After jogging across the driveway that separated his house form mine, I knocked and his door swung open in front of me.
“Hey.” His surprise turned to a grin.
“Hi. I didn’t want to interrupt, but—”
“Don’t be silly.” He pushed the screen door open. “Come in. We’re just about to play some after-dinner video games.”
I stepped in to find Dylan in his pajamas bouncing on the couch in excitement.
“Hi.” He waved in that excited way kids did.
“Hi, Dylan.” Damn, that kid was cute and looked just like Zac had when we were kids. “So.” I turned to Zac. “I want to put some boxes in the garage, but someone didn’t give me the key back.”
“Oh, shit, sorry. Forgot.” He disappeared into what used to be his room. No idea if it still was. While I waited, I did a quick glance around the house that was almost a second home to me. Not because of how warm and welcoming it had been before, far from it, but Zac and I had spent so much time there. His parents had worked a lot, so we’d all hung out here most of the time. I’d expected it to look the same, like everything else in East Branch, but it was markedly different now.
Much more Zac. Much less strained family.
“Here ya go,” he said with the key in his outstretched hand. I took it and slipped it into my back pocket.
“Thanks.” He gave me a quick nod and as I was about to say goodbye, his phone rang and cut me off. Even by the way he said hello, I knew it was work.
“Well, Dylan is already here, so I don’t think I can make it.” He paused, his eyes stopping on my face every few seconds. “Alright, alright. I get it. Let me see if Maddie can come back for a little while… Yeah, I understand.”
When I’d seen her at the store, Maddie mentioned having a date. Could’ve been an overnighter for all I knew. Might not be excited to leave that for Zac to go to work. Then again, maybe she wouldn’t mind at all. I had no clue how they worked things out or what their schedule was like.
I waved my hands until he told his boss to hold on a second and muffled the phone against his chest.
“I can stay with him,” I whispered.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I mean, if it’s OK with you that I watch him.” Because who knew what their agreement was when it came to such things.
His brows furrowed.
“Why wouldn’t it be OK?” he asked. Shrugging, I didn’t put those feelings into words. He watched me for a good long moment, then turned back to the phone and said, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Zac went over to the small table by the door, grabbing his keys and shoes, then dropped onto the nearest chair to tie them. “An old car came into the salvage yard Joe’s friend owns. Since it’s late, he wants me to go with him to part it. That place is crazy on the weekend, so he doesn’t want to wait until tomorrow.” He stood. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” He glanced over at Dylan.
“No. It was my idea, remember?”
“Dylan.” He went over to his son and dropped down in front of him. “I have to run out for a bit, OK?”
“Ok, Daddy.”
“My friend, Laney, is going to stay with you while I go is that good with you?”
Dylan glanced from him over to me then back and shrugged. “Sure.”
“You’re going to be on your best behavior, right?” Zac asked. Dylan nodded emphatically. “Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Zac dropped a kiss to his son’s forehead before standing to his full height and coming over to me. He looked from my eyes to my lips and back again, a signal that he’d really like to kiss me again.
But he didn’t. Instead, he took a couple of steps back, putting unwanted space between us.
“I’ll be as quick as I can, OK?”
“Aww… ” I smiled. “You know the way to a girl’s heart.”
Zac snorted, shook his head, then went out the door, locking it behind him. Such a safety nut.
At the last minute, Zac called out that bedtime was at eight, so we spent the next half hour playing some kind of racing game on the game console. I sucked at all those games. But he was having fun and kicking my butt until almost eight when he asked if we could just watch one show before he went to bed.
I agreed because honestly, I had no idea how his parents said no to that face. And that was a perk of being a babysitter. I got to do things that the parents didn’t.
Like bend the rules.
As the show continued, Dylan crawled onto my lap, leaned back against the arm of the couch, and fell right to sleep. Well, he was too adorable to interrupt, so I sat there without moving. And because I hadn’t been sleeping well, somewhere along the line, my eyelids became too heavy to keep open.
Chapter Twelve
Something on my lap moved which made me snap my eyes right open. Zac was there lifting Dylan off me. I let him without a word because I didn’t want to wake the kid, but as soon as Zac rounded the corner, I hopped up and stretched the tight muscles of my back and neck. Sitting up wasn’t the most comfortable way to sleep.
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” I said as soon as Zac came back. “I suck at babysitting, apparently.”
“It’s fine, Laney.” He laughed. “That took longer than I thought.” I noticed that he had already cleaned up as well. It made me wonder if he’d done that before he’d come home or as I lay there asleep. “I try not to work when I have him, but sometimes it can’t be helped. The parts will make Joe a few thousand dollars; plus, it’s overtime for me.”
“OK, so I’ve got my key. I’m gonna go.”
“What’s the rush?” He blocked my path.
“I just figured you would want me to go. Dylan’s here.”
“I never want you to go.” He sighed. “Come here.” He leaned back until his ass rested on the arm of the chair. He put his hands on my hips and pulled me in between his legs. “If you’re going to leave, then I’m going to kiss the hell out of you before you go,” he said. I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t before because I’ve never brought a woman around Dylan and kind of froze, honestly.”
