Chapter 10

Cassidy

Finally, after the morning rush clears, Darice comes over and tells me to take my break. After clocking out of my register, I head back into the breakroom.

Opening my locker, I take out my lunch and my phone. Sitting down at one of the tables, I unlock my phone and grin seeing a text from Jared.

Me: I'm okay. It was definitely interesting to say the least! Are we still on for McGhee's tonight?

I watch as the bubbles emerge, impatient to see what he has to say. While I wait, I take a bite of my sandwich, then pop the top on my soda. Seeing that he's finally answered, I take another bite as I touch my phone to get the text to open back up.

Jared: It was interesting here as well. Dad decided to give her a severance package for some strange reason and now he's putting in an ad to hire someone new. I'm working out of his office while the new one gets renovated since I picked up a few new clients. McGhee's sounds good to me, I'll pick you up around 6:30 if that's okay.

Me: Sounds perfect, it'll give me enough time to spruce up a little… lol.

Jared: Cass, you're perfect.

Me: And you're biased.

Jared: Not biased, I just know how beautiful you are no matter what you're wearing.

Me: I'll see you then, I'm going to finish my lunch since I only have about fifteen minutes left.

Jared: I'll let you get back to it, sweetheart, and see you in a few hours. Later, Cass.

Me: Bye Jared.

I quickly finish my lunch so I can take a few minutes to just relax before I head back out to the insanity that is Wednesdays.

* * *

"They'll have them ready and bring them out to us," Jared says as he returns with our drinks.

McGhee's is hopping as usual, but I don't mind the wait. It gives me a chance to decompress a little bit, and see how his day was.

"No problem. How was your day?" I ask.

"Pretty good actually. Got several things filed at the courthouse," he replies, taking a sip of his sweet tea.

I swear, the tea he drinks is so sweet it gives me a toothache just watching him ingest it! Giggling a little at my thoughts, I squeeze the lemon slice into my Coke then pop my straw in it before taking a healthy swig.

"How you don't end up with cavities every time you drink your tea, is a mystery I don't think I'll ever decipher," I tease.

"It's because of my phenomenal dental hygiene routine," he replies, chuckling. He then grins wide, showing off his pearly whites.

"I guess you're right," I muse as the teenage server heads our way with our platter of trashcan nachos. "Look, they're here!"

He bursts out laughing as the young girl sets the tray down, along with a ton of napkins, some plates, and two plastic forks. Thanking her, he waves his hand toward me. "Ladies first."

"That doesn't always work out for you too well," I retort as I glance at the awesome, cheese covered chips. I can see the meat and all the other things on it; pretty much everything except the kitchen sink, or in our case, the jalapenos. "Wait, what's this?" I murmur, seeing something sparkling in the middle of a glop of sour cream. I dig into the sour cream and come out with… a ring. "Jared?"

When I look up, I see he's down on one knee, a glass of water in his hand as he takes the ring from me and quickly rinses it off.

"Cassidy, ever since we were teenagers, I knew you were the one for me. Every good memory I have has you in it, and since you've come home, I've wanted you in my life. I want to spend the rest of our lives together, raising a family, growing old and gray, and eventually, when we draw our last breaths, spend eternity with you. Will you marry me?"

By now, tears are steadily flowing down my face, as his words evoke a vision of our future. It's one enveloped in love, secured by the foundation of our past, and anchored with the promise of a bright and beautiful future. It may be too fast for some people, but this is about us, no one else.

"Yes, yes, Jared, I'll marry you," I whisper, my hands shaking as he slips the ring on my finger. He stands and draws me into his arms before kissing me in front of everyone at McGhee's. As I return his kiss, I realize I don't give that first flip. People have been talking about me for years and I'm still standing, and since they don't pay my bills, feed me, or sleep with me, their opinion doesn't matter.

He finally pulls back slightly and says, "I asked your mother for permission to marry you."

As we resume our seats, I lean forward and ask, "You did?"

"Of course, I did. I also went and visited your dad's grave and told him what I wanted to do and asked for a sign. A red cardinal flew down and landed on his headstone."

My heart catches in my throat. I've always heard that whenever you see a red cardinal, it means a loved one is near.

Daddy, I guess that means you approved of what he was going to do,I mentally think. Thank you for your blessing.

"So now what?" I ask.

"We plan a wedding," he replies, digging into the nachos.

I start laughing because he has to remember the binder I started creating back in high school. I've planned my dream wedding for so long, I think I could recite everything I want from memory.

"Guess I need to pull out my book then, huh?" I tease, causing him to chuckle. "Because now that there's actually a prospective groom involved, I need his input as well."

"You've already had my input, Cass," he says. "Remember when we talked about flowers? What did you do?"

I think back and grin. "I changed them to what you suggested if memory serves. Calla lilies and lilacs."

