by Lynn Stevens
He smiled. “Okay, I get it. That’s great.”
But his stilted voice gave away one fact: he didn’t like it. Well, Macie wasn’t going to change it. The invitations needed to go to the printer as soon as possible. If they weren’t mailed out by the end of next week, they wouldn’t get to people in time to RSVP. Macie had learned a long time ago that people rarely RSVP anymore. Maybe they would for wedding showers. Everyone was too wrapped up in their own lives to bother.
Macie finished filling in the letters and cleaning up the lines. The art calmed her. Besides, people would show for Lauren’s shower. That was just the way it worked for her friend. And another reason she planned on eloping if she ever met Mister Right.
“Have you heard from him lately?” Lauren asked.
Macie glanced up from the screen. At some point Ford had left the table. Macie looked around their apartment. He may have even left completely. Weird. She didn’t remember hearing him move. She turned her attention back to her friend.
“No. The last message said he would be off-line a lot because of finals.” Macie shrugged and went back to her tablet. She smiled at her work. Not bad for an unemployed graphic designer. She attached it to an email, sending it to Lauren. “Get that invitation to the printer.”
Lauren’s phone dinged a new email, but she didn’t take her eyes off Macie. “Have you asked to meet him yet?”
“No.” Macie left it at that. She wanted to tell Lauren everything, but she also enjoyed watching her squirm.
“Why not?” Lauren smacked her arm. “Stop playing. Just tell me. What’s going on?”
“Once graduation is over. There’s just too much to do right now.” Her head dropped to her chest. “If I’m even in the city. I still don’t have a job. Or even an interview at this point. You know I’ll have to go home if nothing opens up.”
“We’ll figure that out.” Lauren squeezed her arm. Macie laid her head on her friend’s shoulder for a moment. They stuck by each other, even after some of their more monumental arguments. They always came back to this point, this friendship. Macie couldn’t lose Lauren. “You can stay with me for a while. Ford’s going to live with his parents until we’re married. That’ll give you a few months.”
“Wait. What? Why’s he moving out?” It didn’t make sense to move out after living together for almost a year. Plus, the looming wedding.
“Oh, it’s the school he’s going to work for.” Irritation covered Lauren’s face, but she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, a technique she’d learned when she thought she was going to be a yoga instructor. Macie helped put the kibosh on that. Lauren was a programmer first and foremost. “I get it, though. They don’t want any improprieties by the teachers. Even if it is the twenty-first century.” She pursed her lips. “And you know Ford, he’s so straight and narrow he might as well be a tape measure.”
A snort escaped Macie’s lips. It wasn’t intentional but comparing Ford to a tape measure was too accurate. Lauren’s lip quirked up, but she never let her smile show. Ford was a man of his word, and that was one of the most attractive qualities about him. He was loyal and cared about everyone. Macie envied that about him. Years of cynicism made trust hard for her.
“Thanks, Lauren,” Macie said. Her phone vibrated on the table. It was still early for a Monday, but she wasn’t expecting any calls. Her mom was at work for the evening and Lauren was here. The number was local and...a job? It had to be. This could be huge.
“Answer it,” Lauren snapped.
Macie pulled herself back to reality and swiped the phone to answer. “This is Macie Regan.” She closed her eyes. That sounded so fake, she expected the person to hang up. Or worse, say they’d made a horrible mistake, then hang up. Or even worse, it was a damn telemarketer.
“Ms. Regan, this is Nancy Carter with NewsFirst Six.” The woman’s voice was sharp and demanding. Macie liked her already. “Our graphics department has an opening. HR handed me your portfolio, and I’d like you to come to the station at two tomorrow.”
“Two sounds great.” Macie’s hand shook as Nancy Carter gave her the address and directions. It wasn’t far from campus or the area she wanted to live. But it wasn’t Rivot, either. “Thank you for the opportunity.”
“I look forward to meeting you.” Nancy Carter hung up without allowing Macie a chance to reply.
