“Oh? So I’m your choice for babysitting, but not Jake’s. Yeah, that makes me feel a whole lot better.” Gabby pretended to be disheartened. “Now I know Jake likes Nick more than me.”
“I think it’s a boy thing. Sometimes I think he would like to spend more time with Jordan than me. At least I know if you’re here Jake will get to bed on time, and besides, I’m glad you’re here, because I need my best friend’s clear head right now.”
Gabby looked up at Cassie, surprised by what she just heard. “Oh my God! You actually want my straightforward opinions. So would you like me to tell you if I think you’re making the right decision letting Jordan back into your life?”
From her standing position at her dresser, Cassie stared back at Gabby through the mirror. “Do you think I’m making a mistake?”
Gabby shrugged one shoulder. She knew better than to admit her true feelings about her best friend’s baby-daddy. Whether she was making a mistake or not, it wasn’t her place to throw it in her face. Gabby would simply be here to support Cassie, no matter the decisions she chose in life.
She crossed her legs as she sat on Cassie’s bed. “We both knew the inevitable was going to happen eventually. You’ve both known each other basically your entire lives and share a child together. I think we all saw you and Jordan reuniting as a family, but whether or not you can both make it work is up to the two of you. No one can make that decision for you. I will simply be here for you if you ever need to talk.” Gabby stretched out one denim-clad leg, swinging it against the frame of the bed as she grinned at Cassie. “Now, on to more pressing matters; is this what you plan to wear on your date tonight?” She skimmed over Cassie’s choice of clothing.
She spun around in Gabby’s direction and looked down at the long white skirt she was wearing, which she had matched with a sleeveless dusty-pink tank top.
“What’s the matter with what I’m wearing? I already texted Jordan asking whether it was casual or fancy, and he said casual would be fine. I like what I’m wearing.”
“But you could do so much better to show off your amazing assets a little, and show Jordan what he’s been missing since he’s been gone.”
Gabby jumped up off the bed, going into Cassie’s closet and then coming back out showing another ensemble she much preferred to see her best friend wearing.
Cassie shuffled her bare feet along her plush carpeted floor, shaking her head at Gabby’s choice of clothes for her. She pointed at the shorts Gabby was holding in her left hand. “If you love those shorts so much, you may as well take them for yourself, but I think I like that shirt a little more than the one I’m wearing. I think my midriff is about as much as I feel like showing off tonight on my non-date.”
Gabby handed her the pink-and-white plaid tie-front shirt, and Cassie returned to her closet to change.
“How is tonight not a date?” Gabby questioned aloud as she examined the shorts she now owned in the mirror. “I’ve never heard of a date not being a date before, and especially when the two people going out have as much history together as you and Jordan do.”
“I don’t really know how it works, but it isn’t a date,” Cassie replied as she entered her bedroom again wearing the shirt Gabby had picked, which definitely looked better than the first top, “and I’m only going as a thank you to Jordan for his kind act of buying the bakery and making me the boss.”
Gabby gave Cassie a onceover and grinned with a twinkle in her eyes. “Yeah, that looks better, and whatever tonight is, I’m sure you’ll definitely have Jordan’s attraction on you. He probably won’t be able to take his eyes off you all night.”
Cassie didn’t say anything to follow Gabby’s statement. She didn’t know if she was really ready to commit to a relationship with Jordan all over again.
Their conversation was cut short when Cassie overheard Jake’s high-pitched voice coming from the living room, and she asked Gabby if she would go see what he and Nick were up to while she finished getting ready; she still had to apply a little bit of make-up.
Gabby walked out into the living room, where she found her godson and Nick sitting cross-legged on the floor and their eyes fixed to the flat screen in front of them as they played whatever game was going to be the highlight of the night.
“Gee, no wonder you’re not in a relationship right now,” Gabby teased, choosing to take a seat on Cassie’s comfy couch instead. “So why is this game so popular anyway?”
“You can talk,” Nick said without looking away from the game. “I don’t see you in a relationship either. At least I’ve had more girlfriends than you’ve had boyfriends.”