by Holly Rayner
She’d planned her first party as a partner. That had been a success, she thought. And she believed she had impressed Gregory and Tomas’ wives, which struck her as an important aspect of her new life. If everything went well, she supposed she would be socializing with the four of them more and more going forward.
I really should try to find a boyfriend. Or at least, someone who can stand in as my boyfriend on occasions like these. It’s exhausting having to be the fifth wheel all the time.
She did have a few guy friends, of course. But most of them were partnered up. It would be awkward to ask them to be her date to anything, even in a platonic sense.
The cab pulled to a stop in front of Rhea’s apartment, and she paid the driver, thanked him, and got out. She was hyperaware of the fact that she walked a perfectly straight line from the cab to her front door, as if she felt the need to prove to him that she hadn’t been drunk.
I need to stop worrying about what people think of me.
She unlocked her door, went inside, and stripped off the too-warm dress she had chosen for the evening.
The party had been fun, but as always, Rhea preferred to be at home. She went to the kitchen to make a batch of popcorn, ready to spend the rest of the night curled up on the sofa watching her favorite reality show. She had loved it ever since college.
Chapter 6
Rhea
Wednesday came all too quickly, and as Rhea’s cab carried her to her date, she couldn’t help wishing that her mystery suitor had left her some way to get in touch with him.
Because if he had, I would have declined his invitation, she thought rather sourly.
Then again, perhaps that was why he hadn’t given her any contact information. It felt a little manipulative, and it made her even less inclined than she had been to relax and enjoy the evening.
When this is over, I’m getting a bottle of wine just for myself.
The taxi pulled to a stop outside the Lily Garden. It was an upscale restaurant, one of Baltimore’s finest, and Rhea wondered whether the man she was meeting had believed he needed to impress her.
She did feel a little guilty about that. Though Green Destiny paid its employees well, they were first and foremost an environmental group, and a substantial portion of their profits went to environmental causes. Everyone understood when they came to work at the firm that those were the priorities. Rhea’s employees were not wealthy people.
Oh my God. I can’t believe I’m about to have a date with one of my employees. There’s got to be some kind of ethics violation here.
She reassured herself with the fact that Green Destiny had no policy against dating coworkers. She wasn’t breaking any rules here. And whoever it was that she was meeting, she certainly didn’t plan on getting emotionally involved.
It’s just a waste of time. And that’s not the worst thing that can happen to a person. I’ll be fine.
Squaring her shoulders, she went inside.
She had dined at the Lily Garden a few times before, but the ambiance always took her by surprise. Fountains trickled in the lobby, and soft pan flute music played. It felt like walking into the waiting room of a spa.
She approached the host’s stand. “Excuse me,” she said. “I’m meeting someone.”
“Certainly,” the host said. “May I have the name?”
Rhea blushed. “This is kind of embarrassing,” she said. “I actually don’t know who it is.”
The host raised his eyebrows.
“Blind date situation,” Rhea said. “It should be a reservation for two at seven o’clock.”
“I’m afraid that doesn’t help,” the host said. “We have dozens of those.”
Rhea sighed. She was early, but only by about five minutes.
“Maybe I could walk through the restaurant and see if I recognize anybody?”
“I thought you said it was a blind date,” the host said.
“It’s complicated,” she said. “It’s someone I know, but I don’t know who it is.”
“I don’t think I can just let you walk around the restaurant,” the host said. “Our diners are trying to enjoy their meals.”
That was understandable, Rhea supposed. But now what was she supposed to do? Whoever had sent her that note had put her in a very difficult situation.
Then she heard a voice call her name. “Rhea!”
She turned—and gasped.
Time had hardly changed him at all. There was a bit of gray in his dark brown hair, but his face remained unlined, and his green eyes sparkled as brightly as they ever had. She couldn’t believe she was really looking at him, and yet it was impossible to mistake what she was seeing.
“Zach?” she managed. “Zach Danes?”
A smile split his face. “I’m so glad you came,” he said. “I was worried you wouldn’t.”
“How on earth did you find me?” she asked.
He shrugged. “It wasn’t hard. Your family lived in Baltimore when we knew one another. It was the first city I checked.”
“That’s not what I mean,” she said. “How did you know what hotel I would be at the other night?”
“Oh.” He grinned. “I can’t imagine you thought it was a secret. There was a big banner outside the building that said ‘Green Destiny Third Quarter Celebration.’”
“And you knew I was with Green Destiny?”
He smiled. “Congratulations on making partner, by the way.”
She felt dizzy. “How long have you been following my career?”
“Not long,” he said. “I looked you up about a year and a half ago. But you don’t really want to discuss this stuff in the lobby, do you? Let’s go get our table, and then we can catch up.” He hesitated. “I mean, assuming you’re going to stay, now that you know it’s me.”
Rhea smiled. “Of course I’m going to stay.”
She thought for a moment about addressing the conflict that had ended their friendship. But that had been half a lifetime ago. There was no need to go over it now. She was just happy he had found her again.