Her eyes wide with fear and excitement, Macie turned to Lauren. “I have an interview.”
Lauren squealed, and they jumped in the air like sitcom teenagers.
Macie had to repeat it just so it would seem real. “I have an interview.”
“I heard,” Lauren said. “With?”
“Channel six.” Macie’s face screwed up as she thought about it more. She hadn’t sent her resume into channel six. A budget cut crisis ten years ago shut down the news division. They’d only recently started it back up about a year ago. Her business management class spent three weeks reviewing the situation last fall. Macie thought they’d make the same mistakes and close shop again. That was why Macie didn’t send her resume.
“What?” Lauren asked.
Macie shook her head and smiled. It wasn’t a big deal. A job was a job. But she still needed to answer Lauren. “What am I going to wear?”
Lauren held up a finger. “I’ve got that covered.”
THE CABIN HAD BEEN nice, but it wasn’t what Zac remembered. It was more of a shack than the home away from home he’d imagined. The one room building was weakened by years of neglect. At night the light breeze off the nearby lake felt like a hurricane inside. Zac half expected the walls to fall in on him.
Instead of relaxing by the lake, he was too busy swatting mosquitoes off his skin. His father enjoyed it more, and that was worth the bites and Bactine. His dad’s health worried him more each day. The weekend getaway gave him some color in his cheeks. Zac hated to admit it, but he kept waiting for a heart attack. His father worked too hard and too many hours. The board should have him slow down.
The time away had given him some perspective on his mystery girl. They’d both used finals as an excuse to curb their conversations. Their last messages had been brief and nonchalant. Zac wondered why, but he took his cues from her. On the drive home, while his father slept, Zac replayed every step to see if he’d crossed a line somewhere. They would take two steps forward, three steps back. That was the epiphany he’d had in the cabin as his dad snored away while Zac sat on the couch unable to sleep. It hit him like a bullet train in the middle of the forehead.
“What’s on your mind, son?” his father asked. They sat in the breakfast nook at his father’s house, drinking coffee and having a doctor approved dinner of baked chicken and broccoli. His father speared a floret and sneered at it before popping the offending vegetable in his mouth. “You’ve got that look your mother used to get when something bothered her.”
Zac smiled and dropped his head. His mom died when he was in elementary school. They only talked about her when his stepmother and half-sisters weren’t around. Amanda didn’t like it. Moments like this, they could. “What looks that?”
His father’s face brightened. It didn’t matter if it had been fifteen years, anybody could see he still loved her. Zac had no doubt that he’d leave Amanda in a heartbeat if his mom miraculously showed up on the doorstep.
“There’s a girl,” Zac began. He wasn’t really sure where to go from there. How could he explain to his father that he’d never met her, but he thought he was already falling for her? Or was he falling for the idea of her?
“There’s always a girl.” His dad shook his head as he cut his bland chicken into minuscule bites.
“This one’s different.” Zac sighed and pushed his half-eaten plate away and leaned back in his chair.
His father stared at the plate, then met his son’s gaze. His eyes widened. “I can see that. So what’s the problem?”
Zac’s gaze shift to the window and the perfect lawn outside. He would’ve loved this backyard when he was
a kid. A large kidney shaped pool, a huge swing-set, and a trampoline dotted the lush green grass. Amanda refused to live in the old house, the one his parents shared. Zac couldn’t really blame her, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t resent her for it. The old Victorian had been his mother’s dream home. This place, while beautiful in its own way, would’ve made his mother sick.
“She doesn’t feel the same?” his father prodded.
“I honestly don’t know,” Zac said, turning back to face his father and admitting the issue out loud. “I haven’t exactly met her.”
His father never judged, but he rolled his fork in a circle to encourage Zac to continue.
