Her towel fell, and she made no move to retrieve it. “See you in a couple of hours.”
“Right.” Swallowing, he managed to get out the door, but the image of her standing there, her face filled with something that looked suspiciously like love, was etched forever in his mind.
An hour later, after he’d changed into clean clothes at his apartment and downed another cup of coffee to compensate for his lack of sleep, he was still thinking about all that he’d shared with Hannah. But he had to put a lock on those thoughts. He didn’t want to act like some lovesick fool when he went to Ed with his request. This needed to be a friendly and straightforward matter.
During the bus ride to the office, he rehearsed what he wanted to say. Talking to Ed had never been difficult, but that was before Zach had taken over Ed’s corner office. He’d avoided Ed yesterday, and so he had no idea whether they were still on friendly terms or not. God, he hoped so.
When he walked through the door, Ed, coffee mug in hand, was over by the receptionist’s desk kidding with her. He was a burly guy with a round, friendly face, the kind of guy you’d expect to find tending the barbecue grill in the backyard on a Saturday afternoon.
Ed and Shirley, the blond receptionist, were both laughing about something. Trust Ed to keep his sense of humor after being relegated to a little cubby in the outer office.
Ed turned when Zach appeared. “Hey, Zach.” His tone was casual, but he wasn’t smiling.
Zach didn’t blame him. In Ed’s place, he wouldn’t smile at the guy who’d replaced him. “Could I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.
“Sure.” Ed gestured toward the cubby with his coffee mug. “Step into my office.”
“Thanks.” Zach felt Shirley’s gaze on him. Shirley had always liked Ed, which might mean that she wasn’t too fond of Zach right now.
Ed’s partitioned area was claustrophobic, barely enough room for the desk, Ed’s chair and a chair in front of the desk for a visitor. Zach would be embarrassed to ask clients to meet him at a place like this. He noticed that Ed had mounted his framed industry awards on the temporary partitions, as though he was prepared to settle in.
They were impressive, although the most recent was ten years old. Other stuff was on the wall, too, including pictures of Ed with several Little League teams. One had been taken last year, with the team posed in front of a championship banner.
“We damned near went to nationals last year.” Ed gazed at the picture. “Some of those kids are back again, and I think we might do ’er this time.”
“That’s quite a feat.” Zach remembered his own Little League days in Illinois. One coach in particular had been his hero. Ed was probably a hero to these young boys, too.
“Yeah, well, it’s what I love. Have a seat. I was wondering if you’d stopped talking to me for some reason.”
“Sorry about that. I felt awkward yesterday.” Zach sat down in the chair, which wasn’t all that comfortable. “Look, I’m not happy with Medford’s office switch.”
Ed waved a beefy hand. “Forget about it. Medford has his game plan, and I’m just glad to have this. I know I’m not blazing any trails right now. I only need a couple more years, and I’ll be able to retire. I can live with the situation.”
Zach recognized a guy who understood his priorities. As someone who was still discovering his, Zach appreciated how difficult it could be to stick to those priorities when the pressure was on.
Ed set down his mug, which had COACH lettered on it in red. The entire surface of the mug was covered with childish signatures. “What can I do for you?”
“I need a favor. I can understand if you don’t want to help me under the circumstances, but I-”
“Hey, of course I’ll help you. It’s not your fault I’m out here.”
“I could have refused to take the corner office.”
“And risk pissing off a guy like Medford? You could lose your job. That would be crazy.”
Zach didn’t think so. As he gazed at those signatures on Ed’s mug, he knew that confronting Medford would be one of the sanest things he’d done in a while. Between that and making love to Hannah last night, he felt as if he was finally getting his priorities in order.
CHAPTER NINE
HANNAH COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. The vice president of one of the biggest publishers in New York had just offered her a job. And she’d accepted, controlling her glee as best she could while she was still in his office. But once she was standing on the sidewalk in front of the building, the building where she would be working starting tomorrow, she gave in to the urge to punch her fist in the air and do a victory dance. So what if people stared?
