Later that evening, Cassie’s impending date with Jesse was fast approaching. Cassie was busily getting ready and keeping Jake occupied until Nick arrived. He kindly agreed to babysit Jake tonight since he said he had nothing better to do than look after his favorite godson while his mother enjoyed a rare night out with—Gabby’s words—a good looking man. Cassie had to agree with her friend. Jesse was most definitely blessed with ravishing good looks, devastatingly gorgeous with shiny golden-brown hair, piercing blue-green eyes, and a chiseled jaw to die for. To say he was the complete opposite of Jordan was the understatement of the century, despite both men being handsome and muscular. Cassie felt blessed that men so very easy on the eyes were drawn to her. You could call it a curse because of the troubles it would sometimes cause in her life, but most times, it was nice to have the male attention she received when she wanted it. She was always flattered by the attention, even if she didn’t always ask for it.
Cassie had put on Cars 2 for Jake so she could apply a little bit of make-up to her face in peace. She wasn’t the type to wear a whole lot of make-up caked on her face, but when she did get to go out, she liked to put a little bit on to make her eyes pop.
“Mooommy!” Jake wailed, almost like he was being tortured.
Cassie rushed out to him where he was resting his head on the sofa in the living room.
Her hand pressed to his forehead, and she realized he was hot to the touch.
“Oh, baby, are you not feeling well?” she asked him softly.
“No, Mommy,” he said, shaking his head, making his tiny curls bounce around, “I feel sick.”
Cassie didn’t know if this was his way of telling her he didn’t want her to date like she’d often seen children in movies do when their parents were going out, but she knew this wasn’t one of those times she could easily brush it off, sit Jake down, and tell him everything would be okay. She couldn’t take that chance if he really was sick, which she assumed he was, because he definitely couldn’t fake this fever. Cassie wasn’t going to go out while her child was sick, despite the fact Nick would be here looking after him and could easily call her if Jake got any worse. She wasn’t the type of mother to do that. She wasn’t the type of mother to even go out, leaving her kid to be looked after by someone else. She liked to look after him herself. Jake was her responsibility; therefore, she knew what she had to do, even if he wasn’t going to like it.
“I will be right back. Mommy’s going to get you some medicine to make you feel better,” she told her little boy, rising to stand and heading toward the kitchen to retrieve the medicine for him, and to also send a quick text message to Jesse explaining how she would need to postpone their date, because Jake was sick. Before she even made it back into the living room, she got a reply from Jesse saying he understood and would be there whenever she wanted to reschedule their date. Cassie realized at that point Jesse was one of the good guys in this world. He wasn’t a jerk like most men turned out to be, and he was actually willing to wait around until she was ready to go out with him. She didn’t think most men would be willing to wait for her.
She then sent a quick text to Nick saying he wasn’t needed tonight. She was happy to be staying home to take care of Jake, because she was a mother first and foremost, no matter how good looking a date was.
Standing outside Brielle’s motel room, Jordan tapped on the door, hoping she wouldn’t leave him standing outside for too long. He was nervous as hell and wasn’t sure how much more he could take before the butterflies in the pit of his stomach did too many flutters and made him want to hurl. He felt this way the first time he saw Cassie again after years of her absence in his life, and then again when Jake was introduced to him as his son. But this time wasn’t like any of those moments. This time felt a little different, almost like he was making some kind of mistake or didn’t really want to be here. Was the universe trying to tell him something?
He knew he couldn’t back away now; he had already knocked on her door. She would open it any minute now and see him standing there all handsome in a plain burgundy shirt that covered his tattoos but allowed a subtle amount of muscle to show, along with tailor-made pants. If he simply walked away, which he didn’t have the heart to do to her anyway, Jordan knew Brielle would be as devastated as Cassie probably was the night he ended things with her all those years ago. Despite the way he was feeling, and how he just couldn’t turn on the strong feelings for her like he felt for Cassie, he didn’t want to bring heartbreak into Brielle’s life. She didn’t deserve that kind of pain. He supposed a date with Brielle was easy enough. After all, their little trysts they enjoyed time and time again were a lot of fun. How hard could one date be?