“It’s not a big deal. I wasn’t expecting it.” I hadn’t been until he started looking at my mouth like he wanted to own it. Then it was all I could think about.
“He’s literally never seen me kiss, hold hands… anything with a woman because there hasn’t been anybody worth the effort and, yes, I know that’s another dick answer.”
“I can understand that. I’m not as fragile as you seem to think.”
“Oh, I don’t think you’re fragile.”
The look in his eyes kept my words on the tip of my tongue. When his head dipped down and his lips touched mine, I forgot whatever I wanted to say anyway. It wasn’t important since the soft glide of his tongue against mine was too delicious to be distracted from. His hands left my hips to cup my face and tilt it back, giving him better access. I wanted to drown in his taste.
Once he pulled back, he said, “Man, I could spend my whole life doing that.”
“Just that?” I smiled up at him.
“Definitely not just that.” He wrapped me in his arms again. With a gentle squeeze, I was right up against him. Not even air between us.
“Can I ask you something?” I asked. He nodded. “When did things change? Because I swear to god you never even gave me a second look before I moved. I’m pretty sure I could have plopped down on the couch buck-ass naked and you wouldn’t have noticed.”
His low chuckle warmed my blood.
“Trust me when I tell you I would’ve noticed.” He got quiet for a minute and bit his bottom lip like he did when he was thinking. “I don’t think it ever changed, Laney. I always noticed you but got really good at pretending I didn’t. I think you got good at it, too.” He brushed a bunch of hair off my shoulder.
“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes again. “Remember the dress I wore for that bonfire at the pond junior year? You said that was the ugliest thing you’d ever seen. That was not pretending.”
I just wanted him to be honest with me. Sure, it bothered me that he’d clearly found Maddie hot back then and not me, but I could handle it now. I’d gotten used to it.
“It was ugly,” he said with a smirk.
“It was blue. You’re favorite color.”
“Yes, but you were going with Evan Fields.”
“So the dress was ugly because of who I was going to be with?” I asked. He nodded with a smile. “Boys make no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense,” he said. Shaking my head at his answer only made him laugh. “OK, I’ll tell you a secret. Should help make you believe what I’m saying. Do you remember the bikini you wore the summer after eleventh grade? Your last summer here? You wore it all the time,” he explained. I nodded.
I remembered it because Maddie and I had shopped for new suits together and it had taken forever for us to find the perfect ones. But I didn’t get why he remembered.
“It was blue and white.” he said. Again, I nodded. “I beat off to the memory of you in that for a long time.”
“Zac!” I gasped, slapping a hand over my burning face.
I couldn’t believe he’d just said that. Instead of acknowledging it, I pushed his chest like I was going to back away, but his arms remained steel around me and didn’t let go.
“I’m serious. Laney, you in that suit got me through a long, cold winter.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“The fact that I had a picture of you in it was even better. Didn’t have to go off memory alone.”
“You did not.” I tried so hard to think of any time that summer I might’ve had my picture taken in the bikini and couldn’t come up with even one.
“Sure did. Still do, actually. That girl Brooklyn, the freshman, took a million pics that summer so I asked her copies. Luckily, she had one great one with you, me, and Porter.”
“Wait. You were in the picture, too?”
“Was I?” He cocked his head to the side, a smile playing on his lips.
“That’s what you just said.”
“I don’t recall seeing me.”
“Oh my god, you’re ridiculous.”
“All I’m saying is there was no change. This is how I’ve always felt. As a matter of fact”—he tapped his chin like I had before to show he was thinking—“I might have to pull that one out again.”
“OK, now that you’ve gone completely off the rails, I’m going to go.” When I tried pushing away from him, he still didn’t let me go.
“Or, if you have the time, we could sit outside for a while. It’s really nice out.”
Even better. Going back to an empty house wasn’t exactly the thing I wanted to do most tonight. Partly because I didn’t want to leave Zac and partly because I didn’t want to face the house alone.
On the front porch, Zac had a couple of thick, white plastic chairs that I could imagine him sitting on with his friends like we used to. Or him with Dylan out there looking at the stars because he seemed like that kind of dad. Before I sat down, Zac moved two of them close together so we’d be side by side.
The neighborhood at night was somewhat peaceful, if not totally quiet. Noise from a few parties down the road or even a few blocks away reminded me of the nights where I’d lie awake with my window open excited for a time when I’d get to go to those parties. The one closest to us was getting rowdy and, at some point, the police would probably show up.
Zac didn’t let go of my hand the entire time as he told me about what had been happening in the neighborhood since I’d left. Some of it I knew because Dad kept me updated a little.
I’d known that Mrs. Saunders down the street had kicked her husband to the curb two years ago, finally, because of his cheating. I hadn’t known that Darby Collins, a girl in our grade, had died right after graduation from a drug overdose. Everyone knew Darby had been into some heavy shit, but she wouldn’t listen to anyone. It had only been a matter of time. Still made me sad.
