Page 67 of A Return For Ren

“Zara said you’re really busy and have jobs lined up. I appreciate you fitting my mother in like this.”

Zane stared at him. “It wasn’t that big of a job and your mother was flexible enough for us to come in and do what we could on our timeline, but I promised to have it all done before the first of the year. With any luck we’ll be done this week.”

“Again, I appreciate it.”

“Let’s get this over with now and move on. You seem like a straightforward guy,” Zane said.

“Very. We can talk about Zara, but I’ll tell you now I won’t hurt her. I did before and I’ll have to live with those choices the rest of my life. It still bothers me, but I can’t change the past.”

“We all make poor choices in our life,” Zane said. “I wasn’t here when you two dated before, but I know the results.”

“You got to hear all the shitty parts of it I’m sure,” he said.

“Not all,” Zane said. “Zara isn’t like that. She was hurt. She was sad. She was heartbroken. Nothing I’m sure you aren’t aware of.”

“I know it all,” he said.

“No one knows it all,” Zane said. “You’d be smart to remember that. Just don’t hurt her again. That would really piss me off.”

And since the guy was bigger than him and most likely knew how to hide a body from his time in the service, Ren was fast to say, “It’s not in my plans.”

“Then our conversation regarding that is done,” Zane said. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you and now it won’t have to be awkward. You can let Zara know that.”

He laughed. “I will.”

He walked back to the main restaurant and saw his mother talking to one of the workers, then turn to him. “Where did you go?”

“I went to check out the bathrooms and ran into Zane.”

“How did that go?” she asked with a grin on her face.

“Better than expected,” he said.

“Good. Now you can go back to work. Thanks again for stopping over.”

“Any time,” he said. So far the day was going better than he thought it would have.

22

Healthy Relationship

“Ishouldn’t be as nervous as I am,” Zara said on Saturday when they were in the car driving to Ren’s house.

“Why are you nervous at all?” he asked.

She turned to look at Max in the backseat watching a cartoon on the iPad strapped to the back of Ren’s seat. She knew Max was normally buckled behind her seat so that Ren could reach him for something while driving, but now with her in the car, she’d said she’d deal with it if need be.

He’d smiled and said he never realized how nice it was to have a second set of hands at times.

“Because I’m meeting your best friends. Sometimes friends are closer than family and you know it.”

“I definitely would consider Colin and Dee family,” he said.

“I’ve had friends like that over the years. I miss it. But life gets in the way. They’ve all moved on.”

“Moved out of the area?” he asked.

“No. Moved on. They are married. Have kids. Some have moved out of town. I see a few that bring their kids to me, but it’s not the same. We are all at different points in our lives. I still try to go out once in a while with them or get together, but it’s not often. And I never initiate it either.”