"So, we need a venue, caterer, cake, bridesmaids, and groomsmen," he continues, while slowly decimating our dinner.

I take a few minutes and grab some for myself while I think of the checklist that's in the front of the binder and shake my head. There's so much more than what he mentioned that my head is spinning with everything we have to do.

"I think we have a few more things, Jared," I reply. "Quite a few more things."

"Well, bring your binder with you when you and your mom come out to the house tomorrow," he says. "Seeing as we're doing the walk-through while she decides what to order for both houses, we'll have plenty of time, Cass."

I start laughing because my mom, when she heard about what Jared had done to ensure she was nearby, decided she was going to be responsible for purchasing all the furniture for both houses. When Jared tried to protest, she pulled the ‘mom' card and how he had gotten her an awesome settlement, and this was one way she could contribute since he told us both there was no mortgage on the houses or the property.

"I still can't believe you gave in!" I exclaim.

"Did you really think I was going to win against her?" he retorts, forking some of the nachos onto my plate.

"This has been the best day ever," I whisper.

"Hands down, I totally agree," he replies, grinning at me. "So, the real question is, when do you want to get married?"

I stop and think about when we can get lilacs and calla lilies. "We need to get married by May or June if we want to have the flowers on my list."

"Hmm, that's about nine weeks away, is that enough time?"

"As long as we can find a venue, the other stuff should be easy. Mags will be back by then and I'm almost positive she'll do the catering and the cake for us."

"I'm sure once you talk to her, she'll be here with bells on, sweetheart," he says.

"Yeah she will," I reply.

* * *

"Let me see," Mom says once I'm in the house.

Jared and I might or might not have spent quite a bit of time on the porch making out. He's the one who put a stop to it before it went too far, but I plan to talk to him to see if maybe, once all the furniture is in, we can change that fact.

I hold out my hand which she grasps in mine, gushing over it. "It's beautiful, Cassidy," she murmurs.

"Yeah," I reply, smiling dreamily. "We're meeting him out at the property around nine tomorrow morning. I have to grab my binder so we can start planning the wedding, Mom."

"I'll be ready. I'm bringing my laptop and hotspot so we can look at furniture, but what we'll do first is search for a venue."

"That sounds good. I'm going to hit the hay, Mom. It's been a long day and I'm beat."

She grins at me. "And you want to fill Mags in, I'm sure."

"Of course."

* * *

Now that I'm prepared for bed, it's time to call Mags because news like I've got needs to be via phone not text. Hopefully, she doesn't shatter my ear drum!

As the phone rings, I pull my binder close to me, ready to add any notes that she thinks of, especially concerning the catering aspect of things.

"What's my favorite bestie doing?" she asks when she answers.

"Most people say hello," I tease, "but not you and anyhow, I'm your only bestie, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. So, why the phone call? What happened?" she questions.

"Wellll," I drawl out, "we need to plan a wedding."

My phone immediately rings with a request for a FaceTime call, and I answer, grinning like a lunatic when I see her. She's got her hands by her face and is silently screaming while jumping up and down.

"Let me see!" she exclaims, so I hold my hand up and listen to her scream loudly. "Oh my goodness, that's freaking gorgeous! Okay, so do you have your binder out?"

"You know me so well," I reply, holding up the binder and wiggling it back and forth. "First of all, will you be able to do the catering and the cake? You should be done with your internship in plenty of time, and I'm positive we can find somewhere for you to make everything, like say, my new house? The kitchen is phenomenal, with lots of counter space, a huge island, a double oven, and one of those fancy stoves. You know the ones we've always admired?"

"A Wolf?" she whispers. "Or a Thermador?"

"A Wolf, Mags," I reply. "He put everything in the kitchen that we ever discussed!"

"Oh, he's got it bad for you," she teases, sticking her tongue out at me. "And to answer your question, I'd be honored to do the catering and your cake. No charge."

"No, ma'am. This will be your first official catering job, so we also need to make sure we get some business cards made for you because I'm almost positive folks will want to know who we used. Are you still thinking about ‘Magic by Mags' as your logo?"

"Yeah," she says.

"And Mom is paying for everything," I tell her. "I need a dress, when will you be here so we can go shopping?"

"Well, I should be home on Sunday, so we can go shopping on your next day off if you want."

"Sweet! I'm off Thursday and Friday next week."

"Since you have several ideas of what you want, we shouldn't have any problems finding the perfect dress," she replies. "Now, let's talk about the to-do list and look at the calendar to firm down a date."

"The date is predicated on whether or not we can find a venue," I say. "But Mom and I should have that tomorrow, then I can order invitations because once Jared is done with the walk through, he and I can discuss that."

We spend the next hour going over the rest of my binder, firming up the catering list, and confirming the flavors of the cake. By the time we're done, I have a solid plan in place, with notes on the areas where I need Jared's input. Because I know him well enough to know he'll want to be involved in every aspect of the planning.