Chapter 18
They walked along the lake, and Thomas was there with them walking along side them. They looked like the happy family. Cassandra noticed how happy Thomas was he had never smiled so much.
Charlie sat with Thomas, and was teaching him how to fish while Cassandra was setting the table, and watched them from afar, wishing yet again that she could love him, but the feeling was too far for her to grasp.
She liked Charlie as a friend, but that was it, she just didn’t see him as anything else. “Thomas, Charlie why don’t you come and eat?”
After their date, Cassandra spoke to Charlie, and told him that she just wanted to stay friends, “are you in love with someone else?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not the type to go out with a guy who I don’t really love, I hope you can understand, you’re a really great guy, but…”
“Is it Thomas’ father? Are you still in love with him?”
“I hope you can still be Thomas’ friend, he likes you, but if you can’t I understand…”
“I just want to know if Thomas’ father has something to do with this.”
“No! Thomas’ father is dead to me, since the day he left, but I just don’t love you, please I just don’t want to make it any harder.”
Charlie looked down, and kicked the dirt with his feet, Cassandra was silent waiting for him to say something. When she saw he wasn’t talking she turned and started leaving.
Charlie held her hand, and she turned back to him, and what she saw she didn’t expect. His eyes were filled with tears, and he pulled her towards him, and he hugged her.
“Charlie, you’re a great guy you’ll find someone, you’ll see. You need someone who can feel the same love for you, as you will for her.”
“I don’t know if I will ever love again, I know this is going to sound silly, but how will I ever love again, if I won’t forget you?”
“Charlie, you’re not silly, if I’d have to describe you, I would say you were a courageous, and upfront. You’re an honest man, not so many men like that left in the world.”
“But I’ll never forget you!”
“I’m going to tell you something that a friend once told me, it’s not about forgetting the person, it’s about learning about the experience with the person you were with before.”
“I didn’t even got to experience anything with you, you were my first true love, I mean the girl I thought was it.” I hope that didn’t sound desperate.
“You won’t forget the your first love. You’ll grow stronger, and smarter when that special someone comes around you’ll know because you’ll feel it. I may not have been your girl, but you’ll find her, there’s no doubt about it!”
“What do I do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I love you, Cassandra and I always will…”
“You know, I thought I was always going to be in love with Thomas, for the rest of my life, but…”
“But?”
“I don’t know, after I found out we were separated because of a misunderstanding…”
“Misunderstanding?”
Cassandra sighed, long and hard, and she watched Thomas as he waved at her while he was playing a game, he would throw the pebbles on the water making them go to the other side.
“Thomas was never dating my friend, but she was in love with Thomas, and she said if she couldn’t have him then neither would I. Well her plan to separate us worked, I thought he was the biggest cheater while he thought the same about me.”
“What happened between you two?”
“Thomas never showed up to our wedding, I was left on the altar. When I found out I was pregnant, that day one of my friends told me she had been dating Thomas.”
Charlie was listening with an attentive ear, and he was looking at her, like he wanted to read her.
“I was devastated, but what I didn’t know is that she had told Thomas that I was dating someone else. And during those times we were very young, I never thought of calling him, to tell him I was pregnant, or at least to face him…
The thing is, I never thought I would see him again, and I named our baby Thomas. Thomas grew and he started to ask questions about his father, I couldn’t possibly tell him the truth, so I lied, he thinks his father is dead.
I thought he had abandoned his child after I found out that he was aware of my pregnancy. So I stuck to my story of saying he was dead, I thought he had abandoned his own unborn child. Now I can’t very well tell Thomas that his father never died and that I have been lying to him, it’ll destroy him!”
“Thomas knows about him?”
“Yes, he was the one who found him, in the event the other day. It’s a good thing everyone was wearing a mask, because if not I don’t know what I would have done if he saw his face.”
“Did he meet him before?”
“No, never! I shown him pictures of his father.” After a while they saw Thomas come towards them, he carried a bucket, it was full of fish.
“Thomas what do you have there?”
“Fish! Charlie taught me how to fish, mommy can we do this again?”
“I don’t know sweety, we’ll talk later, ok?”
Thomas went back to the water, “can I go swimming?”
Cassandra thought for a little bit, “well, ok, but take of your t-shirt.”
Thomas took off his shirt, and Charlie was watching her with admiration, “you had to parent this child all by yourself? Wouldn’t you want to make the lift easier for once?”
