Cassidy Lane (33 page)

“Oh, yes, finishing
a book is definitely nothing. Please. What about that guy from home? Anything happening there?”

“Over.”

He raised his
eyebrows. “Over?”

“Over.”

“From the one-word
answer, I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about it.”

She shrugged. “It’s
last year. Why dwell on the past?”

Harper laughed. “You
mean last year as in not even three weeks ago?”

“Touché, but I
still don’t want to talk about it.”

“Come on, you’ve
got to give me something. Did he turn out to be a douche? What happened?”

She shook her
head. “Bad timing. He couldn’t handle a relationship right now.”

Harper realized she
wasn’t kidding around. “Oh, man, I’m sorry Cassidy. I just assumed that if it ended, you were the one who ended it.”

She smiled. “Ah,
Harper, my biggest cheerleader. So loyal but so delusional.”

He winked at
her. “Always will be.”

“And I love
you for it, but let’s talk about something else, OK? I’ve pitied myself enough and I have to move on.”

“Excuse me, Ms.
Lane?”

The sound of
a woman’s voice made them both turn their heads.

Cassidy looked at
the young woman standing there. Her face was familiar, but Cassidy couldn’t place it.

Just then Harper’s
phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, then sighed and stood up. “It’s Vanessa, so I should take it. Be back in a minute, I hope.”

“Sure, go ahead,”
Cassidy said.

As he walked
away, Cassidy looked at the young woman. “We’ve met, right?”

The woman smiled.
“My name’s Molly Benson. I sat next to you on a plane from New York to San Francisco a couple of months ago. I was on my way to a wedding in Napa.”

Cassidy’s eyes lit
up with recognition. “That’s right, of course! How did the wedding go? Do you want to sit?” She gestured to Harper’s empty side of the booth.

Molly glanced toward
the exit. “Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude.”

“It’s no trouble.
My friend won’t be back for a few minutes. Please, have a seat.”

Molly sat down
tentatively. “Thanks. My friends already took off, but when I recognized you I had to come over and tell you that I’ve read some of your books since meeting you. I think they’re great.”

Cassidy smiled. “That’s
always nice to hear. I’m glad you enjoyed them.”

Molly frowned slightly,
which Cassidy wasn’t expecting. She focused on the table between them. “And well, the truth is, they’ve really helped me get through a tough time.”

“A tough time?
How so?”

Molly looked up
at her, and Cassidy immediately recognized the pain in her eyes. She’d seen that look in the mirror too many times lately. Molly tapped her fingers on the table. “Well, at that wedding I met this guy,
Patrick
,
who also lives here in New York, and we really hit it off.”

Cassidy nodded, and
Molly continued.

“For a few
weeks I was on cloud nine, like happier than I’d ever been. I know it sounds silly, but I truly thought he was the one for me, like I’d finally found him.” She smiled weakly.

Cassidy nodded again,
knowing Molly had more to say and knowing it wasn’t good.

Molly’s voice cracked
a little. “But then out of the blue it all fell apart, or I guess he lost interest or something, because he basically…disappeared.”

Cassidy gave her
a sympathetic nod. “I’m sorry.”

Molly kept tapping
the table. “Since then I’ve been so sad. So, so sad. My friends keep telling me to snap out of it and forget about him, and I know I should, but I just…
can’t
. I feel so stupid for thinking he could be
the one
after such a short time, but I really did. I really…did.” Her eyes were watery now, the sadness radiating out of them.

She was basically
a stranger, but Cassidy felt for her.

In a way
she
was
her.

Cassidy spoke softly.
“If it’s any consolation, I’ve been there.”

I am there.

Molly smiled and
wiped a few tears away with the back of her hand and sniffled. “Thanks. I know I’m sharing way too much, and you probably think I’m a nut job for telling you all this, but I wanted to let you know that your books have given me hope that maybe the right guy for me is still out there somewhere.”

“I bet he
is,” Cassidy said.

I hope the
same thing for myself.

“I sure hope
so.” Molly forced another smile. “Anyhow, I wanted to thank you for writing the stories you do. Please keep at it, because we all need to believe.”

“We all need
to believe what?” a male voice asked.

They both turned
to see Harper standing next to the booth.

Cassidy gracefully changed
the subject. “Harper Gold, this is Molly Benson. She and I met on a plane ride to San Francisco.”

Harper bowed his
head. “It’s a pleasure, Molly.” Then he looked at Cassidy and gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. “Listen, I hate to eat and run before dessert, but duty calls. I’ve already paid the bill if you two want to stick around.”

Molly quickly stood
up and exited the booth, wiping a tear from her eye. “That’s OK, I was just leaving anyway.”

Cassidy stood up
too and gave her a hug. “Hang in there,” she whispered into her ear.

Molly hugged her
back. “Thank you for listening. Really, thank you.” She turned and hurried out of the restaurant, clearly a bit embarrassed.

