After lunch with Luke, Cassie found herself  wandering the streets of New York again. She walked down the sidewalk thinking about the things that happened earlier in the day. The call from the detective really shook her up. And running into Luke did not help matters. She did not know why Luke pushed her. She did not know why it bothered her. She just knew it did.  

Cassie stopped and hailed a cab. She gave the driver the address to her best friend’s building. Once she arrived, Cassie exited the taxi and paid the driver. She stood for a moment out side looking up at the building before she went into the familiar lobby. Cassie waved to the doorman. In the year since she left, the doorman had not changed. He recognized Cassie and greeted her as she walked past him. She rode the elevator up to Jade’s floor. She briefly hesitated before banging on the door until it finally opened.

“What the hell?!” Jade asked pulling the door all the way open.

Cassie ignored Jade’s exclamation and walked past the singer through the open door. She placed her bag on Jade’s sofa before sitting on the floor cross-legged with her back against the furniture. She threw her head back onto the cushions of the couch.

Through the whole ordeal, Jade watched her friend from the door. She was concerned about Cassie. Rarely did the other woman show so much emotion when she was upset, but a lot had changed in the last couple of years. Her outgoing happy-go-lucky best friend seemed to have crawled into hibernation only to emerge a completely different person. 

“Cassie, what’s going on? Tell me what’s wrong” Jade asked sitting on the coffee table directly across from her friend.

“Everything. Nothing. Christian.” Cassie said.

“Sweetie, you’re confusing me.” Jade said. 

“Why now? Why is this happening now?” 

“Cassie, you are making no sense. I need a complete train of thought from you if I’m going to help.” Jade said.

Cassie looked up. “It just seems like everything is happening today. Why can’t everyone just leave me alone?”

“And by everyone you mean?”

“I ran into Luke.”

“Okay…” Jade said.

“We had lunch and talked about college.”

“And that bothered you?” Jade asked. Cassie had yet to voice what was going on in her head.

“Yes. No. Maybe. I’m not really sure.”

Her immediate concern waining, Jade tried to suppress the fact that she needed to laugh. She had not seen Cassie as confused and upset as she was in this moment in a very long time. It was amusing. 

“Why don’t you try from the beginning.” Jade suggested.

“I don’t want to start at the beginning. Starting at the beginning would mean telling you about the phone call I received before I left home.” Cassie sighed. A lot had happened in only a few hours and it was hard for her to process. 

Jade sobered up sensing that the conversation was not going to be as light as she thought. “What phone call?”

“I said that out loud didn’t I?” Cassie asked. She had not meant to voice that thought.

“Yeah, you did.”

“Detective Parker called.” 

“What did he want?” Jade asked. She had a hunch where things were going, but she was not completely sure if it would be a good thing or a bad thing for her still recovering friend. 

“He thinks they may have found something to help solve Christian’s murder. He wants me to come in to talk.” Cassie said. “I don’t want to talk. They know everything. I told them everything!” Cassie threw her arms in the air. 

“Did you tell him that?”

“I didn’t answer the phone. I just let the machine pick it up. I heard him as he left a message.” Cassie explained.

“My god you are so passive aggressive." Jade said. “He’s not going to leave you alone you know. You need to call him back, or else he’ll keep calling. I think once they figure everything out, you know, what happened that day and who killed Christian, you’ll  feel a lot better. You’ll have some closure.”

Cassie tilted her head, “in all honesty, I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

“I think you are.  I think you’re ready to move on, you just don’t want to admit that to yourself for some reason.” 

Cassie rolled her eyes. “I guess we disagree on that point.” 

Jade just laughed. “Okay then, what happened with Luke.”

“He kept going on about fate and then he wouldn’t stop asking questions. ‘Why are you lonely,’ ‘Why don’t you want to talk about it?’ ‘Why are you pushing me away?’ Why is he so goddamn nosey?!”

“He asked you all of those things?”

“Yes, and that’s when I got upset. I told him about Christian, and then I left.” Cassie explained. “Why did I do that? Why did I tell him about Christian?” 

“You’re unsure how you feel about Luke and his sudden presence in your life.’

Cassie looked up at Jade as if to say, ‘that’s what you’re going to go with?’

Jade ignored Cassie’s look and continued with her theory. “If you truly weren’t ready to move on, you would be less confused.”

“No, nope. “Cassie shook her head. “I don’t agree with that. I reject your theory.” Cassie said.

“Obviously we’re getting nowhere with the current path we’re on.  Let’s discuss something else then. Have you made a decision regarding the foundation?” 

“Jade.” Cassie whined.

“You wanted to change the subject.”

