Free Cassidy Lane by Maria Murnane Page A

for a more mature approach to the topic, which was to be direct. “How long have you been divorced?”
    “It was final about a year ago.”
    She stiffened. Only a year? Was he ready to be dating?
    “Not that long, then,” she said.
    “Long enough.” He held her gaze as he said the words, and she felt a little buzz somewhere deep inside her.
    “OK,” she said softly.
    The bartender interrupted the moment, or whatever it was. “Would you two like another round?”
    Cassidy looked at Brandon, determined to follow his lead.
    He pointed toward the dining part of the restaurant. “Are you hungry? Can I buy you dinner?”
    She smiled. “I hear the shrimp tacos here are really good.”

    Cassidy and Brandon followed the waiter through the brightly colored restaurant, which hummed with chatter and laughter from groups of friends and couples huddled at tables tucked close together. They settled into a two-top in a cozy back corner, and over yummy shrimp tacos and another round of margaritas shared stories of where life had taken them since their high-school days. Cassidy was surprised by how easily the conversation flowed. She knew that, as an attorney, Brandon must be intelligent, and that he took his work seriously, but she was pleased to discover that he had a playful side to him as well.
    She dabbed her eyes with a napkin. “You didn’t have a towel or anything ?”
    “I had nothing . And it was so hot that I was sweating buckets the whole bus ride, so when we finally got there, it looked like I’d literally peed all over the seat. You should have seen the look on the face of the woman who was sitting next to me when I stood up. I don’t speak a word of Chinese and couldn’t think of how to mime that it was only sweat, so I just gave her a sheepish look and got the hell out of there.”
    “That’s hilarious. Gross—but hilarious.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Tell that to that poor woman in the Chinese countryside.”
    She set down her napkin. “Hey, speaking of languages, what did you take at Paly?”
    “Apparently I should have taken Chinese, but I took German. What about you?”
    “I took Español with Señorita Azevedo. She was the best. Who was your favorite teacher?”
    “Probably Mrs. Hori for biology. Did you have her?”
    “Yep. She was one of my favorites too. Did you have Mr. Bakken for physics?”
    He nodded. “Who didn’t?”
    “I still think about that man every time I hear the words concave or convex ,” Cassidy said.
    He cleared his throat. “Nerd.”
    “I prefer the term straight-A student . I can’t believe we never had a class together in four years.”
    He took a sip of water. “Six years, if you count junior high school. And you were in all the smart people classes, if I recall correctly. But to be honest, it’s probably for the best that you didn’t know me then. As you may or may not remember, I sported a serious bowl cut until the end of ninth grade.”
    She laughed as the waiter set a plate of flan between them. “You’re pretty funny. Maybe you’re the one who should be writing books.”
    “I’ll leave that to you. I’d make a terrible writer.”
    “I don’t know about that…you’ve got some pretty entertaining material to work with. I especially like that story about how you jumped off the roof of your fraternity using a parachute made out of bedsheets. What an idiot move.”
    He laughed. “I don’t dispute that I was indeed an idiot, but that was a long time ago. Now that I’ve got the boys and the firm, there’s a whole lot less time for getting into trouble. I’m sure these days your life is much more exciting than mine.”
    “I doubt that’s true. And I think you have a mistaken impression of my not-so-glamorous life. I take a nap nearly every afternoon. People who need a nap every afternoon can’t be all that exciting.” Oh dear . Had she really just admitted that to him?
    He gave her a look. “You take a nap every afternoon?”
    “I can’t