“Hey, Z. I’m heading to Grind, is there anything you want?”

Zach immediately swiveled around in his chair to look upon his co-worker, Chris. He never could resist the siren song of sugar-filled coffee. “Yeah. Can you grab me a white chocolate latte?”

Chris smirked. “I shouldn’t have even asked. Want me to grab you one of those white chocolate chip cookies, too, if they got any?”

He put a hand over his heart, mock swooning while slumping back into his chair. “Why, Chris, you sure know how to treat a guy. Yes. Yes, I absolutely want a cookie.”

Chris chuckled. “You just sit here and see if you can come up with an article for Sunday. Time is ticking.” The other man turned on his heel, leaving Zach alone in the small, cramped office.

The offices of The Hidden Creek Horn were small. Zach would even call them homey or quaint, but best of all they were nothing like the upscale, sterile journalism offices of Boston. Other than the bosses, everyone had desks crammed into the same large space—which with so many people around, often felt cramped. While inconvenient at times, he didn’t mind. He liked being able to talk and joke around with his co-workers. It made him feel like he was a part of a team. One that actually cared for each other.

Sure, in Boston he would have been covering big time business deals and political scandals. He’d built up a reputation for himself there as a serious journalist, and for the most part his career was set. But that never made him happy. As a kid he had always wanted to get away from Hidden Creek, to escape to the big city—any big city—but after college all he had wanted was the life his parents had. A little house with a picket fence, friendly neighbors, a happy marriage, and maybe children one day.

He’d almost had the marriage, but it had been anything but happy.

Zach sighed, leaning back in his chair while he stared at the computer screen sulkily. It had been a few months since his fiasco of a wedding, which had left him thousands of dollars in debt and single. It was for the best, though. Better than having gone through with it and marrying a man who he knew now had not only been manipulative as hell, but emotionally abusive.

“Come on, Zach,” he muttered to himself. “Focus. Work. There’s gotta be something here…”

He tried to drag himself out of his thoughts, focusing instead on his computer screen. A lot of his job involved scouring social media to look out for potential stories. The Horn often covered stories in Houston and surrounding areas as well, so it was important to keep up with events outside of Hidden Creek, especially politics. But oftentimes a local story would pop up through Facebook or Twitter conversations—even if it was just filler pieces. Heck, sometimes those sort of stories sold the best. Everyone loves reading about hero dogs or local kids who had “made it big” by winning some award.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. On rote he slipped it from his pocket and typed in the code with barely a glance towards the smaller screen. He’d expected it to be from his mother, who had been sending him pictures of his young nephew’s first time sitting on Santa’s lap. But the name attached to the text message he’d just received made him do a double take. His stomach sank.

It was from Noah. His ex-fiancé.

“Speak of the devil and he rises his jerky head,” Zach grumbled, frowning down at the phone.

He didn’t want to read the text. He’d gotten enough text messages from Noah lately to guess what it entailed, but his eyes were already betraying him before he could stop them, skimming over the message.

Noah: I found the perfect Christmas present for you. You’re going to love it! Maybe we could meet up so I can give it to you? It was custom ordered, so I can’t return it. I don’t want it to go to waste. And it’d be good to see you. I miss you so much.

Who the heck buys their ex Christmas presents? Let alone a custom made one?

He set the phone down without replying, chewing lightly at the tip of his thumb while staring down at it. He didn’t know how to reply. Should he even reply at all? Guilt and dread churned at the pit of his stomach, making him feel nauseous. If Noah had gone through the trouble of getting him something, surely he could at least give him a text message in return? On the other hand, he knew how that would end up. A text message would turn into a call. And once Noah had him on the phone, Zach was weak. He couldn’t stand the sound of Noah crying. There had been so many times over the past months that Noah had begged him to take him back, guilted him into meeting up with him. But the one time that had happened Noah had tried to manipulate him into having sex, and Zach had only barely managed to tell him no. Since then, he knew that any time Noah reached out, it wasn’t just to be friends—it was a way for him to try to control Zach again and to try to weasel his way back into his life.

That was probably what he was doing now. It had to be. But damn if it wasn’t effective in making Zach feel like shit.

He tried focusing back on his computer, but it was a hopeless cause now. His mind kept straying back to his phone, and to Noah.

The fact that he was even considering replying made his skin crawl. Heck, the only reason that the guy had even started dating Zach was to try to get back Grayson, Noah’s ex, who happened to live in Hidden Creek as well. When that had failed, his plans had turned to revenge, which had involved stealing Grayson’s identity to use on dating apps. The whole fiasco nearly ruined Grayson’s life. Noah had since apologized for it, but it always seemed insincere, just a way for him to guilt Zach more. Even now he believed he was the victim in this story.

Oh, not to mention in some weird twist of fate, Grayson was now dating Zach’s best friend, Andre. Andre and Zach had briefly dated years ago, which had driven Noah crazy with jealousy when Zach insisted on inviting him to the wedding, no matter how much Zach insisted they had no romantic feelings for each other now. Good thing he did. It’d been Andre who had realized Noah was the one behind the fake dating profiles that were framing Grayson and saved him from marrying the jerk.

Yeah. The whole thing was really messed up.

Andre always had been good at cutting through Noah’s bullshit and realizing his true intentions. Maybe he could offer some advice on what to do now. If nothing else, he was good at giving Zach a non-literal smack to the face to snap him out of his guilt spirals.

