Trust Me

Chapter 33

Olivia

The last two months flew by faster than the blink of an eye. Once Cassie woke from her coma and began to progress steadily every day, I found myself a lot less anxious and able to settle back into a routine. My classes started again about a week ago, which also played a role in keeping me occupied.

I picked up one of the clear thumbtacks that sat on the kitchen counter, climbing up a step stool to finish nailing up the welcome home banner. Jason, Russ, everyone from the station, and I decided to throw a welcome home party for Cassie.

After spending a month in the hospital, and three weeks in the hospital's inpatient rehab facility, Cassie would be coming home. However, it would be a bittersweet evening because she was coming home without her baby.

Grayson still needed NICU support, and with Cassie being discharged, she would no longer be in the same building as her son at all times. She'd been crying for the past few days about the moment coming where she would have to leave her baby behind.

I didn't know what to do to take that pain from her, but we all figured that a welcome home party might lift her spirits, even if it's just the slightest. She needed some diverting on her first night because we knew it would be rough on her emotionally.

"Be careful up there, Liv." Jason's voice bellowed across the room.

As the best cook in the house, Jason was on kitchen duty and decided to whip up various taco selections for everyone to eat. Al pastor, carnitas, and carne asada. He also made homemade queso, guac, and salsa with the help of none other than Hannah. She insisted on staying a while when his mom came to drop off some meat for him.

"You be careful with that knife." I shot back, climbing down from the step stool, folding my arms, and eyeing him playfully.

"I'm just looking out for you, sweetheart. You don't want to be in another arm sling, do you?" He asked as I wandered over to where he stood, chopping fresh cilantro.

"I was two feet off the ground, Jase." I laughed, wrapping my arms around his waist. My head rested against his steel back as he chuckled, continuing with his chopping.

"Yeah, but somehow you'd find a way to make that dangerous." He smirked, glancing back at me over his shoulder. "I know you too well."

"Oh whatever." I laughed, letting go of his waist and stepping beside him so I could get a better look at everything he was prepping. "This all looks so good, baby."

"Thank you, why don't you taste the pastor meat for me? It just came off the fire."

"Don't mind if I do." I sang, plopping some of the delicious food into my mouth. It was perfectly tender and had a great tangy, hot flavor to it. "These are perfect, Jase...everything you cook is always so good."

Jason tossed the cilantro into a bowl before spinning around to look at me, a half-smile on his face as he shrugged knowingly. "What can I say?"

"Oh, don't start with your shit." I laughed, stumbling on my feet as he abruptly wrapped his arms around me. My back fell into his solid chest as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

"Did you and Russ finish the nursery?"

"Yes! It's so freaking adorable, and I can't wait for you to see the final results."

While Jason was cooking, Russ and I found ourselves turning my old bedroom into baby Grayson's nursery. We decided to go with a safari theme because Cassie mentioned that she wanted his bedroom to have an outdoorsy, nature vibe.

Since early this morning, we worked on getting my stuff cleared out and moved over into Jason's apartment. We then perfected everything for Grayson, and all in one sitting. Jase and Russ put all the nursery furniture together before Jason started cooking, and the rest of the decorating was basically on me since Russ had to leave to get Cassie ready to come home.