Con nudges Joel, who is sitting on the couch. “This giving you guys any ideas?”
Joel laughs and doesn’t say anything, but the two of them exchange meaningful looks. They’ve decided to go ahead with moving in together, and Cassie feels like she’s ready. And when she looks at little Andrew, she thinks maybe having babies in the near future might not be such a bad thing.
Of course, she’s got a lot on her mind lately. Business at Bookland has picked up considerably lately, in no small part thanks to Joel. When she complained to him about how half their “business” seems to be turning away medical students looking for textbooks, he said, “And you don’t carry medical books because…？”
It was a valid point. He helped her set up a contact with the medical students and residents to buy their used textbooks for cheap. Now she’s got six full shelves of medical books, and they’re flying off the shelves—each one selling for far more money than a book of poetry. She doesn’t want to betray her grandparents’ vision of the bookstore, but this is what’s going to keep the doors open. It’s the perfect solution.
And it means she got rid of the dresser at the back of her closet. Yes, she could have saved it as insurance, but she didn’t want the temptation. And she can’t afford the risk.
“My turn!” Joel says, holding out his arms for Cassie to pass him the baby. “Come to Uncle Joel.”
Andrew gurgles with delight as he gets into Joel’s arms. Cassie’s gotten more comfortable with holding him lately, but she still feels a bit awkward. She tries not to think of Lydia’s comment about her not being “maternal.”
Not that Lydia had a right to comment on anything, given what she tried to do to Cassie. She admitted that she was the one who threw paint on Cassie’s bookstore entrance and wrote “slut” on her apartment door. She admitted to vandalizing the bookstore, although swore the door was unlocked. She admitted she slipped Maureen the Homeless Lady a twenty to forget her face. Then slipped her another twenty to follow Cassie around and freak her out.
But she won’t admit to other things, even though the evidence is smacking her in the face. She denies making any calls to Cassie, even though the police found multiple burner phones in her home that they confirmed were used to call Cassie’s phone. She denies ever being inside Cassie’s apartment until she was invited in, even though they found a set of keys to Cassie’s apartment deep in Lydia’s dresser—God knows how she got her hands on those. Cassie imagines she took Joel’s keys when he was visiting Pete.
Lydia also insists she came to Cassie’s apartment that night to make peace, not to poison her. Except there was an empty bottle of the same sleeping pill in her medicine cabinet that they found in Cassie’s bloodstream when she was taken to the hospital.
And most damning, Joel and Anna caught Lydia standing over Cassie, while she lay unconscious on the floor. Lydia hadn’t called 911. She was simply waiting for Cassie to die.
The fact that Lydia could still claim to be innocent after all that is evidence that some people think they can get away with anything. Fortunately, Lydia is currently in jail, awaiting trial for attempted murder. It’s a load off Cassie’s mind to know she’s off the streets. Although she feels a twinge of sadness that Violet doesn’t have her mother at home, because if nothing else, Lydia definitely loved her little girl.
“Uh, Anna…” Joel is holding up Andrew, who has spit up a ton of milk. “Little help?”
Anna laughs and takes the baby from him. She dabs at his chin with a tissue, but it doesn’t quite do the trick. “Cassie,” she says. “Would you mind terribly grabbing a rag from the top drawer in Andrew’s room?”
“Of course!” Cassie leaps to her feet, happy to help. As long as Anna doesn’t ask her to change any diapers.
She goes to Andrew’s bedroom, which is painted a vivid sky blue. There’s a colorful mobile over his bed and a toy box filled with stuffed animals. It’s the ideal room for a baby boy—she can feel the love emanating from every corner of the room. She goes to the blue dresser in the corner of the room and opens the top drawer.