21 Bianca #2
None of those were necessarily bad things.
They were just different from what he’d told her.
And, yes, maybe she should have realized some of those things on a video call, but it wasn’t like he was measuring his height during their conversations or showing her his scalp.
She had no reason to believe anything other than what he’d told her.
Which made her wonder: What else was different from what he’d told her?
“It sounded like this place was getting so dull with all the small-town festivals and having to help out your friend with
whatever those dinner things are, so I thought I’d come surprise you. Take you to do something fun. Liven up the scene a little.”
He glanced around with his nose hitched up in distaste. “This town is tiny. I don’t know how you can stay here for a month.
Is there even a decent place to eat? No wonder you’ve had to set up dinners for people.” He gave the neighborhood one last
glance. With a disapproving shake of his head, he refocused on Bianca. “Have you ever been to any West Coast beaches? ’Cause
that’s where it’s at. La Jolla is legit. We should go there.”
“Um...” There was so much to unpack about the entire scene that Bianca’s brain had stopped working entirely.
Thankfully Cora chose that exact moment to appear out of nowhere. Or, Bianca thought, she probably chose that moment to announce
herself. “Well, look who it is. Zander.” She cruised toward them and took a spot right next to Bianca. “I didn’t know we were
expecting you today.”
“You weren’t. I came to surprise this beauty.” He snaked his free arm around Bianca’s waist and pulled her toward him.
It was probably meant to be a romantic gesture, but it had surprised her, and she sort of tumbled into him.
She was aware that she’d never hugged him before. She’d never even touched him, for that matter. But she thought when she
finally did, it would at least feel familiar. She’d spent hours and hours talking to him, after all. Instead it felt...
invasive.
But maybe that kind of thing took time. It had only been two minutes, after all. And it was a stunned two minutes.
He let go of Bianca and looked up at the house. “So this is it, huh? This is the old nostalgia house?” He walked between her
and Cora and into the house without an invitation.
Maybe that shouldn’t have annoyed her. He was her fiancé, after all, which practically made him family. But there was something about him just barging into her house that felt pushy.
And apparently she wasn’t the only one feeling that way.
“Sure, come on in,” Cora said to his back as she followed through the door. “Savannah! We have a guest,” she called.
Savannah walked through the back door. “What?”
“Zander’s here.” Cora, who towered over him by several inches, pointed over the top of his head with both hands.
“In the flesh, baby.” Zander posed, flexing the muscles in his biceps and chest.
Bianca just stared in horror.
This can’t be Zander.
The man she’d spent hours and hours talking with over the last two months wouldn’t walk into a room and flex. She’d seen him
walk into a room, and he’d never flexed once. Loudly announced himself, maybe. But flexed? She would’ve noticed that.
And yet, here he was. Doing just that.
Although, now that she thought about it, he always flipped the camera around so she could see the room they were entering.
She didn’t actually get to see him as he entered.
On the other side of the room, Savanah’s expressions filtered through emotions like someone flipping through a deck of cards.
First she was shocked, then stunned, then confused, then horrified. But each expression lasted a fraction of a second before
she eventually landed on her polite hostess smile. “What a fun surprise! We’ve all been dying to meet you in person. Please,
come in.”
That was the thing about Savannah. She always got it right, even when everything was falling apart around her. It was totally
annoying.
Also, in this particular moment, Bianca couldn’t have been more grateful for it.
Savannah waved him into the kitchen and pulled out one of the chairs at the small table.
“Can I get you a drink? Or a snack, perhaps? I was just about to set out the popcorn bar for our movie night. You should try this white chocolate popcorn with a dark chocolate drizzle. It’s made locally.
” She set a clear cylindrical container full of gourmet popcorn on the table in front of him.
Zander recoiled as if she’d just put a cobra in front of him. “I don’t eat sugar. Only the best stuff for this temple.” He
flexed the muscles in his biceps one at a time, so the flex sort of bounced from one side of his body to the other like a
ball. “Right, baby? We have that in common.”
Cora seemed amused. “You don’t eat sugar? How interesting.”