“I haven’t really thought about it. I’ve been getting used to being back. I spent most of the weekend changing up my apartment.” Cassie explained.

“Doing what?” Jade asked in disbelief.

“I didn’t like the way everything felt, so I changed it.”

“By yourself?”

“Yes, by myself. I moved the couch and the television. I’m thinking about buying a bookcase.”

“You are so frustrating Cassie!” Jade said. 

“How does that make me frustrating?” Cassie asked.

“What are your plans once you finish ‘redecorating?’” Jade ignored Cassie’s question.

“I don’t have any at the moment. I might go visit my parents at some point. They haven’t seen me in a year.”

“And after that?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead. You know me.”

“Yeah, I do which is why I know you’ll be great for the foundation and which is also why I know you’ll say yes.” Jade said.

“So we’re back to this again?”

“Yes. In addition to Sean, I’ve found someone else with philanthropic experience who might  be willing to help us out. Her name is Danielle Wilson, she goes by Dani. Right now she works for the Clinton Foundation.” Jade said.

“How’d you find her?”

“Well, I asked around and her name kept popping up. So I gave her a call. I’m still working on her, but I’m sure she’ll come around.” Jade explained. She watched as Cassie took in the information. Jade could see the wheels turning in Cassie’s head. It was only a matter of time before Jade was successful in her attempts to get Cassie on board. 

“She sounds like she’ll be a good fit.” Cassie said.

“She will be.”

“Which means you won’t need me.”

Jade gave Cassie an annoyed look, “Why are you so resistant to this? You’ll be great, Dani’ll be great, we’ll all be great for this project. So just say yes already dammit.”

Cassie was surprised. She did not expect the outburst from Jade. “I’m sorry.”

“This is really important to me, Cassie.”

“I know.” Cassie said. She hung her head. She felt guilty. Cassie was not sure why she was trying to avoid any type of work.

“I need you on board. And you need to do this for yourself. I know you want to go on pretending  to be on ‘vacation’ because going back to work, moving on with your life means something you think you’re not ready to face. But I know you. And I know you’re ready for this. So stop fighting me and just go with it.” Jade said.

Cassie looked at Jade in disbelief. It was like her best friend was living inside her and voicing the feelings within she could not even begin to understand herself. “Okay.” Cassie relented.

“Thank you.” Jade sighed relieved. “I’ll get started on setting up a meeting. You won’t regret this Cassie.”

“So you say.” Cassie smirked.  She sighed deeply before standing up, “I should get going. I’ve barged in on you and wasted enough of your time.” 

“Cassie, you didn’t waste my time. As I’ve said a thousand times before, I’m here for you always. I’m you’re friend, and I’m here when you need someone to lean on. And for the record, you’ve got other friends who are worried about you too.” Jade said.

“I don’t really feel like interacting with them just yet. You haven’t told them I’m back yet have you?” Cassie asked walking to the door.

“No, I haven’t. But you should at least send everyone an email and let them know you made it back safely, even if you don’t want to talk to them. Can I ask why you don’t want to talk to them yet?” Jade followed her guest to the door.

Cassie shrugged her shoulders, “You are the only person who really knows what happened. I never told anyone else. It’s not really something you tell people, you know.”

“Richie’s been very worried; he’s always asking about you.”

“How is he doing?” Cassie asked. Richie was one of the few people she actually missed. She felt bad for keeping him out of the loop, but she could only imagine what he would say. Cassie thought of Richie like an older cousin—someone she did not talk to on a regular basis, but still a person she could count on to kick someone’s ass if she needed.

“He’s good. He wants to head back into the studio with me. I told him I didn’t want to start anything without letting you know first, and you had this whole rule about no business when we talked while you were away.” 

“Why were you waiting to tell me?” Cassie asked.

“Because I had hoped you would be writing again when you came back to the states. “ Jade explained. Cassie opened her mouth to speak, but Jade cut her off. “I know you aren’t. We’ve already discussed that, and I’m not going to ask you to. So don’t worry about it.”

Cassie could not help but to smile. She had the best friend. “Thank you.” Cassie said as she opened the door.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just adding it to the list of reasons why I am the best.” Jade laughed.

Cassie rolled her eyes as she stepped out of the door. “Whatever.”

“I’ll give you a call about setting up a meeting with Dani and Sean. Also, you need to give the detective a call. See what he has. Maybe it will trigger something that you forgot. If you need me to come down there with you, I can.” Jade said.

Cassie nodded. “I’ll let you know. Talk to you later.” She waved goodbye and walked down the hall to the elevator. 

Jade stood at the door for a while to make sure Cassie did not need her for anything else. After watching Cassie get on the elevator, Jade went back inside and locked the door.