White Space Season 1

what they’d done the night before and settling on “How did you sleep?” instead.
    “Like a rock,” he said. “I’m shocked I don’t have a hangover, though, considering I swallowed a bar last night.”
    Cassidy laughed.
    “Will you take it personally if I admit to not remembering shit about last night, at least not much after I left my brother’s?”
    “Actually,” Cassidy laughed, “I’m not sure anything would make me happier.” She covered her face with her hand, but Jon could still see the flush of her cheeks bleeding from behind the splay of her fingers.
    The awkward air thinned between them, until the warmth on Cassidy’s bed was catching up with the warmth through her window. Jon reached to the nightstand, picked up his cup of coffee, blew across the top, then took another small sip and said, “Perfect, Cass. And thanks.”
    She set her palm on the cover above his knee, and started lightly brushing her hand back and forth. She seemed determined, but uncertain. “So what happened at your brother’s? Did he finally admit to being the world’s biggest dick?”
    Jon laughed. “Yeah, he sure did. Though he didn’t use those exact words.”
    “It’s cool if you don’t want to talk about it.”
    Jon shook his head, eased himself up on the bed, accidentally pulling his knee from the brush of Cassidy’s palm. Her hand dropped to the covers, and Jon took another sip of coffee. “No, it might feel good to hear the truth out loud, get it out of my head and into the air.”
    Jon took one more sip then set his mug back on the nightstand. “I was drunk when I got there, drunker than drunk actually. Downright polluted. And madder than I’ve probably ever been. I felt like I could kill the fucker. Especially after he called me Hamlet.”
    “He called you Hamlet?” Cassidy tried not to laugh, but sputtered a chuckle anyway.
    “Yeah,” Jon admitted, cracking his own smile. He looked down, then back up at Cassidy. “Warren told me everything. He told me all about the deal .”
    “You mean about the rehab center, Promises Kept?”
    Jon nodded, “He didn’t say the place by name, but yeah, he told me all about it. And about your charges, and about Sarah. He told me everything.”
    Cassidy swallowed, her voice cracking. It looked to Jon like a question hovered on her lips. She swallowed, then said, “I’m sorry. We never should’ve done that. It was a mistake.”
    Jon tried not to cry, and measured his words, knowing he was just one wrong sentence away. “It hurts so much, Cass. More than I imagined.”
    Cassidy put her hand on his shoulder. “I know,” she said. “Sarah regretted it every day. I don’t know how many times she said she would’ve given anything to take it all back. If that makes you feel any better.”
    Jon shook his head. Of course it didn’t.
    He could barely get the words out. “Why didn’t she ever tell me? Even after you were clean and sober and the charges long since dropped and forgotten?”
    Cassidy said, “I actually asked her once. But I’m not sure you’re gonna like what she said.”
    Jon swallowed. “Tell me.”
    “She said too much had changed between you both. I think she would have forgiven the model, though I doubt she ever would’ve forgotten. Sarah was the sweetest person ever, but stuff like that, she never completely got over. Anyway, after Emma was born, you were making the rounds on the news. A lot.”
    Jon looked down, embarrassed.
    “No, I mean, A LOT! Wow, some of the shit you did,” Cassidy said, laughing, obviously trying to inject some humor to lighten the pain of what she was saying.
    “Thanks,” he said. “I get it. We’ve all got our demons.”
    “Yes,” she said. “Yes, we do. Anyway, she thought you were living it up, and having the time of your life. She didn’t want to be a burden. She didn’t want to mess up your life.”
    “What?!” Jon said. “Damn it! I would loved to have known I was a father. I would loved to have had a chance to start a family with her! Hell, it’s all I thought about when I wasn’t getting drunk. But I thought she was happy without me. With her kid from some guy I didn’t know. Jesus, this could have all been so different.”
    “You’re right,” Cassidy said. “Of course, I would’ve gone to jail if Sarah hadn’t taken the deal. But hell, maybe if I’d done my time, I would’ve gotten my shit together sooner.”
    “He used you to drive a wedge between me and Sarah. Between me