11. Papaya #2
Ryder puffed out his cheeks and smiled painfully at Zoe.
He held up his index finger to let her know it would be just a minute.
“It’s about balance not symmetry, about contrasts as much as complementing themes.
If they don’t like the design, I’ll call personally and walk them through why our entire vision is modern and inspiring, not the sappy informercial they envisioned.
Which is why they hired us. Even the damn logo is critical, and let them know I picked you as our graphic designer because you’re the best, and I trust you completely. ”
Wow, she was glad she didn’t have work conversations like this. Not that she didn’t butt heads with Evan now and again over cheeses, but that was more fun than anything, then they would have a taste-test and see who was right.
While she waited, she pulled out the string of ultrasound images. It was starting to look like a little person. A little upturned nose like Ryder. Were those eyes going to be brilliant blue like his, or chocolatey like hers?
And definitely some labia there. She snapped a pic of the pic, plus a cuter one of the face, and fired it off to Pops, Evan, Finn, and Haley.
“Look, I’ve got to go, but can you work on some of the graphics?... Great. Send me the specs and I’ll look it over tonight… Later.”
Clicking off the call, he exhaled and shook his head and widened his eyes as he grinned at Zoe.
“Fuck, I hate that. New guy, gets hung up on the tiniest details. Which, actually, I like about him, but I’m trying to encourage him to mockup a few ideas, then go over them with me when I’m actually in the office. ”
“Poor sucker, going to burn himself out like that.”
“Technically, it’s only five o’clock in Phoenix, but he’s been there since six, so… yeah.”
“Sounds like someone I know,” she said, nodding gravely.
Ryder laughed again and shook his head. “Leading by example isn’t going well.”
“Hey, want to grab dinner?” she asked, and handed him the stack of photos.
“Don’t you want them?”
“I have a bunch more in my pocket. These are yours.”
“Thanks,” he said, and adjusted them to slide into his pocket next to his phone. “Dinner sounds great. Where do you want to go?”
Hunger gripped her tummy and craving took over. Cheese. She hummed and nodded. “Italian.”
“Sold,” he said, and nodded to his car. “I can follow you to your house and we can drive over together?”
“It’s a date,” she said, her stomach leading the way. “See you in a few.”
I t’s a date? Like…
Fuck this was weird. Obviously, of course, but…
Ryder climbed in his rental car and started to call Haley. No, he was pretty sure Zoe mentioned Finn was working today, so she was probably enjoying a quiet evening, just she and baby Emerson.
When Zoe’s phone had been acting up—and subsequently replaced—last weekend, she’d given him Evan’s number in case of emergency. This was… sort of… not at all an emergency.
He fired up the engine and called Evan over Bluetooth as he pulled out of the parking space.
“Ryder?” Evan answered, as puzzled as Ryder could have guessed.
“Hi Evan,” he said easily.
“Everything okay? You made it to the ultrasound, I hope? Zoe’s okay?”
“All good, she’s good, I did,” he quickly answered, and waited at the end of the parking row for Zoe to pull ahead. “It went great.”
“Zoe sent me some pics of the ultrasound… am I right that it’s a little girl?”
Ryder grinned as it set in a little thicker. “Yeah. Yeah it is.”
“That’s great,” Evan said, leaving long pauses as he seemed to wait for Ryder to get to the point. “Are you okay?”
Breath oddly uneven in his chest, Ryder scowled ahead, following Zoe in her massive truck. “We’re on our way to your place now, and Zoe’s going to hop in with me and we’re going out to the Italian place for dinner.”
“Good call. Zoe loves Italian, but none of the rest of us do, so she only gets to go when she ropes in Haley or Trace or someone.”
The last time Ryder had been to the Italian place, he’d hoped to rekindle his rapidly crumbling relationship with Claire. Mood lighting, intimate tables for two… “I guess. I don’t know. I know you’re going to say I should ask Zoe…”
“That’s not a good lead into whatever you’re going to ask me.”
“I know she was together with Raphe for a while, and they must have loved each other enough to get back together, and all I know is that they broke up. I have no idea what happened between them, if it was me or the baby or what. Fuck, it’s obvious I like Zoe, like, a lot.
But, you know.” The more time he spent at work, the worse Ryder seemed to become at basic human interactions.
Was this what had happened to his mother?
Dizzy at the thought, he blinked it away.
“I’m trying to be supportive of her, to not at all take any sort of boyfriend role, but now we’re going out to a romantic restaurant on a Friday night. ”
“Oh,” Evan said sharply, and made an odd, stalling, awkward sort of throat clearing. “Fucking eh, Zoe,” he mumbled under his breath. “Look. You really should be talking to Zoe about this, not me.”
