Chapter 17
When Cassandra got home, Julie was there, sitting in the kitchen table looking out the big sliding door, “hey you’re home, your mom is coming over, she found out and she wants to start a new business, she wants to start investing in properties here and there.”
“That’s my mother, I think she’s been doing that for some time now, and I think you’ll do great.”
“I’m nervous, about it though, and actually I have to tell you something, remember yesterday when I told you that mother had given me that advice?”
“Yes…”
“It wasn’t her, it was my old tutor Mr. Thompson, but I have to be silly you know, I keep thinking of him from time to time. Sometimes I wonder what he’s doing, and what he’s up to.”
“You miss him, and you think of him, you also get nervous when he’s around… and also you daydream about him.”
“I don’t daydream about him, and I don’t get nervous around him…”
“Good because he’s here,” Cassandra joked and watched as Julie’s face went pale, “see I told you, you do get nervous.”
Julie put her hand over her chest, “but me, poor ol’ me can never be in love, ha, ha, ha,” they were laughing hysterically, and Mrs. Hopkins over heard their laughter.
“Girls, open the door for me, I’m carrying this…” they opened the door to find Mrs. Hopkins carrying a bunch of files, “thank you girls, this are so heavy.”
Cassidy was there, “hey you guys, I came to help mom, and she’s giving me a ride to school today, we’re having the car fixed so I’ll drive myself home.”
“Actually sweety, your boy friend already fixed it for you, it was just a starter, anyways…”
“HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!” They were laughing and Cassidy’s face turned red, “ok I see what you guys are doing, but no he is not my boyfriend, we’re just friends.”
“Sure honey, just be sure to be there on time for your date today.”
“Mom! I don’t know why you think that he’s even my type, he has nice eyes but his huge glasses, and he acts funny, he doesn’t even know how to talk to a girl. So I’m going to change his look, bringing his confidence up and he is going to find a girl, I’m sure there are plenty who would like to go out with him.”
“Sweety, look I hope you won’t regret it, I seen how you looked at him at the party, that’s why I helped you two talk. Don’t you see, your friends weren’t really all over him, they were giving him advice to go and talk to you.”
“Mom, that is so sweet, but truly after the end of the month he’ll be off to talk to a girl who really likes him, and he will really like her, he just needs to be more… out there, he’s cute, he just needs to feel confident about himself.”
“Well ok, that explains why he was so rude before, but I hope you know what you’re doing if you really like him then why are you going to get rid of him, at least he’s not a jerk who will leave you, for someone else.”
“Or tell you he loves you and after he tells you how he feels about you, he’ll leave, without a care in the world.”
The three girls turned to Julie, “did I just say that out loud?” Cassandra nodded, and Olivia and Cassidy looked surprised.
“Who is he?” Cassidy wanted to know.
“It doesn’t matter, because he’s not ever coming back, and the day he told me how he felt, I thought… it didn’t matter because we’re never seeing each other anyways, right? So why should I care?”
“Julie just tell her, there’s nothing wrong…”
“It’s my old tutor, Mr. Thompson, but he left and he’s not coming back.”
Olivia was surprised, “what? I had no idea.”
“It just happened, we never planned it, and I should have known. When he told me, I still didn’t know what I felt for him. We had just met, and I don’t believe in love at first sight. But that’s why you should just take a chance.”
“I’m sorry it had to be like that, but you’ll find someone he’s not the last guy in the world, if you’re meant to be together you’ll see him again.”
Cassidy looked at her watch, “I have to go to school, you guys, mom can you give me a ride?”
“Actually, I called your boyfriend to give you a ride, he should be here any time now.”
“Mom he’s my friend! And don’t say that in front of him I don’t want him getting confused.”
“Sweety, he won’t get confused, I won’t call him your boyfriend but…” the door bell rang.
“Mom please,” Jesse came in, “I’ll see you guys later, I have to go.”
“Ok sweety, your car should be working today.”
Cassidy left with Jesse and Olivia stayed with Cassandra and Julie, “ok, am I the only one who notices?”
“No,” they answered at the same time.
“I knew it, well now what I came here for, Julie I need to talk to you, Cassandra I’ll talk to you later.”
Cassandra called Mr. Swan who had wanted to talk to her, and he told her about the next event they were having.
“I just wanted to congratulate you and my cousin, I heard you guys were dating.”
“Well, we haven’t been dating per say but today is our first day, but…”
“Really? Oh…” he sounded surprised, “I thought you guys had been dating, well call me later to tell me how it went.”
