by Kim Law
“May I think about it?” she asked. She could see that happening. She could have her store here, but also sell pieces in Atlanta. Why not? It would be the best of both worlds.
And just because it was in Atlanta, that didn’t mean she’d ever run into Zack.
“Absolutely,” Ashley replied. “Let me give you our contact info and website. Please take a look. Come down and see us in person, if you’d like. We’d love to have you. But please, keep us in mind. I think we could work well together.”
They finished up, Holly jotting down the pertinent information and Ashley promising to call back in a couple days, then she got off the phone. She sat there for a moment, her heart in her throat, wanting desperately to call Zack.
She even punched in a text.
But then she deleted it.
He couldn’t be that kind of friend right now. Maybe someday. After she’d figured out how to get over him. Right now she had to keep her distance.
Brian poked his head into the house. He looked at her cautiously. “Everything okay?”
She nodded. Then tears pooled in her eyes and she explained about the call.
When she finished, her brother picked her up in a bear hug. Everyone else had come back in and gathered around, hearing all the details. There wasn’t a dry eye in the bunch.
“I’m so proud of you, sis,” Brian muttered. “We all are.”
She buried her face in his chest and let the tears flow. She was proud of herself too. She may show up for her appointment with puffy eyes and streaked makeup, but she was currently filled to the brim with pride.
Her dreams were coming true.
The vibration of the Roadmaster felt good under Zack’s sturdy hands as he took the exit off the interstate and turned toward his mother’s house. She didn’t know he was coming to see her.
He shouldn’t be coming to see her. It was the middle of a workday.
But he’d been unable to concentrate.
It was Thursday. Movie night. And the only thing that had run through his head the entire day was that the last three Thursday nights had been spent with Holly. The first was when he’d started getting to know her. They’d become friends that night. She’d called him lonely.
The second they’d skipped the movie together and she’d kissed him senseless.
Last week she’d made love to him.
This week she could very well be with another man.
There was no way he could stay at the office when all he could think about was Holly in another man’s arms.
So he’d decided to take the car out for a ride, and his mother along with it. She loved this car almost as much as he did. Only, for different reasons.
Cars had been his dad’s passion. He’d taken Zack’s mom out on their first date in one identical to this. That’s the reason his dad picked this car to restore. He’d wanted to rebuild a bond with his son, but he’d also wanted to romance his wife.
And Zack had been too busy to help see that dream come true. He held heavy regrets about that. But he’d done what he could to correct it in the years since. He’d finished the car, and he was taking care of his mother. Exactly like his dad would have wanted.
Zack pulled into the driveway, and he’d no sooner turned the car off than his mother stepped from the house. It was as if she’d been expecting him.
The expression on her face was one he remembered from childhood. He’d come home—too many days—upset because some kid had picked on him. She’d hug him tight and give him ice cream. But that expression was always the first thing he’d seen.
His mother loved him to the bottom of her soul.
She would do anything for him.
And today, when he was hurting so bad over the loss of Holly, he’d just wanted his mom.
“You okay, Zackie?” She’d come out to the car without making him come to her.
He nodded and gave her a sad smile. He loved it when she called him Zackie. “I miss her, Mom.”
“I know, baby.” She opened the passenger door and climbed in. “Because you love her.”
He wanted to deny it again. But he couldn’t. “She doesn’t love me.”
“I think you might be wrong about that. This one is different.”
He’d like to believe her. He’d also like to think it wasn’t too late. “Why do you say that?”
She reached over and patted his hand. “Because this girl is special. She’s not afraid to be herself. And she’s not afraid to do things her own way.”
He wasn’t sure he knew what she meant.
“Zack, honey.” She shook her head as if talking to a child who just didn’t get it. “Barb wasn’t the woman for you. She needed a perfect life. She couldn’t trust in anything else.” His mom squeezed his hand. “If it hadn’t been your birth mother, it would have eventually been something else.” She peered up at him through her glasses. “Holly just needs to be loved.”
He wanted to love her.
But she didn’t want him.
“She showed me her mirrors,” his mom said. That shocked him.
“When?”
“Saturday night. She gave me a ride back to the house after the festival, and she asked if I wanted to see them.” She shook her head in awe. “What a gift that young lady has.”
He nodded. “I know. She showed them to me too.”
“She showed them to you first,” his mom stressed.
“How do you know that?”
“Because you told me about them.”
He shook his head. “I told you about the other ones. The ones in her living room.”
“I knew there was more to the story, I just didn’t know what. But when she took me out there . . .” She shrugged. “I knew that was what you’d seen. And then I understood.”
“You understood what?”
“That it wasn’t just the mirrors you had fallen for.” She let that soak in for a second before adding, “Same for her.”
