Page 67 of Hearts on the Mend

I draw back just enough that I can tip her chin up toward me with my thumb.

“You thought I’d leave you to figure this out alone?”

She presses her lips in a tight line, pulling her gaze away from me for a second. When she looks back, her eyes are still wet. “That’s just it. That’s why this is so hard.”

I don’t fully understand it yet. But it’s been three days, and I’ve missed her in a way that’s made it hard to think straight.

I reach down and claim her lips with mine, soft, slow, until she stands on her tiptoes, leans into me, wraps her arms around my neck, and kisses me back.

“I have everything we need,” Ruby calls out in the hallway just as quickly.

Cassie jumps back. “I’ll come help you set up,” she calls out, before slipping away down the hall.

Ruby has made a cocoon on the couch.

It looks like a blanket nest. She’s nuzzled inside with a flashlight, books, and Noodles. The kid couldn’t be happier.

Cassie rests against the bottom part of the couch on the floor. She’s bundled up in blankets too.

I sit opposite her, my legs stretched out, my feet nearly touching hers, leaning against the armchair. In a little while, I’ll head to my bed and leave them alone, even if I would rather be here.

“You know,” Ruby says, breaking the quiet, “this is fun. Nolan, we should go camping this summer, but like with a tent and a sleeping bag. We could stay up all night and tell scary stories and eat so many s’mores I throw up⁠—”

Cassie chuckles. “I don’t know if that sounds like the best idea…”

“I’d love to.”

I mean it. I’ll have to sit with what that means later.

“Me too.” Her little voice fades off, and she falls asleep not long after.

“Matt wants to revisit custody,” Cassie says finally. She bats her foot against mine and whispers soft. “When I picked her up the other day, he met me at the coffee shop, and apparently, he doesn’t like the rumors in town about you living here with Ruby and me.”

I know the storm is outside, but the way the room temperature drops is terrifying. She’s been keeping this to herself the past few days, away from me, and I’m to blame.

“Does he have a lawyer yet?”

“He does. Didn’t want to talk more about it until mine was with me. Think he’s serious, Nolan.”

She crawls forward and lies down, resting her head in my lap. I run my hands through her hair before drawing light circles over her back.

“We’ll figure it out.”

She rolls over, looking up at me. Her hands toy with my shirt buttons, her brows drawn. “This was only ever going to be one night.”

I nod. I can’t stop touching her, running my fingers over the edge of her face, tracing her features. I don’t like that this feels like goodbye.

I’ll move back in with my parents, do whatever is needed to make sure Cassie doesn’t end up losing Ruby to Matt.

Because of me.

“Still mean what I said,” I whisper. “You and me.”

She closes her eyes, not arguing but not agreeing either.

I stay until I’m sure she’s asleep, then I sit there a while longer in the dark, her breathing steady against my leg. April is coming whether I’m ready for it or not. And it’s not just her and me anymore that gets hurt when it does.

Chapter 22