As she followed him to the table, it occurred to her to wonder whether he had meant what he’d said in the note about having feelings for her. But she quickly dismissed it. It had probably just been a ploy to make sure she showed up tonight, to pique her curiosity. She didn’t want to be awkward by taking that too seriously.
They took their seats and ordered drinks. Then Zach sat back in his chair and regarded her.
“You look exactly the same,” he said. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
She grinned. “I was thinking the exact same thing when you came in. Time’s been good to you.”
“In many ways,” he agreed, raising his glass.
“So what are you doing in Baltimore?” Rhea asked. “The last I heard, you were moving to Philly.”
There was a moment of awkward silence as they both realized how close she had come to acknowledging their falling out, but they moved past it quickly.
“I’m here for work,” he said.
“What do you do?”
“Catering,” he said.
“You’re a caterer? I had no idea,” she said. “I should have hired your company for the party we were having at that hotel the other night.”
Zach laughed. “Why, because you knew me fifteen years ago?” he asked. “I’m sure you had to jump through a million hoops to find the caterer you wanted for that party.”
“I was the one in charge of making the choice, though,” she said. “Do you have a card? Or maybe your boss does? I can definitely include you guys in the process next time I have to choose a caterer.”
For a moment, she could have bitten her tongue. This was what he had been angry at her for all those years ago—trying to help him. Would he get angry now? Would he storm out of the restaurant?
He didn’t. He just laughed. “I’ll text you the information,” he said.
The waiter came back with the menus. Rhea scanned hers carefully and chose a salad. She didn’t
want to insult Zach by rejecting his offer to buy her dinner, but she knew that money had always been an issue for her friend. She didn’t want to cause him any financial hardship.
“Are you sure that’s all you want?” Zach asked, frowning.
“I’m not that hungry today,” she said, although she was.
Zach shrugged. “All right,” he said. “Your choice. I’m getting lobster.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Lobster?”
“I’m pescatarian now,” he explained.
“Oh really? Why?”
“It’s better for the environment. I couldn’t stand to give up meat altogether, but I keep it to just seafood now.”
“I didn’t know you were into the environment,” she said.
“I didn’t know you were into the environment,” he countered. “But now you’re a partner at Green Destiny.”
“I guess we have changed a bit since college,” she said, laughing. “Remember how we used to use plastic straws all the time?”
“My eternal shame,” he said, laughing. “And disposable cups. Remember?”
“We wasted so much paper. I didn’t even recycle until senior year!”
“That’s when I started recycling too,” he said. “The summer before, actually. I’d been sad for a while and I decided I was going to use the last year of college to turn over a new leaf.”
“Why were you sad?” Rhea asked.
He avoided her gaze and shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “No real reason, I guess. Moving to a new city was hard.”
“Did you end up liking Philly?”
“It was nice,” he said. “College Park was cleaner, but also kind of… inauthentic, by comparison. In Philly, I felt like I was around people who understood me.”
“Didn’t I understand you?” she asked before she could stop herself.
He met her eyes again and a smile ghosted across his lips. “Yeah,” he admitted. “You did. I probably wasn’t mature enough at the time to realize that.”
“I was pretty immature myself,” Rhea said.
“Well, we were kids,” Zach said. “I guess we can be forgiven for immaturity.”
“I hope so,” Rhea said. “And I hope that’s another way I’ve changed since college.”
“How was it after I left?” Zach said. “Did you do all right?”
“I was fine,” Rhea said. “I missed you. But I had Kaylie. You remember Kaylie?”
“Sure I do,” Zach said. “Your roommate. I always thought she was cute.”
“You did?”
“Not in a girlfriend way,” Zach clarified. “She was cute in the way a puppy is cute. Adorable.”
Rhea grinned, not certain why that clarification had given her butterflies. “Kaylie is cute,” she agreed. “And she’s doing well. She’s been seeing a guy we work with.”
“Oh, you two are still friends?”
“Yeah, she’s at Green Destiny with me,” Rhea said. “She works as one of our environmental consultants—she’s the expert on the green aspect of the business, but she doesn’t know anything about architecture. She’ll be the first one to tell you that.”
“That’s wonderful. I’d love to see Kaylie again,” Zach said. “Maybe we could double-date sometime? You and me, and her and her guy?”
“Maybe so,” Rhea agreed. “I’d like that.”
The food was brought to the table. Rhea’s mouth watered at the sight of Zach’s lobster, which was perfectly cooked and oozing butter.
Zach laughed. “This is ridiculous,” he said, pushing his plate to the middle of the table. “It’s a huge lobster tail. We should share it.”
“I can’t take your food,” she protested.
“Of course you can,” he said. “All you ordered was that measly little salad. Besides, there’s no way I’m going to finish this on my own. Help me out so I don’t disgrace myself.”
