“I said I’d think about it.” She smiled as we both looked up at Melanie.
“Looks like you two took a spill,” she said as she kept walking past us.
“It’s all my fault,” Cassidy said. “I’m a total klutz.”
Melanie continued to walk down the hill and we followed. It was my last, big hike. My last few hours at the treatment facility. I had so many goodbyes to give people and so much to pack up to go home.
I was actually excited to head home. Not necessarily to be in my big house alone, but I was excited to be moving forward. Spencer and I worked really well together, and this new business venture would give me something to concentrate on.
There were plenty of AA meetings in my area, and I had agreed to go to them. It would be a good way to keep my focus on my sobriety, and Spencer had even offered to stop drinking with me. He was a pretty damn good friend.
His friendship was better than I had even imagined. He kept my house up while I was in treatment and even worked out a plan to come stay with me if I needed him to when I got home.
There was clearly no way I would ever be able to truly repay the man, but if I stayed sober, it was a much better option than letting myself go back to drinking. I seriously doubted that he would stick around with me if I couldn’t keep sober once I returned. It was motivation for me to do the work I needed to do.
“Come see me tonight,” I said again as Cassidy and I walked down the rest of the trail back to the building.
“If you say another word, I’m going to say no,” she said with a serious expression on her face.
Does that mean that she is coming if I don’t say another word? I smiled from ear to ear at the possibility of getting to have the night with her before I returned home. It would only be one night, but that was enough for the moment.
And as much as I wanted to make love to her all night long, I would do anything she wanted. I would sit and play board games if that was what she wanted to do. I just wanted us to have time alone without any interruptions. Without her parents, or staff, or anything that could keep us from getting to know each other more.
We had to go our separate ways for the rest of the afternoon, and Cassidy didn’t even say goodnight when she left after her shift. It gave me hope that she was pla
nning to come in.
When Kaitlin arrived at ten o’clock that night, I felt my heart flopping around like crazy. I waited until the other staff member was busy helping people with their nighttime rituals, and I went to talk to her to see if she knew what the plan was.
“I don’t approve of this at all,” Kaitlin said as soon as I was in front of her.
“So, she’s not coming?”
“She’s coming. I’m just putting it out there that I don’t approve. You could just wait until tomorrow. That would be much better. Wait until you’re done with your program.”
“I can’t. My business partner is flying up first thing in the morning to get me.”
“Do you even understand how much she is risking by coming here to see you?” Kaitlin asked.
She wasn’t happy with me at all and it was clear she didn’t like my plan of spending alone time with Cassidy. But nothing was going to go wrong.
After midnight, Kaitlin would be the only staff member on this unit. She obviously wouldn’t care that Cassidy and I were alone in the room together. We would be able to spend at least four hours doing whatever we pleased before Cassidy had to sneak out in the morning.
I had already planned it all out. If Cassidy snuck out around four o’clock in the morning, everyone would be sound asleep and she would be able to leave and get some sleep before she had to be back at eight o’clock for her shift.
“I understand and that’s why you’re going to make sure and help us. Right?” I said with a boyish smile.
“I’ll do what I can, but I can’t promise you I’ll be able to keep this from going bad. Things happen, mistakes are made, and I’m not going to be held responsible for any of this. Do you understand?” she said firmly.
“Yep. I know it will be on me if something goes wrong.”
“Now get in your damn room and stay there. I’ll send her in when she gets here.”
I followed her orders and went to my room. In there, I sat on the bed, and then walked over to open the door and looked into the day area. I still had a good hour to wait and the suspense was killing me.
Shower. I could take a shower before she got there.
I jumped in and let the warm water wash over my body as I tried to relax my nerves. Nerves? Was I actually feeling nervous about being with a woman? It was crazy, I couldn’t remember the last time I had actually been nervous about such a thing. It had probably been way back in high school.