Cassidy woke up, her alarm screaming in her ear, and sighed. She felt well rested and her mind was pleasurably foggy and heavy due to the amazing dream she'd been having involving her and Rand. Her only regret was that when she'd waken up, the dream had ended.
With a sigh, she turned the alarm off and climbed out of bed. She walked into the bathroom and avoided looking at her reflection as she turned on the shower. She'd went to bed with her hair wet, so she knew her appearance was eerily close to that of a wilder beast.
Stripping out of her pajamas, Cass jumped into the shower and let the warm water run over her. Five minutes later she shut the water off and climbed out, wrapped herself in a towel, and walked back into her bedroom to wait for the mirror to clear up humming a song that had been constantly playing on the radio. It was a song that she didn't particularly like, but the tune was for some reason stuck in her head.
After pulling on her under garments, she walked back into the bathroom and dried her hair. Pleased that it seemed to want to cooperate and curled loosely and frizz free, Cassidy put on a minimum amount of makeup and then went to her closet to pick out something to wear. She pulled on a pair of dark skinny jeans and a loose fitting green top then grabbed a pair of brown boots to zip up over the jeans.
Seeing that it was just after eight o'clock, Cassidy hurried downstairs and grabbed a package of Pop tarts and a diet Dr. Pepper. She really wished she could pop the pastries in the toaster, but seeing as she had to open the shop early, she would have to do with room temperature. Pop tarts were amazing at any temperature as far as she was concerned.
She arrived at the shop no later than eight forty-five and opened the door. A big time author named Shirley Hanson was doing a book signing. Cassidy herself was looking forward to meeting the "Lady of Mystery" as she was so often referred to. Not only because she wrote unbelievable mystery novels, but because no one knew much about her. She was a very private person.
Shirley was scheduled to arrive at nine o'clock, but the signing didn't start until ten. Cassidy went into the back room and put on some soft music and lit some lavender scented candles around the shop.
She was delighted when the front door opened and in walked Shirley Hanson. She looked exactly as she did in the glossy picture on the back cover of all her novels. She was in her early twenties with pale blonde hair cut into a short pixie style and huge green eyes. She was tall and thin and wore a pale blue cotton dress.
"Miss Jennings?" she asked with a hundred watt smile that lit up a sharply featured face.
"That would be me. It's such a pleasure to meet you Miss Hanson."
"Oh darling, the pleasure is mine. I love your shop. It's so very cozy."
Cassidy beamed with pride at the praise and helped Shirley get everything ready for the onslaught of customers that came rushing in through the doors the minute the clock struck ten.
"It's a jungle out there!" Shirley laughed as she peaked out at the line of excited readers from where she stood in the back room.
"Yes, but I can tell you love it."
"Every author loves it when people love your books. I shouldn't keep them waiting." She said and walked out to brave the crowd.
Cassidy stood behind the checkout counter, and waited. Many of the customers who had come for Hanson's signing hadn't been able to leave without purchasing her newest thriller along with a few other books. Cassidy couldn't blame them. She herself couldn't step a foot into a book store without stepping back out a little lighter in the pocket.
It was three o'clock in the afternoon when the signing was officially over. Cassidy jumped for joy over the successful day.
"It was nice to meet you Shirley." She told the woman as she readied to leave.
"Oh darling the pleasure is all mine. Call me next week and we'll do lunch." She said and kissed both of Cassidy's cheeks.
Three hours later, Cassidy closed the shop early and went home. She took a shower and changed into a pair of old blue jeans and an over sized t-shirt.
It was nearing eight o'clock when Cassidy picked up her phone and dialed Randon's number on an impulse.
"Hello?" he answered, though his toned sounded distracted.
"Hey there." Cassidy said and smiled.
"What's up beautiful?"
"Oh I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to come over. I'm contemplating cooking, and I hate to cook for one."
"Oh? What time?"
"Whenever you can get around to it." Cassidy said, walking into her kitchen and rifling through her cabinets to see what she had to cook.
"Well right now I'm finishing up some things at the club. I could be late getting finished. How about I just pick up some take out and bring it when I get done, around say nine thirtyish?"
Cass closed the cabinet and sighed. "That's fine."
"I miss you beautiful."
"The feeling is mutual handsome."
When she hung up the phone, Cassidy went into her bedroom and pulled off the t-shirt, replacing it with a pale lavender cotton top.
She sat in her living room curled up on the couch reading a book while she waited for Randon to get there. She begin to worry when it was nine forty-five and Randon was not there, nor had he called to say he'd be late. At ten, she set down the book and turned on the TV. She watched the re-run of Law and Order, but didn't really get the plot line. She listened with half an ear and contemplated why Randon was late.
She didn't think he was off with some other girl. And even if he was she didn't have any say in the matter.
The hell she didn't.
Sure they hadn't talked about fidelity in their relationship, but she didn't think it was necessary. She was falling in love with him; surely he wouldn't be with another woman.
Well, just because she was falling in love with him didn't mean he was falling for her.
It was ten thirty when she began to drift off while Law and Order played in the back ground.
Just as her eyes drifted closed there was a knock at the door. Cassidy jumped up to open it. When she opened the door she came face to face with Randon holding a bouquet of pale pink roses in one hand and a bag of Chinese take out in the other. He had an apologetic smile on his face and he eyed her warily as if gauging if she were mad or not.
"I'm sorry I'm so late." He said and handed her the flowers.
Cassidy decided to forgive him, but instead of letting him know that she hid her face in the roses and breathed in their delightful aroma.
"I got held up at the club. Two assholes got into a fight and roughed each other up. We had to hold them off of each other, and call the cops when one threatened the other. Then the cops had to take a statement. It was a horrible mess." Randon said and rand a free hand through his hair causing the dark curls to fall haphazardly across his forehead.
He looked incredible, if a little rumpled in a pair of old jeans and a pale blue v-neck t-shirt.
"It's alright. I was just dozing off." Cassidy said and stepped aside to admit him access. He stepped inside and wrapper his free arm around her waist pulling her close for a brief but drugging kiss that left her just a little weak kneed.
Cassidy followed Randon into her kitchen where he sat the bag of Chinese on the counter.
"Where are the plates?" he asked turning to her and giving her a look that clearly said 'I'm hungry but not for Chinese.'
"They're in the cabinet right above your head." Cass told him and began to take out the cardboard cartons that contained eggrolls and shrimp fried rice.
"You call this Chinese food?" she laughed.
