Chapter 65: High School, Revisited
Cassidy drove to the hospital with one hand lightly tapping the steering wheel, the other resting near the gearshift. Her chest felt lighter now. The meeting with Zeke had gone far better than she expected. It didn’t feel like a battle this time. Just a conversation. Calm. Gentle. Natural in a way that caught her off guard.
He seemed softer. Less guarded. His words felt warmer somehow, not like the distant ones she used to hear. Maybe the past four years hadn’t just shaped her. Maybe they had shaped him too.
Cassidy felt a quiet warmth bloom in her chest at the thought. She was glad. Truly glad for the man he was becoming.
But one thing still weighed on her. Claire.
He deserved to know. And before she told him, she needed to talk to Claire first.
She pulled into the hospital parking lot, locked the car, and made her way through the private VIP wing. The scent of antiseptic was sharp in the air. The lighting overhead was bright and clinical, and the corridor around her was lined with the familiar silence of hospitals.
As she turned a corner, a familiar voice called out.
"Cassidy?"
She stopped and turned.
A tall, handsome man in a white coat approached with a gentle smile. He looked almost exactly as she remembered just a little older, a little more polished.
"Tyler Pierce?" she said, blinking.