They didn’t, though. They were used to street performers in this town, and they might figure she was another one. As a piece of performance art, she’d label this one Jubilation. She had a job! She could hardly wait to tell Zach and thank him for the contact. He’d come through for her, big-time.
She could call him on her cell, but they’d agreed that the news was too important to be delivered by phone. She was supposed to meet him at Iris’s coffee stand when her interview was over. Hannah felt as if she could fly there, but because it was at least four miles away, she decided to splurge on a cab.
Mario wouldn’t be on duty, and she didn’t have a number to call him, anyway. But she could try out her whistle. She put her fingers in the corner of her mouth the way Zach had shown her, stuck her tongue behind her front teeth, and blew.
The little tweet that came out was beyond pathetic. She worked at it for another five minutes before finally giving it up as a bad job. Zach had said she’d need a lot of practice, and he was right. She resorted to standing in the street and waving her arms frantically until a cab finally swerved over and picked her up.
Neither the taxi nor the driver had Mario’s charm, but they transported her to Iris’s coffee stand in good order. Once there, she gave the driver a sizable tip, because she was feeling incredibly generous. Then she leaped out and ran over to the coffee stand. Zach wasn’t there yet, so Iris would be the first to hear her big news.
ZACH HAD WORKED AT THIS investment firm for eight years, and yet it took him less than an hour to pack up his belongings. He’d managed to find a couple of boxes to put everything in, but now he had to figure out the logistics of this. He could load them into a cab, but he didn’t have time to take a cab back to his apartment and then over to Iris’s coffee stand. Hannah was probably already there by now.
Ed came in carrying a box of his stuff. “I still think you’re crazy,” he said. “You never should have had it out with Medford. You knew how he’d react.”
“That’s why I had to do it.” Zach closed the flaps on the second box. “I confirmed what I pretty much knew already. I don’t want to work for a guy like that.”
Ed set the box down on the desk that would now be his again. Then he studied Zach for a long moment. “Yeah, okay. You’re young enough to start over. That makes a difference.”
“I’ll be fine. No worries.” Zach hoped to hell he’d be able to start over. But no matter how it turned out for him, he’d done the right thing.
“I appreciate getting your client list, buddy.”
“I’m glad Medford didn’t give me any crap about that. I was afraid he would, but he seemed to think it served me right, for you to get the office back and all my clients, too.”
Ed nodded. “The reason he can be generous is that I’ve given him no reason to be vindictive. I’m afraid you have. He might try to screw with your professional reputation.”
“And if he does, maybe I’ll go into something else. Hell, I might decide to drive a cab like my friend Mario.” He glanced at the boxes. “Hey, could I leave these here for an hour or two? I’m supposed to meet Hannah to find out about the job interview, so I don’t have time to call a cab and take them home.”
“You want them schlepped over to your apartment? I can do that on my way home from work. I have the truck, you know.”
“That would be terrific. I’ll make sure I’m home by then.” Zach scribbled his address on a piece of paper and handed it to Ed. “I’d forgotten there were people who drive in from the suburbs. I haven’t owned a car in eight years.”
“Or driven one, either, I’ll bet.”
“Nope.”
Ed laughed. “You might want to practice before you get into the taxi business.”
“Yeah, I might. Well, I’d better go.” He shook Ed’s hand. “Thanks for taking the boxes.”
“My pleasure. It’s the least I can do.”
In the outer office Zach said goodbye to Shirley, who was much friendlier than she had been early this morning. Then he rode the elevator down and walked out of the building, probably for the last time. With Ed taking care of his boxes, he’d have no reason to go back.
He’d expected to feel depressed, and instead he felt only relief. But he had to prepare himself to say goodbye to Hannah. She didn’t need some jobless schmuck hanging around as she settled into her new life in the big city. If he’d given her some help, that was great, but he would never forgive himself if he dragged her down.
