Cassie shrugged. “You know she’s a daddy’s girl anyway.”
Acacia punched her in the shoulder, but at least she kept her eyes on the road. “That is so not the point.”
“Quid pro quo,” Cassie said again, rubbing her arm where Acacia’s fist connected. She smirked. “Tit for tat.”
Acacia hit her again. “Stop thinking about Parker’s mom’s boobs!”
Cassie did, mostly.
Two hours later, Mama Webb, Mr. Ben—Cassie still couldn’t call Acacia’s dad just by his first name—and FloJo the dog met them in the driveway when they arrived. Dinner was chicken-fried steak with rice and gravy. For dessert, they cut the chocolate cream pie a day early. It wasn’t like Mama Webb didn’t have three other kinds of pie for tomorrow, anyway.
At the end of the night, though, Cassie was back to thinking about Erin. She was in Emerson’s room—his flight from Chicago was in the morning—instead of bunking with Acacia like she usually did. The privacy gave Cassie space for her mind to spiral.
She wanted to ask Erin what the hell she’d been thinking, wanted to know how they were supposed to spend two weeks together without Parker noticing anything. They’d barely made it through breakfast—and that had been before Erin dressed for the a cappella concert with the express plan to let Cassie touch her boobs. This was insane. Why would Erin have agreed to it?
She could ask.
Cassie had her number. She pressed Aaron in her contacts and held her breath as it rang.
Six
ERIN
Erin told no one. She’d gotten back from Virginia and Rachel had asked if she’d seen any hotties—that was a direct quote—and Erin had rolled her eyes rather than admitting anything.
The entire reason Erin had let what happened at the a cappella concert happen was she thought she’d never see Cassie again.
What happens at Family Weekend stays at Family Weekend, right?
Except when it comes to stay in your house for winter break. More than that, really—what happened didn’t stay at Family Weekend because it came back to New Hampshire with Erin: she couldn’t stop thinking about Cassie.
She went on a date with someone Rachel suggested, and the woman was nice and interesting, and they had no chemistry whatsoever.
That was the problem with Erin and Cassie. Their chemistry was explosive. It felt dangerous. They made out in the bathroom at her daughter’s a cappella concert. Cassie made her do ridiculous things.
No, that wasn’t right. That sounded like she blamed Cassie, and not herself. She was the adult in the situation—she should’ve been reasonable. She obviously didn’t think it the fuck through. Cassie was an adult, too, of course, but Erin never thought of that when she berated herself. She’d done a lot of stupid shit in her early twenties—marrying Adam came to mind—so she couldn’t blame Cassie. It wasn’t Cassie fucking things up; it was that chemistry.
Wednesday night, as Erin got off work, she checked the status of Parker’s flight, even though Adam was the one picking her up from the airport. She wouldn’t get to see her daughter until Friday. Before Erin could see whether the flight was landing on time or not, her phone rang.
Texting Asshole was calling.
Two weeks ago, when Erin had received those late night texts about her boobs, she’d saved the number in case they tried anything again.
“Hello?” she answered warily.
“Why the hell are you flying me up there for winter break? How did you possibly agree to this?”
Erin stayed silent. Cassie.
“Well? Do you have some kind of explanation or not?”
Cassie was demanding and indignant and just hearing her voice made Erin go warm all over. Not that she’d ever admit it. She had no idea how to handle this.
She stalled for time. “Cassie?”
“What?” Cassie was all snarl.
“So this is your number.”
Cassie huffed. “Obviously.”
“Yes, well, I didn’t know that when I got an inappropriate text at one in the morning a few weeks ago.”
The line was silent, and Erin gave herself a point on a scoreboard in her mind.
“Whatever,” Cassie said eventually. “I was drunk. Were you? When your daughter suggested I come live with you for two weeks? That’s the only situation I can imagine where you would’ve thought saying yes was a good idea.”
Erin had considered saying no. She’d wanted to say no. If there were any reason to say no besides I’ve been thinking of her fingers inside me for a month and a half, Erin would’ve done it. As it was, she’d told Parker that of course Cassie could come stay, grateful her daughter asked over the phone instead of video chat. Erin definitely wouldn’t have been able to sell a realistic smile.