Page 35 of The Things That Hold Us

She slaps my shoulder, “I was not. This nice gentleman was talking to me about you, and telling me how much he’s loved having you around.”

Hm. I’m not sure who that would be.

“Well either way, I knew you'd come find me.”

She pulls me in, and whispers “Happy birthday sweetie.” in my ear.

I love that she was able to come. I may be 30 now, but I’ll always want my mom.

The night goes on, I have a couple glasses of wine, and dance with Cassie until her new military man shows up, without a friend, thank goodness.

He’s tall, extremely muscular, and has a close shaved head and tattoos up his neck.

Whoa.

Definitely not my type, but 100% Cassie’s.

“Hi, you must be the birthday girl.” he says as he walks up to the both of us, his eyes darting between me and Cassie, and lingering on Cassie who is holding me very closely.

“You two are awfully close, aren't you?” he says, and Ithinkhe's just teasing, but it's hard to tell.

Cass releases me, and tangles her arm into his.

“Charlie, this is Garrett, Garrett, this is Charlie.” She introduces us, and he gives her a squeeze, and a kiss on her cheek.

Then he looks at me, and I don't know what it is, but I get an odd feeling from him.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, I’m glad you could come.” I tell him.

“Thank you for having me, this party really turned out amazing.”

“It really did, didn't it.”

He nods, then says, “I know Cassie mentioned my friend coming, but he had a meeting come up, and won't be here I’m afraid.”

My eyebrows fly up. Is he talking about Logan? Do they know each other?

After a second, he adds, “If you don't mind, I’m going to steal Cassie for a dance before the night is over.”

I wave a hand, “She’s all yours.”

Cassie turns and scrunches her nose up at me as they walk away, and I just hope she’s happy. He seems nice, but that comment about us being too close just doesn't sit right with me.

I make my rounds, talking to people I either don't know, dont remember or havent seen in a long time.

People give me presents, we eat tacos, cake, and dance the night away.

And now all I can think about is if Logan is the strange man Cass was trying to set me up with.

I look at the clock on the wall, and see that it is almost 11 p.m. Taking off my shoes, I head back up to the rooftop, and find a corner where there's no people.

I just need some quiet for one minute.

The party downstairs doesn't seem like it’s going to be letting up anytime soon, but I don't think I can be the first person to leave my own party.

I pull my phone out, checkingagainto see if there's any text from Logan.

Still nothing.

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