12. He said, “I’m not proud of how I treated Eden.”
12
He said, “I’m not proud of how I treated Eden.”
Zach
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Andie stalked across the salon until the tips of her boots almost touched mine. “Well?” One eyebrow rose.
“I…” My finger trembled as I pushed up my glasses.
The murder flickering in Andie’s eyes was a sign I was a dead man. Dropping my gaze to the spot where my feet were stuck wasn’t the answer, though. That was the Zach who’d let Eden walk out the door. I needed to do more. Try harder. Learn from my mistakes.
Today, I wasn’t just going to push past my comfort zone; I was going to obliterate it.
I lifted my chin and forced myself to confront Andie’s glare. “I want to see where Eden works.”
“You’ve seen it.” She pointed a black fingernail across the room. “Why don’t you take another look at the door on your way out?”
Except for the quick shake of my head, I didn’t budge. “I want to learn more about Eden’s job. What she does. So I can support her better.”
“Or, you know, at all .”
“Fair. I’m not proud of how I treated her, Andie. I know I made these last six months all about me. I didn’t listen. Eden must’ve talked about her salon a hundred times, but I’d decided for my own stupid reasons she was putting on a brave face ’cause she was working for some dive.”
“A dive? You think this place”—Andie’s arms spread wide as she motioned around the salon—“is a dive?”
I grimaced. The ridiculousness hit even harder when I stood smack bang in the middle of what a viral influencer called ‘luxury meets comfort.’ Mum had swiped through photo after photo for me to see on her phone, and none had done Voom any justice.
Eden’s salon was high-end, but every inch looked warm and cosy—exposed brick, overstuffed white chairs, delicate wooden edging, and drooping greenery, all offset with a whiff of fresh citrus.
“So, you’re here trying to weasel your way back into Ed’s life?” Andie scoffed. “Wanna earn yourself some brownie points?”
“This isn’t about point scoring,” I said. “I’m honest about wanting to learn about the salon. You don’t even have to tell Eden I was here if you think it’s best. I know she’s working on location for a TV show today.”
I’d learned that information thanks to my mother’s call barking at me, “Hashtag so much eye candy, Zachary!”—whatever the heck that meant. And, maybe, also because I’d developed an awful habit of checking for Eden’s updates via the social media account I’d vowed never to create.
Heels tapped across the floor.
“Well, well, well. Look who’s here.” Yvette never just walked anywhere. She pranced past me. “Colour me shocked.” She didn’t look shocked. Her smirk and the way she popped her hip when she stopped beside Andie suggested she expected to see me standing there.
“Um, h-hi,” I said.
“Hi?” Yvette giggled. “Isn’t he the sweetest little morsel of nerd?”
“Nope,” Andie said.
“Aw, don’t be such a grouch.” Yvette poked a finger in Andie’s side. “Look how nice he’s dressed up! Forget everything Deenie said about the eye candy on set.” She examined me lazily from head to toe. “I think we’ve got our own distraction right here.”
“Uh.” Confused, I glanced down at my faded jeans. Andie had on nicer trousers than me. Even her sequinned tank top was fancier than the white T-shirt I’d yanked on.
“Turn around,” Yvette instructed.
“Why?” I asked suspiciously.
“We need to check out your butt in those jeans.”
Embarrassment blazed a fiery trail up my neck. “Y-You can’t say stuff like that—” I gulped, not sure where to look. “E-Eden…”
“Sweetie, allow me to be the one to break it to you,” Yvette said. “Our fearless leader has drooled over your butt plenty of times. More than your butt. Our clients know all about you.”
“Let’s not objectify the man,” Andie said.
I beamed. “Thanks.”
“I’d rather keep down my breakfast,” Andie added.
I cringed.
Yvette cackled a laugh. “So, what brings you uptown, Mr. Lawyer Man?” She peered with interest around the salon. “More peace offerings? Geez, I hope you’ve bought some nice chocolates. It’s my damn luteal phase, and I’d literally kill for sugar right now.”
