Page 48 of The Captain

After a moment, I see George has left, Heather has gone back to work, and Cassie is still staring at my laptop where it rests on the table. The screen is dark, so she’s not able to read my paper, which is probably for the best at the moment.

“You okay?” I ask after long moments of silence.

She shrugs a shoulder. “Yeah. I guess.”

“Did you know you were meeting him today?”

“He’s my mom’s new boyfriend,” she replies instead of answering my question.

“Yeah, I gathered that.” I bite my lip, my right arm resting on the booth behind her and my left forearm on the table, bracketing her in, my attention all on her.

“I was meeting him for the first time, I—” She pauses, taking another sip of water before she blinks over at me. “My mom has never had a boyfriend before.”

Ah, okay, so this was something more than just meeting the boyfriend for the first time. I rest my right hand on the back of her neck in a comforting move. I don’t think she needs me to say much, but she looks like she needs me to listen.

“I never even thought about that, which must make me crazy selfish, right?” she asks, her tone is more wistful than sad. I don’t think she’s actually sad about the situation at all, more like observant, like she’s never seen anything like this before. “I just always assumed that when you loved someone the way my mom loved my dad, that your heart wouldn’t feel that need to ever love anyone else.” She shakes her head and scoffs a laugh. “That’s dumb.”

“It’s not dumb.” I rub her neck again. “It’s…new.”

Finally, her eyes meet mine, and I take in a breath at the contact. It’s the first time since I walked over to their little group that she’s actually looked me in the eyes and actually seen me.

All our moments over the past month hit me—us in various bathrooms, at the ice rink, and now here. All I want to do is put the past behind us and move forward.

But I can’t ask for that when I know she deserves more than just a quick “I’m sorry.” She deserves to be treated right every day.

“He seemed nice, right?” she asks me, looking at me like there were some trust still there.

That gave me a boost of hope I wasn’t expecting.

“Yeah, he seemed really nice.” I nod. “He seems like he likes your mom a lot.”

He’d be an idiot not to, but I don’t say that out loud.

“Yeah, he does.” She finally takes in a deep breath and lets it out. Tearing her eyes from me, she gestures toward the laptop. “How’s that going?”

I grin and say, “It’s going. I like the subject.”

“Oh? What is it?”

I wish I could tell her, but instead I say, “How are you doing?”

She frowns. “I’m fine.” Shrugging, she picks up my discarded straw wrapper and starts twisting it around her fingers. “I met Crew for coffee this morning.”

“Good.” I nod, already knowing that happened because he told me.

She blinks over at me and seems to be gauging my response. “You’re not upset by that at all?”

“Nope,” I answer, confident and sure. I wasn’t trying to hide any kind of jealousy or emotion. I knew the truth behind their relationship now and had complete confidence that they were just friends.

“Huh, maybe you have matured a little,” she murmurs, glancing at me shyly. I look down at her shirt and apron.

Waving a finger at her, I ask, “Why are you working here?”

She frowns, glancing down at her shirt. “Why not?”

I purse my lips and think about how much I want to get into. I know I’m not her boyfriend anymore, which grates every time I think about it. But I’m still her friend, and as much as I don’t want to rock the boat, I want to push her to be her best, just like she does for me, even if she doesn’t realize it.

“You have an epic book ready to be published, you shouldn’t be working in a diner.”

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