Mourning Becomes Cassandra by Christina Dudley

Author:Christina Dudley
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: BellaVita Press
Published: 2009-05-09T14:00:00+00:00

All was quiet at the Palace. Joanie and Phyl were off at some Chaff-sponsored event, and who knew where Daniel was. It was a relief after the constant togetherness of the last few days to come home to just one Labradoodle. Benny launched out of his crate and tore around the downstairs twice before lapping up some water and whining to go outside. When he was taken care of, I flipped on the gas fireplace and curled up with some tea and a novel, but after reading and re-reading the same page a few times I gave up and shut my eyes.

A knock at the door, followed by Benny’s mad barking, woke me up. It had gotten dark outside, and I struggled up from the armchair confusedly, fumbling to turn on as many lights as I could. When I managed to get Benny to lie down on his bed and stay, I pulled the door open, and to my dazed astonishment, James stood there. He was minus the hockey skates and Rachel, but wearing the same moss-colored Shetland sweater and uncertain expression. “Cass, hi—yeah—I didn’t know if anyone was home.”

“What are you doing here? How did you know where I live?”

He ducked his head rather sheepishly and gave me a lopsided grin. “You’re going to think I’m some kind of stalker, but I realized I didn’t have your phone number, so I ran by the office and got your address off your W-4.”

“That is creepy,” I said, but smiled back at him. “What was so doggone urgent that you couldn’t just shoot me an email?” I stood aside to let him in and pointed toward the living room. “You’ve been acting weird lately, and I’ve convinced myself that you’re going to fire me.”

James laughed shortly and threw himself down in Daniel’s favorite armchair. “Oh, you thought I was behaving oddly?”

“To say the least!” I answered. “One minute you’re talking to me like a normal human being and then suddenly you’re avoiding me like the plague. At the mentors’ meeting, at Free Universe. I figured you needed to can me, but you were trying to work up to it.”

He ran his hands through his curling hair, his gray eyes still not looking straight at me. “I didn’t know you’d notice, much less put such an interpretation on it—”

“For Pete’s sake, James,” I interrupted impatiently, “Stop being so mysterious. What is it?”

Rocketing up abruptly and causing Benny to whine a little anxiously, James started pacing in front of the fireplace. After a few moments of this, I started to have the same urge to whine as Benny. What on earth was the matter? As if he’d heard my thoughts, James forced himself to stop moving, and I joked feebly, “I feel like you have some momentous announcement—let me guess—you’re my father?”

Not even acknowledging my attempt to lighten the mood, he sat back down again. “Cass, would you go out with me?”

“What?”

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