“Sure no problem.”
“You know I wanted to ask you, something else. I know you said you wanted to work somewhere stable, and I know you’d be great at this job. The company my father owns, needs a new publicist.
Now I know you didn’t want to be a model your whole life, and you wanted a stable life. Not only is this job stable but you won’t have to move a lot the best part is that you’re working for an important company that will make you known through out the entire nation.
But there is one catch- you will have to move, because the company is not in your area, I want you to think about it… you don’t have to give me an answer just yet, but I’ll need to know, by the end of the next month, well you know whatever you decide.”
“I’ll give you a call, but I’ll have to really think about it, if I do take the job, where is the company at?”
“Oh I forgot, it’s in San Diego, you won’t have to worry about moving expenses, because the company will pay you good money, and another thing, you really were a sensation we’ll probably need to take photo shoots of you… your face to use for advertisement.”
“Well about the photo shoots, that’s no problem, I just wish I wouldn’t have to move so far.”
“I know, call me whatever your decision it’s ok, just thought of you when I heard about it, but I understand which is why I’ll let you decide.”
“Ok, I’ll have to think about it, ok bye I have to leave, you for now, but I’ll talk to you soon.”
She hang up the phone and her phone rang again, “hello Mr. S…”
“Cassandra it’s me, Thomas I just wanted to tell you…”
“Thomas? What do you want?” Cassandra sounded stern, “I don’t want to talk to you.”
“I know, but if you listen! I’m trying to tell you the truth… my truth, that day when I found you in Rebecca’s office, I was never with her, she’s been lying to you and she’s probably been lying to me.”
“Ok, let’s say it’s all been a misunderstanding, it’s been five years Thomas, and you were suppose to… look why do I bother? Things change, people move on, and you… should to, if she was lying then…”
“I didn’t expect you to believe me, either it’s ok. But I just wanted you to know that if I left you, it wasn’t because I didn’t love you it was because… I thought you were in love with someone else and I couldn’t take it. I never thought you were…”
“What? Pregnant? With your son? You denied him before, Thomas, why should I believe you now?”
“As I said it before, I don’t care if you don’t believe me, I just wish it could have been different.”
“Don’t you think I wish the same thing? But you didn’t trust me, you thought your son wasn’t yours, I can’t believe I use to make so many excuses for you but the truth is…”
“I still love you! I know it probably can’t work out between the two of us, there is no trust between us.”
“I, I can’t talk to you right now, I’m going out on a date with Charlie.”
“That’s… great” he sounded disappointed, “do you love him?”
“Charlie is really a great guy, and he gets along with well, with my son…
And I don’t know if I love him, but I want to get to know him first.”
“I still don’t understand why you told our son that I was dead…”
“And I still don’t understand why you want to know that, I mean you abandoned your son, and when he mostly needed you… I don’t want to talk any more, all I can tell you is you’ve lost us both.”
The other end went silent, but she could hear him breathing hard, “good bye Thomas.”
“Wait please, wait! I waited all this time to find out, please don’t separate me from my son!”
“I am not!…” she couldn’t help it and had to take the phone from her ear, as she took a deep breath, “how can I? when you were never there.”
Thomas didn’t say anything for a while, “I have to see my son, I will see him, please, I can explain to you… to him.”
“No! don’t you know it will only affect him? He thinks your dead, please just leave it at that, it’s better than telling him that…”
“I never denied him, Cassandra I didn’t find out you were pregnant until later, and trust me if I should have known he was mine I would have…”
“I don’t care what you would have done! You didn’t do it, did you? At the end what matters is what you’ve done.”
“I thought I was doing the right thing by leaving you with that man!”
“Great, so now you can leave us be with Charlie! Goodbye Thomas,” she hang up the phone, and her eyes filled with tears.
Her mother and Julie were standing behind her, but she didn’t notice. Cassandra wiped her face and turned around, “mother? Julie? How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough…” they had tears on their eyes.
“I’m sorry it had to be that way, sweety but now you have to be strong… for your son.”
“What did he say this time?”
“If he would have come in the beginning explaining this to me, everything could have been different, if I knew this before all that happened.”
“What do you mean? what did he tell you?”
“He told me exactly what happened five years ago, and he explained that, that day with Rebecca was all a misunderstanding. But if it’s true or not it doesn’t matter, because now nothing can change. I’m Charlie’s girlfriend and I’m going to respect him, he deserves that!”
“Sweety, what happened?”
