Page 20 of Dale
We stop at a coffee place right around the corner from her work. After we both order our coffees, we sit across from each other on the outside of the room. I know we’re going to need privacy to discuss everything that needs to be discussed.
“Why are you here?” Cassie asks.
I smile back at her to show that I’m not some crazy woman who is here to exact revenge. “I’m here because I need you to understand that I’m not here to get back with Dale. I’ve never been in love with Dale.”
Cassie’s eyes narrow and then widen at the same time. It is really cute how she is doing it. “It would be so much easier if I hated you.”
I laugh at her. “It would be a lot easier if I stayed gone but then you wouldn’t have heard my side of the story. I never wanted this life with Dale. Truthfully, I have always liked someone else.”
“Really?”
“Dale and I got married to bridge a gap between the clubs but it didn’t work out long-term. Our marriage was never meant to be anything more than that. I got pregnant and freaked out. I didn’t think raising my baby in the lifestyle I grew up in would be best for my baby,” I explain and take a drink from my latte. “I’m not saying that Dale is a bad husband. He tried to make me happy… It just wasn’t right for me.”
Cassie looks down at her tea then takes a sip of it. “Coffee tastes a lot better than this,” she whispers.
“I remember those days.”
Chapter Twenty
Cassie
“I love Dale so much but he hurt me,” I admit.
Natalia reaches over the table to hold my hand a little. She squeezes it just enough for me to see that she means well. “I know he hurt you. I don’t think he meant it the way it come off. Me leaving him was probably a shock and he didn’t know how to handle it.”
“I always expected I would get married before getting pregnant. I always wondered why Dale never wanted to get too serious with me. Maybe this is why?”
The tea is disgusting and I give up the scene of trying to drink it. I’m going to have to speak to my doctor about drinking caffeine because this is gross. There is barely any flavor in this tea.
I really miss Dale. I want him to be involved with the babies as much as possible. I want him to know what I’m doing and how I’m doing. I want all of this with him.
“What made you come back?” I ask her.
“I came back because it was time to sign the paperwork at the hospital but also to get all of this shit over with.”
I hear the pipes of bikes running outside and I jump a little at the sound of them. I look out and see a couple of new bikes but not the one I want to see.
I want to see Dale’s bike.
“If you want him back, all you have to do is call him. He’s a great guy. He was just never the guy for me.”
I push the tea out of the way and stick my tongue out at the cup. “Is being pregnant awful?”
She twirls some of her red hair around her finger and then shrugs. “I had an easy pregnancy. However, you have a group of men who worship you. They all love you, Cass. They wouldn’t have accepted me because of everything my dad had done.”
“What did your dad do?” I ask her.
She doesn’t answer me. “I want to hear all about this job.”
I grin back. “It’s a job to give me some money. I need to have money for all of these bills that are about to start piling up. I know that hospital bills are a lot and I can’t depend on anyone else to pay them.”
“Tell me about it! I spent over thirty grand on my hospital bills because I didn’t have health insurance.”
“I like my job. It is just weird working there.”
“How do you mean?” She asks.
“I think Jerry is weird. He keeps looking at my stomach and asking me about my boyfriend. I never told anyone I was pregnant or had a boyfriend. I’m not even sure what to call someone like Dale.”
