Chapter 24 #2
Back at Alec’s house, once they were out of his truck she found herself leaning up against it, him next to her. “I could fall for you,” she blurted. Could fall? She already was and almost down for the count.
“Funny, I was thinking the same thing.”
“But I don’t want to.”
“That I wasn’t thinking,” he said.
He was looking at her lips. They suddenly felt very dry, and she had to run her tongue over them.
“Is that an invitation?” he asked. His smile was as tender as his voice.
His cologne danced up her nose and whispered, I taste as good as I smell.
A kiss. Just one little kiss . . . would be like eating one salted caramel. She’d want more. She wouldn’t be able to stop.
“Zona.” It came out like a caress.
He moved closer and the heat between them bloomed. Salted caramels are good. So are kisses.
Don’t do it!
Too late. Those big strong arms of his had already slipped around her. His lips touched hers and lightning struck. She felt the bolt all through her body and it felt great. Her hands slipped up his back and held on. He was so solid, like a human wall. A wall of protection?
Or would that wall fall on her and crush her? What on earth was she doing?
She pulled away. She was stupid drunk on him. “I am out of my mind.”
“That kiss about drove me out of mine,” he said. There was that smile again. It gave her an emotional aftershock.
“My daughter doesn’t want me to see you.”
“Her, too, huh? And here I thought I only had to win over your mom.”
“Bree doesn’t want me to get hurt again. And she’s tired of dealing with the emotional fallout when everything crumbles.”
“It’s not your daughter. You don’t trust yourself, do you?” he said.
“You’re right. I don’t. And I still don’t know you well enough to trust you.”
He ran a hand along her arm, bringing every nerve to life. “Yet. Let’s work on fixing that. I get that you don’t want to be burned. I don’t either, so we’ll take it slow.”
As in no more lightning bolt kisses. There was a sad thought. But it was a smart one. Once things got physical, she’d be tethered. She’d never want to leave.
Maybe she already didn’t.
“What do you say?”
She hesitated. What did she say?
“I know what I should say.”
“What do you want to say?” He didn’t give her time to answer. “How about I pick you up from work tomorrow and take you to lunch? You have to eat.”
Yes, she did. “All right,” she said. It was only lunch.
Louise and Martin were camped out at the dining room table playing cards when Zona came back in the house. The drapes were pulled to the side, and the window framed a perfect view of Alec’s truck.
Zona and Alec had been standing on the passenger side of the cab, but how visible had they been? What had Louise seen? Zona felt like a teenager again, worried that she was about to be busted for sneaking into the house after curfew.
Louise laid down a collection of cards. “Gin,” she announced. Then turned her attention to Zona and demanded, “Where did you go?”
Martin was pretending to consider his cards, but the slight flush on his cheeks was a sure sign that he was feeling uncomfortable.
Sure enough. He laid down his cards and said, “That’s it. You got me. I’d better get home.” Without another word, he hurried to the door, Darling escorting him.
Zona retreated to the kitchen under the pretense of getting a drink of water. “Just out for drinks.”
She barely had the water in her glass before she heard the clump, clump of Louise’s crutches. “With Alec?”
“Yes, with Alec.”
Louise settled at the kitchen table. “Bree’s not the only one who worries about you.”
“I know.”
“I do want you to be happy.”
“I know that, too.”
“But I want you to be happy with someone . . . solid. Like Martin.”
“He’s too old for me,” Zona joked.
Louise pointed a finger at her. “Don’t be smart.”
“Come on, Mom. Maybe you should take your own advice.”
“Maybe I should, but . . .”
“Yeah, I know. You want someone more exciting. Alec is exciting,” she added.
“He’s unstable.”
“No, that’s his stepsister. I think we have to let go of our earlier opinions of him. Wouldn’t you yell a lot if someone had done to you what she did to him?”
“Yes, I would. If that’s the real story. The thing about narcissists is that they do a great job of hiding who they really are and they’re great at gaslighting. You don’t know which is the real Alec, the nice one you’re seeing now or the angry controlling one we saw earlier.”
“True,” Zona admitted. “That’s why we’re taking things slow.”
“I saw how slow you were taking things.”
Busted. “That was a one-off.”
“Oh, I know how those work,” Louise scoffed. “Be careful, Zona. There is so much you don’t know about this man.”
“I know. I won’t get fooled again. I promise.”
And that promise was to both her mother and herself.
LOUISE WAS CONCERNED. She wanted her daughter to enjoy the second half of her life, wanted her to find someone wonderful to spend it with. But she wasn’t convinced that Alec James was that someone. He came with baggage, and Zona already had enough baggage of her own. But what to do?
“You can’t do anything,” Gilda said the next day as she helped Louise out of the shower. “She’s an adult. All you can do is be ready to pick up the pieces when everything falls apart.”
