Chapter 57 The New Girl

Cassie has no idea where she is when she wakes up.

The last thing she remembers is having drinks with Lydia. And Lydia was saying terrible things and looking at her like she wished she were dead. And then…

Nothing.

Cassie blinks her eyes and rubs them as her vision clears. She's lying in a bed—that much is clear. She sees a white ceiling. An IV pole with a line leading to her left arm. A hospital gown.

And Joel, fast asleep in a chair next to her bed.

She isn't sure what happened, but one thing is very clear: Joel saved her life. Again.

"Joel." Her voice cracks on the word and she clears her throat. "Joel, wake up."

His eyes flutter open. But when he sees she's awake, he sits up straight. He smiles as wide as she's ever seen. "Cassie, thank God."

"What happened?" she mumbles. Her mouth feels like there's cotton in it.

He hesitates. "It's… complicated."

She rubs her eyes again. Her head throbs dully. "Please tell me."

He leans forward, burying his face in his hands. He's silent for nearly a full minute before speaking. "Lydia tried to kill you."

Cassie sucks in a breath. " What ?"

"I know. I can't believe it either." He lets out a sigh. "She and Francesca were so close. Like sisters. And she blamed me for Francesca's death."

"That's crazy!"

He shakes his head. "Not really. I blamed me. I still blame myself."

He's quiet for a moment, staring at the wall. "She wanted to punish me. She thought if something happened to you, it would push me over the edge." He reaches for her hand. "And it would have."

Cassie swallows a lump in her throat. "How did you figure out she was the one responsible?"

"Anna told me, actually," he says.

"Anna?" She frowns, remembering how she spoke to Anna on the phone before Lydia arrived. How worried she had seemed. "I didn't realize you and Anna were even friendly."

He coughs into his hand. "I don't know if you knew this, but Anna and I used to date. No, not just date. She was my girlfriend. For a long time. A really long time. "

That surprises her. Anna and Con seem like they're so made for each other, it's hard to imagine her with anyone else. But then again, it makes sense in a crazy kind of way. Like Cassie and Francesca, Anna has dark hair and eyes. Cassie heard Anna's maiden name is Mascolo. She's certainly Joel's type. She wonders who ended it.

"If not for Anna," Joel says, "we wouldn't have gotten there in time to save you. And I might have lost you."

Cassie imagines that possibility but it's hard to wrap her head around it. She nearly died twice in one week. She wonders if Lydia was responsible for the peanuts in her Chinese food. She has a bad feeling about that one.

Joel squeezes her hand. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Cassie. When I thought I might lose you, God… it was like the end for me."

She squeezes him back. "I feel the same way about you."

"Don't ever scare me like that again," he admonishes her. "I… I love you."

"I love you too," she says.

Of course she does. After all, he saved her life.