Despite her more cheerful disposition, Cadence still didn't sleep well that night. She had awoken around 8:00 to a message from Cale asking if she was free for dinner, to which she promptly replied an enthusiastic yes, and then tried to go back to sleep again. After several attempts at obtaining more than an hour and a half of consecutive sleep, she finally got up around 10:30. Even though the exhaustion was still there, she was happier than she had been in a while, and she found herself humming some of the songs from the concert as she showered and got ready for the day.
She towel dried her hair, picked up her toothbrush, and was about to put the toothpaste on when Aaron requested access via IAC. She was the only one he couldn't force on, and she pondered ignoring him just for the fun of it, but quickly realized he would likely not go away easily, and decided to go ahead and see what he wanted.
"Good morning," he said in an obviously forced chipper voice.
"What do you want?" she asked in a voice as equally fake as she could muster.
"It's nice to hear from you, too," he chided. "How was the concert?"
"Spectacular," she admitted, not awfully surprised that he knew all about it. He always seemed to know everything. "It was the best first date I've been on in a very long time," she added just to amuse herself. After all, he had never taken her out, so there honestly wasn't much to compare it to.
The sting was clearly there, nonetheless, as he replied, "Oh, it was a date then? I wasn't sure, what with the other six people along for the ride."
Cadence wished he could see her rolling her eyes. "Oh, it was definitely a date," she shot back. "And there was definitely a good night kiss. And there will definitely be a second date, too, I might add."
"Hey, that's great," Aaron replied. "But I'm afraid it's going to have to wait. Because I need you."
"You broke up with me," she said snidely, knowing full well that wasn't what he meant.
"Ha, very funny. Professionally. I need you back here."
Cadence was not about to let him ruin her first chance at being happy in a very long time. "Uh, I don't work for you anymore, remember?"
"Well, you're still on the payroll. And I'm financing that $120,000 bike you're riding, so I guess you kind of do," he replied curtly.
Cadence stared at her own face in the mirror, and crossed her arms. "No, you can't just tell me to come back whenever you feel like it just because I am seeing someone and you don't..."
"It's Giovani. It's not me. I am unbelievably happy for you. I hope that you and Dr. Ryan live a long, joyful life together, that you get married and have a butt load of beautiful babies. But as for right now, I need you to help me figure out what to do with this proposition of Laura's. I know that Elliott has mentioned it..."
"Yeah, he mentioned it," she admitted. "But what do you need me for? Can't you just tell her to go to hell yourself?"
He sighed loud enough that she easily picked it up over the IAC. "I can--if that's what we decide to do. But if what she is proposing is accurate, we could potentially kill a lot of birds with one stone here, and I need your help in determining whether or not it's legitimate."
"I can help you with that from here. It's not. She's a liar. If I ever see her again, I'm going to shoot her in the freaking face."
"Tell me how you really feel..."
"She shot me!" Cadence reminded him. "How long did that ass who shot you last? Not even two seconds. She deserves to go to Hunter prison..."
"That's not a thing..."
"And I don't believe a damn word she says," she finished, conclusively.
"All right, I understand all of that. But she says she'll surrender if we release her to her sister's custody, which could give us the opportunity to convince her to re-Transform and get rid of her once and for all," he attempted to explain.
Cadence was not on board. "She doesn't deserve that. Hell, Laney doesn't deserve that."
"Cadence, she says it was an accident. And we don't have any proof right now to show otherwise. Maybe if we agree to work with her, she'll give us some evidence that it was intentional, and then we can do something about it."
"It sounds to me like you've already decided. So what do you need me for?" she asked, angrily running a brush through her hair.
The hesitation was there, and Cadence picked up on it immediately. She stopped her beauty routine and waited. After a long pause, he said, "I just want a second opinion, Cadence, and I value yours more than anyone else's."
She wasn't exactly sure what it was she was picking up on in his voice--but something sounded different. For the first time, he sounded unsure of himself, and she had no idea why that might be. There was no hesitation in her response. "Fine. When do you need me?"
After a sigh of relief, he replied, "In a few hours. We have a Skype meeting set up with Laura and Cowboy Sam this evening. Eliza will be arriving this afternoon, as well."
"Ugh," Cadence exclaimed, instantly feeling nauseated. "Never mind. Do it yourself."
"The plane should arrive in Reno in about an hour, and I'll send a car to your hotel to pick you and the girls up," he continued, ignoring her remark.
"Oh, no, wait. I have to go talk to Cale first. I can't just go out of town without telling him," she replied, picking up where she left off with her makeup.
"Because that would be rude?" he asked, pointedly.
She slammed her powder brush down on the counter. "Hey, Cale and I are seeing each other. You had just broken up with me to date a Satanic whore!"
"Okay, okay," he said defensively. "I didn't mean to upset you. Fine, go tell him goodbye. I'll have the car pick you up at the hospital."
She felt bad for yelling at him. He had a way of bringing raw emotion out of her. She didn't apologize, though. "All right. But I'm going to need more than an hour. Wait!" she said, a skeptical look on her face. "What kind of a plane are you sending here that can make it an hour?"
"The kind that left two hours ago," he admitted.
She shook her head. Of course, he knew she would say yes. "You're such an ass," she mumbled. "Sometimes I wish you would just go away..."
At first she wasn't sure if he was even going to respond. Finally, he said, "Maybe I will someday. But for now, I'll see you in a little bit. Have a nice flight."