“He’s here to learn about the salon,” Andie said. “Allegedly.”
Yvette nodded. “I approve.”
One down. One to go. I turned to Andie to plead my case. “I can be useful,” I said. “I’ll do anything you want.”
An evil grin spread across Andie’s face. “Anything we want, huh?”
My stomach plummeted to the hardwood floor.
Maybe this was a bad idea…
To my surprise, Andie agreed I could stick around for the day, but she didn’t waste a second putting me to work. She barked orders like a drill sergeant.
Hang this. Stack these. Fluff that.
She explained preparation was the key to running a successful salon, and it started well before the doors officially opened. There were luxury robes to hang and freshly laundered towels to unpack. Inventory in the trolleys and shelves needed restocking, and the day’s catering had to be carefully stored for serving later. Even the cushions and magazines in the waiting area required extra special attention.
More staff trickled in as the morning went on. My head spun, barely able to keep track of all the new names and faces. Two girls hovered around the basins and giggled whenever I glanced in their direction. A barista in his late teens hung out in the kitchen, helping with the food and preparing the salon’s famous artisan coffees.
Maddie wandered in last. She hoped to become an apprentice and earn her place by fussing over the clients, tidying up, and keeping the trolleys cleaned and restocked. Usually. She spent her morning perched on the stool at the front reception, sometimes answering the phone but mostly tapping away at some app as she sipped a fancy coffee.
Andie reassigned all of Maddie’s jobs to me.
I also learned more about what everyone did. Eden specialised in colouring and was renowned for fixing the impossible. Andie was all about edgy cuts, and Yvette had a knack for something called blowouts.
She called me over to her station every time she spun around her client for their final reveal. Everyone crowded around to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at the woman beaming at her transformation in the mirror, the big, bouncy waves rivalling the women in shampoo commercials on TV.
Yvette leant her hip against her station, watching me with an amused smirk as I ran through the list to restock her trolley.
“Will you be gracing Worley’s corporate box with your presence tonight?” she asked.
“Maybe.” Suspicious, my eyes narrowed. “Are you fishing for an invite?”
“I’d rather stick a hot curling iron in my eye than spend my night with a bunch of lawyers pretending to understand sport.” A coy smile danced on her lips as she ran her finger along the edge of her trolley. “I kinda thought you might be the same?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I watch the games with my dad sometimes, but yeah, I usually avoid all the bullshit work functions.”
“Why are you going then?”
“My boss told me I had to go.”
“Chris Stone, right?” She snorted a laugh. “What a prickly pear he is.”
“You know him?”
“Sweetie, he makes himself known to a lot of women despite the clueless fiancée he’s trapped.”
The bite in Yvette’s voice zipped up my spine. Made me stand up taller. “Lola’s…nice.”
“She’s positively delightful. There are plenty of rumours, though, that Chris isn’t.” Yvette shook out her curls, her sneer disappearing into a smile. “Are you taking a date to the stadium?”
“What the hell? Of course not. Eden’s the only one for me.”
“Ain’t you sweet.”
I shrugged. “Just being honest.”
“I approve. Be gone with you, little peon.” She waved me away from her trolley. “I’ll finish taking care of this before my next appointment arrives.”
“O-Okay.”
I glanced at Yvette over my shoulder as I grabbed the robe and towels. I didn’t know her well, but that conversation was weird, even from what little I’d seen.
The stench of bleach and wet towels burned my nose when I opened the door to the laundry room. After I stuffed a pile of robes in a dry-cleaning bag and tossed some towels in the wash, I slumped against the scratchy, ancient bricks and groaned.
The salon was brutal.
The noise. The people. There was nowhere to hide. I regularly clocked eighteen-hour days at Worley, but long days—and nights—in the office were a cakewalk compared to the salon. My feet screamed. My calves ached. There was no time for breaks. Yvette had ducked out to the bathroom maybe once, and I’d kept one of Andie’s appointments amused long enough for her to chug a shake for lunch.