“Mom.” The word came out sad. It sounded lonely. Which reminded him of Holly calling him lonely that first night. And he was. He wanted more than work. More than an empty house and what felt like an even emptier penthouse. He wanted what his parents had had. “She pushed me away. She doesn’t want me.”
“Are you willing to bet the rest of your life on that?” she asked.
When he didn’t immediately respond, she added, “I asked her about Bobby before I left. Asked if it was something that could get serious.”
Zack’s throat closed. He did not want to hear that she was moving on.
“She looked shocked, baby. Floored. As if the thought of getting serious with another man was outside the realm of her possibility.”
Zack turned to look at his mother.
“Because we both saw that she’s already serious about you,” she said.
He started to argue, but he found he couldn’t. He had meant something to Holly. He knew that. He couldn’t have called that one so completely wrong.
“You’re special to her,” his mom said. “And I’m pretty sure as much more than a friend.”
“Was I good enough for you, Mom?” he asked suddenly. “For Dad? I always worried that I wasn’t.”
Shocked eyes greeted his. “Why would you ever question that?”
“Because you chose me,” he said. “I always worried that I wouldn’t live up to your expectations. And then I met Pam, and my worries doubled. What if I had too much of her in me? What if I turned into her?”
“Oh, Zackie.” She scooted across the seat and wrapped her arm around his waist. “Of course you would never turn into her. You have more of your father and me running through you than that woman. And yes, you were good enough. Of course. You were the best son a mother could ever want. Or a father. He loved you more than you know.”
“I let him down.”
“
No,” she said. “Never.”
“I should have been around more. Should have made sure he got this car finished.”
“But you did. Otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting in it right now.”
He chuckled a little. Because that’s all they were doing. Sitting in it. They were still in her driveway, and no doubt her neighbors were wondering what was going on.
“I never wanted you to regret choosing me,” he confessed. That fear had been in him for as long as he could remember. Maybe it was ridiculous, but he’d never been able to shake it.
“The only thing I’ve ever regretted was that I couldn’t fight your demons for you. The kids at school when you were little. Heartbreak in law school. And then what that witch Pam put in your head. I tried, but there are some things a mother just has to be on the sidelines for. I was there waiting to hold you up when you needed me, but I couldn’t protect you from the bad.” She hugged him tight. “I’ve never regretted a single thing about you, though. And you shouldn’t either. Don’t live with regrets, son. Be willing to take a risk. Go for what you want.”
He eyed her carefully, trying to decide if he should tell her what he wanted.
“What is it?” she prodded. “I know you want Holly. What else?”
He loved his mother so much. She always knew when he needed something. Especially when he needed her.
“I want to move to Sugar Springs, Mom. I want to be close to my brothers. I want to be there for Holly.” If she would have him. And he was starting to hope that she might. “I want to work with people who deserve to be helped.”
Like Mr. Martin. He’d done nothing wrong, and hadn’t deserved to be bullied by his neighbor. Zack had gotten more satisfaction out of that single act than he’d had at his job in years. Most of his clients were guilty. He was just good enough to get them off.
Joy crossed his mother’s face. “As long as you take me with you,” she stated. “I want to be there for those boys too. And their kids. And wives. I always did want a bigger family. Now I can have a houseful.” She paused and patted his cheek. “But you’ll always be my favorite.”
He smiled. He knew he would.
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, Zackie.”
“It would mean I don’t make partner.”
That had been bothering him a lot. He was ready to walk away from the career he’d worked so hard for. Just to be with the woman he loved.
And to be with his family.
“Would you be disappointed in me?” he asked.
“Would you be happy?”
He nodded. “I would.”
He could always open his own practice in Sugar Springs. There wasn’t a lot of need so it may not pay the bills, but he could also join a firm in Knoxville. Maybe with his buddy. A couple days a week in Sugar Springs and the rest working with a larger firm, less than an hour’s drive away. He could see that working.
“Then I’m not sure what we’re waiting for,” his mother said. “Isn’t there a movie playing tonight?”
There was. And he happened to know that big things happened on movie nights. He wanted to make sure Holly was with the right man when those things happened.
“Want to take a ride with me, Mom?”
He’d left the top off the car again. Partly because he knew his mother liked riding with the top down, and partly because it made him think of Holly.
Total contentment settled over his mother’s face. “You couldn’t get me out if you tried.”
He laughed with a relief he hadn’t felt in a week. “We’re going to need some clothes.”
“We can buy clothes; we’d better hurry. Beatrice called earlier. Rumor is that Holly has a date tonight. You can’t let her spend the evening with the wrong man.”
His thoughts exactly.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The opening credits to Casablanca scrolled across the screen, and Holly looked at the man seated to her left. He was focused on the movie, but she caught Kyndall on the other side of him, checking him out too.
He was a good-looking guy. Kyndall seemed to think so too, if the way she took him in from head to toe, her little face focused in concentration, was any indication. Yet Holly got the impression that Kyndall didn’t want Jesse sitting in between them any more than she did.