“He thought I was cheating on him, and he left to let ‘us’ to be happy, after six months he found out I was pregnant. I thought it could’ve been Rebecca that told him. After all, they were seeing each other- or so I thought. But they weren’t after all. And now it’s too late!”
“So where did he get this idea from?”
“Rebecca, she told me that they had been dating each other, and so she had us thinking the worse of each other. I should have seen that she was after Thomas, she was in love with him, and in her own words, ‘if she can’t have him than neither could I,’ it was probably my fault…”
“No! don’t say that, why would you say that?”
“Because I should have never told Thomas that his father died, I should have just told him that he didn’t know about him.”
“But you didn’t know, now the only thing you can do is think what you’re going to do, now. Not what you should have or shouldn’t have done. You know what you need? You need to do something you like, a way from Thomas and all your alleged friends.”
“I spoke to Mr. Swan and he gave me a job offer, I see it as a way to start a new life else where… but I don’t want to move so far away. But it’s also a way to do what I love and to get myself and my son away from Thomas.”
“What job?”
“Publicist, I would still go to photo shoots, but it would be different because I would be doing advertisement and they would use my face for that purpose.”
“When do you start?”
“I have to be sure by the end of this month, but I would have to move to San Diego, because the company is there. But I would be getting my son and myself away from Thomas.”
“I see…” Olivia looked thoughtful.
“But I just got reunited with you guys, I don’t want to have to leave my family again, what do I do?”
“First thing is first, you have to go out on a date today, with Charlie, I just want you to have an open mind, he really is a great guy.”
“Mom, I wish I could make my heart understand that, it would be easier, but it just doesn’t work that way. I wish there was someway, I didn’t have to say goodbye to you guys, if I take the job.”
“First of all, you’re not abandoning us, you know there is a lot of families that might just find a way to stay together. Julie I know where we should start looking, San Diego.”
“Your mom, is going to start investing in properties, and owning rental properties, I have to find the best deals.”
“Way to go! Are you guys looking for a place to move?”
“I thought I wasn’t, but why not? It‘s better to move where your business is I always say, but first thing is first…”
Cassandra checked her watch, “I have to get ready to go and pick my son up from school, but I need to call Mrs. Shultz she has to know since she’ll be moving with us, and I have to call Mr. Swan.”
“Don’t worry sweetheart, you’ll do fine,” they hugged her and she went off to pick up her son.
When she arrived she saw her son talking to other children, when he saw his mother’s car he ran off waving to the other children, and they waved back.
“Thomas, sweety how did it go?”
“It was good, I was playing with my new friends, and I told them that I was going out today.”
“Ok honey, but you need to do your homework first, remember?”
“But mommy, it’s Friday today, the teacher didn’t give me any homework, are we still going out with Charlie? Huh?”
“Yes, we are, sweety, but I want you to remember, what I told you before ok?”
“Yeah I know mom, me and Charlie can always be friends, right mommy?”
“That’s right sweetheart,” she bent down to kiss him on the fore head.
“Ok mommy good because I want to be his friend,” he opened his back pack and got a sandwich, and started eating it.
“Thomas didn’t you eat?”
“I wasn’t hungry, I just put it in my backpack, to save it for later.”
They drove home, and Thomas seemed happy, almost joyful to have finally arrived. He ran up to his room and came back out with a paper, “mom, mom I got this from my teacher, but I need you to sign it.”
Cassandra grabbed the piece of paper that Thomas handed to her, “it’s a permission slip, you’re going to a field trip?”
Thomas nodded his head, while he looked at her with those big eyes. Cassandra smiled at this, “well I don’t know…” she looked back at Thomas who had those pleading eyes.
“Please?”
“Well, okay.” Cassandra read the permission slip, and signed it, “here give it to your teacher, on Monday.”
After a while, the doorbell rang and Thomas got excited, “mommy it’s Charlie!”
“Tell him to come in, I’m almost ready.”
“He’s already inside.”
“Ok honey go and entertain him while… just tell him that it’ll be a moment.”
Thomas went down stairs and his grandma and Julie were there with Charlie. “Thomas, is your mom ready?” Charlie asked.
“She said she is almost ready, she almost is.”
“Are you ready, to go Thomas?”
“Yeah, where are we going?”
“Well I was thinking I would let you decide, where do you want to go? Do you want to go to the lake?”
Thomas widened his eyes, and his smile spread across his face, Cassandra was coming down stairs.
“Mommy we’re going to the lake!”
“That’s great sweetheart,” Cassandra was wearing a casual dress, “I’m ready,” she looked stunning.