Page 66 of The List
“Ahem,” Lisa interrupts, kicking my shin so I look up at her. “I beg to differ.”
“She likes you.” Missy presses her lips together. “Probably a lot more than she should.”
“And it’s obvious you like her.” Lisa picks up her iced tea and takes a dainty sip before setting the glass down on a lacy doily thing I’m just now noticing. “We saw your face in the coffee shop. When Cassie said you were just friends?”
“You looked like a man who’d been punched in the stomach,” Missy says. “Like someone ran over your foot and then backed up to do it again.”
Lisa nods in agreement, then cocks her head at her sister. “You know, I don’t think he even realized how much he liked her. Not until right then.”
“Good point.” Missy folds her hands in her lap and looks at me. “Which is why he’s damn lucky Cassie’s the sort of woman who believes in second chances.”
There’s a hopeful flicker in the center of my chest, but I ignore it. There’s no way she’ll forgive me at this point.
Is there?
I set down my glass and drag my hands down my face. I still haven’t figured out if the sisters are here to offer hope or to kick my ass. Maybe a little of both. Which do I want?
You know damn well what you want. You’ve known it for weeks. You’re just too chickenshit to go after it.
I take a deep breath and look at the sisters. “So, what are you saying?” I ask. “That she’d take me back if I asked? If I told her I wanted an actual relationship?”
Lisa cocks her head at me. “Do you?”
I hesitate. Not because I don’t want to answer. Because I’m scared to.
“Yeah,” I admit at last. “I didn’t think I did, but then I met Cassie. And I guess—I don’t know. Maybe she’s not like all the other women I’ve dated.”
“Duh.” Missy looks at me with such disdain that I’m back to wondering if they’re here to poison me. “Cassie is like no woman you’ve ever met.”
“One of a kind,” Lisa agrees.
“Absolutely nothing like your money-grubbing hussies.”
I take a shaky breath. I want all of this to be true. Part of me is so desperate for there to be some way of fixing things that I worry I’m losing sight of the real problem. Of the reason I was so dead set against a relationship in the first place.
“Junie,” I say. “My sister. She gets attached very easily. Losing someone like Cassie—it would break her heart.”
“Then don’t lose Cassie, you idiot,” Missy says. “Problem solved.”
“Are you sure it’s your sister’s heart you’re really worried about?” Lisa folds her arms over her chest again. “Maybe it’s your own that scares the hell out of you.”
Her words hit me like a punch in the jaw. Is she right? Is there some truth to what she’s saying?
“Besides,” Missy adds. “Your sister would be lucky to have someone like Cassie in her life. Someone loving and kind and smart?—”
“And loyal and sweet and compassionate.”
“And funny and beautiful and clever,” Missy concludes with a sharp nod.
I swallow hard, trying to get my bearings. Trying to come to terms with the fact I might have fucked up the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
But maybe there’s a chance to fix it.
“You’re right,” I say slowly. “Cassie is all of those things. All of those things and more.”
Both sisters smile at me like I’ve finally gotten a test answer right after a dozen wrong guesses. It’s Missy who speaks first.
“Then to answer your earlier question, yes—I believe she’d take you back.”