How did Eden work in conditions like this and bounce through the door every night? She’d never complained. Not once. And I’d let her dote on me, cook for me, and take care of me, with barely even a ‘hello’ some days.
If I ever won her back, all that needed to change.
Footsteps approached from behind. Not Yvette’s clicky heels. These steps were purposeful. Like a soldier. I’d been waiting for Andie to come for me. The intense glare she’d shifted in my direction throughout the day hinted a confrontation was coming.
“Slacking off in the laundry, huh?” Andie said, chucking a towel across the room to hit the top of the pile. “You wouldn’t be the first.”
“I was putting on another load of laundry. You guys go through a tonne of towels.”
Andie’s gaze didn’t stray, eyeing me like I was a puzzle she was trying to solve. I stuffed my hands in my pockets, ready for the lashing I was about to face.
“Zach, what was today really about?”
I sighed. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want your approval. You and Eden are a package deal.”
“We are. Do you understand why?”
“Bits and pieces. Eden keeps most of her past from me.” That comment got a deep frown from Andie. “I know you’ve been friends for a long time,” I quickly added.
“Ed’s more than a friend to me. She’s the only family I’ve got.” Sighing, Andie mussed her short hair. “I was worried she wasn’t being honest with you about her past. I love her, but…” She shook her head. “Not my story to tell. Just know there’s more.”
“There were some clues,” I admitted. “Does the story have anything to do with her leaving all the lights on?”
Andie’s eyes rounded. “Shit, I thought she’d gotten over all that.”
I shook my head.
She scrubbed a hand over her chin. “Look, I can’t break Eden’s trust…but…” Another sigh. “We escaped pretty shitty families and a life barely off the streets. The first few years were rough, but we made something of ourselves. Together. So, if you think I’ll stand by and watch you keep treating Ed like an afterthought, you’ve got another thing coming. She deserves better.”
“I know I made mistakes. I put my career first, and I shouldn’t have. But Andie, everything I was doing was for us—for her—so we could have a better life together. I never meant to hurt Eden.”
“What did you think her reaction was going to be when she caught you fucking around?”
“I know how it might’ve looked to Eden that night, but I’ve never cheated on her.”
“Prove it.”
“I want to, but how can I?”
“Unlock your phone and give it to me.”
Without hesitating, I slipped my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans, unlocked it, and passed it to Andie on an open palm. Shock flashed across her face—she obviously didn’t think I’d do it—before she snagged the phone.
She swiped through the screens, her heavy brows pinched together. “Where are all your apps?”
“I don’t like too much clutter,” I replied. “And I don’t do much on my phone. I mostly use it for work.”
“Glazed and Confused Doughnuts?” Andie smirked.
“My executive assistant likes snacks,” I explained weakly. “Sue needs to be happy if I want any work done.”
Andie scrolled through my messages. “Damn. You only get texts about boring shit.”
“Yeah, mostly organising settlements or meetings.”
“You text your mum and dad a lot,” she said, her eyes still on the screen. “And all these texts to Eden… You know she blocked you, right?”
“Yeah, but I like to text her every morning and every night just in case she changes her mind. I don’t want her to think I’ve stopped thinking about her.”
Andie’s head tilted. She watched me for a few beats before she dropped her eyes again. “Michaela… Michaela… Where is she…?” she muttered as she kept tapping. “Mac. Gotcha!”
Gotcha? Hardly.
Michaela was a colleague. Nothing more. I’d already put her on notice to keep it professional, and she was on testy waters with Chris after their breakup. She couldn’t risk me telling him about the photo. No new ones had followed. The looks she sometimes shot me were confusing, but I was enjoying the quiet space she’d stopped crowding.
Andie scrolled through Michaela’s texts. “The bank says it’s off until five … Where are the guarantees … That dumb shit paralegal forgot the land title searches …” I cringed hearing the last one as much as I had the first time I’d read it. Totally unprofessional. I hope Andie saw my scathing follow-up. “What is all this shit?”
