It Takes a Village
Hey, I hope you're all still enjoying this - it's been a lot of fun to write some happier chapters after all of the angst I put Cassie and Sam through. We're definitely winding up to the end now though.
Chapter 22: The Way It Should
Cassie went to work with a renewed enthusiasm for the shop. She thought it was about time she updated the window display, and she would have to seriously think about whether to hire someone to cover for Tara while she was on maternity leave. Maybe Lori would be able to help her out sometimes now that she had settled permanently back in Middleton. Cassie hadn't seen as much of her stepdaughter lately as she would have liked, but she was pleased that Lori was happier now than when she had first arrived in town. A lot had happened since that night when Lori had turned up unannounced at Grey House.
Cassie also knew that sooner or later she would have to have a serious conversation with her stepchildren, and with Grace, about the seriousness of her relationship with Sam. Although they were still in the process of rebuilding it back up to where it had been before Nick's accident, they were both invested in it being a long term romance. She wanted to speak to them before the news of their reunion spread like wildfire through Middleton. Martha, bless her heart, was not the queen of secret-keeping. Cassie wanted to make sure that Jake's three children knew that she would always love him, and that because she had fallen in love with Sam didn't mean that their father wouldn't always have a very special place in her heart. She had a feeling that George wouldn't need quite so much convincing, considering he had taken an active role in trying to bring Cassie and Sam back together.
Sam stopped by the Bell, Book and Candle in between clients that morning. And, although seeing Cassie was always an added bonus, it was actually Tara that he was looking for. Of course, he could have called ahead to see if she was working today but where would the fun have been in that?
"Hello Sam," Cassie greeted from behind a display of scarves and jewellery that had been made by a local designer.
He still had no idea how she did that. One day he promised himself he would get the jump on her, and actually surprise her for once.
"Hi Cassie," He helped her up and couldn't help himself, he had to lean in for what was not really the kind of kiss you shared in a public place where anyone could walk in at any moment. He trusted that Cassie would sense if someone else had arrived, although Martha had caught them both unawares the previous evening.
Cassie shivered as they broke apart, remembering all too well their afternoon encounter at the hotel. She longed to be with him like that again; unrestrained and alone.
"Damn, now I think I've forgotten what I came here for." Sam laughed, just as affected by the kiss as Cassie was.
"You mean you didn't come to the shop, in the middle of the day just to kiss me?" She pretended to sound shocked, but couldn't keep the stupid lovestruck grin from her face.
"Believe it or not, I do occasionally think about other things." Not often, it was true, but sometimes he had things on his mind other than Cassie Nightingale.
"What can I help you with today then?"
"It wasn't actually you I even came to see, I was hoping Tara might be around…"
"It's her morning off," Cassie replied, with a wry smile. "I'm not sure if I should be offended or not."
Sam leaned in and kissed her again, thoroughly, and Cassie decided that whatever she was currently feeling, offence was not it.
"As much as I'd like to stay here and do that all day, I need to head back to the clinic."
"Tara will be back in tomorrow."
"I'll stop by then, maybe see if I can seduce the proprietor while I'm at it."
Cassie ran her finger down the length of Sam's maroon silk tie.
"And what makes you think she can be seduced?"
Sam just smirked and did something with his left eyebrow which was somehow indecent enough to cause a flutter low in Cassie's belly.
"I'll see you around, Cassie."
He didn't kiss her again, just brushed his lips gently against her cheek. If he'd kissed her properly for a third time, neither of them would be getting any work done at all.
Abigail felt wretched after calling things off with Harry. She knew it had been the right thing to do. Her heart hadn't been in it for a long time. It wasn't fair on either them to keep dragging things out, especially when Abigail knew that she didn't really love him. It had been the weekend away with him that had really been the final nail in the coffin of their relationship. She knew that at some point one of them would have had to choose to give up the home and the job that they loved. Maybe it was selfish, but Abigail loved Middleton and she hadn't wanted to give it up, not even for Harry.
The obvious person to talk to about all of this would normally be Stephanie, but Abigail felt incapable of going to her. Although they had tried to mend fences and put their friendship back together, there was still an air of awkwardness between them. They had never talked about what had happened in the Bistro kitchen on the morning of Tara and Brandon's gender reveal party. It seemed to hang there in the air between them though, colouring every interaction they shared.
She needed Cassie. For a while now Abigail had been avoiding burdening her cousin with her romantic problems when Cassie had plenty of her own. Abigail would also be the first to admit, under duress at least, that she had been using the Sam and Cassie drama as a distraction from her own confused heart.
Things seemed to be turning around for them though, and Abigail couldn't be more glad. She didn't know anyone who was more suited to each other than Sam and Cassie, and she had known Cassie when she was married to Jake. If Sam and Cassie couldn't make a relationship work, it meant there was very little hope for anyone else.
Deciding to close up the flower shop early, Abigail crossed main street and went into the Bell, Book and Candle. Under normal circumstances, she would have picked up tea and pastries from the Bistro but if things were normal she wouldn't be needing to see Cassie at three o'clock in the afternoon.
