“Is that okay? I can take it off if you want.”
“No,” Cassie said immediately. “No, uh. It’s fine.” Her cheeks were bright pink.
Erin should wear her clothes more often.
Cassie took a sip of her drink. The bliss on her face at the taste was worth teasing her over, but she was still blushing from the shirt thing, so Erin gave her a break instead.
Erin had a shift at the hospital that afternoon. It’d be smart to head back to Nashua early. She wasn’t even sure she had a clean set of scrubs. She peeled her jeans off and climbed back into bed with Cassie. She wasn’t trying anything, didn’t mean to be sexy, but she settled close enough that her body pressed into Cassie’s. Just as she remembered Parker saying Cassie didn’t like being touched, Cassie threw her leg over Erin’s, crossing them at the ankle.
They split the baked goods—took half of each. Erin unfolded the newspaper. She kept the first section and offered the rest to Cassie, who immediately flipped through it to find the crossword puzzle. The quiet was nice. They didn’t have to do anything. Didn’t have to be careful, didn’t have to watch the clock or listen for Parker.
They could’ve had this in October, if Erin had invited Cassie back to her hotel that night. Then again—maybe not. They wouldn’t have had a quiet morning in bed together. Erin would’ve rushed Cassie out the door. She didn’t know her, then, and she’d been nervous that morning, meeting Parker for breakfast. Jesus, imagine if Cassie had spent the night, said goodbye in the morning, and then they’d shown up at the same restaurant. As though it hadn’t already been messy enough.
“You’ll probably know this one,” Cassie said, still working on the crossword. “First female graduate of a US medical school, starts with a—”
“Elizabeth Blackwell,” Erin said.
“Nerd.”
Erin bumped her shoulder against Cassie’s. “As if you can’t tell me the first female US astronaut.”
“Yeah, but everyone knows Sally Ride,” Cassie said. “And I’m not going to be an astronaut!”
“Of course not.”
Cassie made a show of ignoring her and going back to the crossword. Erin couldn’t help but keep looking at her—she was so damn pretty. Her blond hair a lion’s mane and her skin with a glow even in March. Eventually Cassie caught her looking. Erin smiled, felt her face warm.
“This is nice,” she said.
Cassie grinned. “You gonna come visit when I live here this summer and bring me breakfast in bed?”
“That’s your favorite part of this morning?” Erin raised her eyebrows.
“You got something better?”
“Maybe after you finish the crossword.”
Cassie immediately filled the unsolved boxes with random letters, then held it up. “Look. Done.”
Erin laughed. “When’s your flight?
* * *
Erin sped the entire way to the airport. They didn’t have time for her to park and come in with Cassie. They didn’t even have time for Erin to get out of the car—Cassie kissed her hard over the console.
“Thanks, babe, I’ll text from the plane.”
“Have a good flight!” Erin called after her.
Cassie [Today 1:23 PM]
Had to fight the gate agent so they wouldn’t close the door on me, but I made it
Erin’s good feeling after seeing Cassie only lasted until she made it home to Nashua. By then, her mind had caught up with her.
Last night, Cassie had talked about Caltech. She had said if. Almost twenty-four hours later and Erin was still trying not to read too much into it. It wasn’t like they could keep doing this, even if Cassie didn’t move across the country for grad school. This morning, Erin had made a mental note to wear Cassie’s clothes more often. When was that supposed to happen? That night was their only shot. Even with Cassie in Boston for the summer, it wasn’t like she and Erin would get time alone together.
Erin couldn’t ask Cassie to go to MIT. She couldn’t ask anything of her. Cassie was weeks away from turning twenty-two. She had her whole life in front of her, the entire world in front of her. She could do anything. Erin wasn’t about to hold her back.
It’d been nice, validating, that a hot younger person was so into her. But Erin couldn’t act like they were something they weren’t. They weren’t dating. They weren’t in a relationship. They couldn’t be. Even if that was something Cassie wanted, it could never work.