How Cassie Got Her Grind Back(Divine Creek Ranch 23)(35)

He licked his lips and smiled crookedly. “We were a good thing, once.”

She scoffed. “You have a selective memory. You had a ‘good thing, once,’ but you blew it.”

“Fine. I’ll give you time to think about it. You’re here alone, which tells me you struck out with Cutters One and Two. Maybe there’s a reason why, besides that they’re losers.”

Cassie shook her head and gestured to the door. “Please go home. And leave your key on the table by the door. You could’ve given me a heart attack if I hadn’t seen your car parked out front.”

He shook his head. “The deed on the house is still in my name. What if there was an emergency?”

She didn’t feel like arguing anymore. She had to remember her kids were his kids. It wasn’t as if he’d ever come in and hurt her, and being a dickhead wasn’t a prosecutable offense.

He walked out of the kitchen, and before he closed the front door, he called out, “You were looking fine tonight, Cass.”

Shaking her head, she filled a glass of ice, pondering his change of tune, and poured herself a glass of the sangria. Was he high? Stupid?

I wouldn’t take his sorry ass back, even if he was the last macho asshole on the face of this planet.

She put the bottle in the refrigerator, and after making sure the house was locked up securely, she took her glass into the living room—her living room.

She’d botched her reunion   with Samson and Ivan, and now she had Bill’s unwelcome visit to worry about.

“Nope,” she muttered as she slipped a DVD in the player and got comfortable in her recliner with her fluffy blankie and the remote. She had the day off on Sundays and no respect for sleep. An Outlander marathon would cure what ailed her tonight.





Chapter Eight




Startled awake by the ringing of her cell phone, Cassie blinked in confusion at the blue screen on the television in her living room. Her eyes felt sandpaper-ish as she felt around on the side table for her phone, nearly knocking over her wineglass in the process. “Okay, okay, okay,” she muttered to the insistent ringing. “Hello.”

“Hi, Mom. It’s Joseph. Did I call too early?”

“No, no,” she said, sitting up in the recliner as she looked out at the dim sky. “Is everything okay? What time is it?”

“It’s a little after six. You’ve always been an early riser so I thought it would be okay to call.” He paused and then chuckled. “Oops. I forgot your class reunion   was last night, wasn’t it? So were you out all night?”

“No!” she said with a giggle as she shuffled into the kitchen. “It was a lot of fun, but I wasn’t out late. What about you? Have a hot date last night?”

The scent of the French roast coffee aided her still sleep-muddled brain. At work she served coffees, teas, lattes, mochas, espressos, but at home, she preferred a simple, fragrant cup from her good old Mr. Coffee coffeemaker.

Joseph snorted softly over the line. “Mom, you know better. Once I get my ducks in a row, I’ll think about dating. Until then, I’d just be wasting time and resources. If she’s out there, as you say she is, then she’ll understand about my goals.”

“Hey, it was worth a try. So are you counting down yet?” Joseph was finishing up the last of the credits he needed to graduate from the International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Dallas.

“You know I am. Listen, Mom, I’ve decided to move back to Divine after I’m done here in December, to help out with the family business.”

“Is that what you truly want? Don’t make a decision like that because of me, you hear me, Joseph? I’ll not have you wasting your degree—”

“Hardly, Mom. Yes, I’ll love being able to eat your cooking more than just once or twice a semester. That much is true, but it’s not the only reason.”

“You know you’re always welcome. I’ll have your room ready.”

Another amused sound came over the line. “Mom, I’m not moving back home. You and Dad taught me great money management skills and how to survive on my own. I’m not like all my cousins, who expect to live at home until they get married and get a down payment on a house for a wedding present.”

She laughed, thinking he wasn’t far from the mark about her family. “Thank goodness! Although I wouldn’t mind if you stayed here until you find someplace permanent.”

“I need my independence, and so do you. Besides, I can’t bring all my hot dates home to my mother’s house. They’d think I was pathetic.”

“I thought they were all on hold until your ducks are in a row.”