“What was that
all about?” Harper asked when Molly was out of earshot.

Cassidy smiled. “Girl
talk.”

It had begun
snowing during lunch, so Cassidy rushed home to avoid getting too wet. She was halfway there when she heard a beeping inside her purse. As she walked she reached inside her purse to check her phone.

BUY MARSHMALLOWS!

She clicked
dismiss
,
then turned around and headed in the opposite direction, toward CVS. She could handle being out of a lot of things during snowy weather, but not marshmallows.

She moved quickly
yet gingerly along the sidewalk, which was now covered in a fresh layer of powder. She’d nearly reached the CVS entrance when she heard the tiny yap of what had to be an equally tiny dog. She looked to her left and spotted a small white poodle in the arms of a diminutive woman huddled under the awning of a restaurant. She was wearing what looked like a very expensive fur coat, one that wouldn’t take well to snow.

Cassidy’s eyes moved
from the woman’s coat to her face.

It was Annabelle
Polanski.

Should she say
hello?

Maybe not.

She was about
to turn and duck into CVS when Annabelle made eye contact and smiled.

“Hello,” she said
curtly.

Cassidy smiled back.
“Hi.”

“You’re Ms. Lane,
right? You’ve been to my salon a few times, Annabelle’s? I’m Annabelle Polanksi.”

“Yes, my name’s
Cassidy. I love your place.”

She knows my
name? Why is she being so nice?

“Thank you. I
must say I love it too.” Annabelle peered out at the street, then smoothed a hand over the miniature dog. “I
hate
getting caught in the snow, and poor Muffin here gets so scared. We’re just waiting for my driver to come pick us up.”

Cassidy nodded toward
the entrance next door. “I’m on my way home too. I was just running into CVS to pick up a few…staples.” She realized most people wouldn’t view marshmallows as a staple, but to each her own.

Annabelle smiled again
and shooed her away. “Go on then, I don’t want to hold you up. It’s only going to come down harder. I hope to see you in the salon again soon.”

“Thanks.” Cassidy turned
to go, then stopped and brushed a few snowflakes out of her hair. “Do you mind if I ask what happened to Darlene?”

Annabelle’s eyes went
a bit dark. “Darlene?”

“Yes, she always
did my manicures. Do you know where she went?”

Annabelle kept petting
Muffin but didn’t answer.

“Mrs. Polanksi?” Cassidy
said.

“Please, call me
Annabelle. And Darlene…resigned.”

“What? But why?
She seemed so happy there.”

She sighed. “If
you must know, it was that awful husband of hers.”

Cassidy felt her
eyes get big.
Awful husband?
“What happened?”

Annabelle nodded and
looked down the street for her driver. “He came into the shop…
again
…and caused a bit of a scene
…
again
, griping as always about her spending too much time away from home, and then they left. She called the next morning and said she wasn’t coming back.”

Cassidy put a
hand on her heart. “Is she OK?”

Annabelle shrugged. “I
hope so. She’s a nice woman, but she didn’t choose a nice husband. Well, there’s my car, so I’m off now.” She darted toward the street. “I hope to see you at the salon soon. Stay warm now.”

“Bye.” Cassidy stood
there for a moment, in a bit of a daze, as she watched Annabelle climb inside a large black town car, which quickly disappeared into the traffic. The snow was coming down harder now, swirling under the awning where Cassidy was standing, but she didn’t move.

Instead she tried
to process what she’d just learned.

Darlene’s life wasn’t
anything like she’d pictured it to be.

Her high-school-sweetheart husband,
the kind and loving father of her children.

Her move to
Florida to open her own salon.

Her happily ever
after.

None of it
was true.

It was all
just Cassidy’s imagination.

Darlene had always
made her feel nurtured, but she had never opened up about her personal life. Had she told Cassidy anything at all? Looking back, Cassidy wasn’t sure she ever had. Cassidy had painted a picture of Darlene’s home life that was clearly far from reality, and now a version of that picture was sprinkled among the pages of her new manuscript in the form of Donna, one of her favorite characters.

A small character,
but an important one.

A character whose
storybook marriage would live forever in Cassidy’s imagination, as well as those of her readers.

Did that make
it real on some level?

She’d filled in
the blanks with Darlene and had been dead wrong.

Had she done
the same thing with Brandon? Expected him to be something he wasn’t?

She blinked.

Fiction isn’t real.

Wishful thinking doesn’t
make it true.

After a few
moments, she dusted off the thin layer of snow now covering her like powdered sugar, turned, and entered the store.

When Cassidy had
made it back to her warm and dry apartment, she brewed a pot of coffee, changed into her favorite sweatpants, pulled her hair up into a bun, and sat down at her desk with a full bag of marshmallows.

Then she clicked
to open a new Word document.