It Takes a Village

As always, thank you so much for your comments on the previous chapter. I really appreciate them. I'm afraid you're in for another angsty chapter. There's also a language warning for this chapter, lol.

If you're looking for something a little less angsty, I updated my Good Witch AU "Melt Your Heart" this week.

Hope you enjoy this chapter and the next one will be with you shortly. :) xx

Chapter 13: Hurricane Linda

"Cassie, wait," Sam said, as she made to push herself to her feet. Their plates of dinner sat mostly untouched in front of them. Neither of them had much of an appetite now, but Sam didn't want the dinner to end either. "Please."

She sat back down again and looked him straight in the eyes, not making any attempt to hide the upset and misery she felt. The very last thing she had expected was for Linda to stay in Middleton indefinitely, especially when Sam had told her that he had firmly rejected her advances. She knew she should have seen it coming, but there seemed to be so much going on later that even her gifts seemed clouded. Maybe she had just really wanted to believe that she and Sam could get things right second time around.

"Did you know she was going to do this?"

Sam shook his head. "Of course not! We've barely talked since she came back from New York. We got into a bit of a fight about Nick and Courtney breaking up, so I didn't even ask her how her weekend had been."

"Clearly she didn't find what she was looking for there, because she's not exactly been singing Middleton's praises, has she?"

"I'll talk to her later. She can't stay with me any longer, that's for sure. If she wants to live in Middleton, then she'll have to find some place to rent."

"Sam,"

"Please Cassie, things have been going so well between us again. Please don't let her ruin it."

"I still stand by what I said. I can't do this, whatever this is, with you when she's living under your roof. I'm sorry."

"It won't be for much longer, I promise." Sam tried to take her hands across the table, but she pulled away from him.

"It shouldn't have to be this difficult, Sam" she sighed. "If we love each other…"

"Which we do," he replied automatically.

"If we love each other, it shouldn't be so hard for us to be together." She looked down at her plate. "I'm sorry, I just don't have an appetite anymore."

"Cassie please, can't we talk about this?

"What else is there to say, Sam?"

"Let me come and stay with you at Grey House," She blinked. "Not even in your bed, I'll pay for one of the guest rooms."

"What about Nick?"

"He's sixteen and he'll be back at school in a week."

"I'm sorry, I can't. I can't make you choose between your family and me."

"Even if I'd choose you?"

"Even then."

She stood up and put her grey leather jacket back on, picking up her purse and reaching inside for her wallet.

"I've got this," Sam said, waving her offer of money aside.

"Goodnight Sam," She zipped her purse back up and slipped out of the Bistro, hoping no one noticed her leave. But this was Middleton, of course they did.

Cassie walked back home, wondering if she had said and done the right things. Maybe she had overreacted, but she wasn't sure. Linda really had dropped a bombshell, and she had certainly picked her moment. It was clear from Sam's reaction that he'd had no idea and it had been as much of a surprise to him as it had been to Cassie. Clearly Linda's trip back to New York at the weekend had not gone as planned.

After Sam's rejection of her advances, Cassie would have thought that Linda would be more keen than ever to get home again. Apparently her instincts had been wrong this time, something which was happening with a worrying regularity. Maybe because she had been focusing on what she wanted to be true, rather than listening to her gifts. She knew she needed to talk to Sam once she had calmed down, but for now she needed time with her thoughts.

When she pushed open the door to Grey House, she was surprised to find Nathan Hancock lingering in the lobby. He had checked out on Sunday morning and, although he had said how much he'd loved staying in Middleton, Cassie hadn't been expecting him back so soon. Just another thing that had slipped from her radar recently.

"Welcome back," she smiled, trying to sound more upbeat than she felt. What she really wanted was to take a big cup of tea upstairs with her, run a bath and maybe indulge in a good cry. The last thing she wanted was to make small talk.

"Thanks Cassie, I was hoping I could stay a little longer."

"Of course, your old room is still free."

"Wonderful," Nathan smiled. He picked up his bags, but then hesitated. "You wouldn't want to have a drink with me, would you?" He pulled a bottle of chianti out of one of his bags.

As much as Cassie needed some time alone, the idea of spending time with someone; someone who barely knew her was a welcome distraction. Hopefully Nathan would be doing most of the talking, though.

"Grace," Nick whispered into his iPhone. "I really need to talk to you, can you come over?"

Grace looked at her study notes spread out in front of her. She was making good progress on her history project, but Nick sounded like something was really wrong. She felt like she'd know if Nick was just bored, or lonely, or just wanted someone to beat at whatever video game he was currently hooked on.

"Is that okay?" She replied, closing her folder. "I know your Mom doesn't really like me being around."

Nick scoffed. "Don't take it personally. She was practically cheering when I told that Courtney broke up with me."

"I'm sorry, Nick," she replied, and she meant it. She couldn't imagine not having a mother like Cassie. "I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

A few minutes later, Nick invited Grace into his room and firmly shut the door. Grace raised an eyebrow at him.