“Michaela’s a senior associate in the banking team,” I explained. “She runs the financing side for some of my transactions.”
“Besides work, nothing’s happening between you two?” When I shook my head, Andie asked, “But you didn’t block her?”
My eyes turned to the laundry ceiling as I blew out a long breath. “It’s like I said. Michaela and I work together on some transactions. She needs to be able to contact me in case something goes wrong. It would raise a lot more eyebrows if I blocked her than if I just kept things professional. That’s all it is. Professional—and barely that. I keep her very much at arm’s length after what happened.”
Andie nodded slowly. Then, her lips curled into a grin that chilled me to my core. I took a step back and hit the washing machine.
“Photo time!” she said.
Wow, she was about to be really disappointed.
“Get excited for all the fishing memes I send to my dad,” I muttered.
Scrolling through the photos, Andie’s eyebrows popped up. “Why the fuck do you have all these pictures of bread?”
My face flamed. I’d forgotten about those. “I’ve, um, well…” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’ve been teaching myself how to bake sourdough. The first few loaves were a write-off, but the last couple have been pretty good.” I attempted a wobbly smile. “Edible, even.”
Andie was still staring at me like I was nuts. “You know you can just buy bread, right?”
I lifted a shoulder and kept the rest of my stupid plan to myself.
Right after Eden had moved out, I’d decided if she ever gave me a second chance, I wanted to cook her dinner. Eden loved Italian, so I’d spent my spare time perfecting a menu—a Caprese salad, bread, lasagne, and tiramisu. Everything homemade. The tiramisu needed some work because I’d dug in my heels about making the Savoiardi from scratch instead of using store-bought, but everything else was coming along nicely.
Mum was fully invested in my dinner plan. She got a real kick out of my bread updates.
Andie held out my phone. “You’re literally the most boring person I know. You don’t even have any nudie pics on there.”
Raising a brow, I asked, “People don’t really do that, do they?” I took my phone and slipped it into my pocket.
“A nude selfie? Sure.”
“Um… Are you saying… You?”
“What? Fuck. No!” She pushed her palm into my shoulder. A playful jibe. “Gross, man. Yvette’s got loads.”
“Had a peek, huh?”
Andie’s cheeks turned hot pink. “No, I just—” She shrugged. “I heard .”
“Uh-huh.”
She recovered from her embarrassment by squaring her shoulders and putting her usual grim frown back on. “For what it’s worth, I believe you when you say you didn’t cheat.”
“Thank you.”
“But I’ll still never tell Ed to take you back.”
The air whooshed out of my lungs. Knowing Eden’s best friend would never accept me was a blow I wasn’t ready for. “Why?”
“Why? How long have you got? How about all the times you missed Friday night drinks? Or the time you couldn’t make it to the picnic Ed planned for weeks? Or the time you were late to the premiere? You never prioritise her.”
Andie paused, waiting for me to deny all the times I’d let Eden down. I couldn’t. She was right.
She stabbed the knife even deeper between my ribs when she said, “What about how Eden had a panic attack at your work bringing you dinner because she’d never see you otherwise? How many times did you bring her dinner?”
I could only defend myself with a mumbled excuse. “I can’t always control my work—”
Andie barked a laugh. “Yeah, your work . We all know about your fucked-up priorities. How far down your list is she, exactly?”
“Eden’s number one,” I bit back. “Always.”
“Maybe right now, she is. You lost her, so you’re panicking, pulling out all the stops to win her back.”
“It’ll never be like it was before. I understand—”
“Zach, that is such bullshit, and you know it. Maybe everything will be great for a week. Maybe even for a month. But eventually, I know Ed will be calling me because she’s back at the end of your list. I can’t watch my best friend lose herself again. I won’t.” Andie paused to take a shaky breath, chest heaving. “Zach, I know you’re not a bad person. After today, I actually think you’re pretty okay, but work will always be your number one priority, and I’m sorry, but Ed deserves better.”
“You’re right. She does.”
And it was time I started proving that to Eden.