He picked up the phone, but quickly swiped out of the conversation with Noah, bringing up Andre’s instead. He tapped out a message asking Andre if he was free this evening. It didn’t take long for him to get a reply, which cheerfully invited him to come over for dinner.

At least he wouldn’t be alone tonight.

The rest of the day passed sluggishly. Work was a struggle to get through, and in the end he only came up with a handful of leads to investigate tomorrow. It was better than nothing, at least. Finally, later that evening, he was pulling into the driveway of the little home Andre now shared with Grayson and his boyfriend’s sister. She was still a teenager, and Grayson now had full custody of her.

He wasn’t left waiting long after he knocked. Andre opened the door and swept him inside with a warm smile, and they exchanged a friendly one-armed hug. Andre was quite a bit shorter, so he had to lean down so it didn’t feel like he was putting him in a headlock instead. He was pretty used to having to lean down to hug or look at people though. Being several inches over six feet tall had that effect.

“Hey! Just in time. Grayson and Gwen are just about done with dinner prep,” Andre said, leading the way over to the couch.

“We’re making a build your own taco bar.” He heard Gwen call from the kitchen. “Just got to cook the ground beef.”

“Well, isn’t it my lucky day. Sounds amazing.” He poked his head through the doorway to the kitchen to wave. Grayson was standing at the counter, wearing an apron over a flannel shirt and pair of jeans, shoveling sliced grilled chicken into a bowl. Gwen sat beside him in her electric wheelchair, doing what she could to help by pouring shredded cheese from a bag into a bowl. Both looked back to return the wave.

It had been a little weird at first, being best friends not only with an ex, but with Noah’s ex as well. He never admitted it out loud, but it was a little bittersweet to watch the two fall in love while his own wedding fell apart from under his feet. He was happy for them both; there was no doubt about that. Just… he had thought he had his own dream romance, and the lack of it was often painful when looking at how perfect these two were together. Zach could never bring himself to be resentful, though. They deserved to be happy, and all three of them had been unwaveringly kind and welcoming. Now it was like he was a part of the family, and being around them always helped cheer him up no matter how lonely he was.

Andre moved to sit on the couch, pulling Zach’s attention away from the kitchen. His expression turned more serious, looking up at Zach with concern. “You wanted to talk?”

“Yeah…” Zach sat down beside him and dug out his phone, pulling up Noah’s text message to hand over. Andre accepted the phone, skimmed over the message, then let out an offended snort. Zach bit his lip. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Andre said matter of factly, handing the phone back. “You’re not actually considering meeting up with him, are you?”

Zach puffed out a heavy breath, slumping back into the couch. “No. Yes? I don’t know. I mean… I feel bad that he got me a present and all.”

“You didn’t ask for him to get you a Christmas present, I assume. Besides, if it’s money he’s making you feel bad about, then what about all those bills that you got stuck with for the wedding? He still hasn’t offered to pay for any of it, right?”

His head dipped sheepishly, frowning down at his lap. “No, he hasn’t. But I was the one that canceled the wedd—”

“Stop,” Andre cut him off, reaching over to squeeze his shoulder. “Stop blaming yourself. You’re not the bad guy here, remember? You did the right thing by canceling the wedding. Do you really see yourself being happy with someone like that?”

“No,” he replied softly, and meant it.

But was it better than being alone for the rest of his life?

“Sweetie, it’s been months. You need to start letting Noah go. Look towards your future. Maybe… start getting yourself out there? Meet new people?” Andre suggested with a small, warm smile. Dammit, it was like he could read his mind.

“Maybe…” Zach murmured.

“Oh! Oooh!” He heard Gwen call out, and he looked over to see her wheelchair roll into the living room. “One of my teachers is bisexual. He just came out to everyone a few weeks back. And he is super cute and nice. And totally single.”

Andre’s eyes brightened, his grin spreading. “Oh yes, Shane. We’ve run into him a few times lately at Phoenix, and from the sounds of it he’s been a really great influence on Gwen. Convinced her to join the choir. He seemed like a sweet guy. And I have to admit, he was pretty handsome.”

Zach looked between them a moment, hesitant. On one hand, despite being so lonely, he wasn’t sure if he was actually ready to start dating again. On the other, both Andre and Gwen were generally good judges of character. Gwen was used to people treating her poorly, or impatiently at best, for being handicapped. So if she thought well enough of this teacher to suggest him as a dating option, it meant he must treat her well. And Andre had a very keen judge of character. He knew how to weasel out people who were insincere or had ulterior motives.

“You really think I should give it a chance?” Zach asked.

“I’m not saying you need to run off and find someone to get engaged with,” Andre replied. “But I do think that you deserve someone. If nothing else, you could find someone to just go out and have some fun with. Dip your toes into things.”

Maybe he had a point. What was the harm, really? And it was better than sitting around at home all the time, being mopey.

He broke into a smile. “All right, fine. If he agrees to meeting up… I’ll go.”

“Yeeees,” Gwen cheered, lifting a small fist into the air. “Project Blind Date is on.”

“I’ll have Grayson talk to him when he picks her up from school tomorrow, then let you know,” Andre said, grinning widely.

Zach swallowed down the ball of nerves that was forming in his throat. A blind date. Heck, he hadn’t been on a blind date since college. This had all the possibilities to go horribly, terribly wrong. But teachers were usually nice, right? You had to be a good person to dedicate your life to working with kids. Or you had to be a masochist. No, Andre and Gwen wouldn’t hook him up with an asshole.

This would be fine. Maybe he’d even have a good time.