Page 2 of One Last Gift

Hazel shot Cassie the briefest of knowing glances that Cassie didn’t dare return, even though the back of her neck was sparking with heat. “Well, Rivers,” Hazel said, “I think it’s about time you bought me a welcome-home drink, isn’t it?”

Tom raised his eyebrows. “Surely if it’s me who’s coming home, you need to buy the welcoming drink, Niagara.” Niagara. Tom and Sam had come up with the nickname, feeling incredibly clever, because of Niagara Falls, and the fact that it was a tall waterfall. Instead of getting wound up by it, Hazel had decided to own the name, and it had sort of stuck.

Hazel puffed. “Details, details.” She walked away on those long legs and Tom, with a slightly helpless glance back at Cassie, followed, leaving Cassie alone with Sam. She suddenly wished she’d thought to get a drink when she first came in, because then it would have given her something to do with her hands. As it was, they felt useless and awkward by her sides. This is Sam, she told herself again firmly. But her body wouldn’t listen. It was like tonight, the warm lighting of the pub, the smell of pine around them, the fire crackling in the corner, was making her more aware of the looks they’d been shooting each other over the last few weeks. Looks that might not mean anything but, well…

“So, umm, you’re staying with your mum for the holidays, right?” Stupid question, Cassie. She knew he was staying with his mum. For God’s sake, she could do better than that.

Sam, though, didn’t seem to be aware of her thoughts and nodded. “She wanted to come tonight, but she had to work.”

“Shame. How is she?” She liked Sam’s mum—there was something so warm about her.

“She’s great,” Sam said, and those blue eyes softened, just a little.

“And…your dad?” Cassie asked hesitantly.

Sam narrowed his eyes, and the softness was instantly lost. “No idea,” he said harshly. “Last I heard he was off in Sri Lanka surfing or something.”

Cassie twirled that same lock of hair that kept wanting to escape her carefully styled half-up, half-down look back into place. “You haven’t heard from him?”

“No, and I don’t want to.” He said it in a way that effectively closed the subject and Cassie bit her lip, wishing she hadn’t brought it up in the first place. She knew how Sam felt about his dad, but she had wondered, what with it being Christmas and all…She glanced at the bar, where Hazel and Tom were still in a queue—too much for Linda to handle solo, as Cassie had predicted. She felt a squirm of guilt—she should have insisted that she work tonight.

“Anyway, how are you doing, Cass?”

Cassie glanced back at him to see that the tension was lost, chased away like it had never been there. “I’m good,” she said, trying for an easy tone to match his. “Finished sending off all my university applications last week.” She hadn’t meant to say it quite so pointedly, but then, what was the harm in reminding him that she wasn’t that much younger than him? Tom and Sam may have taken a gap year together—gone off traveling around Asia and seen the world—but she was still eighteen, and he was only twenty-one.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Business studies.” Working with Linda at the pub had made her realize that she’d love to run her own business one day. And helping to organize the Christmas do had gotten her thinking about events—she had a knack for it, Linda said. Though when Cassie had suggested to Linda that she postpone university, and that Linda hire her as the pub’s events manager instead, she had flat out refused. Not only did the pub have no need of an events manager, she’d said, but Cassie did not want to be stuck in this town and this pub forever, according to Linda. Cassie disagreed—she liked the security of the pub, of her hometown, though without Tom it held slightly less of the comfort she knew.

“Business, hey? Where are you—” But he broke off as a group of four vacated the sofa table through the archway, then grabbed her hand, linking his fingers through hers, and sped toward it, tugging her along behind. She laughed at the urgency as he pulled her down next to him on the sofa, her hand still in his. She was still smiling as he shook his head. “Can’t let a spot like this go to waste, Cass.”

It was one of the best tables, she’d give him that. Right by the crackling fire, the Christmas tree that Cassie had decorated tastefully with gold and red in the corner, a lone candle on the low wooden table, surrounded by empty glasses from the group before. There was another group of young people sitting on stools at one of the high tables next to them, and one of the girls was eyeing Cassie and Sam with disgust, clearly having been hoping to bag the table herself. Though her gaze turned a bit more speculative as it lingered on Sam.

Cassie laughed again as she looked back at Sam. He was sitting very close to her, she noticed now, their legs pressed against one another’s, hands still linked together. He reached out, tucked that errant strand of hair behind her ear, where it stayed, listening to his touch where it had not listened to hers. Cassie’s heart gave an extra-strong beat.

“You really do look beautiful, you know,” Sam murmured, his eyes not leaving hers, and Cassie’s skin sparked.

“Excellent! You nabbed us a spot.”

Cassie jumped at the sound of Tom’s voice, and Sam dropped her hand. She let her breath out in a whoosh as Tom and Hazel sat down on the sofa opposite.

Hazel handed Cassie her mulled gin cocktail, a dark red color with a subtle cherry scent, and gave her a little smirk. “So, what were you guys talking about?” she asked, the picture of innocence.

Cassie narrowed her eyes, though the effect might not have been as severe as she’d hoped, given she still felt flushed from the “beautiful” comment. Seriously, she needed to get a bloody grip.

“Cassie was just saying she’d been applying to uni,” Sam replied.

Tom made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. “Yeah. Business.” Sam raised his eyebrows at Tom’s tone of voice and he shook his head. “Boring.”

“Hey!” Cassie exclaimed.

Tom turned to her. “Well, it is. No passion or excitement in studying business.”

“It’s a smart option,” Cassie said through gritted teeth. And it was—no matter what she decided to do, surely a degree in business studies gave her a good grounding. Fine, it wasn’t the most glamorous or adventurous option—but then, she wasn’t exactly the glamorous or adventurous type. And that was the problem, as far as Tom saw it.

She rolled her shoulders to relieve the slight tension, then turned to Sam. “What about you? You really want to tell me you’re doing law because it’s your true passion?” She couldn’t say the same thing to Tom—he really did love geology, though he managed to get away with it and not slip into nerd territory because he was also sporty, good-looking, and charming. And, unlike her, he had grand plans to follow in their parents’ footsteps—to go into environmental work, make a difference to the world. That was the second problem, Cassie admitted to herself—her brother, like her parents, would do something important and meaningful, while she…Well, her plans were less far-reaching than that.

“Nah, but I’m going to be rich, Cass, and then I’ll be able to do whatever I like.” Sam grinned, first at her, then at Tom, who grinned back in solidarity.