Free The things we do for love. by Abigail Anderson Page B

Cassie wasn’t sure which one but he sure did look funny and Cassie really needed the cheering up that it provided.
    Adam and Cassie had met when they had attended university together. They had hit it off straight away and had remained firm friends ever since.
    He was the only friend from uni that she spoke to these days and she was grateful for his friendship. He, of course, knew all the exploits of Faye mainly because Cassie confided in him every time Faye had wreaked havoc.
    Thank god she had Adam otherwise she probably would have gone quite mad by now. He had a knack for listening and giving advice without being too judgmental and with a certain degree of humour. He was a good friend to have, not to mention a funny one. Well, sometimes anyway.
    Having her mind taken off the events of the last few months was a welcomed relief in an otherwise chaotic and stressful life.
    “She’s probably out causing trouble.” Cassie joked and Adam raised an eyebrow.
    “Are you sure you should have let her out?”
    “I can’t stop her.”
    “What, you don’t have a chair you could tie her too.” Adam asked her. “I have one I could lend you.”
    “She is a grown woman. At least I think she is.” She shrugged. “Who knows.”
    “I feel I should warn you that it is dark and you know there’s more trouble to get into in the dark...” He let his voice trail off suggestively and she giggled.
    “I don’t think she was planning on going out. She had stuff to do before tomorrow.” Cassie replied, her mind wandering to the prospect of Faye leaving.
    After their argument and Cassie’s sudden burst of violence they had both sat down and had had a long talk about Faye’s sudden need to go see their father.
    A father, Cassie kept reminding Faye, that had had nothing to do with them all these years even though he had known where they were as they had not moved home after he had left.
    Mum had never wanted to sell and move away just in case he had come back. In the end though Cassie had reluctantly agreed that this was a good idea.
    Faye had thought of every counter argument to Cassie’s arguments and in the end there had been no point in trying to fight something that Faye had already made up her mind to do.
    Cassie didn’t want to alienate herself from her sister even though her sister seemed to spend most of her time being a thorn in her side.
    “What stuff?” Adam asked
    “As far as I know she’s packing.” Cassie told her friend as she watched him scoop up some of his fish onto his fork and popped it into his mouth. “She may be... you know... but I refuse to hold her to account for every single second. That would be way too exhausting for me.”
    “You’d never keep up with her dear.” Adam pulled a face and she smiled in spite of her bad mood. He was right too. Cassie would never be able to keep up with her.
    “Yeah, I know.” Cassie sighed jadedly. It had been a very long and emotionally fraught day and Cassie couldn’t wait for it to be over.
    “So, you’re really going to let her go? To your Dad’s I mean.” Adam asked.
    Cassie shrugged and looked at her friend of many years. He had a dark olive complexion, as all men from Italian stock had. His eyes the darkest of browns but if you looked closely there were flecks of gold and green.
    His dark hair curled loosely and Adam kept it short so the curls didn’t become too unruly. Not that that was bad, Cassie was reminded of a young Italian with wild hair. It had suited him. Perhaps not the impression he wanted to make these days but there was nothing untidy about his disobedient hair.
    He was a very handsome man and he knew it and never let anybody else forget it either. Cassie had witnessed many women trying to snap him up since the start of their friendship.
    But Adam already had a partner. They had also been together since their university days. His name was Joe and there was never any doubting that they were very happy together.
    “I can’t stop her.”