Zac’s fingers played with mine, tickling the sensitive skin on the inside of my wrist as if he’d done it a million times before. Like an afterthought, something he didn’t decide to do and yet was doing.
“Come here,” he said, patting his lap. Climbing over, I was hit with another one of those surreal moments. I’d longed for Zac to look at me the way he was right then. Now that it was happening, my heart wanted to jump out of my body. I draped my arm casually around his shoulders and sat sideways and hoped he wouldn’t hear the erratic thumping of my heart against my ribs. “I missed you, Laney,” he said softly.
“I wasn’t even two feet away.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.” His eyes were so intense that I didn’t dare look away, even if that was my inclination. “I missed you so fucking much but got good at ignoring it.” With that, he clasped a hand to the back of my neck and brought my lips down to his. He devoured me, owned me, stole my breath completely. That hand slid around so that his thumb began stroking my cheek. It was a small move but one he executed so well that I sunk down into him further.
The other hand that had been loosely wrapped around my waist slid up under my shirt, making contact with my back. Zac groaned into my mouth, turning everything inside me into mush. I was pretty sure he could’ve stripped me bare out there on the porch and done whatever he wanted.
I wouldn’t have complained.
“Oh, so this is how it is now, huh?” Porter’s voice in the night made me jerk away and hop to my feet so quickly that I smacked the back of Zac’s head with my wrist. Just hard enough to let me know it happened but not enough for permanent damage. “I can see why you didn’t want me to come over after Dylan went to bed.”
“Then why did you?” Zac hadn’t moved.
He acted like our friend catching us making out was the most normal thing in the world. It wasn’t. Now everyone would know. Not that I wanted to hide whatever was happening between us, but maybe we could’ve waited to go public until I figured out what exactly this was.
“Well, asshole,” said Porter, “I was walking down to Andy’s and happened to see the live show.”
My face burned. “OK, well, bye,” I said, spinning quickly to get away from the both of them.
Zac’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist so immediately that I didn’t have the chance to take a step. Then he stood and moved in close to me.
“Is it OK that people know?” he whispered into my ear, his breath feathering my skin.
I nodded because Porter knowing wasn’t the issue exactly. The surprise of him coming out of the darkness was what got to me. Although exactly what Porter knew was beyond me. I wasn’t even sure what was happening here, so how could he have been? A conversation for Zac and me was in order… but later.
“Are you okay with it?” I whispered back.
“Hell, yes,” he said softly, then he kissed me twice before letting me go.
“Night, Laney,” Porter said, not even trying to cover the laughter in his voice as I passed him.
“Night, Porter,” I said, flipping him off over my shoulder.
His laughter echoed in the night.
Chapter Thirteen
Over the next two weeks, Zac worked so much overtime that I barely got to see him and when I did, it was too brief for either of us. On the weekend, he had to drive Dylan up to his parents. It was a prearranged plan and I sure wasn’t going to stand in the way.
While he was gone, he’d send me random, funny texts and some messages that made me swoon. Nothing overly dirty. Unfortunately. He did say he missed sitting on the front porch with me or missed my smile. Or that he wished he could see what I was wearing to bed.
Maddie sent messages as well. I answered every single one but had to push through my hesitation when she suggested we go out. Rip off the Band-Aid, my mom always said.
I met her at this steakhouse on the other side of town for a Paint it, Take it that she’d said she always wanted to try.
“You’re here!” Maddie’s voice rose up above all
the others in the restaurant.
“I am,” I said back, not matching her excitement at all.
She led me to a backroom where I found a horseshoe shaped setup. Easels and chairs and cups of paint. This was going to be awful. I was definitely no artist. Still, she kept us moving until we settled into two empty spots side by side.
Maddie looked over and said, “Thank you for doing this with me. I’m so excited.”
“Just don’t expect greatness out of me,” I joked.
The instructor began speaking which quieted us both down. I might not do a decent job with this beachscape, but it wouldn’t be because I hadn’t paid attention.
Three hours later, Maddie and I were walking through the parking lot with our paintings in our hands. It had been more fun than I thought it would be and it did give her and I a chance to hang out without any pressure. We could talk without having to talk.
“Mine is awful,” I told her as we approached our cars.
“It’s not about the result. It’s about the experience.”
“You can say that because yours is awesome.”
She looked at it again then back to me. “It is pretty good.”
“It’s amazing, Maddie. While mine looks like a tornado that hit a nuclear reactor that was already melting down.”
She giggled into the night with made me do the same. Maddie’s laugh had always been contagious.
“I’ll see you later, Maddie.”
“Night.” She waved as she slid into her car.
I thought she might’ve been about to ask me to do something else but three hours together was enough for a first try.
The heat and humidity that took over Michigan in July could be oppressive. Sure, it wasn’t like in the south, but in East Branch there weren’t a ton of ways to cool down. People who had air conditioners at home rarely used them. Couldn’t afford to.
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