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“Yeah.”
“Okay.” There was a pause, and Ash opened his eyes as Cass started talking quietly. “This weekend was the best two days I’ve had in probably forever.”
“Oh?” Heat spread to Ash’s cheeks.
“Yeah,” Cass said softly. “See, I got to spend time with this wonderful man and his amazing niece. We’ve become friends over the last year—really, really good friends—and he agreed to visit me and to let me take him out. We spent nearly two full days together, and it was wonderful. Everything I wanted it to be and more.”
“Everything, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Ash bit his lower lip and turned over onto his side. “When will you see him next?” he asked, his voice catching.
“Ah, see, that’s the thing—we were having such a good time over the weekend that I didn’t get to talk to him about that. So I need to ask him, you know, if he wants to see me again sometime.”
Ash half smiled. “You couldn’t tell if he had a good time too?”
“I’m pretty sure he did.” Cass was quiet for a few seconds, and then he said, “I really, really hope he did.”
“He did,” Ash reassured him. “He had the best time. The whole weekend, I—he thought it was perfect.”
“So you think he’ll want to see me again?”
His heart stuttered. “I know he will. In fact, I bet he . . . had a moment earlier where all he wanted was a hug from you.”
“Ash . . .” There was something that sounded almost like pain in Cass’s voice.
Ash inhaled deeply. “I don’t know how long it’ll be,” he admitted. “But I’ll be counting down the days.”
He heard Cass let out a sharp breath. “I’ve been thinking about how to make Christmas work or any time over winter break, really, but I talked to my dad earlier and he said he only gets Christmas Day off this year, not even New Year’s, and I just don’t know how to make it happen. I have to be here for my mom.”
“I understand, yeah, totally. And, uh, flying is expensive.”
“And driving takes so long.”
“Yeah.”
A silence stretched out between them, and when Cass spoke again a moment later, his voice was low.
“We agree we will figure it out, though, yeah?”
This time, Ash wished he could hug Cass. He closed his eyes and wrapped one arm around himself. “Yeah. Yeah, we will,” he said.
He swore he felt Cass smile through the phone.
“Okay. Good.”
Ash smiled, too, and he hugged himself tighter. “I should probably go.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Call me tomorrow?”
“I will.”
“And please—”
“Ollie will be in the mail as soon as the post office opens.”
