Cathy Cassidy Author Novels & Stories

The poor thing has been calling to me since I got back. My fingers move feverishly over the pages, documenting everything that happened in Vegas, including the fight with Harper. I should have hit her harder. If my damn dress wasn't so tight… My phone pings and I realize I've been writing for a whole hour. And Cassian's name is all over my pages. I should rip them out and burn them, but it's not like anybody will ever read it. I brush my teeth and poise in front of the mirror, tying my hair up in a bun.

A bookshop so small you had to turn sideways in the aisles. I bought two books I didn’t need and felt good about it. I got back to the apartment at four. Made tea. Stood at the window. The city doing its Sunday thing below me. Ordinary and unhurried and not asking anything of anyone. My phone rang at four-twenty. Cassidy. I picked up. “I was going to call you tonight.” “I know.” Her voice was the careful kind. The kind she used when she had something to say and

As I read the words, they first sound to me like a big joke, like Cathy is playing a sick game but the more I read, the more worried I become that Cathy might actually be serious. According to the letter, Cathy has met a special someone who lives on the mountain and she thinks she has fallen for him. Because of that, she has returned to him and will not be coming back for a short while. She ends the letter by telling me not to worry. Claiming that she is completely safe and fine.

45, finally able to have our time. Cassidy had already started to walk downstairs to ready all of our clothes for tomorrow, Monday morning, as she usually does on the evening or a Sunday. "Baby?" I called as I followed her. "Yes?" She asked. "Should we decompress over a glass of wine and talk about last night?" "Sure, I'll iron the clothes at the same time." Communication with Cassidy came very freely, and quickly, she spoke about the things she loved and the things she didn't, and she admitted that her licking Charlotte's vagina grossed her out. So I explained about soft and hard limits.

I groaned, "The girls in the books always manage to get a fake partner." She flipped her hair over her shoulders, "I hate to break it to you, Cassie, but books aren't reality. Sheesh, you could have at least said boyfriend, or worse fiance. You just had to go all the way to husband!" I buried my face in my hands, "What am I going to do? I can't tell her the truth now, it'd be too embarrassing and I'm sure she's told the whole world about it." I was still living down being the girl who was dumped at the altar, no way did I want to add lying about being married to my unimpressive resume.

"Because I'd much rather stay here and strip you out of that gorgeous dress. It would look perfect draped over the chair in the corner of our room." Color stains her cheeks as she does a little twirl. "You like?" My gaze falls to her backside. "Umm, I don't just like it. I love it." Cassidy has never been one for slinky outfits or overly girlie things. So, this is a total surprise. One I'm absolutely loving. "You know we can't cancel," she says. "We haven't seen Brooklyn and Austin, or Luke, in months. I've missed them. We have a lot of catching up to do."

“Now, if you’ll excuse me….” “Fine. If you’d rather read that book than talk to me….” He put the book down. “What would you like to talk about?” Cassidy shrugged. “I don’t know. What’s life like in Pryor, Oklahoma?” “Boring as hell,” he admitted. “How about Shenandoah, Iowa?” She considered the question. “Well, it was pretty boring. Until last year when everything started to get so weird.” “Yeah, I guess so.”

"As your best friend. As the woman who has held your hair through four breakups and one stomach flu and one extremely ill-advised attempt to bleach your own hair in 2019." "Okay." "You are going to take the deal." "Avery." "Cass. You are going to take the deal. " "Avery, I cannot just — I cannot just agree to be married to a stranger for six months in exchange for —" "You can. You absolutely can. People do worse things for less every single day. You signed up to plan other people's weddings for ten percent commission and haven't slept past six a.m. since 2021. You have been quietly waiting for permission to be unreasonable your entire life, Cass. He just gave it to you. "

I challenged her; my eyes were already bloodshot red. “Oh come on, Christian. You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, baby.” Cassidy dropped her handbag on my desk and slowly walked towards where I stood. “I only did this so everyone could see how that girl isn’t right for you; I mean for what it’s worth she didn’t even finish college. So good riddance to her.” She gave a casual shrug as she scoffed. “You don’t get to dictate what is good for me and what isn’t, I told you from the start that I don’t want anything to do with you. So why can’t you just get that into your fucking skull.” I spat angrily, she paused and then flashed me a bright smile.

“Hey. I actually liked Twilight. It wasn’t all bad.” I offer a smirk of my own. “Right. And James Patterson actually still writes all his own novels.” Cassie grins. “You’re a literary snob. Aren’t you?” I wave her off, playing the game. “And you my dear are like the rest of your poor, deprived generation: You lack taste, Cassie. Taste.” “Oh.” She tilts her head and cocks an eyebrow. “Taste. That explains all those trashy Mills & Boon books you have in the Romance section.”