“Ford and Lauren created this app called Blind Friends.” Zac tried to keep his shoulders relaxed as he talked, but it was hard. His dad believed in love at first sight, but would he believe love at first write? “It’s designed as a way for people to get to know one another without knowing who the other person is. Ford and Lauren had a theory that it’s harder to make friends as you get older. There are a million dating sites, but none for people just looking for other people to hang out with.”
“Sounds dangerous, son.” His dad set his fork down and stared at Zac.
“Yeah, there’s always a risk, but they kept it strictly to campus. Ford helped Lauren create the psychological profile pages. A person fills them in, and then there’s an algorithm that calculates who you’d get along with.” That was the very basics of it, and Lauren’s explanation was much more in depth. Most of what she’d told him shot over his head. “Anyway, I exchanged messages with a few guys and a handful of girls in the first month. Then I met this one girl.”
“Met is a questionable word choice.” Dad held up his hands so Zac wouldn’t defend himself.
“Fine, I started messaging her.” Zac sighed and stared at the ceiling. “I wake up every day and check the app for a new message. If there isn’t one, I’m... crushed. If there is, I read it immediately and respond just as fast. Then I repeat the entire cycle. I ... need to get this out of my system. It can’t be real.”
“Why can’t it?” His father sat back in his chair and patted his stomach. There was no way he was full. Zac knew if he left him alone, his father would find the cookie stash. Amanda and the girls would be back from ballet class soon. They could stop him from rummaging through the pantry for the sweets.
“What if she’s really a horrible person? What if she’s not interested in me? What if she doesn’t want to even meet me?” Every question played through his mind.
“What if she does?”
Zac closed his eyes. He confessed the one thing he’d kept even from himself. “What if she meets me and runs the other way?”
“You’re not that bad looking, Zac.” His dad leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “Did I ever tell you your mother rejected me at first?”
His eyes snapped open. “What?”
“Yep.” His father leaned back in the chair again, crossing his arms over his chest. He stared out the windows. The setting sunlight hit his irises, making them Caribbean green. Zac knew his father was lost in the memory. “We had English comp one together during our freshman year at Lafayette. The first day, I knew. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.” He chuckled and shook his head. “She had other ideas. I asked her out once at the beginning of the semester. She told me no. And she wasn’t very nice about it.”
“Seriously?” Zac had never heard this part of their story. “What about the New Year’s party?”
His dad shrugged. “Still true, but with the context of the previous semester, it means more, doesn’t it?” A flash of darkness scattered across his face. “I don’t know what happened to her over winter break. She never shared that with me. I wish she had.” His arms fell to his sides. “Whatever it was drove her into my arms. When she stormed up to me on New Year’s and kissed me at midnight, I wasn’t letting her go.”
Zac watched the water in the pool lap against the side. His mom and dad had fallen in love fast and furious after that kiss. But adding in the information that his dad asked her out four months beforehand was depth he hadn’t known. His father had always been a practical dreamer. He never went after what he couldn’t have. He never gave up. If his target shifted, he shifted with it. Once a deal was in sight, he’d get it. He also dreamed big.
“Son, the moment I met your mom, I knew she was my end game. I knew I wanted to spend my life with her.” His dad leaned his elbows on the table and gave Zac a hard look. “I never knew that I’d only get the rest of her life. People can slip away from you so fast. You never know how much time you really have with someone. I wanted more than the eleven years I got. I wanted more kids with her, gray hairs, grandkids. Cancer didn’t care what I wanted. Life didn’t care what I wanted.” He stood from the table, leaving his plate. “It’s the one time in my life I lost. Don’t lose over something you can control, son.”
Zac didn’t see him leave, but he felt his absence. He wasn’t sure what bothered him more, the talk about his mom or the fact his father was right. The hole in his chest ached as he remembered his mother’s last days. Her hair was gone, her skin pale. She joked about looking like a vampire without fangs. Even through the cancer, she kept her sense of humor. And that was the worst part for him. Zac couldn’t remember anything but the cancer. He never told his father that. It would hurt too much if his dad knew. Even staring at family photos before she was sick felt like he was looking at someone else’s life. After she died, he lost his father for almost a year. There was a shell of a man who took him to school, fed him, and made him do his homework, but it wasn’t his father. Not really.