Holly shouldn’t have said yes when he’d called her up yesterday.
She should not be on a date.
And since she was, especially with someone as fine looking as Jesse Beckman, then she most definitely should feel something other than the need for the night to hurry along.
Kyndall shifted her gaze to Holly’s and her nose wrinkled in opposition. Holly agreed.
He might be cute, but he was no Zack.
And she really, really wanted it to be Zack.
She missed him something awful.
Cody and Nick had filled her in that they’d seen him when they’d taken Janet home Sunday morning, but that’s all they’d told her. They hadn’t provided any details. It had felt as if they were on Zack’s side. Whatever his side might be. As if they were respecting his thoughts because he was their brother.
She hadn’t cared about that. She’d wanted to know if he was miserable like she was.
She’d gotten nothing out of them.
That was a good thing, she supposed. It was the relationship the three of them needed, so yeah, she was glad it had fallen into place. It hadn’t kept her from wanting to kick the two brothers in the shins when they wouldn’t share details, though.
Jesse turned to her and gave her a little smile, but still . . . nothing. Damn. She really wanted to like him. She’d even been given the go-ahead from his sister that it was okay if Holly went out with him. She could now officially date her friend’s little brother.
Only, she didn’t want to.
He reached for her hand, and Kyndall eyed them both as if trying to figure out if she should intercede.
Holly winked at her, but Kyndall just scrunched up her nose again.
“This is fun,” Jesse whispered.
“Yeah,” Holly replied noncommittally.
She sighed internally. She had to put an end to this.
Zack may not be the one for her. Heck, maybe there was no “one” for her. But she couldn’t force it with someone else either. Clearly she wasn’t ready to go out with another man.
She’d focus her time on her store instead. Plans were already being put into place. Shelving had been ordered, and she had Nick lined up for some customization work. Soon she’d be a businesswoman on her own. That was pretty awesome.
That was all she needed to make her happy for the moment.
Jesse inched closer and slid an arm around her waist, and Holly froze.
What was he doing? Surely he wasn’t about to make a move. Not here. In front of her niece?
Before she could put a stop to it, or even figure out if that was his intent, she caught Kyndall taking another peek in her direction, but then her gaze shifted above Holly’s head and her eyes brightened. The girl smiled.
And then the most god-awful pair of shoes reached Holly’s peripheral vision. They were men’s black oxfords, but they looked to have been violated with a glue gun. Poorly.
Sequins of every imaginable color were haphazardly slapped along the surface, with chunks of dried glue balled up in random spots throughout. As if someone had never handled a glue gun in their life.
There was also fringe stuck to the tongue. Well, fringe on the tongue of one shoe. The other just held a blob of glue. The fringe was a red tassel, like what might be found hanging from a curtain.
The shoes were right behind Jesse now, but were pointed toward her. Holly wanted to see who wore those shoes. She began to lift her gaze.
They were under a pair of black trousers. Over long legs.
Her pulse began to hammer.
She also noticed that no one was complaining about whomever it was standing in the way of the screen.
Then she saw Kyndall’s face once again. The girl’s smile was infectious, and Holly knew without a doubt who was standing by her side.
He’d come back.
“I hope like hell you don’t think you’re about to kiss her,” Zack proclaimed.
Jesse froze. Then he mumbled under his breath, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He separated from Holly and climbed to his feet.
Kyndall clapped.
“I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t show back up.” Jesse’s words were directed at Zack.
Zack merely stared. The line of his jaw seemed set in stone, and there was zero emotion coming from his eyes. The look was actually a bit chilling. Holly switched her gaze back to Jesse.
He turned his head toward her.
He studied her for a moment, seeming to ask her a question. Did she want him to go?
Actually, yes. But she was sorry. She let her eyes go soft just long enough to show him the love she felt for Zack. She didn’t know why he was there, but she had to find out.
Jesse gave an almost unnoticeable nod.
“She’s all yours, Winston.” Then he winked at Holly. “Thanks for the date, gorgeous.”
Zack took a step closer, but Jesse only laughed. Though Zack had a good six inches on him, Jesse was built like a tank. And he could probably bench at least a hundred pounds more. It would be an interesting fight.
If Holly were into men fighting over her.
“Stand down, soldier.” Jesse patted Zack on the shoulder. “We’re good here.” Then he once again looked at Holly. The easiness and warmth in his gaze let her know that he was okay with this turn of events. “I had to try.” He gave a little shrug. “In case he didn’t come back.” He took another long look at Zack before shooting a parting glance at Holly. “Good luck,” he said sincerely.
Then he was gone.
Zack watched until Jesse was out of sight, while Holly remained where she was on the quilt. She needed to know what was going on.
And she needed to know now.
Before she got her hopes up.