Although he should be conserving his cash for the possible money drought ahead, he whistled for a cab to take him over to the coffee stand. Whistling reminded him of trying to teach Hannah how to do it. When he thought of her earnest effort to learn, his heart gave a twinge of sorrow.
Face it, he’d miss the hell out of her. In a very short time she’d managed to become essential to him. Maybe, if he got on his feet again in a few months, he might call her.
Of course, by then she could easily have a new boyfriend. A woman like her would attract all kinds of interest. He’d been a lucky SOB to get the inside track, thanks to Mario.
But now the logical step was to let her go. She wasn’t like Adrienne, who judged a man by his bank account, but she was a normal woman who needed a guy who was at least relatively solvent. An employed guy. Which he wasn’t.
As the cab pulled up near the coffee stand, Zach found Hannah with no trouble. Her deep red hair glowed in the midday sun pouring down between the buildings. She’d worn the blue-and-gold-striped dress today, and the dress was like a banner announcing her presence.
He imagined he could tell by the animated way she was talking to Iris that she’d nailed the job. Maybe not, though. She was such an optimist that she’d be animated whether it was win, lose or draw. He tipped the cabdriver well, figuring that he wanted to do that while he still had the money.
Iris must have said something to Hannah about him being there, because as he climbed out of the cab, she came running toward him. They met in the tight space between two parked cars.
“I got it!” She flung her arms around his neck and damned near threw him off balance. “I got the job! Thank you, oh, thank you, Zach!” Then she gave him an espresso-flavored kiss.
He kissed her back, unable to help himself. Later he could be strong, but when she was in his arms all he could think of was keeping her there.
At last she came up for air. “I start tomorrow.” Her brown eyes shone with excitement. “They handle some really big authors, Zach. I won’t get to work with New York Times bestsellers right away, but I’ll be in the same building when they come in. I might be able to bring them coffee. And the authors I do work with could become bestsellers, because this is a really good house. Did you thank Ed again for me? I should call him.”
“He might be at lunch.” Zach didn’t want her calling Ed just yet. He had some things to explain first.
“Even better!” She wiggled out of his arms and dug in her purse for her cell phone. “This is why I took his number while I was there, so I could let him know what happened.” She found a pad of paper and flipped it open to where she’d written Ed’s cell number.
“Listen, before you call, there’s something-”
“It’ll only take a minute. Then we can go celebrate! Where can you go? I know you don’t have much time, and I don’t want to make you late for work again, so we could put it off until-” She paused and stuck her finger in her ear. “Hello? Ed? I can barely hear you.”
“Reception’s bad,” Zach said. “You can call him back later.”
Instead she stepped up on the sidewalk. “There, that’s better. Ed, this is Hannah. I got the job!” Then she smiled. “Yeah, it is wonderful. Thanks for recommending me to your client. We really got along. What?” She glanced at Zach. “Just a sec.” She put her finger over the speaker.
Zach would have liked more time. He’d wanted to give her a chance to bask in her glory before hearing his announcement. “Hannah, listen, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“I’m guessing so.” She looked worried. “Ed says he forgot he has a Little League practice and wonders if he can drop your boxes off tomorrow morning at your apartment. What’s that all about, Zach?”
“I quit.”
“You what?”
“It just isn’t the place for me, so I quit.”
Hannah groaned. “This is my fault. I should never have said that! Is it final? Maybe you could go back this afternoon and say you’d reconsidered.”
“No, I can’t do that.”
“Oh, Zach.” Still gazing at him in concern, she brought the phone back to her ear. “Ed, are you still there? Listen, we’ll call you back about the boxes. And thanks again for the recommendation. Bye.” Then she snapped her phone shut and tucked it in her purse.
“First of all,” Zach said, “it’s not your fault that I quit. I’m grateful to you for showing me that I didn’t have to accept what Medford had laid out. I told him I didn’t want the corner office, and he should give it back to Ed.”
