Ask Me (Mess with Me 2)

“Did he?” she asks with alarm. “You’re so young, Casey.”

“No. No marriage proposals!” I rush to assure her, not wanting her to think that I’d keep a relationship that serious a secret. “But I really like him. Eventually it might have gotten to that point and what then? If the tabloid articles are this bad when I’m just the random girl he’s dating, how bad would it be if we got engaged? Would reporters start bothering my roommate? My old friends from school? You? I didn’t know where it would end. You’ve already been through so much. Having me ruined all your dreams but you’ve made such a great life for yourself now. I don’t want anything to mess that up.”

She puts down her fork. “Casey, you may have changed my dreams but you didn’t ruin them. Even though your father leaving me hurt, I got the best part of him. I got you. Sometimes I worry that what happened to me made you afraid to fail. But no one learns to walk without falling a few times. As long as you get back up and keep going, it’ll all work out. Don’t run away from a chance at happiness.”

“Running away seems to be what I do best.”

She pats my hand. “Maybe it’s time to change that. Just think about what I said.”

She moves around the kitchen cleaning up before going back to her room to shower. I do some laundry and then vacuum the living room. Since she’ll be going to work soon, I slip a few hundred dollars into her wallet behind some coupons. Hopefully she won’t notice until I’m gone.

But all the while I’m doing as I promised and thinking about what she said. Before that stupid tabloid article, I was happy. I was ready to take the leap and then at the first sign of trouble, I bolted. Is my mom right?

Am I afraid to fail?

Andre is everything I’ve ever wanted. Have I gotten so used to things going wrong that I can’t even enjoy it when they’re finally going right? Because even though the situation was bad, our relationship was good.

So why didn’t I have more faith in us?

Saying goodbye to my mom the next afternoon is really hard. But it’s almost time for her to go in for her shift and I really need to get on the road. It’s only four hours back to D.C. but I need to give myself time to return the rental car. Then hopefully I can get to the apartment and get some sleep before work tomorrow.

My reprieve is officially over.

“You call me as soon as you get back to the city. Don’t forget.” She squeezes me tighter. “I love you, Casey. It’s all going to work out honey, you’ll see.”

After another round of hugs and a few tears, I manage to get out of the house. My small duffel bag goes in the backseat before I carefully back out of her driveway. I’m out of practice at this driving thing. I got the insurance on the rental car but the last thing I want is to have an accident on top of everything else.

On the way down Main Street, I stop at the coffee house to get something to keep me awake on the road. As I walk inside, I take in the renovated interior. Java Joes has been here since forever and I’ve never seen it look so good. It’s owned by a man named Joe who had a daughter a grade behind me in school. She always used to work here in the summers and give the kids from school free drinks. The memory makes me smile.

There were hard things about growing up in Gracewell but there were good things, too.

“Casey? Casey Michaels?”

The brunette approaching me looks really familiar but I can’t quite come up with a name. Until she smiles and then it hits me.

“Ginger Evans? Wow, I haven’t seen you in ages.”

We hug and she looks me over from head to toe. “I just moved back to town. You look great. Your mom said you’ve been working in the city. That’s so exciting. Or at least it sounds that way to me since I usually spend my days covered in barf and wearing the same yoga pants that I’ve already been wearing for three days straight.”

Her description of her life makes me crack up. “I’ve seen your kids on Facebook. They’re adorable so I’m sure the barf days are worth it.”

She grins. “Totally worth it. So how long are you in town?”

“I’m actually on my way back.”

“That’s too bad. I wish I could have gotten some of our old friends together for drinks or something. Everyone’s missed you.”

I raise an eyebrow. “The same people who gossiped about me being a home wrecker? The ones who believed Bob, the Car Wash King, over me?”

Ginger rolls her eyes. “Every damn body in this town knows Bob is a pervert. No one believed him. They just gossip because there’s nothing else to do.”

“I bet they’re having fun gossiping about me right now, too.”

She winces. “I wasn’t going to mention it. That article was terrible. But at least your boyfriend is hot.”

That makes me laugh. “You haven’t changed a bit, Ginger.”

She pats my arm. “Seriously, don’t let the busybodies get you down. None of us would ever do anything interesting if we listened to what other people say.”