Chapter Sixteen
How about that one?” Holly pointed through the passenger-side window to the yard sale on the side of the road. “I’m certain I see something there that I could use.”
Zack cut his gaze to hers. He didn’t pull over.
She frowned. “You’re no fun when you have somewhere you think you have to be.”
It was Sunday morning and they were heading to Atlanta. They’d taken her car so they would have room to bring his mother back, and she’d let him drive. Mostly because she hadn’t wanted to do it herself. She preferred watching the sights around them to just watching the road ahead.
But also because she’d wanted to be able to stare out the window and ignore him if she felt like it. She’d heard from Linda Sue Friday morning, Saturday morning, and again that morning. Apparently Zack had been at the Bungalow each of the last three nights. He’d been buying rounds, having a good old time, and rumor was that he hadn’t been shy about dancing with the ladies.
She had no idea if he’d gone home with any of the women, but she wouldn’t be surprised to find out he had. The thought twisted a nasty, tight feeling in the pit of her stomach. She shouldn’t let it bother her. Wasn’t like Zack had ever offered anything more than a kiss.
As for her and her weekend, she’d cancelled her date with Keith and had gone to her room early. Because really, why go out? Compared to Zack, Keith’s kiss had been brotherly.
He’d been disappointed, but when she’d declined to go out another night he’d asked if it had anything to do with Zack. He’d apparently been at the job site last week and had seen her bring Zack over on the four-wheeler.
Then there had been rumors milling about. After all, she and Zack had been seen together more than once. Both at the construction site and then again going to yard sales the next day. Thus they must be having an affair. She’d deflected questions whenever she was asked around town, but when Keith had brought Zack up, she’d gone quiet. She hadn’t admitted he was to blame for her cancellation, but she certainly hadn’t denied the suggestion either.
She’d also gotten a call from Tony of the my-mother-gave-me-money-to-take-you-out family over the weekend. He’d phoned her Saturday morning because he’d heard that she and Keith had broken up.
First, she and Keith hadn’t been an item. They’d had one date. But no, she didn’t want a date with Tony, either.
At this point, she wasn’t sure she wanted a date with anyone. In fact, she was beginning to wish she hadn’t gotten roped into the whole mess to begin with.
So instead of spending her Saturday night out on the town—or risking running into Zack and his many female admirers—she’d moved her stuff to the cabin, and had gone ahead and spent the night there.
“We’re not supposed to be having fun today,” Zack pointed out. And, as he hadn’t all day, he didn’t look at her when he spoke. “We have to be at Mom’s in time for lunch.”
She was beginning to wonder why she’d bothered to come. Since she’d gotten in the car, they’d barely spoken, she hadn’t been able to get him to pull over to even one yard sale, and he was acting as if he wished she weren’t there.
Even with the kiss that they were both now ignoring, she’d thought they could at least have a good time riding down together. It wasn’t like they’d done anything more than kiss.
Of course, maybe the problem was whatever he’d been doing the last few nights. Or whomever.
Again, her stomach cramped up at the thought.
She sighed as they passed yet another yard sale and Zack didn’t even give it a glance. Fine. The man had no spirit in him at all. She didn’t want to deal with it. She settled back into her seat and closed her eyes. After moving into the cabin last night, she’d stayed up way too late watching a movie. Might as well catch up on her sleep.
When she awoke, a couple hours had passed and Zack was exiting off the interstate.
Holly sat up and looked around, but noticed that he was still careful not to glance her way. Enough was enough. If he’d slept with someone and didn’t want to admit it to her, too bad. This silent treatment had to stop.
“Who was it?” She turned to him on the seat. “Gina? Melinda?”
Melinda O’Neil was heir to half the town’s property, and often thought herself too good to go to the local hangouts. But rumor was that she’d been at the Bungalow the last couple of nights. Apparently Zack and his big-city dollars could bring her out.
Zack deigned to glance her way, but he didn’t say anything.
