Free Poison by Leanne Davis Page B

and walked toward Luke. Cassie lagged behind, shaken by the exchange, reminded once again, that John’s behavior toward her was justified. She had no one to blame but herself for his opinion of her. She suspected that was exactly what John’s point had been today; to remind her exactly who and what she really was.
    ****
    Over the next week Luke and Cassie formed a friendship that was the only bright spot about Cassie’s current situation. After a day spent alone in the house with Tim, she was grateful that Luke came home and spent each evening with them. They worked together making dinner, cleaning up, sharing conversation and playing with Tim. They lived almost entirely by themselves as John had taken to spending each evening at Sarah’s. If John came home for the night he was usually gone before Cassie came down for breakfast, a fact that was just fine with her.
    Cassie had no idea how long their living situation would go on, or what would happen to end it. She could only wait and hope that eventually it would be safe enough for her and Tim to continue on with their lives. Until then, all that Cassie could do was to try and keep John’s hatred of her from getting her kicked out of his house.
    Cassie got out once a week under Luke’s escort to clean the clinic. She did the house in the endless hours she was home with Tim alone. She didn’t even go out shopping after Luke suggested John was right, she should stay out of sight as much as physically possible. Why advertise her presence here in town?
    She was doing laundry one evening three weeks after having moved in when John walked in. It was unusual for him to come home at nine o’clock in the evening. It was even more unusual that he came into a room she was already in. She said hi. He ignored her. She shrugged and turned back to fold her pile of clean clothes. He didn’t move. She turned back and looked at him closer. His expression looked different than usual.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing,” he snapped. He sat down on the love seat opposite her and flicked the TV on. He watched it intently, ignoring her. Something was off. John didn’t sit in a room with her, especially if they were alone and he had a choice.
    She stood in his line of vision, blocking the TV. “What’s going on?”
    “Move.”
    “Is it Sarah?”
    “No. It’s not Sarah.”
    “Is it me?”
    He glanced at her. “Why would it be you? Seeing as how you’ve taken over my house, my brother and my entire life?”
    “There is that. But that usually makes you run to Sarah to avoid me. So what has you running here?”
    “I don’t run to Sarah. She’s my girlfriend; I want to be with her.”
    “Luke says you never used to hang out at her place. That she always used to come here.”
    “Yeah, well, the six-year-old kid keeps things a little different for me around here.”
    Cassie hadn’t considered that Tim would interfere with John’s sex life. She should feel bad about that. She should feel guilty. She should want to fix that. But she didn’t. She was glad John had to do it somewhere else.
    “So if it’s nothing new at me. Or Sarah. What’s wrong with you?”
    “I want to watch TV in my own damn house. That’s not a crime. It’s my house. Leave me alone.”
    “It must be work then. Did something happen?”
    He glared up at her. “What part of leave me alone don’t you get? Of course something happened at work, something happens every day. I deal with sick people. Blood. Disabilities. Cancer. Death. Today it was cancer.”
    “Oh.” She had expected a fight with Sarah, or further annoyance at her. Not that. Not life and death. She wasn’t sure what to say. “That sounds awful.”
    He snorted. “I’m a doctor Cassie, what do you think that means?”
    “A lot. I can’t imagine what it’s like. But you care; there isn’t anything more that could be asked of you.”
    “It’s not the first or last time.”
    “I’m just trying to help.”
    “Well you can’t help me.