Fullness Of Life Ch. 02

The next morning, Robin was no where to be found. Cassidy finally located a note on the kitchen table saying that Robin had gone into work. She would be home mid-afternoon. She left her cell number, in case Cassidy needed anything.

Cassidy looked around the small kitchen until she found some bagels and cream cheese. Locating the upscale toaster had taken awhile, since it blended into the rest of the chrome in the room. Shaking her head at the modern decorating style, Cassidy sat down to eat her breakfast and plan her day.

After breakfast and a long bubble bath, Cassidy dressed in one of her favorite outfits. It wasn't one that she wore often, because Brad hadn't liked it. He had told her that she looked fat in it. The jeans were tighter than she normally wore, but with the sleeveless mock turtleneck shirt, Cassidy thought they looked great. When she added her boots, she felt like a million bucks. Shrugging to her image in the mirror, Cassidy tried to silence Brad's belittling voice. Yeah, she had made the right choice.

As the first order of business, Cassidy made the decision to deliver the letter that Wilma had given her. Then she would be freed up to look for a job the rest of the day. Leaving a short note for Robin, explaining where she was, Cassidy slipped out the front door.

Cassidy had taken advantage of Robin's computer and pulled up the directions that she needed to find Jess. It wasn't difficult to get to the street listed on Wilma's letter. But Cassidy was confused. It appeared that Jess lived in a very upscale part of town. For some reason, Cassidy had expected to be in a middle class neighborhood, at the very best. But, instead, she found herself parking her no nonsense, 4 door sedan on a busy street, alongside sleek BMWs and immaculate Jags.

Cassidy took the letter out of her pocketbook and locked the purse in the car. No need to take a lot of stuff to keep up with during this encounter. And perhaps Wilma would be off base and Jess would be fine with the news. If that were the case, Cassidy could be out of this neighborhood and looking for employment before lunch. With a spring in her step, Cassidy headed to the address on the letter.

About a block down the street, Cassidy found the specific house. It was huge! Knocking on the door, Cassidy was surprised when it was answered by a butler. Frowning, Cassidy said, "Hi, I'm looking for Jess?" Looking down at the letter in her hand, she added, "Jesse Turner?"

The butler looked at Cassidy somewhat skeptically, then said in a formal tone, "Please come in."

Cassidy entered the house and looked around. The butler left her standing in the foyer. In a moment, he returned and said, "This way, please." He lead Cassidy down a hallway and into what she guessed must be the formal receiving room. It was decorated with heavy reds and dark wood, reminiscent of medieval castles.

Cassidy watched as the butler bowed himself out of the room. Looking around, she decided to wait in as much comfort as possible given the rigidity of the room's furnishings. Cassidy gingerly sat down on the edge of one of the clawfooted chairs. Right as her backside hit the seat, the door flew open. Cassidy jumped up, wanting to meet Jess standing up.

To Cassidy's utter amazement, Van Henderson's bodyguard entered the room. The expression on his face was one of pure anger. His fury radiated off of him in waves. Cassidy could only stare, open mouthed.

"Just what the hell do you mean, coming here? Did your friend put you up to it? Or did you hope to snag Mr. Henderson for yourself? I knew I shouldn't have given you that personal card last night. Give it back to me! Give it back to me now!" the man stormed, pointing to the paper in Cassidy's hand.

Still confused beyond comprehension, Cassidy looked down at the letter she was holding. It took a moment, but her brain finally kicked into gear. Looking back up at the man, Cassidy gritted her teeth. She said, "I have never! You know, I was doing Jess Turner's aunt a favor to come here and deliver this letter. I didn't know it was your precious Van Henderson's home. I just want to give this to Jess Turner."

The man reached out his hand, as if to take the letter, but Cassidy jerked it back. "Oh, no you don't. I came here to give this to Jesse Turner and I'm not leaving until you let me give it to her."

"Her? What do you mean, her? I'm Jesse Turner," the man said, still yelling.

Cassidy had never been stunned into complete silence in her whole life. But at that moment, she was speechless. Quickly going over in her mind, the conversation in which Wilma had given her the letter, she realized that Wilma had never said that Jess was a woman. Cassidy had just made the assumption that "little Jess" was not a strapping male bodyguard. Closing her eyes with the realization of the obvious matchmaking attempt on Wilma's part, Cassidy wondered what she should say next.

