“A letter came for you,” Rosie said, as Cassie peeled away the banana’s skin.
“Here? Really?”
“The envelope is handwritten and has a postmark from Spokane. You know anyone in Spokane?”
Cassie went still. The only person who would write to her from the Columbia Basin was her older sister, Karen. When Cassie first moved to Kent she’d stayed briefly in the same shelter where Maureen and her children were currently housed. Right away she’d reached out to her older sister in Spokane but explained this was only a temporary address. If Karen wanted or needed to get in touch for now, the best address would be the hair salon where she was employed. Until now Karen hadn’t contacted her.
Despite efforts to reconnect with her family, Cassie had a tenuous relationship with her two sisters. After a bitter argument with her parents and older sister, Cassie had run away to marry Duke. They had never forgiven her for leaving the way she did and for not contacting them afterward. Little did they know …
“It’s in back. Do you want me to get it for you?” Rosie asked.
“Not now.” It amazed her how unsettled she felt. The bite of banana seemed to stick in her throat and it took considerable effort to swallow.
Cassie couldn’t imagine what her sister would have to say to her. Then again, she could. Karen had done everything right. Following graduation, she’d gone on to college, married, and had two perfect children. She’d stayed in Spokane and helped their parents. Their father had died unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm only a few weeks after Cassie had broken free of Duke. She had been penniless and living in the shelter, and there was no possibility of Cassie returning home for the funeral. Her mother and sisters were in shock themselves. Cassie was too proud to explain her circumstances. All her family knew was that she’d left Duke and was living in Florida. When her father died no one had offered to pay her way home, and so she’d remained in Florida and wept alone over the father she loved and hadn’t seen or talked to in nearly eight years.
Cassie had always been especially close to her father. Of the three girls, she’d been his favorite. He’d been proud of Cassie’s accomplishments, her high grades, the four-year scholarship she’d garnered upon graduation. Then she’d thrown it all away for Duke. Her father had never gotten over her turning her back on that scholarship and marrying Duke. Her sisters, either.
“Cassie?” Rosie said, breaking into her thoughts. “Mrs. Belcher is waiting.”
“Yes … I’m sorry.”
“You looked a million miles away.”
“I was,” she said, forcing a smile. She left the break room, leaving the banana behind, and collected Mrs. Belcher, who sat in the waiting area, reading the current issue of People magazine.
“I don’t know any of these people anymore,” she said, when she looked up at Cassie. “Who are these stars, anyway?” She shook her head and set the magazine aside.
Cassie led her customer to her station and slipped a plastic cape over the older woman’s shoulders, securing it with snaps at the back of Mrs. Belcher’s neck. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting long,” Cassie apologized.
“Not at all,” Mrs. Belcher assured her. “I’m just grateful to get an appointment. You’re always so busy, and Cassie, my dear, just look at how long my hair is. I’m desperate. I can’t do a thing with it. My husband told me this morning that I resemble a shaggy dog, and he’s right.”
Cassie met the other woman’s eyes in the mirror and smiled. “I’ll take care of that in short order. Now let me take you to the shampoo station.”
It wasn’t until five o’clock that Cassie had the chance to retrieve her sister’s letter. She stared at the envelope several moments before she had the courage to tear it open.
Inside was a single sheet of paper. Rosie watched as Cassie read the letter. It didn’t take her long.
“Well?” Rosie asked. The receptionist was the salon owner’s cousin and not the least bit shy about asking awkward questions.
“This is the first time Karen has reached out to me since my divorce,” Cassie said, unable to tear her gaze from the letter.
“Do you think your sister wants to mend fences?” Rosie asked, lowering her eyes toward the printed page as if hoping to read a few lines herself.
“I don’t know.” Cassie wasn’t getting her hopes up.
Rosie’s dark, expressive eyes widened. “Are you mad at her?”
“I was never angry with her,” Cassie explained. Once Cassie had left the women’s shelter, her first thought had been to go home. She’d contacted her family, needing financial help. Grief-stricken, dealing with the aftermath of her husband’s sudden death, Sandra Judson, Cassie’s mother, had asked Karen and Nichole to answer Cassie’s plea.
According to Karen, who spoke for both her and Nichole, neither sister was financially able to help. Karen’s husband had gone through a period of unemployment and they were barely making it. And Nichole had recently married and wasn’t in a position to be lending anyone money. The bottom line was that Cassie had made her own bed and it was up to her to climb out of it.
As for their mother, she was completely overwhelmed dealing with the insurance company and attorneys. The death of their father had been unexpected, and she, too, was under a financial strain.
When Cassie had defied her family and married Duke, her father had predicted that one day she’d come crawling home. At the time, he’d been angry and upset. But Cassie figured he was right—she’d gotten into this mess all by herself. So she’d better be able to get herself out of it, too. With no help from her family, Cassie had struggled for years, working odd jobs, living on food stamps and in government housing, and eventually getting her certificate in cosmetology. Only then, after working a year in Florida, did Cassie have the means to return to the West Coast. For safety reasons, Cassie chose to move to the Seattle area. If Duke were ever to look for her, it would be in Spokane, not South Seattle.
Despite her brave front, Cassie had been hurt and angry to have been abandoned by her family. In the years she’d lived with Duke she’d held on to the hope that if she found the courage to leave she could rely on them. That had been an empty dream. She’d been foolish, and it seemed that in her family’s eyes, what she’d done was unforgivable. Cassie had been living in Washington state for two years and this was the first time that either of her two sisters had reached out to her.
It felt as if the letter was hot enough to burn her fingers. Cassie had been waiting a long time for this moment. She’d been eighteen and pregnant when she’d run away with Duke. Now, at thirty-one, Cassie was wise beyond her years.
Chapter 2
Cassie’s tiny two-bedroom apartment was walking distance from the school where Amiee attended seventh-grade classes. It was hard to believe her twelve-year-old daughter was in junior high.
By the time she finished with the last hair appointment of the day, Cassie was tired. She’d been up since four that morning and the day had run her ragged both physically and emotionally.
“I cooked dinner,” Amiee announced proudly, when Cassie walked in the door.
“Great. What are we having? Cordon bleu? Steak Diane? Don’t tell me you made my all-time favorite … lasagna.”
“Mom,” Amiee groaned. “I don’t know how to cook any of that stuff. I made tuna casserole, only I tried to do it on the stovetop ’cause the oven doesn’t work.”
Cassie had complained to the landlord, not that it’d done her any good. The stove was on the fritz, the faucet leaked in the bathroom, and there was only intermittent hot water that went from hot to freezing cold without warning, most often when Cassie’s head was covered with shampoo.
“I saw a recipe on YouTube and it looked pretty easy,” Amiee explained as she stirred the pot. She beamed with pride at being able to cook dinner, and Cassie was pleased that Amiee took the initiative.
Cassie flopped down on the sofa and removed her shoes before she rubbed feeling back into her toes. Next paycheck she’d get new shoes. Her current ones hurt her feet.