Cameron, Paige - Commando Cowboys Reclaim Their Love [Wyoming Warriors 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Polyromance) by Paige Cameron Page B

with the doctor. If there was no significant improvement after she finished this course of treatments in two weeks, then they’d stop them.
    Cassie went back to the shop and asked Cindy to cover for her for the rest of the day. Just as she was leaving to go down the street to a small restaurant she liked, Lang came in the door.
    “You’re early,” Cassie said.
    “I thought I’d take you out to eat.”
    “You heard about the possible new treatment for Mom?”
    He nodded. “Mitch keeps me abreast of everything going on around the ranch. I happened to go by the ranch house, not long after you’d left. I ran into him and Ellen talking.”
    “I was going to Sally’s to eat the healthy meal Ellen said I had to have before donating.”
    “Sally’s has good food.” He held the door open for her. “Shall we?”
    “Thanks. I get tired of eating alone. And there is something I wanted to talk about with you.”
    They strolled along the sidewalk past the drugstore, a jewelry shop, and a small clothing store before getting to Sally’s. Lang didn’t talk. He was just a comforting presence at her side.
    “Hello, Cassie and Lang.” Sally, a tall, thin blonde greeted them at the door. “Not often I see you in town, Lang.” She gave him a quick glance up and down. He’d drawn those looks ten years ago and obviously still did.
    Sally led them to a booth. “Here are your menus. Coffee for you, Lang?”
    “Yes, and iced tea for Cassie.” He glanced her way, and she nodded yes.
    “Be right back for your order.”
    He sat back and looked across at Cassie. “How do you feel about the work Ellen has done?”
    “Great, especially since Mom is probably going to need the new medication. Did Mitch tell you about my real dad?”
    “Yes, we talked privately. You don’t need to worry that everyone will be told.”
    “I wasn’t. It was a shock. I haven’t had time to really think about the possibility that Ellen suggested.”
    Sally interrupted with the coffee and tea. She took their orders and hurried off.
    “Does the thought that you might have a kinship to us bother you?” Lang stirred the sugar into his coffee while he waited for her answer.
    “I’m not extra strong, or talented in any unusual way like you all are. It’s hard to believe that’s possible. And then look how uncomfortable I always was at the ranch. I didn’t feel I fit in.”
    “Maybe that was the reason.”
    Confused by his statement, Cassie asked, “What do you mean?”
    “Perhaps something inside you recognized our kinship. You didn’t understand, and it made you unsettled. Consequently, you put distance between you and the place that evoked those feelings the most.”
    Cassie was surprised both by such a long speech from Lang and by what he said. She thought about the time she came to the ranch and those years before she ran off.
    “The reaction was like a hum,” she muttered partly to herself, but loud enough for him to hear. He didn’t respond, just drank his coffee and waited patiently.
    “When I got to be a teenager, it got worse. I don’t know if I can describe it. A yearning, a questioning—” She shook her head. “I don’t know. I blamed my confusion and feelings on the fact that you all were different from me. I didn’t fit in. I’d noticed the extra strength, how well most of you could see better, further than me. And other small incidents that pointed out our differences. I told myself I was inferior.”
    “If you’d been older, like Sara, I believe you’d have responded differently.”
    “Perhaps, or maybe I would have been a pain either way.” She smiled at Lang, and he laughed.
    “Maybe.”
    Sally brought their food, and they ate in silence. But it was a comfortable quiet that was soothing to Cassie.
    “I never eat this much. I think that’s all I can get down.” Cassie pushed her plate to the side. “I ran into Nick today when I was walking out of the ranch house.”
    Lang glanced across at her and at her