Getting Rough Read Online Free Page B

your safe harbor was within reach when a chaotic ocean was tossing around your insides like a boat headed for a rocky shore.
Thank you very much, Shaw Matthews
.
    Da jumped in, pulling me back to the business at hand. “You’re not staying here another night. The boy’s here to take you home.”
    “To San Diego?” I was confused, and pretty sure I hadn’t purchased a round-trip ticket. I’d been prepared for the worst case, so had everyone else, but Ma was a tough cookie. Still, she’d be out of commission for quite some time and I’d need to stick around to help out for a while.
    “You can only have one home, and San Diego ain’t it, kiddo.” Da strained to get up, the chair creaking right along with his own aging bones. “Stonington is. Always has been, always will be.
    “I’m perfectly capable of staying here and taking care of my wife, but my patience is too thin to be waiting on a bunch of strangers hand and foot and cleaning up after them. So you go do that, and I’ll bring her home when she’s able. Or when they kick us out because she’s nagging too much.”
    “Duff Whalen!” Ma scolded him.
    “See? It’s already started,” he said.
    I didn’t feel right about leaving Ma in such a vulnerable state, but I knew Abby would need the relief. It was my duty as the daughter to step in and take control until Ma was back on her feet, and I wouldn’t let them down. Besides, it wouldn’t do a bit of good to argue with the old man. Truthfully, I was too exhausted to anyway.
    Casey took my chin between his fingers and stooped to eye level. “You look tired,” he said, still able to read my mind as if our brains had been connected by cables. And then he gave me a conspiratorial smile that said he knew I was in need of rescue even though I’d been back only a short time. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
    I returned his smile. Because he was my knight in shining armor. Because he always put others before himself. Because he was
my
Casey. Because he wasn’t Shaw Matthews.
     
    The short forty-minute drive to Stonington seemed like twice that. Maybe it was because with each mile that brought us closer, the further we seemed to warp back in time. For me anyway. Stonington was my past. Casey Michaels was my past. Yet there he sat to my left, a vacant distance between us, like someone else was occupying the space and keeping us apart. My own emotions started to warp through time as well, those timeworn but familiar feelings and habits threatening to resurface. The old Cassidy would’ve reached across the space that separated us to take his hand. She probably would’ve even scooted across the seat to snuggle into his side and drape his arm across her shoulders. It would’ve been easy to do. As easy as breathing and just as natural. Sort of like slipping back into a favorite pair of faded jeans and an oversized sweatshirt after a long and stressful day. And God was I ever tempted to do it.
    But I wasn’t that Cassidy anymore. The Cassidy I’d become felt the tension in the air, and it was so uncomfortable that it was almost claustrophobic, as if I was sharing a confined space with a stranger. How was that possible when this stranger knew me better than anyone else ever would?
    Casey and I had grown up with each other. Our parents were the best of friends. They had done everything together.
We
had done everything together. From childhood playmates that laughed, cried, and fought – not only for but also because of each other – to teenage lovers who explored everything else together. He knew my most intimate secrets and I knew his darkest fears. Our lives were more intertwined than the knotted roots of a century-old oak tree, and the bond every bit as strong.
    A prickling of awareness danced across my skin. I knew he was staring at me, but for some reason I was paralyzed at the neck, unable to do anything but look straight ahead. Maybe it was a defense mechanism, a trick of the brain for my own