AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I flush and wince. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
He smirks and lets me go. “Dinner is in ten minutes.”
“Wanna see my room?” Cass asks eagerly.
I nod, knowing there is no other acceptable answer, and she leads me down the hall. Her room matches her personality exactly. Lots of bright stripes and bursts of polka dots. No pink or glitter anywhere. Cass shuts the door behind her and folds her arms over her small chest.
“Were you in disguise before or now?” she asks ominously and I bite back the smile because I know exactly who she’s imitating.
“I wasn’t in disguise, Cass. I was trying out a different way to look. Just like now. Sort of like if you decided the stripes weren’t working and wanted to go with stars instead in here.”
Her dark eyes roam the room, considering.
“So, you aren’t here to take me back with you?” Her anxiety cracks through the bravado and I frown.
“Take you back? I’m definitely not here to take you anywhere, Cass. Your dad invited me to dinner, that’s all.”
“But you’re not staying over?”
“Nooo. I have my own apartment and your dad and I don’t know each other that well.”
She purses her lips thoughtfully. “When will you?”
“Uh, why don’t you tell me why you think someone might want to take you away? That sounds kinda serious.”
She sighs and dramatically flings herself on the bed. “My dad isn’t really my dad. But I like it here and I don’t want to go live in some drafty castle.”
The light is beginning to glimmer and while this is none of my business, it sounds like she hasn’t told Dominic any of it. “What do you mean, he isn’t your dad?”
“My eyes don’t match his.” She says it so matter-of-factly, I’m bewildered.
“My eyes don’t look like my dad’s either,” I say softly. “They’re more like my mom’s.” Fuck, I hope that’s not the completely wrong thing to say. I’ve no idea where her mom is.
Cass snorts. “My mom’s eyes were blue too. Two blue-eyed parents can’t have a kid with brown eyes. It’s re-recertive or something.”
“Recessive. Have you asked your dad about it?”
“And get sent away because I’ve endangered the operation? I’m sure he was assigned as my bodyguard because he can keep secrets. I don’t want to go back.”
I can hear the imminent tears. The fact that she’s blurting all this out to a virtual stranger says the pressure of keeping it all under wraps is reaching a breaking point.
“How about we table this to wash up for dinner? I promise I knew absolutely nothing about you before you approached me with your clipboard.”
That earns me a small smile. She bounces up from the bed like nothing happened and scurries down the hall to the bathroom, leaving the door open to wash her hands.
I’ll have to broach this with Dominic at some point soon. I wonder if this is why she hates princess stuff, because she thinks she is one and doesn’t want to be? It makes sense, although the stripes and polka dots suit her more than glitter.
Dom
Leanne looks sweetly elegant, and thoughtful through dinner, which is a cheesy chicken and eggplant bake. Cass chatters away about school, her best friend Chelsea, and her robotics class.
After dinner, we all clean up. It’s technically Cass’s responsibility to clear the table and load the dishwasher, but with company that would take more reminding than doing. Reluctantly, I announce, “Cass, time to get into your pajamas. I’ll tuck you in after I say goodnight to Leanne, okay?”
Cass nods with a pout and Leanne bites the corner of her lip. She clearly has something on her mind as I walk with her down the path. At her car, she finally turns toward me. “Dominic? Where is Cass’s mother in all this?”
“She’s not in the picture. Hasn’t been since Cass was a baby. Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s not what I asked exactly. Were you together for very long?”
