Page 30 of The Dating Charade

Star looked down, and suddenly, realizing what she’d said, Cassie did too. It was painful to be reminded of how different Star’s life had been before, how different the expectations were. To Cassie, this was exactly what happened when you were a sick child; you stayed home with a parent. You drank Sprite and ate loads upon loads of macaroni and cheese in bed. You watched way too much TV. When she was really sick, Cassie’s mother had even left a brass cowbell by her bedside, just because Cassie liked so much to see her mother come up the stairs when she rang it. Sure, she could have yelled, but that was the point. When you were sick, you got to be spoiled.

And here Cassie was, seeing firsthand exactly how Star and her sisters were treated. Forget the TV, the cowbells, the cookies. Their mother had put them in playpens. Their mother hadn’t even stuck around to make sure they lived.

The cupboard shut loudly, victim to Cassie trying for the umpteenth time not to hate a woman she’d never met or judge a person whose story she didn’t know. She forced herself to refocus. “Anyway, I’m planning to take the rest of the week off. That is if that’s okay with you, Supervisor Star.” Cassie attempted a grin as she leaned on the counter opposite her.

But Star just shoved her computer into the blue-and-white canvas bag temporarily serving as a backpack. It was one of Cassie’s bags she’d bought for a family beach trip the summer before, and even before Star slung the leather strap over her shoulder, she could tell it was entirely too adultish to be trendy. Nothing about it screamed cool, fierce teen.

“We can stop by Target and get you a new backpack after school, too, if you want,” Cassie added. “And anyway, Bree was pretty devastated she missed out on the toy-aisle trip today. The way she acted, you would’ve thought we went to Disneyland without her. But, if we pick her up from work on the way there tomorrow—”

“So, you’re not going to leave, then?”

Cassie paused, stood upright. “Not unless you want to pay me a salary plus benefits. What makes you so worried about this? Really?”

“Because everyone at the Haven would kill me if you quit. Because of us.” Star’s eyes darted to the window. “Because of me.”

Stilling, Cassie caught the significance of her words. If there was one thing Star was, it was confident.

Cassie wasn’t touchy-feely by nature, but even so, she reached forward and gave Star’s forearm a quick squeeze. “You know what, Star? I would gladly quit my job if I had to for you. Any day.”

Star returned her gaze at the touch, nodded, then shrugged as she pulled her arm back. “Yeah.” She tried to play it off, but she couldn’t keep the light grin from playing at her lips as she reached in for another notebook. “Anyway. I just wanted to make sure.”

It was one of the wonderful things Cassie and Star had in common: being terrible at public displays of emotion.

“Want to take a homework break and do a round of DB?”

“Seriously? You keep it here, too, Miss C? You’re such a nerd.”

Still, her lit-up eyes betrayed her words. Cassie took that as a yes and opened the junk drawer—an insufficient term, as even the pencils faced north. It wasn’t long before Dutch Blitz cards were flying and tea bags steeping.

On the third game, however, came a distant but familiar sound.

Cassie’s shoulders jerked up. “What is that?”

Star wrinkled her forehead, her tone heavily suggesting she was questioning Cassie’s intelligence. “A . . . fire truck.”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious. I mean—” Cassie set her cards on the counter. “—why is there a fire truck coming down our road? Our totally unpopulated, three-mailboxes-on-the-whole-street road?”

“You’re getting paranoid.” Star followed on Cassie’s heels to the living room. “You know, Miss C, just because one guy steals a fire truck and bribes everyone with presents to get in good with you doesn’t mean it’ll happen again.”

Cassie flicked open the blinds, watching the flashes of red lighting up the neighbors’ fields. It had already passed one driveway. There was only hers and Betty’s left. “Want to bet?”

She turned around and found the two younger girls beside the Christmas tree, grinning proudly. Too proudly.

“We did it! We did it!” Kennedy’s shrill voice filled the living room as she clutched Cassie’s phone to her chest.

Cassie’s stomach sank. “Did what, girls? What did you do?”

“They’re going to save Mr. Jeeves, just like the book said!”

“Save . . . Mr. Jeeves?”

Cassie followed Kennedy’s pointing finger to the top of the Christmas tree. Through the branches, she could see her cat’s jewel-toned eyes. Though impossible, she felt she saw him smile.

Oh, no. No. No. No.

Cassie bent down to Kennedy and Deidre’s level. “Girls, I am so—” Nope, mortified wasn’t the best word choice just now. “—proud of you for knowing who to call in an emergency. Just like the dog book showed us.” Note to self: screen all children’s books from now on. “But you know what?”

Deidre blinked.