“Or maybe you brought out the big guns and seduced Larissa Bailey out from behind the library desk?” Holly asked.
No one had ever seen Larissa go out on a date, but Holly figured if anyone could convince her, it would be Zack. And he had been seen in the library again yesterday morning.
“What are you talking about?” he asked. His words were loaded with frustration.
“Which one did you sleep with? Or was it all of them?”
His hand clenched around the steering wheel. “When, exactly, was I supposed to have slept with someone?”
“Last night. Friday night. Hell, probably Thursday night after you kissed me and then ran away.”
He pulled off the road, taking the turn too sharp and locking the seat belt across her chest, then he steered the car into a small shopping center parking lot. Once parked, he turned off the engine and shifted on the seat to mimic her position. His jaw was clenched tight, and there was anger in his eyes.
What was he so upset about?
“I don’t know what you’ve heard,” he started, “but I wasn’t the one not at the house last night.”
“You were probably out till all hours. You were the two nights before.” Yeah. She’d been awake, listening for him to come back.
“I was avoiding you,” he bit out.
“By sleeping with everyone in Sugar Springs?”
He growled under his breath and reached for her hand. She jerked it back, not wanting to touch him, but he was relentless.
When he had her hand between the two of his, she became the one who didn’t want to make eye contact. She couldn’t believe he’d kissed her like that and had then gone straight to another woman’s bed.
She shook her head back and forth as she felt tears burning behind her eyes. “Never mind,” she murmured. She shouldn’t have said anything about it.
She shouldn’t have come.
“Holly.” Zack’s tone was solid and sure. He thought all he had to do was say her name and she’d fall under his spell.
She didn’t look at him, so he reached one hand out and turned her face to his. When she met his eyes, she was ashamed because there were tears welling up in hers.
“I didn’t sleep with anyone,” he said gently. “I was staying away from you. Trying to let you live your life.”
“Live my life?”
He sighed. “Date,” he ground out. “I didn’t want to be at the house to see you coming and going on dates with other men.”
Funny, because she hadn’t been.
“Why?” It wasn’t like he had wanted her. Not for dating, anyway.
He shook his head as he stared at her. “You can be so silly sometimes.”
“I’m not silly.”
His hand cupped her cheek as she turned away, bringing her face back to his once again. “I was giving you space,” he told her. “I wasn’t off sleeping with anyone.” His thumb slid under her eye and she realized he’d caught a tear as it had escaped.
“I didn’t ask you for space.”
“Sweetheart, if I hadn’t given you space, I would have been in your bed Thursday night.”
She gulped. And she would have let him.
She’d lain awake for hours listening for him to come to her door.
“But I didn’t like it,” he told her now. He shook his head again, and she could see the anger still riding hot inside him. “I don’t like knowing that you’re out with other men.” His jaw clenched. “I know that isn’t fair, but those are the facts. So I went out and I partied. I pretended I wasn’t thinking of kissing you. Wanting to touch you.” He leaned into her until she could smell the toothpaste from his breath. His eyes bored into hers. “And wanting to do a hell of a lot more than that.”
The saliva had officially left her mouth.
He’d been avoiding her, so he could avoid her. So he wouldn’t be tempted to get in her way.
Life was so ridiculously complicated sometimes.
She lifted a hand and pressed it to his where it covered her cheek. “Probably we shouldn’t have kissed,” she whispered.
A dry chuckle came from him, and he tilted his head until his forehead rested against hers. “Probably we shouldn’t have.”
“But just to let you know, I didn’t actually go out with anyone the last two nights.”
He lifted his head off hers. “What are you talking about? I know you had a date with Keith Friday night. If you hadn’t, I would have taken you to Cody’s with me.”
He’d wanted her to go to dinner with him and his brothers? That knowledge probably made her happier than it should. She’d wanted to be there with him.
But she’d had a date.
“Didn’t the rumors get back to you?” she asked. She gave a tight smile. “I cancelled.”