“Lift? My son is not!…”
“I mean your whole life, you suffered too much, don’t you think you deserve to have someone else help you.”
“You know, I use to think like that, but I became independent. I use to lean on others but I learned that I wanted to be able to think and act independent, it was hard at first I was so use to my rich life, but I’ve learned throughout time.”
“But, someday you’ll meet someone and you’ll fall in love…”
“Probably, but until that time comes, I have to take care of my son, I have my family and although I know it’s not the same as to have that special someone, I know that when I find him, I’ll know.”
Charlie looked at her, and sighed, “well, I give up!” he lifted his hands in the air, “but if you ever need a friend, I’m here.”
Cassandra smiled, “thank you Charlie,” they hugged.
After a while they decided to go back, the wind started blowing and it looked like it was going to rain. Thomas was in the back seat of the car, looking out the window.
Charlie dropped them off at their house. Cassandra grabbed her son and went inside. “Thomas go change your clothes, you’re wet.”
“Ok, mommy but can I play after? In my room I want to play with my toys.”
Cassandra was surprised at Thomas’ energy, she was tired but he was like fresh morning, “honey you can watch tv, and then you can rest, for a little bit, I’m going to talk to your grandmother.”
“Oh ok, then can I play?”
“Sure, but not outside it looks like it’s gonna rain, and I don’t want you to get wet.”
“Ok,” Thomas looked thoughtful, and he looked like he wanted to say something, but decided not to. Thomas went into his room, she left to look for her mother.
Olivia and Julie were in the study looking through the internet, they were going to open their business in San Diego. They were business partners.
“Hey mom?”
“How did it go?”
“It went great, we went to the lake and we talked, Thomas had a lot of fun we really spoke a lot of our feelings, I told him how I felt and he understood, now we’re great friends.”
Olivia sighed, “well I expected this, but at least you have a friend in him,” she seemed disappointed.
“Mother I’ve called Mr. Swan, and told him I’ll be taking the job offer, he said I‘ll be starting the first of next month, have you guys found something?”
“That’s great sweetheart, you know we found something, but we’re still looking. I think we‘re getting a place near the beach, at least somewhere we can enjoy it… you know I wonder what Cassidy might be doing.”
“Do you trust me?” Cassidy asked looking back at him.
Jesse looked at her, “yes, why do you ask?”
“Because I want to know, if you trust me to change your look, I‘ll let you choose something, but I’ll choose your clothes. But don’t worry, I promise you’ll look great!”
Cassidy was wondering the stores trying on clothes, and looking at the accessories. They ended up leaving with bags of clothes, and so many accessories he never even thought of trying on.
Cassidy was walking the malls, and Jesse following right after. Jesse was getting tired, “hey why don’t we stop for a bit?”
“Because we’re almost there, come on!” Cassidy pulled him by the arm and they ran to some chairs.
Jesse happily plopped himself down, on a chair he was carrying bags of clothes and finally noticed where they were.
“Cassidy, uh… why are we here?”
“Because we’re changing your look, and I will help you get a girlfriend before I move…”
“What?!”
“Yes, I just found out my self, which leaves me only until the end of the semester, to find you a girl friend…”
“No, wait! You’re moving? Where?… when?” He sounded disappointed, he had just gotten the guts to ask her out, and now he finds out she’s moving.
“Yeah, I was telling my friends, I thought I told you, we’re moving by the end of the semester. To San Diego, but it’s ok, you’ll be fine, I’m sure my friends will be your friends. Actually… if you open your eyes, you might find one of my friend‘s already likes you. But I promised not to tell, so…”
Jesse wouldn’t speak, he was just looking at her, and it made her feel uncomfortable he look upset, “ok now can you tell me what exactly are we…”
A hairstylist, walked towards them, “Mr. Campbell we’re ready for you.”
He looked surprised, and he looked towards Cassidy, who was softly whispering, “you can chose your own hair style, it’ll be alright you should go,” she signaled him to go.
Reluctantly he stood, he had to admit he felt better with new clothes, he got rid of his old fashioned clothes. Now he was getting a new haircut, not that he would mind.
He watched as she sat to get a manicure, and he sat to get his hair cut.
By the time he was done, Cassidy was waiting reading a magazine, “Cassidy… I’m done.”
Cassidy looked dumb founded, she never expected for him to look like this, he didn’t look bad at all, actually he looked better than what she expected.