She smiled. “Fine,” she said, pushing her own plate forward. “But if we’re sharing the lobster, we’re sharing the salad too.”
“Deal,” he said.
They dug in. Both dishes tasted amazing, and for several minutes they forgot to talk. But as their drinks were refilled, conversation began to flow again, and they lost themselves in memories of their college experiences.
Rhea was very glad that she had come out tonight. Reliving her past this way had made her feel young again, and she was thrilled to have been reunited with Zach. It would have been so sad, she thought, if the two of them had never seen one another again. She couldn’t believe she had allowed fifteen years to go by.
That’s a mistake I’ll never make again. Now that he’s back in my life, I’m going to keep in touch, no matter what.
When the meal was over and Zach had paid, they went out to the front of the restaurant and Zach gave his name to the valet.
“Do you need to get your car?” he asked Rhea.
“I took a cab,” she said.
“I’ll hail one for you, if you’d like,” the valet chimed in, and Rhea nodded.
Before her cab arrived, a jet-black sports car pulled up in front of the restaurant. Rhea stared. It had to be one of the more expensive cars she had ever seen in her life.
“Whose is that?”
The driver got out and handed the keys to Zach. “Here you are, Mr. Danes.”
“Thank you,” Zach said.
Rhea stared. “That’s your car?”
Zach grinned at her. “I’ll be in touch,” he said. “Let’s do this again soon, okay? I don’t want to let another fifteen years go by.”
Rhea nodded mutely, and Zach got into the car and drove away.
A moment later, her taxi pulled up. She got in, still feeling dumbfounded, and gave the driver her home address. As they pulled out, she got out her phone and did a search for Zach Danes. Her eyes went wide as she read the top result:
“Zach Danes, Owner and CEO, EcoKitchen Events.”
She blinked. Hadn’t he said that he worked as a caterer? She thought back over the conversation and realized that he hadn’t—he had only said that he was in catering. It had been her assumption that he was at the bottom of the totem pole instead of the top.
I never would have thought that Zach Danes would grow up to become a CEO!
As the taxi drove her home, she read up on his company. EcoKitchen Events was an organic catering company that specialized in creating gourmet dishes using locally sourced ingredients. Her heart swelled with pride as she read. To think that her college best friend had created such a company, that he was now the head of it. He had done so well for himself!
I can’t believe this place didn’t come up when I was looking for a catering company to do Green Destiny’s party. They would have been perfect!
She made a mental note to use them next time. Zach clearly didn’t need any help from her, but she was eager to taste his food. He had always been a good cook in college, and whatever his company served, she was sure that she would like it.
She wondered why he hadn’t told her about this.
But it didn’t take too much imagination to figure it out. The fact of the matter was that their friendship had gone on a fifteen-year hiatus because of a fight about money. If he had reentered her life and told her straight away that he had money now, it might have looked kind of pointed.
Even though she wished he’d felt comfortable sharing the news of his success with her, she was glad they hadn’t talked about their finances. The two of them had never been very good at that.
Maybe next time.
Because there was definitely going to be a next time. Seeing Zach again had reawakened feelings that she had almost forgotten. She hadn’t felt this way about a man in a long time. And now she found herself hoping that his note to her had been sincere, and that he really did want to explore the possibility of a relationship.
Chapter 7
Zach
The first thing that occurred to Zach when he awoke the next morning was that he hadn’t given Rhea his contac
t information.
In the scheme of things, it wasn’t that big a deal—he had always intended to call her again. But the fact that she didn’t have his number meant that she was probably anxious about hearing from him, wondering whether she would at all. It meant she had no control over the situation. And if Rhea was anything like the girl he had known in college, the one thing she hated was to feel out of control.
Well, I can fix that.
He started a pot of coffee brewing and reached for his phone. He set it to speakerphone so that his hands would be free and dialed.
She sounded out of breath when she answered. “Hello?”
He frowned. “Did I interrupt you in the middle of something?”
“Zach?” Now he heard genuine pleasure in her tone. “No, no, I’m just out jogging.”
“Oh, you still do that?”
“Sure,” she said. “Until my knees give out, probably.”
He laughed. It was something they’d joked about in college—how eventually she would have to stop running because her knees wouldn’t be able to take it. Rhea had pledged that when that time came, she would switch to swimming instead—but she wouldn’t like it.
“Well,” he said, “I just wanted to let you know that I had a great time last night.”
“So did I,” she said.
“And I realized you didn’t have my phone number,” he added. “But now you do.”
“Hang on. How did you get my phone number?”
“It’s on the Green Destiny website,” Zach said. “On the Partners page.”
She laughed. “I guess you really have been keeping up with me.”
“Yeah, I have,” Zach agreed. “I just wish I’d found you sooner.”
“So do I,” she said quietly.
“Are you doing anything tonight?” Zach asked.
She hesitated, and Zach feared for a moment that he had pushed for too much too fast, but when she answered she sounded pleased.
“Free as a bird,” she said. “What were you thinking?”