Bianca felt like she was trapped in some sort of dream. None of this felt real.
“Anyway, Bianca and I were going to head out to dinner as soon as I get checked into a hotel and we can both get changed.”
He turned to her. “I’m going to take you to the best place this Podunk town has to offer and show you off, so wear something
nice.”
Bianca could tell Cora was about to step in again, and this time her response to Zander wouldn’t be quite as pleasant. So
in an effort to keep the house from exploding into the second fight of the day, Bianca pulled it together and finally found
a voice to talk to her fiancé. “Actually, Zander, I can’t do dinner tonight. I’m already booked. I have two dinner setups.”
Zander shrugged as if they weren’t a big deal. “Cancel them. Your plans have changed.”
“I can’t cancel them. They’re both important celebrations. These people deserve them.”
“So we’ll send them to a restaurant instead. Or we can pay someone to set it up for you. Like that guy Lance you’ve been hanging
around.”
“Luke,” she corrected. “And I don’t want to pay someone to do it. I want to do it. I like it.”
“You like working? As a waitress? On vacation?”
She could see Savannah flinch behind him and a look of regret in her eyes.
Today had gone wrong in so many ways, but Bianca didn’t have the energy to figure it all out. One disaster at a time.
She shifted her focus to Zander and laid a hand on his forearm. See? Not all touch was so bad. They just needed time to connect. “I have to do this. But I can meet up with you afterward. There’s a really nice French restaurant that might stay open late.”
“Maybe I can go with you.”
“No,” she said almost before the words had even finished coming out of his mouth and definitely more emphatically than she’d
intended. Or at least for what she’d intended him to hear. She regained control and tried again. “What I mean is, you shouldn’t
have to work on your vacation. You just got here. Go get settled in the hotel and I can call you when I’m done.”
“I guess I could get in a quick workout. There’s a nice hotel with a decent gym around here, right? Like a Four Seasons? Or
a St. Regis, maybe?”
“There’s a Padua’s,” Savannah offered with a cheerful grin.
Zander scrunched his nose up like he’d smelled something bad. “Never heard of it.”
Cora looked like she found this whole situation hilarious. “Or Sunnyside Inn.”
Bianca pulled Zander’s attention back on her. “You’ll like Padua Resorts. It’s an independent boutique hotel on the water.
Great views. And a great gym.” She totally made up that last part because she’d never once seen their gym. But the rest of
it was nice, so surely the gym was decent enough.
He nodded, looking a little more satisfied.
“I’ll call you when I’m finished. We’ll spend time together then.” Because maybe that’s all they needed. A little time to
get acquainted in real life. Maybe his coming here was a good thing. She just needed to get over the shock.
“All right.” He nodded again, as if thinking through the situation. “I’ll call an Uber, and you can meet me at the hotel later.”
“Or I can take you now,” Cora jumped in. “We don’t want to keep you waiting when there’s a workout on the agenda.”
“Yeah, that’s even better.” He stood up from the table and grabbed his duffel.
Thank you , Bianca mouthed over his head.
“I’ll catch your act in a little bit.” Zander leaned in and kissed Bianca right on the lips.
Their very first kiss.
Were there sparks or fireworks? Nope. In fact there wasn’t even as much as a flutter. Instead, it felt kind of like kissing
a fish.
But like she said before, maybe they just needed to get to know each other.
“I’ll see you later.” He winked.
“Can’t wait.”
He followed Cora out the door, quizzing her on what there was to do “in this tiny town.”
They waited until the duo had left and the house was quiet again before either of them spoke. “So. That’s Zander,” Savannah
said.
“That’s him,” Bianca said in her brightest voice. Although she had no interest in hashing out what had just happened. And
even if she did, she certainly wouldn’t do it with Savannah. Not after the fight they’d just had, anyway.
Nope, she needed some time to process everything that had happened on her own. And there was a lot to process.
But first things first. She had two very important dinners to set up. She headed to her room to get ready and tried to focus
on the tasks she had ahead.
After all, everything else was going to work itself out. It would be fine. She was sure of it.
Maybe.