyed on the phone. Maybe this was just the push the two of them needed to finally figure things out between them.

"You're not worried about leaving the shop, are you?"

Abigail shook her head. "Not at all, it's in safe hands."

She hadn't told Harry her plans, he seemed to be more of the opinion that Sam and Cassie should be given the time and space to work things out for themselves. Although it was an opinion that Brandon also seemed to share, Abigail wondered what that said about Harry. If things were rocky between them, would he rather give up than try something unconventional to try and win her back?

She looked across at him, studying his handsome profile. She knew this was typical of her, getting doubts a couple of months in. Perhaps it was because they could only spend weekends together. Maybe spending the whole week apart was putting distance between them that had nothing to do with the miles between the towns where they lived. Abigail wondered if she was better suited at meddling in other people's relationships than she was at being in one of her own. Only this week she had been trying to push newcomer Nathan Hancock in Stephanie's direction, even though both of them had been resistant to it.

As it was safe to do so, Harry reached across and squeezed Abigail's hand.

"I can't wait to show you around town, I think you'll love it here."

Abigail smiled back at him. Maybe she would, but even though Harry lived here Middleton was where her heart lived.

The hustle and bustle of New York City was almost overwhelming after the weeks Linda had spent in Middleton. She realised that she had actually adjusted to the pace of life in Middleton, and that New York was a bit of a culture shock to her now. The sidewalks were crammed with people; heads down and lost in their cell phones. Even though Linda knew her popularity wasn't that high in Middleton, everyone stopped to smile or greet her whenever she walked through town. A tiny part of her missed that, being known and seen. But New York was where she belonged, wasn't it?

Her first port of call had been to check her apartment. It had been mostly empty ever since her she had rushed off to Middleton when she had learned of Nick's accident. It was yet another thing she needed to make a decision about. She was living rent free at Sam's, pitching in for groceries but that was about it. It didn't make any kind of financial sense to keep paying rent on her apartment when she wasn't going to live there. The money she would save by ending the lease would afford her a nice house in Middleton. She still couldn't believe she was entertaining the thought of giving up the big city for a small town life; especially when that small town was also where her ex-husband lived.

Now, she was on her way to lunch with Jared. He had seemed surprised when she had called him from the road and invited him; so surprised that he had said yes before he could think it through. Behind her cool exterior, Linda was nervous about the meeting. She was too old to let a man influence her decision to stay, or go. Still, she was placing a lot of the weight of her decision on how her lunch with Jared went.

He was already waiting for her outside of the brasserie that had chosen, his beard a little fuller than the last time she had seen him but otherwise he looked just the same. Linda's heart gave a jolt that had nothing on the way she had felt when she had encounter Sam still dripping from the shower. Lust and love could be too very different emotions, however tangled they may often become.

"Jared, hi," She waved attracting his attention. His smiled warmly, before his expression became guarded again.

"Linda," They kissed each other's cheeks continental-style, but it felt stilted and over-polite. "Welcome back."

"Thank you,"

The went inside together, choosing a table by the window. An immaculately dressed waiter appeared and took their drink orders, again polite but formal. Linda couldn't help but make the comparison between here and Stephanie's bistro.

It took a concentrated effort for both of them, but Sam and Cassie managed to keep their hands, and lips, off each other and had a successful day running Abigail's flower shop. Neither of them were sure they'd be in a great hurry to offer to do it again, but there were worse ways to spend a Saturday. Cassie had been right too, it wasn't all that different from working in the Bell, Book. It was just helping people find what they wanted, or needed, and sending them away happy.

"Linda is away for the weekend."

"I know, Sam." She laughed at his attempt at subtlety.

"Maybe we could spend the evening together."

"I'd like that,"

"Why do I feel like I'm about to hear a 'but?"

"But, look, this doesn't mean everything is just magically back to how things used to be."

"I know."

Sam looked so dejected; like a puppy she had just pushed away with the toe of her shoe that Cassie almost gave in. She sighed, blowing her bangs out of her eyes and was surprised to find she was close to tears.

"I can't be with you, not properly, until Linda is back in New York," She took another steadying breath. "I'm not the type to make ultimatums, Sam, and I think you know that. But there can't be three people in our relationship."

"I know," Sam took her hands in his again, and she didn't try to pull away. "As soon as she gets back, I'll tell her that if she wants to stay in Middleton, she's going to have to find somewhere else to say."

"Sam,"

"Nick is going back to school a week on Monday, I'll give her until then. Okay?"

They looked each other in the eyes for a long moment.

"Okay."

Tara and Grace were closing up the Bell, Book and Candle after a long but busy Saturday. They had made almost as many sales as if Cassie had been there, both of them well trained now in helping the customer find the perfect item they were looking for. Of course Grace had her own special talents up her sleeve, but perhaps it was better not to draw too much attention to them in front of Tara even if she was family.

