Page 43 of This Christmas
“No.”
He laughs. “Is everything I did in New York off limits to talk about?”
“One hundred percent.”
“Fair enough,” he says, taking a bite of his burger.
I do the same and figure I owe him some credit. “You remembered how I like my burger.”
“There isn’t a single thing I’ve forgotten about you, Eve.” He winks.
He freaking winks at me!
I eye him warily as I reach for my shake. The concoction is thick, and it takes me a couple pulls to get the ice cream into the straw. “I wish I could tell you I’ve forgotten everything, that you’re like a stranger to me, but I’d be lying.” I admit. “And if you remember everything, then you’d know I’m lying about lying, and we’d continue to run circles around each other.”
“I’m actually not doing any running,” he says. “I’m just standing here, watching you spin.”
I throw my fry down and sigh. “You don’t get to be like this, Zane. You left and started a whole new life. Up until a few days ago, you were engaged to someone else. Someone you lived with and brought home to meet your dad.”
“Everything about my relationship was wrong,” he says. “The night I showed up at your place, Caryn had said some things to me that made me wonder if meeting her was a setup.”
“Isn’t that how most people meet?”
“Yes, or casually. But it didn’t matter where I was, because Caryn was always there. Even non-work functions.” Zane sighs heavily. “This one time, I was at the train station, and she was there. She suggested we get drinks before I caught my train. I agreed because she was the boss’s daughter. We sat there, I watched the clock, listening for the announcement. When it was time to go, she insisted I held her stuff while she used the restroom. Next thing I knew, the train had left. You know, she was super apologetic and paid for my ticket because I couldn’t get a refund. But I’d missed my train,and all she said was, ‘don’t worry there’s another one tomorrow.’”
“You allowed yourself to be manipulated by her.”
Zane nods. “I thought she was the key to keeping the internship.”
“Is she the key to keeping your job?”
He nods. “I’m in a contract though, so Bamford will give me a severance package, and I have until the end of the month to clean my things out of the apartment and pick up my belongings at the firm.”
“What about your clients?”
“They’ll stay with the firm. I don’t have the means to work their cases. Besides, corporate law isn’t what I really want to do anymore.”
“What is?”
Zane sighs again. “Well, I was hoping the local town attorney would hire me. I know she has an empty office space and according to her, she’s really busy.”
I roll my eyes, and then roll them again.
“Is that why you bought me lunch?”
“No,” he says as he dips another fry. “I bought you lunch because you need to eat.” He sticks the fry in his mouth, chews, and swallows. And then he leans closer. “I asked you to dinner because ever since I saw you at the farm at the beginning of the month, I realized something.”
“That the beginning of the month was two weeks ago?”
Zane laughs. “Always with the comebacks.”
I shrug. “What can I say? I’m a laugh a minute.”
“Do you want to know what I realized?”
Shaking my head isn’t going to matter in this situation. He’s going to tell me anywhere. “Sure, Zane. What did you realize?”
He leans closer. “As soon as I stepped onto the farm it felt like I could breathe again and see clearly. It was like the past five years had been a dream. And then you appeared, and I felt like I was home.”