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Before she could say anything, Jeff—who was about three inches behind her—said, “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Cassie grimaced before turning around. “He is my date!” she almost shouted. “Not that it is any of your business.”

  “Is something wrong?” Thomas asked from the doorway.

  Cassie glared at Jeff. “Are you happy now? You woke your father and he needs his rest.”

  “I wasn’t the one who was shouting, you were.”

  “Brent,” Thomas said, smiling as he held out his hand to shake. “Are you taking our Cassie out?”

  “Yes,” Brent said, grinning. “I thought we’d go to lunch, then see a plantation or two. If that’s all right with you, Houston,” he said to Cassie.

  “It sounds wonderful.” She started to say that she needed to put the flowers in water, but she didn’t want to take the time. From the way Jeff was acting, he might do something to make her stay home.

  “Could I take those for you?” Thomas asked, holding out his hands for the flowers. “You young people go and have a good time. Take all day. Stay out until tomorrow. Elsbeth and I can handle things here.”

  “Houston!” Jeff said, as though coming out of a trance. “Why are you calling Cassie Houston?”

  “An inside joke,” Brent said as he and Cassie exchanged smiles.

  She picked her bag up off the table by the door. “I don’t know how long we’ll be,” she said and thought how ridiculous it all was. You would have thought she was leaving on a two-year-long trip around the world.

  “I need to speak to you, Goodwin,” Jeff said, his jaw rigid and his voice serious.

  Cassie put her arm through Brent’s. “I think we’ll be off now.” She looked at Jeff. “You can talk to him later. Bye.”

  As quickly as she could, she went outside and closed the door behind her.

  8

  WHENCASSIE UNLOCKED THE DOORto Jeff’s house, she made sure she made no noise. The lamp on the hall table was on so she could see the stairs. She silently put her purse down and the big tote bag of things she’d bought that day—mostly gifts for Thomas and Elsbeth—and tiptoed toward the stairs. When Jeff’s shadowy form appeared at the entrance into the family room, she jumped, her heart pounding.

  “It’s after midnight,” she said, her hand to her heart. “What are you doing up?”

  He didn’t smile. “Come with me,” he said seriously, then turned and walked back toward the kitchen.

  Cassie was tired and wanted to go to bed, but she followed him. Truthfully, Jeff’s attitude that morning had stayed with her all day. Why had he acted so…well, jealous?

  She followed him into the kitchen, and there, sitting on the counter, was a tall glass of milk and a plate of the cookies she’d baked.

  “I thought you might be hungry,” Jeff said, his face still solemn.

  Cassie went into the kitchen, got a roll of plastic wrap, covered the cookies and milk, put them in the refrigerator, then poured herself a cold glass of white wine. At last, she turned to look at him. “I’m not hungry, and even if I were, I’d want something besides cookies and milk. Could you please tell me what’s bothering you?”

  He sat down at the breakfast table, his hands folded in front of him. “First of all, I want to apologize for the way I acted this morning. It was just a shock that you were going out, that’s all.”

  She took the seat across from him, then leaned back in the chair, sipped her wine, and waited for him to continue.

  “Elsbeth missed you today. We all missed you.”

  “Last Saturday all of you went out without me and I didn’t hear any talk of missing me.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Has something happened?”

  “I guess so,” he said and gave her a half smile. “I think that today it hit me that maybe you could leave us.”

  Cassie couldn’t help it, but she drew in her breath and clutched the stem of the wineglass so hard it almost snapped in two. She put the glass on the table. Was this it? she wondered. Was this every dream she’d had since she was twelve? Was he going to say that the thought of her leaving had made him realize that he loved her?

  “I didn’t mean to shock anyone,” Cassie said softly.

  “You only shocked me, no one else.”

  He has a disarming way of smiling, she thought. It was dark in the room except for the kitchen lights. There was a light over the breakfast table, but neither of them had turned it on.

  “So how was your date?” he asked.

  “Great,” she answered. “We had a wonderful time. Brent and I—”

  “Cassie,” Jeff said slowly, interrupting her, “I can honestly say this with affection, as I have come to honor and esteem you greatly in this past year, but I think you should be cautious about that young man.”

  Honor and esteem me? Cassie thought. “Do you know something bad about him?” she asked.

  “A little.” He paused. “Okay, I know more than I’m letting on. I don’t think he’s what he seems, and I feel that I must warn you to be cautious with him.”

  “Could you be more specific?”

  “I really can’t,” Jeff said. “I’m not at liberty to tell what I know, but I do feel the need to warn you.”

  Cassie took a deep swallow of the wine. Maybe she should be grateful that Jeff was trying to admonish her about a young man she hardly knew, but she didn’t feel gratitude. “I guess I should take your advice and call off any future dates,” she said quietly.

  “I think that would be best,” Jeff said, giving her a look that said she was a very smart girl.

  “I guess that, all in all, it would be better for me to stay at home, meaning here in your house, and take care of your child and your father, to cook your food, wash your clothes, and run your errands.”

  Jeff’s face lost its look of helpfulness. “That’s not what I meant! It’s just Goodwin who I object to.”

  “Why?” she asked, leaning across the table toward him. “Because he’s young and handsome and because he likes me? He does things for me . Can you imagine that? He takes me places and buys me lunch. He laughs at my jokes. He—” She picked up the wineglass and drained it.

  “He does not treat me as though I’m his eleven-year-old daughter and feed me milk and cookies.” She stood up and glared down at him. “For months now, I’ve been dreading the moment when you would tell me I was going to have to leave your house. I’m sick of the way I wake up and wonder if this is the day I’ll be fired.”

  “Cassie, I—”

  She put her hand up. “I can’t take it anymore. In the last week I’ve had fun. I’ve had freedom from—” She couldn’t say any more or she’d say that she’d had freedom from thinking that he was the only man in the world for her. “Let’s just say that in this last week I’ve been awakened from a dreamworld and I’ve seen reality. Jefferson Ames, I hereby give you my two weeks’ notice.”

  Blinking in disbelief, Jeff stood up. “Cassie, what are you saying? You can’t quit. Elsbeth loves you. You’re like a—”

  “So help me, if you say that I’m like a mother to her, I’ll deck you. Really, I will.” Say something about us , Cassie wanted to shout at him. Tell me you were jealous of Brent because you love me.

  But Jeff just stood there, looking at her, seeming not to know what to say. “We all need you,” he said at last. “You can’t quit.”

  What little hope Cassie had escaped her in a great gust of air. One moment she was so angry she could have entered a boxing ring, and the next she just wanted to go to bed.

  “Yes, I can,” she said tiredly. “I’ll put it in writing tomorrow. Good night.” She turned toward the back stairs. Ten minutes later, she was in bed, and in spite of all the emotion of the last few minutes, she went to sleep at once.

  Jeff wasn’t surprised when he heard his father’s voice. He’d sat back down at the table, his head in his hands.

  “You really blew it this time,” Thomas said as he handed his son a glass with a shot of single malt whis