Those were hardly encouraging words.
Bree wasn’t any happier. She stopped by to check in on Louise that evening only to find her mother and Alec James on the front sidewalk, working with Darling.
“Gram, you’ve got to do something,” Bree said, her eyes flashing.
“What exactly do you want me to do? Your mother is a grown woman.”
Bree let out an angry huff and went to the kitchen in search of lemonade. Zona and Darling were back in the house. Darling trotted over to Louise for an ear scratch and Zona and Louise exchanged looks. A scene was about to happen.
Sure enough. Bree came back out of the kitchen. “Mom, what the heck?”
“Now what?” Zona responded.
“You know what. You’re doing it again. You’re falling for a guy.”
“I am not,” Zona insisted.
Louise knew it was a lie, and she knew that, deep down, her daughter knew it, too.
Bree plopped onto a chair and set her glass on a side table. “Crap, Mom. How bad do you need a man at your age?”
Zona gave her daughter a warning look.
A warning wasn’t enough, so Louise jumped in. “Your mother’s still a young woman,” she said sternly.
“She needs to chill,” Bree said.
“You don’t need to talk about me like I’m not here,” Zona informed her.
Bree’s disrespectful attitude was getting old. “And you do need to quit giving advice to the people who raised you,” Louise said, pointing a finger at her. “You haven’t lived long enough to earn your DIO degree.”
“What’s that?” Bree scoffed.
“A Dish It Out Degree. You won’t be qualified for another twenty years.”
“So, I’m supposed to just sit by and watch Mom make another mistake and get hurt?”
“Maybe you need to worry a little less about my life and take care of your own,” Zona said shortly.
Bree scowled and threw up her hands. “I give up.” She walked her half-empty glass back to the kitchen and then walked out the door.
Zona sighed. “What do you think really happened after Cinderella married the prince?”
“She had a couple of kids. He got bored and took a mistress,” Louise joked.
“I guess, when it comes right down to it most princes are frogs,” said Zona.
“Keep that in mind,” Louise cautioned.
“I’m being careful.”
“I hope so,” Louise said. “But sometimes longing can put a blindfold on you.”
“You’re right,” Zona said.
“I think that’s what both Bree and I worry about. I know I jumped to conclusions about Alec James. Over-the-top ones. But that doesn’t mean my concerns now aren’t justified. Be careful.”
“I will,” Zona said, and that was the end of the conversation.
Louise could only hope her daughter would be as careful as she promised to be. Sadly, it wasn’t a very strong hope.
ZONA HAD MEANT what she said. She was enjoying hanging out with Alec, and that kiss they’d shared had taken up residence at the back of her mind, playing like a movie trailer.
Maybe someday, if he did prove to be safe, if his stepsister really did vanish from his life, they’d have a chance together.
But contrary to what her daughter thought, Zona’s brain wasn’t dead. She was going to be careful. And they were going to take things slow.
Meeting Alec for burgers on her lunch break was slow. Training Darling out in the front yard was slow. Going out for drinks was slow. Wanting to snuggle back in his arms was . . . not slow.
No, no, she was okay. She hadn’t acted on that desire. She was in charge of her lusty hormones, not the other way around.
She could picture herself and Alec continuing to hang out a couple of times a week as summer moved along, maybe going to the beach on a Saturday afternoon. Her taking him cookies at whatever job site he was working at.
Maybe, just maybe.
She came home from work to learn that Louise was planning a game afternoon the following day for her gang, which had grown to include Gilda.
Cooking was not in Gilda’s job description. Neither was running errands, so that left the grocery run to Zona, who found herself wishing her mother had texted her at work rather than waiting until she got home, ready to eat leftover spaghetti before turning into a HopIn driver for the evening.
“I don’t suppose you’d make your black bean brownies, would you?” Louise asked as she handed over her debit card.
“No problem,” said Zona. When you were living rent free with your mother, you pitched in whenever and wherever needed. And she was happy to. She’d work a longer shift the next night.
So, off she went, to get the needed ingredients. She didn’t notice until she pulled into the parking lot of Vons and saw the familiar car pull in after her that she’d been followed. Okay, it was a coincidence, right? Angela had no reason to follow her.
A feeling of unease crept over her, but she shrugged it off. Maybe the woman was staying nearby somewhere and, like Zona, was doing a quick grocery run.
Was there really such a thing as coincidence?
The PT Cruiser drove through the parking lot and exited back onto the street. Zona frowned. What was that all about? Was Alec’s stepsister trying to rattle Zona? If so, why?
Forget about it, she told herself and went into the store.
But ten minutes later she was inspecting avocados when someone ran into her grocery cart, pushing into her hip. What the heck?
There stood Angela, behind an empty cart, wearing a smile that looked downright sinister.