“I haven’t listened to rumors about you,” he admitted. “Didn’t want to hear them.” His eyes narrowed. “Why did you cancel?”
She gave him a wry twist of her lips. “Seems you gave me something else to think about. With that knowledge, it seemed somewhat unfair to the man.”
A smile broke the tension on his face, but was just as quickly swept away. “What about Tony?”
Her eyes went wide. “What about Tony?”
“I heard . . .” He paused and then wore a look of chagrin. “Okay, yes, I did hear that rumor. The moron wouldn’t shut up at the bar last night.”
She counted slowly to ten as she thought back on what she knew about Tony Francis. The guy didn’t hold a steady-paying job, he sponged off his mother on a regular basis, and he’d once started a rumor that he’d hooked up with two models at the same time when there’d been a convention in town.
The man could not be trusted.
“What did Tony say, exactly?” she asked carefully.
The anger evaporated from Zack’s eyes, to be replaced with a hint of a smile. “He said you two had snuck off to the old water mill the middle of Friday night, and that he was meeting you at your place late last night. He implied there would be a lot of condoms put to good use.”
Her temperature soared. “Did you happen to see him at my place last night?”
A spark of anger returned to Zack. “I didn’t see you at your place. Not at the bed-and-breakfast, anyway. I assumed you and Tony were at the cabin.”
The cabin that she had only ever shown to Zack. Which he knew.
She rolled her eyes. “And you call me silly.”
“Hey. The man sounded like he knew what he was talking about.”
“Do you think I would be with someone like him?”
And then Zack laughed. The sound was hearty and loud, and for the first time that day the both of them finally relaxed. He shook his head, still chuckling, and admitted that no, he didn’t think she wanted to be with someone like Tony.
“The guy doesn’t even have a job,” she pointed out.
“I know. I’m sorry. Of course he’s not what you’re looking for.” He’d shifted back to his side of the car, but still peered over at her. There was serious contemplation in his eyes. “I just wish it didn’t bother me that you’re ‘looking’ to begin with.”
He was admitting that he was jealous. She got it. She was jealous too.
And she wished Zack was the type who was looking.
What they didn’t mention again was the kiss. Because yeah, maybe they shouldn’t have done it, but given the choice, she knew she’d do it again.
“So we’re good?” she asked.
He reached over and squeezed her knee. The touch felt intimate. “We’re good.”
Then he started the car and pulled back out on the road.
It took only ten more minutes before he stopped the vehicle at the front gate of a well-kept retirement neighborhood.
“Your mom lives here?” she asked. She’d pictured the woman living in the home where Zack had grown up. It made her sad to know she wouldn’t get to see it. She’d been looking forward to exploring that part of his life. He may have acted like a jerk this morning, but she’d gotten to know him over the last two weeks. And grumpy or not, he was still her friend. She’d wanted to see the place that had helped shape him into the man he was today.
“She moved here after Dad died,” he said. “After she broke her hip when she fell while trying to change a lightbulb,” he added drily.
Ouch, Holly thought. That had probably hurt both of them. Mrs. Winston the physical pain, and Zack the mental. Holly knew how much he loved his mother. She suspected that now that their roles were reversing, he was likely returning some of that doting she’d doled out on him over the years.
“Is she okay now?”
“Physically she’s good. It was a couple years ago. The healing process was long, but other than being a bit slower occasionally, she’s fine. She has arthritis in the joint now that gives her problems on rainy days,” he explained. He glanced at her as he passed through the gates. “She was supposed to wait until I got there that Sunday. I would have changed the bulb for her. Here she doesn’t have to worry about things like that. I pay extra to make sure someone responds to her calls fast, including calls to change lightbulbs. She knows not to even think about trying to get up on a ladder.”
Holly reached out and touched the hand he had resting on his leg. “It scared you?” she asked. “When she fell?”
He nodded. He turned his hand over and captured hers. “It shaved ten years off my life.”
“How about not physically?”
