39
After helping Zandra pick out an outfit to wear from the clothes she’d brought over, the pair sat on opposite ends of Zandra’s bed, painting one another’s toenails. Zandra had gone with a light pink and Zoë had selected a beautiful maroon from Zandra’s impressive polish collection.
“This is like a sleepover,” Zandra commented with a grin. “I don’t think I’ve painted a friend’s nails since grade school.”
Zoë, who’d never attended a sleepover, smiled. “Actually, I was thinking about how I used to paint my grandmother’s nails. As she got older, it was hard for her to see the edges, so I always did her nails for her.”
Surprised she’d related something about her past, she fought to keep a straight face. What was going on with her? Zandra didn’t seem to notice how tense she’d become and continued speaking brightly.
“Did you spend a lot of time with your grandmother?”
Seeing as she’d opened the door, Zoë figured talking about her grandparents couldn’t hurt. “Yeah. Actually I was mostly raised by them. My dad was always out of town on business.”
“And your mom?”
“Not in the picture at all. She left my dad shortly after I was born.”
“Oh! Wow, um, sorry, that must have been rough on you.”
Zandra seemed upset she’d uncovered the information but Zoë wasn’t. She’d come to terms over her mother’s absenteeism long ago. “Not really,” she replied, eager to soothe Zandra, “you can’t really miss what you never had.”
“I suppose that’s true. My parents died, in a car accident, when I was thirteen. Boone raised Rory and me after that.”
Holding the brush just over a nail, Zoë froze. Her eyes connected with Zandra’s. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry you lost your parents so young, but I guess that answers my question about how you and your brothers are so close.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly why. My mom was an only child and born late to her parents. They’d already passed by then. My dad’s family had disowned him years before he even met my mom. We don’t have any other family. There’s just us. Social workers wanted Boone to place us in foster care. They didn’t think a twenty-year-old would be able to cope with younger siblings, but he wouldn’t hear of it.”
“That’s a lot for a young man to take on. I’m impressed.”
She was. Despite thinking Boone had it in for her based on his behaviour a short time ago, she found his actions where his siblings were concerned admirable. No wonder he was Ethan’s best friend. As she continued painting Zandra’s nails, she listened to the rest of her friend’s story.
“I know it was hard on him, but he was so good to us. Rory was fifteen when it happened and could have acted out like a lot of teens do, but he didn’t. I mean, yeah, he and Boone butted heads occasionally, well, they still do, but there were never any actual problems. I guess we just all banded together to get through it.”
While she’d already condoned Rory’s actions where Zandra’s rapist was concerned, she felt they were more justified now. Zandra had only been twenty when the sexual assault occurred. She’d lost a decade of her life, her twenties at that, a time that should have been among the happiest, because of that man. Her throat thick, Zoë wasn’t the least bit upset the man was dead. He’d taken almost ten years from Zandra, seven from Rory—yes, she knew Rory was responsible for his actions, but he wouldn’t have done what he had if Parsons hadn’t raped Zandra in the first place—and could have torn a loving family apart. Hoping there was a special place in hell reserved for Tom Parsons, she inwardly vowed to do all she could to draw Zandra further out of her shell. She hadn’t needed Ethan to tell her Zandra had isolated herself after the assault. She could plainly see it.
“Okay,” she announced brightly, hoping to cut through the dour mood that had descended on them, “you’re done.”
“So are you,” Zandra returned.
The pair cautiously got their feet so as to not smudge the polish. Zoë inspected Zandra’s face, looking for signs that relating the death of her parents hadn’t taxed her too much. She seemed fine and Zoë’s amazement at Zandra’s strength intensified. She’d been through so much and yet was still a loving, compassionate, and helpful woman. Zoë brushed a lock of hair behind Zandra’s ear before smiling.
“Okay, makeup time. How much do you normally wear when you go out?”
“Not much.”
“Well, how about I do some nice smoky shadows on you to really bring out those gorgeous eyes? They’re already so big, so let’s just accentuate them that much more.”
“Sounds good to me.” Zandra sat down before the vanity and then sighed. “Cole is seeing Faye, isn’t he? I saw them together at the diner again.”
“I think so,” she admitted. “It sounded like it when Ethan asked him about tonight. He didn’t say they were dating but he asked to bring her along.”
“Figures,” Zandra said in a defeated tone.
After securing Zandra’s hair in a ponytail to keep it off her face, Zoë shrugged. “Hey, maybe they’re just friends, and, if not, he’s not the only single man in town, you know.”
“True.”
There was little interest in her tone. Zandra had her heart set on Cole. As Zoë applied primer to Zandra’s face, she tried to test the waters. “What about the Carson brothers? I haven’t met them yet, but Ethan says they’re all younger than he is.”
“They are, and they’re all nice-looking, especially Zeke. But, well, they’re just not—”
“Your type?”
“No, they’re not.”
Apparently only Cole was. Damn it, why did he have to have a girlfriend? Reminding herself she didn’t know for a fact he and Faye were a couple, even though she had to admit he made it sound like they were, she tried to stay positive for Zandra’s sake.
“Is there some kind of secret government facility around here?” she questioned, trying to keep humour from her voice.
“Why?” Zandra asked, seemingly shocked with Zoë’s question.
As she began applying foundation to Zandra’s face, she chuckled. “Oh, I was just wondering if someone tampered with the town’s water. How the hell do so many good-looking men live in such a small town?”
Zandra laughed. “You noticed that too, huh?”
“How could I not? Wow. Seriously, Ethan, your brothers, Cole, the Carsons, that’s a lot.” She refrained from mentioning Myles but he, too, was incredibly handsome.
“Wait until you meet Chase.” Zoë crinkled her brow, not having heard his name before. Zandra flapped a hand in front of her face. “He’s smoking hot, seriously. And a lawyer.”
“Really? Huh, maybe I should’ve shopped around a bit.”
Zandra laughed at her obviously joking statement. “He’s taken anyway, but you got a good one. Ethan’s a great catch.”
“I suppose, but I haven’t caught him.”
“What do you mean?”
“That we’re just having fun. It’s great, but it’s not going to go anywhere, and that’s fine.” As she dotted concealer on Zandra’s face, she caught the raise of her friend’s brow. “What?”
“Oh, nothing. You say it’s just fun, but you light up like a bulb when you talk about him.”
Her stomach clenched brutally at Zandra’s words. If that was true, had other people seen it? Had Boone, and that’s why he was behaving as he was, trying to ascertain her motives when it came to Ethan? Had Ethan seen it? Feeling sick, she shrugged, her shoulders feeling oddly stiff.
“He’s a great guy, but I’m not looking for anything long term.”
What a lie! Oh, how she wished she could be in a relationship with Ethan. He was exactly what she wanted in a partner, but she couldn’t fill that role for him. Her heart heavy, she reached for the setting powder, still determined to make Zandra an absolute knockout for their night out.