Page 111 of Nailing Heat
And that’s why Jase and Cassie are here, because maybe they can help me either get Amelia back or find a way to let her go.
“Hey, man,” Jase says when they reach me.
“Hey, thanks for coming, guys. Good to see both of you,” I tell them.
“You too, buddy,” Jase replies, grabbing a bar stool.
“Hey, Dex,” Cassie says quietly.
I notice she seems a bit uncomfortable being here with me and Jase, so I say, “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to put you in an awkward position, Cassie. I needed to talk to someone. I’m not sure what to do here. August said I should try to move on, but I don’t know. I don’t think that I can do that.”
Cassie smiles. “I figured that was what this is about.”
I pour them both a beer and pass them over.
“Thanks, man,” Jase replies.
“Yeah, thanks,” Cassie echoes. “Now, what do you want to know?”
I grin. “How is she?”
Cassie speaks first. “She’s doing her best. What happened that morning wasn’t easy for her, as you can imagine. And now she has a lot of doubt about what was real during the time you two were together. She spends a lot of her time comparing herself to Elise.”
I’m shocked at what Cassie openly shares. I thought this might be something I would have had to pry out of her.
I nod. “I wish I could talk to her.”
“What would you say?” she asks.
“I would tell her that I love her and that everything I feel for her is real,” I begin.
“Were you ever going to tell her about how your marriage ended?” Cassie asks.
“Cas—” Jase begins, but I shake my head.
“No, it’s okay. She has every right to ask those questions. She’sone of Amelia’s best friends and it’s perfectly fine for her to ask,” I say. Her loyalty lies with Amelia, as it should. Not with me. “I was planning on telling her what happened to my marriage.” Cassie gets ready to speak, but I hold my hand up to silence her. “I know that I should have done it sooner, before we slept together, but I didn’t. I was afraid of what she would think of me. I’m not saying I don’t deserve her judgement. I don’t know how to overcome my fear of it.”
Jase says, “I get it. I understand. There’s a stigma when you’ve been divorced. Some people don’t want anything to do with a man who’s divorced, regardless of the reason. And some people can’t keep their hands to themselves.” He winks at Cassie. She blushes.
Cassie sighs, “I told you once that I thought you were a good man, and I stand behind that comment, Dex. I think you are a good man. I think that you got caught up in this relationship and the idea of a blank slate, and that blew up in your face.”
I nod. “I wish I would have picked up the phone when Elise called me. She called me so many times before showing up on my doorstep, but I couldn’t pick up.”
“Why?” Cassie asks me, leaning forward. “This all could have been avoided.”
“I wasn’t sure what she wanted and frankly, I didn’t want to know.” I scrub a hand down my face. “I thought the only reason that she could be calling me is because she either wanted to do the ‘ex’s backslide’ thing or she wanted to bitch me out for being a lousy husband. Either way, I didn’t want to hear any of it.”
Jase nods, agreeing with me. “I don’t blame you. Had I seen my ex’s name flashing up on my caller ID I wouldn’t have picked up either. Nothing good could have come from a phone call from an ex. How were you to know that it was because of a missing signature on a paper? Your lawyer should have known and contacted you, not her.”
“He was out of the country. That is what Elise said when she got there. I called the office later and followed up with them, andhis legal secretary confirmed it. She also confirmed that they were aware of the missing signature. She was very apologetic but said that it had been worked out with Elise’s attorney that she would get that signature. I asked why no one contacted me so that I knew to expect it. Apparently, no one thought that Elise was looking for it personally. They thought it was going to be a lawyer or legal aid doing it. I guess that’s where she got one over on everyone,” I say, shaking my head.
“And blew up the new life that you had started here in Tampa,” Jase confirms.
“Yep,” I reply, taking a sip of my beer. “And it’s not that Elise was mean to Amelia. She was being Elise. The know-it-all with the superior attitude who enjoyed the fact that she caught me with someone. That was, I think, the best part to her because I hurt her, and now she had a chance to hurt me. Unfortunately, for Amelia, she was collateral damage. Elise was all too happy to put the nail in the coffin of our relationship.”
I take long pull of my beer, waiting for Jase and Cassie to say something.
“In her mind, you got what you deserved, I’m sure,” Cassie says, breaking the silence. “So, you don’t want to know how she’s doing. You want her back. Am I right?”
