Cassie laughed. “Yeah. I always shoot way more than necessary. My motto was basically that it’s better to have too many pictures than not enough.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks. “My mom looks so beautiful.”
Cassie turned to face me. “And you look just like her.”
“You think so?” I wiped at my face, but it was no use.
“Yes, I do,” she said as she stood up from her chair and hugged me before looking right in my eyes. “I’m going to make you copies of all of these, okay?”
I practically stuttered, “Really? Oh, yes. Please. That would be so amazing. Thank you.”
“I’ll email you a link to the files too. That way, you can share them with your dad if you think he’d be up to seeing them.”
I wondered for a brief moment if the pictures would upset my dad or make him happy. “I think he’d love that.”
“Good,” Cassie said with a smile as she passed me a notepad and a pen.
I scribbled my email address down and pushed it back in her direction.
“Do you remember that day? I mean, I know it was a long time ago, but what were they like?”
“I actually do remember parts of it. Your parents were a great team. Even back then. They were so different in the way they came across, but they complemented each other perfectly. Like true partners. Does that even make any sense?” she asked, her head shaking like she was speaking nonsense when she wasn’t.
“More than you know,” I said as I started thinking about my own relationship in comparison to what my parents had been like.
They’d fought for each other, not against. They had been a team, just like Cassie had said. But Jared and I … I wasn’t sure we’d ever truly been on the same page. And we’d grown so far off course that I wasn’t sure we could ever get back. More truthfully, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to or not anymore.
Cassie started laughing softly as she pointed at a picture of my dad cracking up. Him laughing like that was rare. He was always inundated with work. Even when he tried to take time off, work stayed firmly rooted in the back of his mind, his phone never quiet, his wheels always turning. And that laughter had grown even rarer since my mom passed. I used to think that she had taken his smile with her when she left.
“I remember that your dad was trying to look tough for the photographs. He wanted to appear strong and smart. His goal was to attract big-money clients, and he said he couldn’t look soft. But your mom kept making him laugh. I don’t even know what she was doing half the time because I was too busy staring through my lens, but all of a sudden, your dad’s eyes would wander over my shoulder, and a giant, toothy smile would break out of nowhere.”
“That sounds like my mom,” I said almost wistfully.
“It was a good day. Fun. Your dad never remarried, did he?”
A surprised sound escaped me. “No way. My mom was the love of his life. He always said he could never replace her, so why bother trying?”
“That’s really sweet,” Cassie said with a smile before turning serious. “Jack had better feel the same way about me.”
“Are you joking? That man is so in love with you, it’s sick. But not really because who doesn’t want to be loved like that?” I added, feeling way too comfortable already.
“I love the way he loves me. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. There’s a bathroom around the corner if you want to go freshen up. I’ll just copy these for you.”
I nodded. “Thank you again. This is the best gift anyone could give me.”
“What a small world, huh?”
“Yeah, small world,” I said as I walked out of the office in search of the bathroom, but I ran into a rock-hard chest instead. “Oof, Hotshot. A little warning next time.”
“I was just coming to make sure my mom hadn’t kidnapped you or something. You’ve been gone too long,” he said, sounding way too sweet and sincere for the current state of my heart. It was vulnerable. He reached for my chin and tilted my face up to look at him, those green eyes filled with concern. “You’ve been crying.”
“Happy tears,” I said, and his face relaxed only a little. He didn’t like it when I cried.
“Promise? I mean, it’s my mom and all, but I’ll rough her up if she hurt you,” he said.
Cassie yelled that she had heard that from the office, followed by Jacey saying the same thing from somewhere deeper in the house.
“Your sister really can hear everything. That was exactly the kind of thing you should have warned me about,” I teased.
“I can still hear you,” Jacey singsonged, clearly enjoying eavesdropping on us.
“Go away, troll,” Chance yelled back in response.
I swatted his shoulder. “Don’t call her names.”
“She’s fine. Bounces right off her hard head.”
“Stop talking about me, or I’ll come to all your games in crop tops and booty shorts and flirt with all your friends,” Jacey shouted.
Chance visibly tensed. I made a mental note to make fun of him about it later when Cassie walked out of the office, holding a thumb drive between her fingers.
“Here you go, Danika,” she said, handing it to me. “I also emailed you the link. You can just forward it to whoever you want to share the pictures with. I’ll go finish getting dinner ready, but it’s still about an hour away.”
Chance looked at me. “We should probably study then.”
I nodded in agreement. “You’re right.”
“Show her to the bathroom first,” his mom said before she headed back toward the kitchen.
“This is crazy, right?” Chance shook his head, and a half-smile appeared along with his lone dimple.
“That your parents know mine?” I said in disbelief. “Crazy doesn’t even begin to cover it,” I said as Chance led me toward the guest bathroom.
He waited outside the door, refusing to leave me alone, even when I insisted that I could find my way back to the office by myself. His house wasn’t that elaborate. It actually felt more comfortable than I would have expected, which was nice.
I thought he sensed more that I was teetering on an emotional seesaw that I might fall off of at any moment, and he wanted to make sure he was there to catch me if I fell. And to be honest, I found myself wishing that I could allow that, that Chance could be the rock I used to lean on, but I couldn’t let myself go there. Depending on another guy while I had a steady boyfriend was beyond wrong. I needed to remember that, but Chance made it really fucking hard when he looked at me with those green eyes, all filled with concern and sympathy. He cared about my well-being, and I liked the way that made me feel.
Focusing on math was just the distraction I needed. It gave me a goal and a job to do. It was easier to focus than I’d expected, and we studied without stopping until Jacey let us know that dinner was ready. That hour had flown by.
“Think I’ll ace it?” Chance whispered, clearly joking, as we made our way toward the kitchen.
I laughed. “I’m not sure about acing it, but you’ll definitely pass. I know that much.”
“I hope so,” he said before adding, “Thank you for all the help. I still don’t understand it, but you make it a little less complicated.”