Finally, Cassidy settled on trying the truth, "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you were a man. Well, I realized that you were a man, I mean, look at you, you are obviously a man. But I didn't realize that Jess Turner was a man. Had I known that you were Jesse Turner, then again, obviously, I wouldn't have made the male/female mistake." Taking a deep breath to try to calm her nerves, Cassidy continued, "I'm making a mess out of this. Your Aunt Wilma asked me to deliver this letter to you. I think that it was a set up, though. I'm not sure, but I get the feeling that you aren't the type to burst into tears and need comforting because dear old Aunt Mimi is going to lose the mortgage on her home."

Jesse Turner had listened to Cassidy's explanation, staring at her through narrowed eyes. When she came to the end of her outburst, Jesse stood stone still for a moment before throwing back his head and laughing loudly. "You, lady, have truly been set up. Aunt Mimi's mortgage is owned by my uncle, her son. She doesn't even make payments. My dear Aunt Wilma seems to have just wanted to get one over on you. I'm sure that letter has no more than the usual small town gossip in it. What did you do to tick my aunt off?"

Cassidy wasn't impressed that the man didn't seem to realize that Aunt Wilma was trying to set them up together. He was just convinced that his aunt was pulling a trick on her - as though she wasn't even good enough to be in the running as a potential match up.

Still not smiling, Cassidy said, "Look, buster, just take the letter and let me get out of here. I think you have insulted me enough for one day."

Jesse reached out his hand, but much to Cassidy's dismay, instead of taking the letter, his hand closed around her wrist. She frowned up into his face, but he quickly turned his head and began pulling her out of the room down the hall.

"Would you quit!" Cassidy stormed, pulling back against Jesse's hand. Her effort had little effect on the man as he continued to stride further down the hall.

When Jesse came to a closed door at the end of the hall, he pushed it open and pulled Cassidy into it. Letting go of her wrist, he flipped on the lights. Cassidy looked around in surprise. She was standing in the middle of what was obviously a man's bedroom - and given the Spartan appearance, she would lay money on the fact that it was Jesse's.

In five years of dating Brad, Cassidy had never been into his bedroom. But, having known Jesse Turner for less than five minutes, she was standing alongside him in his. Cassidy tried to quell the thrill of excitement that flooded through her body at the thought of Jesse's bed. She had come here to deliver a letter and that was all. Anyway, the man was acting like a jerk.

Once again, Cassidy held the letter out to Jesse. "This is yours. Please take it so I can leave."

Jesse was a big man. He loomed well over a foot taller than Cassidy and outweighed her by quite a bit. When he maneuvered himself to be standing against the now closed bedroom door, blocking Cassidy's way out, she shot him a concerned look.

"Don't worry. I've just had a change of heart. I feel like I might get upset over Aunt Mimi's news. I think I do need you to stay and comfort me," Jesse said with a quirk of his eyebrow.

Cassidy's eyes grew large. "Just what kind of woman do you think that I am? I came here to give you this and to offer sympathy to some lost little girl living in the big city. I didn't know that she was going to turn out to be a he and that he was going to turn out to be some bodybuilding hunk of a man. Just because I made one mistake, don't think I'm going to make another by having. . . doing. . . whatever it is that you are planning on having me do in this room!"

Jesse narrowed his own eyes. "Surely you can find it in your heart to help me out during this time of distress. After all, I could make it worth your time. I could even arrange for your friend to get hooked up with Van."

Cassidy couldn't believe her ears. "Why you - you - jerk! How dare you try to blackmail me into your bed! Let me out of this room before I start screaming. And don't you dare try to stop me!"

Although Cassidy was certain that Jesse wasn't going to do anything to her that she didn't want, she wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to get past him to walk out his bedroom door. In fact, Cassidy couldn't even see the door behind his huge frame.

When Cassidy looked back up into Jesse's face, she was surprised to see him smiling at her. In none of their interactions up until that point had she seen any genuine feeling on his face. But at that moment, Cassidy could see real warmth in his features.

"I'm sorry, Cassidy. I had to make sure. Van has so many people chasing after him. I have to take my job seriously and weed out all the ones that I can. I didn't mean to offend you," Jesse said.