"We have to do something about getting your Mom and my Dad back together," He hissed.

"We've tried," Grace sighed, sitting on the end of Nick's bed. "Abigail set up them working together at the flower shop and tried to make your Mom realise she really wanted to move back to New York. Even Grandpa pretended to collapse in the garden!"

"Mom is moving here. Permanently." Nick sat in his gaming chair, scrubbing his hands through his unruly brown hair. "We both know that I'd never had this stupid accident that they'd still be together."

"Nick, you can't blame yourself for this."

"Your Mom said exactly the same thing," Grace wasn't surprised. "But if I'd never got injured then my Mom would've had no reason to come to Middleton and Cassie and my Dad would still be a couple."

Grace didn't want to agree with him, because she knew it wasn't Nick's fault. She couldn't deny that Linda's presence hadn't played a major role in the breakdown of Sam and her Mom's relationship, though.

"What more can we do though, Nick?"

Nick looked sheepish. "I was kind of hoping you might have some ideas there…"

Grace looked wary. "I don't know Nick, it is their business and their relationship after all…"

Now, Nick looked disappointed. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that, because I can only think of one other way to get my Mom to leave Middleton."

"What's that?" Grace asked, but she had a feeling that she already knew.

"I finally offer to move to New York with her."

"You can't do that, Nick. Your life is here."

"I know, and I don't want to go but soon we'll be making our college applications. I'd just be leaving Middleton a year earlier than I'd expected to."

"It would break your Dad's heart,"

"It's already broken, Grace."

They looked at each other hopelessly.

"There must be another way," Grace said finally. "Don't make any decisions yet, okay?"

Nick nodded. He didn't want to leave Middleton or his father, and he didn't really want to go to New York with his mother but it would still be less toxic than being trapped here with the both of them.

Abigail walked into the Bistro kitchen, hot on Stephanie's heels.

"What the fuck just happened?" She demanded of no one in particular.

Stephanie was just as rattled, and confused. She had witnessed both Abigail and Lori subtly sell Linda on the benefits of moving back to New York rather than stay here in small town Middleton. She was just as shocked as everyone else that Linda had chosen to remain here permanently.

Her heart broke all over again for Cassie, who this news would hurt the most. It wasn't fair to her that Cassie and Sam didn't seem to be able to catch a break. She had made some kind of peace with her own romantic problems, but the two of them were just made for each other. It seemed cruel that fate seemed determined to keep throwing obstacles in their path; obstacles that generally had Linda's name written all over them.

Stephanie seethed, wishing she had told Linda where she could stick her takeout but then Nick wouldn't have had any dinner and Stephanie was fond of him. She kind of felt sorry for him, it couldn't be easy having a mom like Linda Wallace but at least he had a more calming and steady influence from his father.

"Hurricane Linda," Stephanie muttered. "I did not see this coming, Abigail."

Abigail looked at her, hating to admit it. "Me neither," She kicked out with her high heeled boot and then regretted it. "Damn it!"

"Should we go and check on Cassie? I can get the guys here to close up."

Abigail ran her fingers through her hair. "I think she probably just needs some space." She let out a noise of frustration. "I just can't bear to see her broken all over again, Stephanie. I really want to go and smack that bitch in the face, but I know Cassie would hate it if I did that."

Stephanie managed a small smile. "I'd enjoy it though. Might even hold her down for you while you did it."

Abigail did laugh at that. "You're a good friend, Stephanie." She gave her a quick, one armed hug that surprised Stephanie almost as much as Linda's bombshell.

"A good friend would probably ask you what happened this weekend, but I'm sensing this isn't the right time?"

Abigail shook her head. The one thing she had to be grateful to Linda for was giving her something else to think about other than Harry Trent for a little while.

"That can wait," she replied. "I'm more concerned about Cassie, Sam and Hurricane Linda right now."

And didn't that sum it up, the voice in the back of her mind piped up. Was she really putting the relationship of her cousin ahead of her own romantic problems? If she was, what did that say about the future of her own relationship?

Cassie felt a little lightheaded by the time she went to bed. She had only had a glass and a half of wine with Nathan, but she had also not eaten much dinner. Her appetite had vanished as soon as Linda had dropped her bombshell in the Bistro. She looked at her phone for the hundredth time but Sam hadn't left her any messages or tried to call. Maybe he was just giving her space. If he had called, would she have even picked up?

She hated that she had become the kind of woman who offered ultimatums to the man she loved. That wasn't her. She hadn't been that way with Jake. She was worried that she was only remembering the good things about her relationship with her husband. They must have bickered and fought, slammed doors and gone to bed angry? Their marriage had been wonderful, but no marriage was every truly perfect. Cassie was afraid she was using her marriage to Jake as a benchmark to measure her relationship with Sam against. Of course he was always going to come up short if she was only holding onto the memories of when things had been good between her and Jake.

She changed into her nightdress and wandered back out into the hallway. She looked out of the window across to Sam's house and saw the light was still on. She wondered if he was finding it as hard to fall asleep as she was.