“Huh?”
“You said physically she’s okay. What about not physically?”
“Oh.” His hand squeezed hers. “She misses Dad. She’s gone downhill more over the last couple of years than I would have liked. She’s sad sometimes. Aged a little.” His thumb rubbed the side of her finger for a couple seconds before he added, “She gets lonely.”
The emotion from Zack tugged at Holly’s heart. She could understand. Her parents were crazy about each other, and she knew that if one went first, it would be heartbreaking for the other left behind.
She grew quiet, thinking, and they passed several streets before Zack turned onto a dead-end road. The neighborhood was nice. There was a social building in the center of things, well-maintained sidewalks throughout—with the occasional bench tossed in for those who needed to stop and catch their breaths—and the whole thing was gated. All the houses were single story and brick.
And high class.
“It’s nice,” she said.
“Mom missed the house a lot at first, but she really does like it here. She’s made a number of friends. They keep her busier than she would have been at the house by herself.”
“So she just sold it?”
His dark eyes glanced at her before he admitted, “I bought it.”
Holly’s jaw dropped.
“But I thought you lived in some ritzy penthouse?” That’s what Cody and Nick had told her.
“I do. I’ve lived there for several years.”
“Then why did you buy the house?”
He shrugged. “Just figured . . . I don’t know. Maybe I’ll want it someday.”
He pulled into the driveway of one of the larger homes, but didn’t turn off the car. Her heart thumped. He had a house. In case he wanted it someday. She stared at him. He was even less of a hard-ass than she’d given him credit for.
“It has a waterfall that Dad built for Mom there,” he tacked on as if she’d asked him to explain himself. All she’d done was look at him. Which she was still doing. She smiled a little. He stared straight ahead, but she knew he could see her. So she smiled some more. He sighed. “Okay, fine,” he grumbled. “I have a soft spot for the house I grew up in. Satisfied? We had a lot of memories there, and I wasn’t ready to part with them yet.”
Holly nodded. “I knew you were a softie when I first met you.”
Of course, that was a total lie.
“Will you just forget it? I don’t even live there.”
“Does anybody?”
He shook his head. “I have it cleaned on a regular basis, and pay someone for upkeep.” He paused before adding, “And I take Mom to visit a couple times a month.”
Oh my god, he was killing her.
Too bad he had such issues with commitment. He would make someone a good husband someday.
“Why are you so against marriage?” she blurted out. “Family?”
His gaze shot to hers. It was a ballsy question. But one she wanted the answer to. Not so much because she wanted him to want her—though that wasn’t so out of the question either—but because the more she got to know him, the more who he was didn’t match who he claimed to be.
“I’m the job,” he explained. “That’s what’s important to me.”
“Your childhood home is important to you.”
His knuckles whitened where he still had hold of the steering wheel. “Memories,” he said. “You live in your childhood home. Surely you can understand the idea of that suddenly being gone. Out of your reach.”
She slowly nodded. Yeah, she could understand. But it wasn’t simply the memories that would disappear for her. It would be the idea of a home. A family. That’s where the magic of her life happened.
“You didn’t answer the question,” she pointed out. “Why are you against marriage?”
His thumb tapped on the steering wheel for a good fifteen seconds.
“I have things I want to prove,” he finally admitted. He didn’t look at her as he spoke, and his words didn’t come out hard. They were honest. “Success,” he added. “Worth.” He glanced at her and she saw a hint of the little boy he’d once been. “I want to make my mom proud.”
A lump lodged in her throat.
She didn’t point out that his happiness and his mother having grandchildren would quite possibly make the woman proud. Maybe she was off on her thinking. Maybe his mother was all about seeing him at the top of his game.
But she didn’t think so.
She also didn’t think he was going to give her anything else.
Turning to look at the house in front of them now, she took in the sprawling structure. “Is it just her living here?”