She sighed. “Not a good move.”
“It was a perfect move. Medford got all purple in the face. You would have loved it. He totally lost his cool.”
“Really? He turned purple?”
“Like an eggplant.”
Hannah put both hands to her mouth. “I shouldn’t laugh. This is serious. You just threw away a perfectly good job.”
“It wasn’t a perfectly good job. Not with Medford in charge.”
She lowered her hands and cleared her voice. “Okay, maybe this isn’t so terrible. But I still feel responsible. You wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t come up with the idea.”
“As I’ve told you, I want to thank you for that. I’ll sleep much better tonight knowing I don’t have to go back there.”
She gazed up at him with a tiny smile. “Do you think you’ll get to sleep tonight?”
Here came the hard part. “Yes. Because…because…I’ve decided we should stop seeing each other.”
She looked as if she’d been slapped. “Why?”
“I’m out of a job, Hannah. You just got a really good one. You said yourself that this wasn’t the time for you to make a commitment. That’s doubly true, now. I refuse to be a stone around your neck right when you’re ready to enjoy this great city.”
“But-”
“Trust me, this is the right thing. For both of us. Goodbye, Hannah.” Taking a deep breath, he turned and walked down the street. He wasn’t sure where he was headed, but he wasn’t going to stand around waiting for a bus or take the time to hail a taxi. He just needed…out of there.
As he was striding down the sidewalk, dodging everyone who got in his way, he heard a strange sound. It wasn’t exactly like a whistle. It was more like somebody blowing a very loud raspberry. He paused to listen. And then he heard a whistle. An actual, taxi-worthy whistle. She’d done it.
Only a man with no heart would keep walking. He turned. Hannah was running toward him, her skirt caught up in both hands. It wasn’t graceful, but it certainly was enthusiastic.
She plowed to a stop right in front of him. “You…can’t!” She gasped for breath. “I want to be there for you! You helped me get a job, and now I’ll help you!”
“That’s a nice thought, but-”
“Don’t you but me, Zachary Evans! I will be emp
loyed in a huge building with dozens of contacts. I’ll be networking out the ying-yang. You want clients to start up your own investment counseling business, I’ll get you clients.”
She was magnificent. And irresistible. “What if I want to drive a taxi?”
“Then I’ll get you fares! Publishing people need a lot of taxi rides. I will get you so much business you won’t be able to handle it all. If you leave me, you’re giving all that up!”
“What if I’m in love with you?” The words came out before he could stop them.
“That works.” Her voice softened. “Because I’m in love with you, too.”
His heart warmed with the first rays of hope. “It’s too soon.”
“Says who? Everything moves fast in New York. Everyone knows that.”
“Look, I have no problem with making a commitment, but you-you just got here.”
She stepped closer. “And I was lucky enough to meet the sexiest man in the whole city first time out of the box.”
“You have no basis of comparison.”
She made a face. “Zach, I’m offering myself to you on a silver platter. Are you going to be stupid enough to argue with me about it?”
That did it. “No.” He gathered her close. “I’m going to be smart enough to ask you to marry me, contribute to the ninety-percent ratio and get our picture taped to Mario’s dash.”
She looked into his eyes. “The blue picture.”
“Absolutely the blue picture.” Then he kissed her, taking his own sweet time. He ignored the harried pedestrians eddying around them, treating them like an obstacle in the middle of a fast-moving stream. Some things, even in New York, were too wonderful to rush.
EPILOGUE
“MARIO, YOU REMEMBER WE’RE supposed to go slow, right?” Hannah climbed into the backseat of the taxi while clutching the skirt of her floor-length dress with one hand and holding a bridal bouquet of yellow roses and daisies in the other.
Meanwhile Zach was trying to deal with the dress’s long train. “I think it’s either me or the dress,” he said. “There’s not room enough in this taxi for both of us.”
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