“Cool.” Cass spun his pasta on his fork, his eyes still up on the sky. I followed his lead, and for a minute, we ate our dinner our silence. The tomato sauce was rich with herbs and spices and the pasta cooked perfectly.
When was the last time someone else had cooked for me? Probably the last time I went to visit my mom, I realized.
I thought to ask about his band and had just barely opened my mouth when a meteor shot across the sky and Cass cut me off.
“Shit, there it goes,” Cass laughed. “Just like that.”
I turned and beamed a smile at him. Like before, his face was open with a grin, and the way the light danced in his eyes, I kind of wished I were going to spend the evening staring at him instead. “There will be another soon.” I took another forkful of the pasta in the air. “This is great, by the way.”
“Thanks. My ex Monica taught me the recipe. It’s one of my standards now.”
Right. Cass would have ex-girlfriends. Of course he would. And it was totally ridiculous of me to feel a tinge of disappointment when he confirmed that. “If you still talk to Monica, let her know she has great pasta recipe,” I said.
“I’m sure I’ll talk to her again,” he answered. “We just broke up a couple of weeks ago.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” It made a lot more sense why he came to Kentucky at the last minute.
Another thing Leo could have bothered to share with me.
“It’s fine,” he answered. His voice was low and steady. “We weren’t a good fit for each other.”
There it was again. That way Cass always had of just rolling with whatever came his way. I figured that a person had to be pretty damn strong to face things as they were, the way Cass always did. Like he’d somehow achieved this enlightened level of chill. It made me want to hold close and steady myself to him.
“How about you?” he asked, then took a drink from his wine. “Are you dating anyone back in Georgia?”
“No one special,” I answered, using my stock response.
“You and your brother. The guys just can’t pin either of you down, huh?”
I laughed. “Maybe that’s how it is for Leo. I didn’t have the time for dating while I was in school.” Which was also technically true.
“I respect that. Sometimes, you need to focus on yourself. What’s that project you’re working on here? Research or something?”
I shook my head, relaxed enough by his conversation to share the truth. “I’m trying to write a book, actually. About the galaxy and our place in it.”
“Another one!” Cass said quickly. He spread his legs and dropped his bowl to the grass, then pointed toward the blue star Vega. “Did you see that?”
“I missed it,” I laughed.
“It’s two to zero now. You better catch up.”
“Oh, it’s a competition?”
“And you’re getting your ass beat by an amateur. I didn’t even know where to look five minutes ago.”
I laughed, then stretched back in the chair. “All right,” I said, swirling my wine in the glass. “Game on.”
“Writing a book, huh? I don’t think I could ever do that.”
“I’m not sure if I can either,” I laughed.
“Can I read some of it?”
A panicked chill went down my spine, but I kept my eyes to the sky. “Um, I’m not sure it’s ready for an audience yet.”
“No problem. Although you get free drum solos anytime you want,” he teased.
I crossed my legs at the ankle. “Now that’s something I could never do. Going on a stage to play music, I mean. The pressure of performing in front of other people would destroy me.”