“Cassidy, we should leave…”
“No! not yet, there’s one more place that we have to go to. How much is it?”
“He already paid.”
Jesse looked at her, “come on, we should go.”
“You’re right, but before we leave we’ll do one more thing to your look,” she smiled, “we’ll get rid of those glasses.”
“But I can’t…”
“You’ll be able to see I promise, word of honor,” she raised her right hand, he looked at her, “hey! You said you trusted me, remember?”
“Ok, but we are leaving afterwards, right?”
She smiled, “right.”
Jesse sighed, “I can’t believe I’m doing this… ok let’s go, one more thing why not?”
They left to a eye contact store, and they chose some to help him see, “see now you don’t need your glasses, it’s better because…” he looked at her with a saddened look, “you won’t have to keep wiping them.”
“Really? Do they look good.”
“I would date you now,” she joked.
When they left he took her to a restaurant, and he looked like he had something to say but he wouldn’t say it, instead he ordered and waited for her to do the same.
After she ordered, she was telling him how her friends would be his, and how he didn’t need to feel lonely anymore.
Jesse sighed, “San Diego, huh? Cassidy, I was willing o be your friend, but now I find out you’re leaving, I don’t know I just got the courage to ask you out. I never expected to lose you just like that.”
“But, we can still call each other, we can still be friends a lot of friends chat online, and…”
“But I didn’t want to be your friend, I really liked you Cassidy and I thought I could…”
“We had agreed to be friends remember? Anyway you won’t be alone as I remember you are very popular with the girls,” she hoped she wouldn’t sound stern.
After they were done, with their food, Jesse left to drop her off. They noticed that it was going to rain. They turned the music on and they were talking and laughing along the way.
When they arrived, it was raining hard, and Jesse ran around the car to open the door.
When Cassidy came out, Jesse hugged her before she went in, “thank you, I had a great time, I hadn’t had since a long time ago.”
“So did I…” Jesse had conquered her lips her passionately, she was surprised by the unexpected kiss.
Cassidy separated herself, and Jesse stopped kissing her, “I’m sorry, Cassidy, I don’t know what came over me.”
Cassidy was surprised, she couldn’t speak. She didn’t know if she should slap him, or kiss him back. Suddenly, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him with the same passion.
Jesse looked at her surprised, for what she had done, “what, what was that for?”
Cassidy didn’t know what to say, and she was not going to apologize for it, whether she liked it or not she was beginning to fall for this guy. But what was it about him? He wasn’t ugly, but he wasn’t cute… well until now.
She opened her door and went inside, leaned on the door, but she was speechless. Why did she do that? After all it’s not long until she’d have to move, Cassidy you can’t fall for this guy!
Her father walked towards her, “hi honey, how did it go?”
Cassidy looked up towards him and smiled, “hi dad, it was good, we just walked around the mall, I‘m kind of tired, I think I‘ll go to sleep,” she walked into her room and shut the door.
Cassidy walked towards her window and watched Jesse leave, she regretted doing what she did, what was she thinking? She didn’t want to admit that she was in love.
Jesse drove off, but he couldn’t stop thinking of her, she’s moving!
Cassidy felt uncomfortable, she needed to talk to someone, “dad, I’m going out for a few minutes.”
Her father was sitting on the living room couch, watching television, “ok sweety… wait a minute weren‘t you going to sleep?”
“Yes, but I think I’ll just go out for a little while, the rain stopped and I think I can catch Cassandra before she goes to sleep.”
“Well ok just drive safely.”
She took her jacket, the rain was stopping, but it was still cold. Cassidy got her cell phone and dialed her mother’s number.
“Hey mom, I need to talk to you… I’m on my way over there, I’ll be there in as few minutes.”
Cassandra was there, when her mother received Cassidy’s call, “what happened?”
“Cassidy is on her way over here, I think she wants to talk to us.”
A few minutes later Cassidy arrived, Cassandra greeted her “hey how did your… uh… date go? Well I know it’s not really a date for you but…”
Cassidy sounded annoyed, “it went great, actually it went better than I expected… I shouldn’t have…” she sighed.
“I don’t know why it would be a problem then, I thought you’d be happy…” Cassandra looked thoughtful, “why aren’t you happy?”
“Because… I don’t want to… make him feel confused…” she sighed, “he kissed me!”
“And that’s… ok I don’t know if you notice but I’m confused here.”
“We are suppose to be friends, and he kissed me!”