“You know what? I’m proud too. It feels good not to live in fear. He’s a nice guy, Brian. I really like him. And his family, they’re like a dream come true. Every last one of them is adorably sweet.”

“They’d better be. You deserve it.”

They spoke for a long time after that, sharing their lives in a way she’d been unable to do since before the last years with Terry. She finally had part of herself back. Even better, she was sharing it with people who mattered to her. It was a kind of connection she’d missed so much. It felt so good she wondered when the other shoe would drop and something bad would happen to mess it all up.

Chapter Six

Tuesday morning dawned and Cassie puttered around the house all day. To keep her mind off her first date in a year and a half, she’d painted one of the tables she bought at a yard sale. It sat drying on her deck as she realized it was longer than a year and a half. It was six because Terry didn’t really count. Hell, the first time she felt lighthearted about a simple thing like dinner and dancing since the first year she and Terry were together. Gah! So much for not thinking about it.

To get away from the apartment, she splurged and went to the beauty salon to get her hair and nails done. On the way back, she bought a sexy pair of shoes. Which would of course go with the jungle of sexy shoes in her closet right now. She had a weakness for shoes. Okay, an addiction. But hey, as addictions went, it wasn’t that bad.

After a brief nap she still had an hour to go before Shane showed up and she began to get nervous.

“This is stupid. I should not be going out.” She began to pace, mumbling to herself.

A knock sounded on her door and she looked at the clock. No, still an hour away, it couldn’t be Shane. She’d kill him if he showed up an hour early. What kind of man showed up an hour early?

Stomping over to the door she looked through the peephole, fingertips caressing the baseball bat leaning against the wall.

She opened it and Maggie, Penny and Liv all rushed in. “Afternoon, Cassie.” Penny gave her a brief hug. “I do like your hair. I think I see Tate’s handiwork. She’s a genius with those scissors.”

Before Cassie could answer, Maggie and Liv followed with hugs and all three simply strolled past her into her bedroom.

“What are you all doing here? I mean, sorry, that’s terribly rude of me. Hello, how are you all? Now what the hell are you all doing here?”

Liv laughed and gestured to the endless rows of shoe trees and racks lining her closet floor. “You’re a shoe whore! My word, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many shoes in one place. What size do you wear?”

Cassie narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know if I’ve known you long enough to share shoes with you. That’s a very intimate thing. I’ll need to run a credit check and do a few home visits to see what sort of environment they’d be in.”

Liv looked startled and then laughed. “You’ve got a sense of humor. I knew it was in there somewhere.” Her eyes moved back to a pair of red patent leather slingbacks with open toes. “Oh my lands. Cassie, I don’t care what you were going to wear, you will plan an outfit around these shoes.”

“Wait, I think I know the dress for them.” Cassie reached into the closet and pulled out a white dress with a big red O ring on the bodice where the fabric gathered. It was backless and tied around the neck. The skirt of it had a handkerchief hem. The perfect sexy summer dress.

Of course, she hadn’t worn it since the…what the f**k could she call it? It sure wasn’t an accident. Was your husband trying to kill you an incident? Whatever, maybe she’d write Miss Manners to see. But for now, she’d have to choose something else because backless wasn’t an option.

“Oh, no. Let’s see what else there is.” She moved to hang it back up but Liv grabbed it.

“This is perfect. Cassie, you’ve seen yourself in a mirror, right? You know you’ll look like a sex goddess in this dress. Shane will be under your spell the minute you open that door.”

“I don’t feel comfortable showing so much skin on a first date.”

Liv started to speak but Penny put a hand out and touched her arm. Instead, Liv nodded and hung it back up. “Okay. Well that’s fair enough. What else do you have?”

In the end, they decided on a different white dress with a wide, red patent leather belt and tiny, heart shaped buttons. The cuffs on the short sleeves were red where they folded up and the sweetheart collar was also lined in red. It hugged every curve and the shoes made her legs look ten miles long.

No one seemed to mind when she shooed them all out of the room to change, although she did laugh when Liv told her to leave off panties or they’d show a line.

After she got dressed, the four of them crowded into the bathroom while Cassie put on makeup and did her hair.

“Man, you’re a knockout. I’d probably hate you if I didn’t have such high self-esteem.” Liv winked and Cassie laughed. “You do know you’re going to stop traffic tonight, right? I don’t know if The Tonk can take it. Shane is gonna freak.”

“Oh puhleeze!” Cassie blushed and rolled her eyes.

The other women stared at her in disbelief. “Are you telling me you can’t see how beautiful you are?” Penny asked.

“Gorgeous? I’m attractive enough, I’ll give you that. But I’m just average looking. Not all siren sexy like Liv or athletic sexy like you, Penny or that sweet, fey kind of sexy like Maggie. I’m too tall, too leggy and I have an ordinary face. I do have nice boobs though. I got those from my mom.”