The bell gave its usual ring as Abigail opened the door to the Bell, Book and Candle. Cassie looked up and smiled, but she was busy ringing up a customer's purchase at the antique till. Abigail wandered for a bit, looking at the new items Cassie had put out for sale since her last visit to the shop. She was admiring the display of locally made jewellery when Cassie approached her.
"This one would look lovely on you," She said, pointing to a beautiful necklace with a long centre bead.
Another necklace had caught Abigail's eye though, she thought she knew someone it would suit very well.
"Cassie, I didn't come to look at jewellery," She said in exasperation and then, to the surprise of both of them, burst into tears.
"Hey," Cassie said, concern in her eyes and in her voice. "Come on through into the back with me."
Abigail quickly got herself back under control, dabbing at her eyes and nose with a tissue she found in the pocket of her suede jacket.
"I'm so sorry Cassie, I don't know what came over me. I've been all over the place lately."
They sat opposite each other in the stock room out back. It seemed to be a place for emotional revelations; it had been in this very spot that Tara had told Cassie that she was pregnant. This fired the synapses in Cassie's brain.
"Abigail, you're not…not pregnant, are you?"
She hadn't even considered that, but she was pretty sure it wasn't possible. Not because she and Harry hadn't had sex, they just hadn't been intimate recently. She would have to take a test just to be certain though, and that was another thing she really didn't want to have to worry about.
"No, no I don't think so."
"Oh, well okay. What is it that's made you so upset, Abigail?"
Abigail looked down at the tissue she was shredding between her fingers.
"I broke up with Harry,"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought things were going well between you."
"They were," Abigail looked up, but she couldn't make eye contact with her cousin. She fixed her gaze on a spot on the wall above Cassie's right shoulder. "But I realised I don't love him. I think there might be someone else."
Cassie thought she was doing a pretty good job of hiding her surprise. She had had her suspicions for a while, but she had been wrapped up in the matters of her own heart too deeply to see clearly.
"Do you think your feelings are reciprocated?"
Abigail shrugged, feeling teary again.
"I'm not sure. I think I might have blown my chances with her."
Cassie nodded slightly, her suspicious almost all the way confirmed.
"I thought I had ruined everything with Sam. I kept pushing him away, making him choose between me and the mother of his child. I thought he wouldn't want me anymore, but he still loves me; loves me enough to take me back and forget all the stupid things I did and said because I was scared of my true feelings for him."
Abigail couldn't say anything for a moment. Cassie always seemed so perfect to her, her life so together and organised. She had been a force to be reckoned with after Jake died, supporting Grace and Brandon and Lori while still managing to maintain two businesses. Abigail shouldn't have been surprised to learn that, despite their Merriwick lineage, at the end of the day both of them were just human.
"I'm so glad you two are working things out," She said with a watery smile.
"I have faith that things will work out for you too, Abigail." She squeezed her cousin's hand and got up from the stool she had perched on, she sensed customers in the shop. She was about to head back onto the shop floor, but she turned back to Abigail. "That necklace, the one with the three blue stones, please take it. It's on the house."
Abigail shook her head. Even though they both shared Merriwick gifts and abilities, Cassie's perceptions still had a way of surprising her.
Sam was pretty pleased with how his day had gone. Although nothing had quite topped the steamy kisses he had shared with Cassie in the Bell, Book and Candle that morning, it had still been a pretty successful day. He should have known that Linda would take all of the wind out of his sails the moment that he arrived home.
"I think I've found the perfect spot," She announced as soon as he arrived in the kitchen, shucking off his work jacket.
"So you've definitely decided to stay here then?"
Linda fired a look at him. "Yes, sorry to disappoint."
"I just thought your fancy New York boyfriend might have enticed you back to the city by now." It came out with more bitterness than he had expected.
Linda raised her eyebrows, picking up on his tone.
"No such luck I'm afraid, Sam."
She slapped the brochure from the realtor down on the kitchen table, then spun it around so he could see. He thought he recognised the property, and was amused to realise that it was only a few houses away from where Martha and Tom lived.
"It looks nice. When do you move?"
"Not soon enough for you, no doubt," She seethed. "I still need to finalise some things with my apartment in New York, but I've already put in an offer."
"Well, congratulations I guess."
"Thank you."
"Have you told Nick?"
She shook her head. "Not yet. I was going to wait until dinner time, then we can tell him together. Like adults."
Sam wasn't sure why she was using that against him, when she had been the one to announce to all of Middleton that she was remaining in town before she had even told the man whose house she was currently living in.
"Sounds good." He felt like he was stepping into a trap, but he'd be damned if he could figure out what it was.
"And then you can tell him all about you and Cassie. I'm sure he'd rather hear it from you than from whoever next sees the two of you necking in the street or in her shop like a pair of horny teenagers."
Sam wasn't sure he'd ever met anyone who could look so angry and yet so self-satisfied at the same time. Huffing a little under his breath, Sam went to put his briefcase in the den.
Half way down the stairs, Nick had paused. Unheard by either of his parents, he waited as their argument reached it fever pitch and blew out again. He grinned to himself. Finally, almost four months after his skiing accident, which had changed more lives than just his, it looked like things were finally working out the way they should.