“I know.”
“But, honestly, Zoe sucks at relationships. Not that I’m one to talk,” Evan snorted a laugh.
“Same,” Ryder admitted and huffed a painful laugh.
“Look, it’s obvious that Zoe and you have a lot of… chemistry, I guess. You never saw her with Raphe, did you?”
“No. I haven’t seen Raphe in years.”
“Well… they fought. A lot. You know those couples who are miserable to be around, because they pick at each other constantly?”
“Oh, ouch. I can’t picture Zoe putting up with that.”
“We’ve all been in relationships where we found ourselves acting… not like ourselves.” Evan paused, and huffed a noisy breath.
Ryder waited, and realized Evan wasn’t expounding. “You okay?”
“All good,” he answered quickly.
“Okay,” Ryder said, and wished to hell he knew how to be a friend. It had been so long since he’d had that sort of friend, a talk-about-feelings sort of friend, he didn’t even know how to ask.
“Are you worried about re-entering the romantic zone, and blowing it?” Evan asked, finally interrupting the silence.
“Yes. Terribly.” The light changed, and Ryder finally caught up to Zoe. Her truck was so tall he couldn’t see beyond her, but his rental was so low to the ground that wasn’t unusual.
“You probably will,” Evan said simply.
“I don’t want things to get nasty if we don’t work.”
“I feel ya,” Evan said.
“We’ll be there in a few, actually. Zoe wanted to get changed. Ultrasound goo got all over her clothes.” He puffed out his cheeks and exhaled carefully. “I live in fucking Phoenix,” he growled to himself.
“No way in hell Zoe would leave Foothills, and we’d all kick your ass if you even tried to uproot her.”
“I wouldn’t ask her too, nor would I want to put a baby on an airplane all the time.” The road widened and speeds slowed as they neared Foothills’ main drag.
Zoe slowed and flicked on her blinker.
Ryder did the same, and knew he only had a minute or two left with Evan. Privacy was nil once in the house. “Almost to you.”
“Look, Ryder, you can hardly manage getting to appointments, and you’re not even to the third trimester yet.
” Evan paused, and Ryder could hear his impatience seep into his typically easygoing tone.
“You’ve got some tough choices to make, and no one can make those for you.
Maybe it feels like you’ve got time to decide, but the sooner you figure it out, the easier this will be on both of you. ”
“You’re right.” Fucking hell, he was making this a bigger mess than it had to be. The driveway came into view, and Ryder quickly asked, “Have you heard from Jagger lately? I know he’s been really busy.” Between the ad shoots and practices, Jagger was less accessible than Ryder.
Evan snorted a desperate laugh. “I believe we’re talking about your doomed relationship right now.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Ryder said, almost wishing he hadn’t brought it up, but knew Evan would want to know. “Just wanted to give you a heads-up… he was telling Bellamy about you, and they were interested.”
“I’m sorry… what?”
“You’ve got a damn college football national championship title under your belt, now you’re an adorable small-town restauranteur. He tossed around some stats from your college ball days that sounded impressive. They think a promo series with the two of you would be a huge hit…”
“Fuck no,” Evan said, laughing with little humor. “He’d better not be throwing my name anywhere near a damn spotlight.”
“I thought you might feel that way, so I wanted to mention it before they got too excited.” He turned into the driveway after Zoe, and waved as he saw Evan sitting on a patio chair on the front porch.
“Thanks,” Evan said on a long sigh, and waved back before ending the call.
As Ryder pulled into the narrow scrap of space left behind Zoe’s truck, she was already out and dashed onto the porch, shared a quick moment with Evan, and headed inside. Ryder slowly climbed out of the rental car, and grabbed his backpack from the passenger seat.
Evan waited on the porch, and settled back into his patio chair, propped his feet on the rail, and folded his hands behind his head. The moment Ryder stepped onto the creaky wooden steps, Evan shrugged and shook his head knowingly. “You gotta stay in the friend zone.”
“I knew I should have called Grady instead,” Ryder grumbled, and plopped into the other porch chair, setting his backpack at his feet.
“Sleepover?” Evan asked, glancing at the bag.
Ryder looked down at the casual jeans, henley, and chelseas he’d worn for the meeting.
That new image he was trying to project.
At least his promotion and his latest contracts had come with a wardrobe change.
“I was thinking of changing for dinner, but I think I’ll stick with casual. Friend zone and all.”