Neither of them had been able to stop talking about what might or might not be happening in the flower shop whenever they had a quiet moment between customers. Grace had been dying to go across when she had popped out to the Bistro to pick up their lunch order, but Tara had talked her out of it. She had never thought she would be so invested in helping her Mom get back together with a man who wasn't her Dad. But Grace was mature enough now to know that her Mom deserved to be happy, and she had glowed whenever Sam was around. Although Cassie put on a brave front for her daughter, Grace knew that she had been miserable ever since the ski trip.

Cassie came by as Grace was turning the "open" sign in the door around.

"Hey Mom," They hugged and Grace let her inside. "How was the flower shop."

"It was fine, quite busy. I can see why Abigail didn't want to close, she would've lost a lot of business today. We had two customers who had been to the flower market in Blairsville and were much more impressed with Abigail's selection."

"That's great, Mom." Grace replied, subtly rolling her eyes at her sister-in-law.

"I'm sure Martha will be happy to hear that too," Tara added with a wry smile. "It must have been hard work there on your own."

Cassie realised that she was blushing. "Abigail had roped Sam in to help as well, although she had told him that it was you who would be working today."

"Oh really?" Tara couldn't hold the grin back, her hand moving subconsciously to her barely curved belly.

"Tell us everything." Grace replied, taking her mother by the arm as the three of them left the shop, Tara locking up after them.

Cassie was not about to tell her daughter everything that had passed between her and Sam, although if Grace was anything like her she would have a fairly good idea anyway.

"Linda has gone to New York today for the weekend," She said instead, causing Tara and Grace to share another glance but she didn't elaborate. "How do you feel about Indian food tonight, I'm in the mood to cook a curry."

Grace was astonished. "Linda is away all weekend, and you're not going to spend the evening with Sam?"

"We're not going to sneak around like teenagers just because Linda is out of town."

"Why ever not?" Tara laughed, although part of her was wondering whether Brandon would be too tired to give her a foot rub later.

"I'm going over to watch movies with Nick and Courtney this evening, and Lori has a date," Grace replied. "You'll pretty much have the place to yourself."

"Grace," Cassie's tone was half warning, half teasing. But her daughter just shrugged and they carried on walking back to Grey House.

Sam arrived about half an hour after Grace had left to spend the evening with Nick and Courtney. He tapped lightly on the kitchen door, not wanting to overstep any boundaries this time. Even if his heart felt like it was beating double time in his chest, something he knew was medically impossible, he was determined to keep a tight grip on his self-control tonight. He wasn't even expecting Cassie's invitation, but now he had it he was certainly not going to screw this up.

"Come in, Sam," She smiled in spite of herself.

He came over to her, wrapped her in a one-armed hug and kissed her cheek.

"I would have brought you flowers," He said, handing over the bottle of wine. "But I thought wine was safer." He held up his finger, wrapped in a fresh band-aid.

"Can I trust you to open it?" She passed him the bottle opener.

"I'll try my best. I'm not sure where you'd find a doctor at this time on a Saturday."

"Especially one who isn't already injured." She smiled, setting two wine glasses next to him.

"I'm pretty sure it looked like Grace and Courtney were planning to sleepover tonight, are you okay with that?" Sam wasn't facing her when he said this, but using his full concentration to pour exactly the same amount of wine into each glass.

Cassie stirred the curry as she organised her thoughts.

"It's not the first time Grace has stayed over at yours, but it's whether you're happy for Nick to have two teenage girls sleeping over the first night his mother is out of town."

Sam winced. "God, you're right. If Linda came back and saw that, well I'd never live it down."

It hadn't been Cassie's intention for Sam's ex-wife to creep back into the conversation, but it had happened all the same. She still didn't feel right about sneaking around with Sam because Linda wasn't around, not that they were even married anymore.

"I'll make sure Courtney gets a ride home, and I'll send Grace back to you before bedtime." Sam took a sip of wine. "Sometimes I hate being a parent, I feel like such a killjoy."

Cassie laughed, picking up her own glass. "I guess deep down we're all still sixteen inside."

"I bet you were cute at sixteen," Sam mused.

"Hardly, I was geeky and awkward."

"I don't believe that for a second."

"What about you? I bet you were the all star jock, with a different girlfriend every week."

He winced again. "Okay, you were fairly close to the mark there, but I grew out of it. I'm a one woman kind of guy now."

His eyes were penetrating and Cassie's breath caught for a second because she knew exactly what he was saying. It moved her, but she also realised that there could never be just one man for her because she would always love Jake.

Sam seemed to notice the change in her mood, from playful to introspective.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She smiled at him, leaning in and pressing the softest, wine-soaked kiss against his lips before turning her attention back to the curry.

"I think this is ready, let's eat."