They held eye contact until Parker came back into the room. Cassie knew she was in trouble when she didn’t even consider texting Acacia.
Erin made them dinner—it was delicious, again, Parker totally wasn’t lying about her mom making good food—and they got ready to meet up with more of Parker’s friends. While Parker rummaged through the pantry for snacks to bring, Erin caught Cassie by the arm. Her pulse shot up.
“Here, take my number,” Erin said. Her smile had a hint of mischief. “If you need a sober ride home, let me know. Parker tends to lose her phone when she’s out with her friends.”
“She doesn’t lose it,” Cassie said as she programmed the number back into her phone, under Erin this time. “She has to give it away so she won’t drunk text people.”
“Cassie, honestly, could you stop?” Parker yelled from the pantry. “I know you like embarrassing me, but she’s my mom. Do you have to tell her everything?”
“You can’t invite me and then tell me I’m not allowed to have any fun,” Cassie called back.
Erin smirked at her. “Do you have to do the same with your phone, so you don’t drunk text anyone?”
Cassie ducked her head, trying not to blush. “Nah,” she said. “I’m usually pretty good about it.”
Parker reappeared, then, three bags of chips in her arms and a glower on her face when she looked at Cassie. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, honey,” Erin said. As the door closed behind them, she added, “Make sure you don’t text anyone you shouldn’t.”
“I literally hate you,” Parker told Cassie.
“You invited me to be a buffer with your mom! I’m doing a good job!”
“Maybe too good of one.”
Cassie grinned. She really hoped that was true.
* * *
When Cassie came downstairs the next morning, Erin had a cup of coffee ready for her.
“Good morning,” she said, offering the mug. “I poured it when I heard you coming downstairs.”
It looked like it had exactly the right cream-to-coffee ratio. Cassie’s chest felt warm.
“Thanks,” Cassie said, taking the cup from her and taking a sip. “It’s perfect.”
Erin smiled. She sat at the counter and Cassie slid onto the stool beside her. They drank in comfortable silence.
“There are bagels if you want one,” Erin said eventually. “I’d rather you not make too much of a mess in the kitchen—I’ll be cooking most of the day.”
“Most of the day?”
“We’ve got a lot of people coming over tomorrow,” she said. Her voice was a little tight.
“I’ll make a bagel and then help cook?” Cassie offered.
Erin’s face softened with a smile. “You don’t have to, Cassie.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Parker’s probably not gonna be up for hours. I can help out.”
“I…” Erin trailed off. “Thank you. That’d be great.”
Cassie ate an everything bagel with cream cheese then Erin pointed her to the cookbook on the kitchen island.
“Can I trust you to make the sausage balls?” she asked. “The recipe shouldn’t be too tough.”
“I can’t believe you’re making me cook balls, but yeah, I can follow a recipe.”
Erin laughed lightly. “You can do piecrust if you’d rather, but Parker is very particular about her pies.”
“I don’t want that kind of responsibility.”
Erin put on Christmas music and got to work on the other side of the kitchen.
“Nice of you to join us,” Erin snarked as soon as Parker walked into the kitchen.
The sausage balls had come out of the oven twenty minutes ago. The figs Cassie was sautéing in sugar were going dark and sticky, though she didn’t yet fully understand the appetizer they were to be a part of.
“Good morning to you, too,” Parker said.
Erin huffed. “Cassie’s been helping me for over an hour and you’re just getting up.”
Cassie didn’t look up from the figs. She was not getting in the middle of this.
“We’re having fifty people here tomorrow,” Erin said. “We have to get the house clean and as much food ready as possible, all right?”
“Okay, God,” Parker muttered.
She made a face at Cassie when Erin wasn’t looking. Cassie shrugged. Erin was kind of being a bitch, but she was stressed, was all.
Parker ate a bagel and then helped with the now-cooling figs. She spread goat cheese on them and then Cassie wrapped each one in prosciutto. Erin left them in the kitchen to go clean the rest of the house.
“She gets like this sometimes,” Parker said, “before having people over. Acts like it’ll be the end of the world if everything isn’t perfect. She usually at least lets me wake up before being so pissy, though.”
“It’s fine,” Cassie said, because it was. It wasn’t a big deal.
“She just like—” Parker spread some cheese on a fig too enthusiastically and got it all over her fingers. She didn’t clean it off, just reached for the next fig. “She does this stuff, like going all out as a hostess. And it’d be one thing if it seemed like she liked it, but I feel like she just does it because it’s what she thinks is expected of her. Like, my grandma was a big hostess, so my mom thinks she’s supposed to be.”
Cassie went to the fridge for more prosciutto because she didn’t know how she was supposed to respond.
“What?” Parker’s voice was accusatory. “Are you best friends with my mom now since you’ve been cooking together? Are you on her side?”
Cassie laughed. “I’m best friends with you.”
Parker grinned, and Cassie realized that might be the first time she’d ever called Parker her best friend.
“Of course I’m on your side,” Cassie continued. “It’s not like I give a fuck about what people think about your house. But I’m on your mom’s side, too. She made us two bomb-ass meals and lets you sleep in as long as you want. We can help her a little.”
“Whatever,” Parker said. “I didn’t come home to be put to work, you know?”
Cassie cut a strip of prosciutto and gave Parker a little side-eye, not that she was looking.
“She flew me up here,” Cassie said. “I figure the least I can do is help make some appetizers.”
That shut Parker up, thankfully.
Seriously, Erin flew her out here. She’d spent more on Cassie than Cassie’s own mom had spent in years. Erin might not have been perfect, but Cassie sure as hell wasn’t complaining about a little cooking and cleaning.
That was absolutely not an accurate portrayal of why Cassie was so okay helping with party prep. Erin needed help. It may have been pathetic, but that was reason enough for Cassie to pitch in.
After the figs came prepping shrimp puffs to be cooked right before people arrived tomorrow. Parker had lunch plans with her dad, so once they finished the puffs, she tugged Cassie upstairs as she went to change.
“Do you want to come with?” she asked, flipping through her closet looking for an outfit. “I don’t want to leave you here with my mom when she’s in such a mood.”
“I’m good.”