Cassidy stared at him in her confusion. "So what am I doing in your bedroom? Do you bring all of the potential problem people back here?"

Before Cassidy's very eyes, Jesse's face turned red. She watched as he hesitated then said, "Not really. That was a first. I just needed some edge to make you tell me the truth. The bedroom isn't my usual method of interrogation. Nor is using my aunt's letters from home."

For a moment, Cassidy met Jesse's gaze. In his eyes, she thought she could see a bit of laughter, uncertainty, and something else - something that looked remarkably like interest. Unable to tear her own eyes away, Cassidy stood mesmerized.

It was unclear how long the two of them stood staring at each other. They were interrupted when the door behind Jesse was suddenly pushed open.

"Jess? I need to go over this schedule wi- . . . " Van Henderson stopped just inside the door, since the door banged heavily against Jesse's back. Van stepped around Jesse and took in the scene before him. Although Cassidy and Jesse weren't touching, Cassidy's face turned bright red at the implications of being in a man's bedroom.

"Well, well," Van said, "Aren't you Robin's friend? The one we met last night? You sure didn't waste any time with this one, Jesse."

If Cassidy had thought that her face was red before, it was downright painful now. The way Van said it made it sound like Jesse was quite a player. What an idiot she was. There for a moment, she had actually thought Jesse might be interested in her - yeah, right. That would be the day when a man as desirable as Jesse Turner might actually have any romantic thoughts about her.

Cassidy caught the look that Jesse shot Van, but she wasn't sure what it meant. Whatever it was, it caused Van to look rather reticent. His next words were much more subdued. Van said, "Jesse, I really do need to go over this schedule with you, but it can wait. I'm sorry to have interrupted." Turning toward Cassidy, he added, "Please tell Robin I said hello." Then he turned and left, closing the door behind him.

The silence stretched between Cassidy and Jesse, as Cassidy stared anywhere but at Jesse. Finally, with a loud sigh, Jesse said, "I don't suppose . . ."

Closing her eyes, Cassidy said, "Please, don't say anything. I just need to go. I'm sorry about the mix up. I hope that the letter from Wilma doesn't upset you too much. I have to go now." Then, taking advantage of the opening Van had made, she slipped past Jesse and out the door. Once in the hallway, Cassidy found herself practically running to get out the front door.

And she almost made it. Only feet from freedom, Cassidy felt a hand on her arm. Annoyed, she looked up and saw Van staring intently at her. Rather than give in to the desire to shake off his restraining hold and bolt out the door, Cassidy stopped.

"What can I do for you, Van?" Cassidy asked.

Van looked somewhat uncomfortable. "Look, I just wanted to apologize. There was no cause for what I said back there. Jesse doesn't have a string of women that he brings around. I'm not exactly sure why I was trying to scare you off. Jesse is a good friend to me. I guess I was just feeling a little over protective."

Cassidy laughed at the irony. "The whole reason I was in his bedroom in the first place was because he was trying to protect you. Maybe you two have some protection issues you need to work out."

Van smiled slightly. "Yeah, I guess so. I am sorry though about being rude. I need to go apologize to Jesse now. But I didn't want you to get away thinking that I was some kind of jerk and that Jesse was some kind of Casanova. If you mean enough to him to get into his bedroom, you must be important."

Cassidy wanted to assure Van that she wasn't anything special, but, at that moment, she wasn't sure she could get out any coherent sentences. She was feeling far too mixed up. So, instead, she nodded her head and murmured, "Good bye, Van." Then she walked quickly out of the man's house.

Sitting in her car a few moments later, Cassidy thought back over the last 30 minutes of her life. She had never dreamed that delivering Wilma's letter would be so traumatic. But, damn it, "little Jess" wasn't supposed to be so damn sexy, either! Shaking her head at her own thoughts, Cassidy resolved to try to let it go. Jesse hadn't really wanted her to be in his bedroom - it was only a test. And she had passed. It was time to move on.

Cassidy didn't bother trying to find a job that afternoon. She didn't have the emotional stamina to even look. Instead, she went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients she needed to cook up lasagna for supper for her and Robin. It was therapeutic to sling pots and pans, chop up veggies and stab the meat as it browned!