“Yeah.” The word was dry with sarcasm. “She might have been okay to move, but she was not ready to give up her space. We had a large house. She refused to be stuck in what she called a ‘box.’ ”
Holly liked her already. She wouldn’t want to be stuck in a box either.
Though none of the houses they’d passed would Holly ever consider to be a box.
They got out and headed to the front door together, but it opened before they got to it. A lovely older lady with a stylish dark bob and kelly-green rimmed glasses stood there in greeting.
Zack had told Holly that his mom was seventy-five, and though her skin might have lost enough elasticity to look her age, she didn’t carry herself that way. She was elegant. And she had class. Holly supposed that came from being a doctor’s wife for fifty years.
“Holly.” His mother said her name with such warmth that it caught Holly off guard. “When Zack told me that he was bringing you, I was thrilled. I’ve got a room all fixed up for you. I hope you’ll love it. And I made you my chocolate cake.” She took Holly’s hands in hers, diamonds twinkling off three fingers, and squeezed. “You do like chocolate cake, don’t you, dear?”
Holly nodded, laughing a little, and glanced at Zack. Did he not tell her that they weren’t staying overnight? This was a day trip. “I wouldn’t want to go through life not liking chocolate cake, Mrs. Winston. Thank you so much for having me.”
“Ah.” Mrs. Winston patted Holly on the cheek. “Such a sweet girl. Good manners and everything.”
“Mom,” Zack said in a warning tone.
His mother ignored him. “Call me Janet, dear. And I told Zackie you were the one for him. I knew it without even meeting you.”
Holly’s eyes went wide. The one for him?
Zack stepped in between them and took his mother’s hand from Holly’s. “That’s enough. I told you she’s just a friend. A good one.”
He looked back at Holly as if to make sure she was okay, and she felt cared about. Truly. Not in a man-woman kind of way, but in friendship. She saw it in his eyes, and she knew that they did have something special. Even if they had kissed and almost ruined it.
Plus, he liked her mirrors. She’d seen that when she’d taken him to her house. He really had been impressed with them.
That had meant so much more to her than she’d known it would. So had showing him her work in the first place. She’d wanted to know what he thought.
“Your dad and I were friends too,” his mother informed her son as they all made their way into the front room of the house. Holly noticed that the color of Janet’s shoes perfectly matched her glasses. As did the scarf tied loosely around her neck. “Made the boring years after you left better,” Janet added. She looked back at Holly and winked. “Trust me. Better.”
Holly couldn’t help it. She laughed. This woman was the perfect person to be Zack’s mother. Holly could just imagine her keeping him on his toes when he was little. Probably still did.
“I just love your shoes, by the way.” Janet had stepped away from Zack and was now peering down at Holly’s feet. “What size are they? Do you think they’ll fit me?”
Holly knew she was going to love this woman. She stuck out one toe of her pink-and-black zigzag-patterned pumps. She’d toned down her style today. She had on cream slacks and a bright amethyst blouse. The shoes didn’t even clash with her top. And she’d worn enough makeup to look her age, but nothing at all outrageous.
Her hair was secured in a large barrette at the base of her skull. She looked sophisticated.
Zack hadn’t commented, so she’d assumed he’d approved.
“Mom,” Zack butted in before Holly could slip off a shoe and pass it over. “You are not trying on Holly’s shoes. You’ll fall and break your neck.”
“I don’t need a man to tell me what shoes I can wear, dear. I’ve walked in heels much taller than those. Plenty of times.”
“When was the last time?” he demanded.
His question made his mother give him an evil look, and Holly burst out laughing again.
Both of them turned to her. “What?” they asked in unison.
Holly motioned back and forth between them. “You have your mother’s mean look. That’s the scary look you keep trying on me. The one I think is cute.”
His mother smiled with a mix of pride and fondness. “It is cute on him, isn’t it?” Janet said. “Poor thing, he just can’t pull it off.”
Zack shook his head as if disgusted with both of them. “You two are made for each other.” He turned and headed into the other room. “I’m going for the food. I’m starving.”