That was what Zac was really afraid of. The realization smacked him in the chest. It wasn’t about being rejected. It was about being left again.
But what if? That was the question circling his brain. What if she’s the one? What if she’s everything she seems to be? What if? What if? What if?
Zac opened up his tablet. No new message. He’d messaged yesterday about something trivial and hadn’t heard back yet. They’d steered away from anything philosophical or deep lately. Not anymore. He needed to know if this could be real. He began to type.
CHAPTER SIX
The reception area was larger than the space for the anchors and their mirrors, which reminded Macie of a backstage theater complete with messy desks and makeup strung about. The anchors’ desk space was slightly larger than an actor’s though, more like a combination of an open office cubicle and a makeup table. It was odd. The graphics department was jammed into a large closet with three cubicles stuffed inside, one of which was empty. Could she see herself in that space? At this point, she didn’t care. She just needed a job.
Macie didn’t have to wait long after her tour before she was ushered into the office.
“Have a seat,” Nancy said. “Dwayne at channel nine thought you’d fit in here. That’s the reason he sent me your resume.”
Macie swallowed hard and nodded. Nancy Carter was everything Macie expected. Strong-willed, determined, and a roaring bitch. Not that Macie cared. It was an interview, a potential job. If Nancy hired her, then Macie could suck it up and deal. The station wasn’t as big as Macie thought it would be. It was incredibly small actually.
Nancy spent the first ten minutes asking standard interview questions, most of which Macie had prepared herself for, and then asked for Macie’s portfolio. She handed it over with solid confidence. She’d spent the previous night reviewing the station’s website and watching news clips from recent stories. The graphics they used were simple and clean. And not too difficult. The job wouldn’t be hard. She could do most of these in her sleep.
“Ms. Regan, your portfolio is good. Very good.” Nancy said as she flipped through the art Macie had printed. Macie made sure the ones she had available matched what the station was already known for. “But we’re looking to add some...” Nancy rolled her wide hand in a circle as she searched for the word or paused dramatical
ly, Macie wasn’t sure which. “Pizazz. Yes, that’s the word. They need to stand out more in this market. As you know, the news department has only recently been rebooted. We need to go the extra mile to knock our competitors out of the way.” She leaned in and Macie fought the urge to lean back. “Do you have anything else?”
Macie didn’t break her gaze and she reached down into her canvas messenger bag. Her tablet was so old Macie was almost embarrassed to let Nancy see it. But she bucked up and unlocked it and opened the file before handing over it over. She’d been working on a portfolio for freelancing work while she waited. Some were book covers, some book trailers, others were ads for small companies. Macie needed a backup plan to no job and that was what she had come up with. She’d also added some of her favorite fun graphics to the mix along with wedding invitations and such.
Nancy’s face lit up. The hard lines around her eyes and mouth softened. A smile lifted her cheeks, taking ten years off. The station manager wasn’t old by any means, but she was clearly battle worn with the lines to show it. By Macie’s guesstimate, Nancy was only in her early fifties. Her potential boss cleared her throat and pointed at the screen. “Wedding invites?”
It was time to throw her cards on the table. “My friend is getting married in a few months. And since I haven’t had a lot of job offers thrown my way, I thought I’d do freelancing work in the meantime.” She cringed at how that sounded because it sounded like she wasn’t good enough to get hired anywhere. “It would keep my work fresh as I continued to look.”
Nancy nodded. “Smart. Do you plan on freelancing anyway?”
“Maybe. It would depend on my salary.” Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Macie cringed again. “I had to take out student loans.”
“Back up plans are always a good idea.” Nancy handed over the tablet, and Macie’s heart sank. The woman stared at her for a moment until Macie wanted to slip to the floor and slink out of the office. “Just don’t let it get in the way of your work here.”