Robin was delayed at her job and called to let Cassidy know that she planned to be home around 6:00. By the time she arrived, Cassidy had supper on the table, complete with salad and crusty french bread. Robin was thrilled that she didn't have to make any arrangements for supper and Cassidy was glad to have the chance to pay Robin back for her hospitality.

After supper, the two women sat at the table and talked for several hours. Cassidy told Robin about her strange adventure at Van Henderson's house. Cassidy noticed that Robin seemed to perk up and pay extra attention every time that she mentioned Van.

Finally, around 9:00, Robin threw Cassidy out of the kitchen and insisted on doing the dishes. Cassidy wondered into the living room to sit down. She noticed that Robin's computer was beeping.

"Robin? Your computer is complaining to me about something. Should I do anything?" Cassidy called through the house.

Robin stuck her head around the corner. "Oh, that's the 'you've got mail' beep. Push that tab key to get it to hush."

After Cassidy pushed the appropriate key, she noticed that a message scrolled onto the screen.

"Robin?" Cassidy called again. "I think you better come in here!"

Cassidy stood behind the monitor and watched Robin's face as she moved to see what Cassidy was staring at. Cassidy laughed out loud at Robin's shocked look.

On the screen was a virtual bouquet with a waving banner across the bottom of the page. It informed the recipient that the sender was Van Henderson and that he was looking forward to cashing in his rain check!

"Well," Cassidy said, "What are you waiting for? Write the man back! I'll finish the dishes."

Without even a second's hesitation, Robin absentmindedly handed Cassidy the dishrag and dropped into the chair in front of her computer. Cassidy laughed to herself as she headed into the kitchen to clean up. She hoped it worked out well for Robin and Van.

Later that night, Robin was back to what appeared to be her normal off-work self. She talked about some of the kids that she worked with and how much she loved what she did. Cassidy not only enjoyed the stories, she also liked how comfortable Robin seemed to be with her life.

Cassidy found out that Robin was 29, had never been married and had only had two serious relationships. She had gone so far as to get engaged to one of the men before she found out that he had maxed out her credit cards. The other man she had broken things off with because she found that she was being too critical of him. After that relationship, Robin had gone into counselling and had worked out a few of her own personal issues. Now, she was a lot healthier emotionally. And she was ready to settle down. But only with the right guy.

Cassidy found herself sharing more of her own history with Robin. She told Robin about growing up believing that she would only cause problems by letting others know about her own wants and needs. As a teenager, Cassidy had longed to date and be socially active, but her father had forbidden her to date until she was 17. Cassidy would never have told him how much that hurt or how badly she wanted to date - not that anyone was waiting around to date her.

After high school graduation, Cassidy continued hiding her personal desires. Rather than striking out on her own, Cassidy continued living at home and started classes at the community college in Sweetwater. There, she had been exposed to a larger variety of people, but the patterns from her childhood were too far ingrained to break free. She shied away from her new classmates and further isolated herself from her peers. Without much fanfare, Cassidy finished her Associates degree in business management and joined the work force.

With that degree, Cassidy found a job in the secretarial pool for the largest law firm in Sweetwater - which wasn't saying a lot. All that meant was the she was one of six women who spent their days pecking at the keys of a computer, with no hope of advancement. When her parents had died a few years later, Cassidy had inherited enough money to quit her job and go back to school. For what felt like the first time in her life, Cassidy took classes that interested her. It was then that she had discovered her love of accounting. Somehow, she had missed it when she was getting her first degree.

This time, Cassidy took enough classes to get her Bachelors degree in accounting, all through the extension program from the University of South Carolina. Although she decided not to sit for the boards, she had managed to find plenty of work doing bookkeeping for several of the local business in Sweetwater. But even with all of the contacts she had, Cassidy never seemed to connect with anyone. She was treated as a hired hand who did an important job - but nothing more.

It was during her final year of her Bachelors program that Cassidy had met Brad Frazier. Although Cassidy hadn't finished her degree yet, she had advertized to do bookkeeping for any of the local business. Brad's father owned a small hardware store and he had jumped on the chance to hire Cassidy to keep his books and do his payroll. During Cassidy's second week there, Brad had breezed into the store and dropped down on the corner of Cassidy's desk.

"Hi, doll! Don't I know you?" Brad had asked. And that was all it took.