Chapter 407
“I think what we all need to do here,” my dad began, drawing all of our eyes, “is take a few moments to reflect on the facts. Whenever something isn’t going as expected at work, we have to take a step back and look at the situation. Now, the facts are that while Cassidy was living here, in this small space, the two of you were constantly fighting, at each other’s throats over everything.” My mom opened her mouth like she was going to protest, but Dad actually stopped her with a gesture. “And I didn’t like seeing either one of you that way. It was miserable. For all of us.” He looked at my mom intently until she nodded. “Now, she’s not far away, just upstairs, and she seems to be handling herself just fine. While I would’ve appreciated a consultation before this took place, I am glad to hear that you’re happy, Cass. And it’s certainly been much more peaceful here. Your mom has even gone out a few evenings with friends.”
I didn’t know that. My eyebrows shot up. Though I didn’t quite grasp why she couldn’t do that before, while I lived there, I wasn’t going to mess with success. “That’s great, Mom.”
“Oh, it’s just a little get together with some of the ladies, that’s all,” she said waving her hand at us. “It’s really not a big deal.”
Part of me actually did want to hear about who these ladies were and what she was talking about, but now didn’t seem like the right time. I wanted her to tell me that I could continue to live in my apartment, that she understood that I’d done what I needed to do, and that she wasn’t going to hate me for the rest of my life. Despite my dad’s argument, I don’t think she was there yet.
“Why don’t we give it a test run?” my sister asked with a sigh loud enough to show me she was still angry that I’d tricked her but also thought my dad had a point. “Say... two more weeks? If Cass can manage to keep herself out of trouble for that long, she can stay in her own apartment. And if she can’t, then she has to move back in here.”
“How will I have any idea if she’s in any trouble or not?” my mom countered. “She lies to all of us, apparently. And I can’t trust Elliott. Do you know that he told me you were moving in with your sister?” She shook her head like she just realized that it was odd for him to come and talk to her about anything, let alone something like that.
“Yeah, he came and talked to me, too.” Cadence folded her arms.
I cleared my throat. “I think your proposition is a great one. And Mom, there’s got to be someone you trust who can keep tabs on me. Who lives on five?” I knew everyone who lived on five.
“Hannah lives on the fifth floor,” Aaron suggested. “I’m sure she’d be willing to check in on Cass, make sure she’s home at a certain time, that her apartment isn’t a pig sty.”
“I’d hate to burden her with something like that,” my mom said, a look of disgust on her face. “Cassidy is our responsibility.”
“Mom, she’s a part of our team, and so are you. We all help each other out.” Cadence reached over and patted my mom on the knee. Apparently, the fact that they’d both been duped by the same duo had brought them closer together.
My mom was thinking it over. It wasn’t just her countenance that let me know I’d gotten somewhere, I jumped into her thoughts to see how close I was. I crossed all of my fingers and toes for luck. After an eternity, she finally said, “Okay, fine. We’ll give it a chance. But I do not like this, Cassidy Elizabeth. If you end up getting hurt, or do something else stupid...”
“I know, Mom. I know. I won’t. I promise.” I sort of thought it depended upon how you defined stupid. I mean, there’s jumping off a building to see if I can fly, and there’s staying up until 3:00 AM to see how many cheese puffs I can fit into my mouth.
I was out of my seat before she could change her mind. “Thank you, Mom.” I leaned over and hugged her and then did the same to my dad, though my “thank you” to him was more sincere.
“Ugh, I still think this is a bad idea,” my mom moaned. But she didn’t change her mind. “When are you going to have us over for dinner?”
“As soon as I have some furniture,” I promised, eyeing the papers in Aaron’s hand.
“I did wonder why you needed your bedroom furniture to move in with your sister when I was fairly certain her spare room was already furnished.” My dad stood to walk us to the door, but my mom was too busy massaging her temples like I was going to make her head explode.
“Brandon is related to his father,” my sister guessed. Maybe she was a little bit right in that Brandon had been the one to explain that I needed my own furniture because I would be most comfortable that way. Boy, I’d had more help in this scheme than I realized. I am quickly becoming an underhanded crook.
Once we were out in the hallway, my sister said, “All right. Let’s see it.”
“Now?” I asked, wondering if I’d put my pajamas away or tossed them on the floor. “Don’t you guys have things to do?”
“Yeah, like yell at you. Come on,” she insisted, heading for the stairs instead of the elevator. I glanced at Aaron who only shrugged at me. I think I was done getting any sort of help from him, though he had been relatively supportive during the conversation with my parents. He could’ve gotten all yelly and bossy like my mom would’ve if she was the one in charge.
Cadence was already at the landing before I started up the stairs. I was in no hurry for the ‘yelling at me’ part of her proclamation. We got to the apartment and I punched in the code, thinking at least I could get that changed now, and led them in. “Here it is.”
My sister stepped in first and then Aaron, and she looked around for a moment. “Not a disaster at least,” she said.
“No, I’ve been trying to keep it clean.”
“What have you been eating?” she asked.
“Well, there’s a grocery delivery service, you know.”
“But they wouldn’t deliver here because no one lives here,” she countered.
“Lucy just orders extra, and then I carried it down.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. Aaron was staying out of it. I wondered if he would be the kind of dad like my own who let his wife handle the problems with his daughters. I doubted it. I think he was staying out of it because he wasn’t really part of our family yet. That, and because he knows what can happen when my sister gets mad.
“Well, Cass, I feel like I’m saying this all the time now, but this is it. No more bailouts. You don’t get to keep messing with Mom like this, got it?”
I nodded. She was right. I needed to behave myself.
“No more using saving Elliott as an excuse, or what you did for Aaron either, for that matter. We are all even. All of us. Got it?”
My head rocked back and forth again. I owed Elliott an apology—he owed me an explanation, but we’d get to that in good time.
“All right, I think we’ve seen enough,” Aaron said, grabbing ahold of my sister’s hand and gently tugging her to the door. “I’ll go ahead and sign off on these, Cass.”
“Thank you.”
He gave me a look that said he was doubling down on everything my sister just said and then they left. And I was all alone. In my own apartment.
I wished I was wearing a beret so I could take it off and throw it in the air Mary Tyler Moore style, but since I wasn’t, I just spun around in my living room for a few minutes with my arms open wide until I remembered that I can levitate. I floated off of the ground and spun around, which was a lot like flying. When I finally came back down, I laid down on the carpet and took a few deep breaths. Somehow, I’d managed to pull this one off. I feel like my life should come with a disclaimer: “Don’t try this at home, kids.” Still, everything seemed to be working out just fine for me. I hoped it would stay that way, but I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach like something was on the horizon, something that would change everything.
