Under the Sunlight

Chapter 13

A couple of days after his talk with Baird, Jacob got his chance to talk to Cassandra. She'd had Max for the day and he was waiting for their return. They were running late, but it wasn't an unusual occurrence. The two were prone to "just one more" and often lost track of time. It happened prior to Peru and he never worried. Cassandra would take good care of Max and if she ran into trouble she would call. His son was still the bond between them.

He'd been in the kitchen working on a grocery list when he heard an odd sound against his door. Less a knocking than a scuffling. Curious and wondered if it was the lady down the hall's cat again (it often got out and then confused and scratched at a variety of doors until it found the right one), he glanced through the peephole. And he had to laugh, he was still chuckling when he opened the door.

Max was sound asleep in Cassandra's arms and she was struggling with him and the weight of the bag she was carrying. Cassandra wasn't much shorter than him, but she was very slight and Max had just gone through a growth spurt. Plus the bag appeared to have more stuff in it than he'd sent her out with in the morning.

She shot him a look at his laughter, but it wasn't a cold or angry one this time, it was more of a "don't wake him" look. He reached out to take Max.

"I've got him," she whispered. "But can you take the bag?"

He nodded reaching for her shoulder. Neither mentioned the physical contact necessary for him to get the bag. He sent the bag on the sofa and then jogged down the hall in front of her to get Max's door. Between the two of them, they managed to get his jacket, pants and shoes off without too much of a fuss. The boy barely woke and was soon back fast asleep, Jacob tucking him in. It all seemed like they'd gone back in time to before Peru. Cassandra had gone to the living room to separate her things out of Max's bag and Jacob took a deep breath as he closed Max's door.

She had sorted things into her own purse, which she'd had stuffed inside the bigger bag. "I bought him a few things too, they're in the bag. Well, I guess . . . ."

"Cassandra? Would it be okay if we talked?"

"About what happened?"

"Yeah, we need to talk. But I understand if this isn't a good time . . . ."

"It's fine," she bit her lip, awkwardly taking a seat on the sofa.

Jacob ran his hand through his hair pacing the length of the living room. "I'm sorry."

"What for exactly?" Cassandra kept her voice pitched low due to the sleeping child but he could hear the anger in it. "For kissing me? For running away? For ignoring me? For keeping me from Max?"

He stopped his pacing, standing directly in front of her. "For everything but kissing you."

"Everything but kissing me . . . ."

"Cassie, I handled everything wrong. Absolutely everything. I am so incredibly sorry. The thing is, I wasn't sure how to handle the aftermath of that kiss and I panicked. I only hope you can maybe forgive me."

"Well . . ." Cassandra wrung her hands in her lap, she knew she wasn't completely blameless in the situation. " I could have confronted you. We both know I used to have no trouble calling you out on your behavior before."

The tiniest hint of a chuckle came from Jacob. "No, you certainly haven't. I was actually hoping you would. This coldness . . .it's not you, Cassandra and it . . .I guess I could have dealt with you yelling at me a lot better."

"You weren't the only one who didn't know how to deal with the aftermath. That was . . . ."

"A hell of a kiss."