Status Updates From Sweet Tea & Second Chances ...

From sneak peek of next book in series: Just don’t show your face around here until the media’s found someone else to crucify

The way I figured it, sometimes you had to take a lot of detours before you finally figured out what road would lead you home.

SPOILER: He kept the tub!

“As for me, I don’t need to make something of myself. I’m enough for me the way I am.”

And enough for Robbie. He’d been trying to tell me that all summer long. I just hadn’t been able to hear him until I got out of my own way.

Bastard was trying to put on a show for me. Laying his claim, loud and clear. It took every ounce of restraint not to let my fist crack into his chin. Pretty boy would look pretty fly with a fucked up black eye.

Would he have been able to make her happy? I didn’t think so. His kind of mean came from a place deep inside. Not even the goodness of my mom could have changed him.

Ever held a ray of sunshine in your hand, Cassie? That’s what bein’ around your mama was like.

“Whatever I’d do now would be way too little, way too late. I’ve been doin’ a lot of thinkin’ lately.” He took a long draw from his mug. “Dyin’ will do that to a man. I’ve made a real mess of things and there’s not enough time left for me to fix it all.”

She’d always kept a clean house. What their home lacked in love, it seemed to make up for in Lysol and Windex.

“Should we check the front door to make sure it’s unlocked before we try to get him into the house”

Misty rolled her eyes. “Who in the hell locks their doors around here?”

“With Cassie you don’t just get vanilla, you get it all. Never gets old, and no matter which part you sink your teeth into, you know it’s going to be sweet and satisfying as hell.”

See, it’s like Caroline is vanilla cupcake. Everybody likes vanilla, right?

Vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. Sweet, satisfying. guy could live whole life on vanilla cupcakes and be perfectly content.

Cassie’s like one of those giant ice cream sundae layer cakes her grandma used to make for Fourth of July, remember? Layers of cake, strawberry ice cream, dark chocolate mousse, banana pudding, whipped cream.

“And they trusted you with the key?”

He shrugged. “In Swallow Springs? If anything turns up missing, they won’t have to go far to find me.”

True. Another reminder of just how small of a town Swallow Springs really was. You couldn’t even turn around without fifteen people asking why you were changing direction.

“It won’t be anything fancy. We’ll still have porta potties and all, but we’ll have lights. Kids can play night games and practice past dark.”

A house I’d lived in almost my whole life and never considered home. Home was with Cassie. I knew that now. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep it that way.

“You always were pretty damn sure of yourself.”

“Just where you were concerned, Cass. You’re the only thing I’ve ever been one-hundred percent sure of in my entire sorry ass life.”

“Let’s just say it’s a work in progress.”

“That’s the perfect way to describe a relationship. That might just be the wisest thing I’ve ever heard you say, Rob.”

“Cassie’s finally admitting she still has feelings for Robbie.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s what you didn’t say.”

I stirred some vanilla-flavored creamer into my coffee and watched as it blended in, the dark coffee and light creamer swirling together until I couldn’t tell one from the other. That’s kind of how I felt right now. Like everything I ever thought I wanted was being mixed up so I didn’t even recognize myself. Maybe it was time to start drinking my coffee black.

“Why couldn’t you stay in my past?”

“I don’t want to stay in the past. I’m your future.”

My grandma had always taught me it was best to take the bull by the horns. Either that or run fast enough to get out of the pasture before you got gored.

Tell me you got the meatloaf, and I’ll be happier than a two-peckered rooster in a hen house.

Some say the kitchen is the heart of a home. This kitchen was the heart of her life.

Summers spent in grandma’s kitchen were the reason I’d become a chef.

“You get what you give. The day that man dies I might dance on his grave. That is, after I’m done pissing on it.”

“Robbie! He may be an ass, but he’s still your father.”

“More like my sperm donor.”

“Anyone who refers to himself as sexy definitely deserves the word ‘smug’.”

The only kid who could stir up more trouble than the sheriff’s son would be the preacher’s daughter. Thank God we’d never gotten together. Swallow Springs probably wouldn’t have survived.

“It’s really good to see you, Cassiopeia.”

“Nobody calls me by my full name. Just Cassie, okay?”

“Oh yeah? Well, I go by Rob now. Remember that.”

(Not Robbie.)

“Cassafrass?”

“It’s just Cassie to you.”