Chapter 7
ZACH
After everything that had happened last week, I’d decided to work from home today, but I stuck to my usual morning routine. It was one thing I was pretty strict about, waking up early, getting ready, and going for a run.
Theo was in the kitchen when I walked in to grab my water bottle and he sighed as he looked me up and down. “I’ll never understand why you do this to yourself.”
“Are you going to the office today?” I asked instead of explaining—again—that I did it to keep myself sane.
Reasonably, anyway.
Theo shrugged. “Don’t I go in every day? Not all of us have the privilege to pretend we’re working even though we’re just hanging around at home all day.”
I snorted, walking past him on my way to the fridge. “And until you understand that it’s not pretend and that we do actually work when we’re at home, harder even than at the office, you won’t earn that privilege either.”
He laughed. “If it involves working even harder, then I’m out.”
I grabbed my water and turned back to face him. “Why don’t you come on a run with me this morning? We’ll get your adrenaline pumping before you go in and you’ll see. Working hard won’t be that difficult.”
To my surprise, he didn’t shut me down right away, his head rocking from side to side as he considered the offer instead. “You know what? Sure, I’ll come. I’ve been meaning to work on my active hours. My stats aren’t looking so good anymore.”
“Yeah?” I asked, sliding my phone out of my pocket. “I’ve been using this app called Straya. You should get it. I’ve been battling against someone in the neighborhood who keeps overriding my Local Legend status on our exact route. That’ll get you motivated to up your active hours.”
“Dude, unlike yours, my competitive streak is less than an inch wide,” he joked as he backed out of the kitchen. “I’ll come, though. Even if I’m not that sold on your long-ass running route. As long as you don’t say another word about an app or your status.”
“I’m not competitive,” I argued, but thirty minutes later, I was starting to think he might’ve been right to make fun of me for it.
Another runner was just ahead of me and my legs were burning, my lungs felt unable to process another teaspoon of oxygen, and I knew that was an absurd way of thinking about it, but I didn’t even care. I was overtaking this guy, even if it meant forcing Theo to sprint to keep up.
After ten more miles, he sure wasn’t making fun of me anymore. In shambles, he slowed to a stop, his shirt and skin soaked with sweat as he pressed his palms to his knees, breathing like he was about to die.
I jogged in one place beside him, cooling down and suddenly worried that I might’ve broken my brother. “You know, if you take this seriously, you could qualify for the same marathons I run every year. We could even start training for the Chicago Marathon in October together.”
Theo was still panting so hard, he could barely speak, but he managed to argue anyway. “I don’t hate myself enough to run as a hobby. Especially not like this. You’re insane, man. Absolutely fucking insane.”
“Maybe,” I agreed, but the truth was that I needed to let off steam. Otherwise, this Adeline thing would drag me underwater for the second time in my life. “Are you ready yet? We need to get home. I have a meeting starting in twenty.”
All throughout every day, she was on my mind, though.
Today was no exception. I’d nearly killed my brother and she was still all I could think about as I went about my day at my home office.
I always worked better from here on account of the fact that there were no interruptions.
No random, quick pop-ins from any of my brothers, my secretary, or anyone else.
But with Adeline back on my mind, I found myself just staring into the middle distance more often than usual. It was probably also because it was quieter without Alex breathing down my neck about prospective clients.
Whatever he was doing in DC, it was clearly keeping him pretty occupied. I briefly considered giving him a call and finding out what the hell Dad had pulled him into, but in the end, I turned back to my computer without even reaching for my phone.
He’d let me know when the time was right.
In the meantime, I had more than enough to do.
I’d recently been working with Colin on some side projects for Thayer Steelworks.
W&S had invested a metric fuck-ton of money into that company to buy out the previous board, but they were doing better than ever and Colin and I were both excited to get these new projects off the ground.
As I reached for my phone to call him, Alex’s name popped up on my screen and I smiled. “Were your ears burning? I was just thinking about giving you a call two minutes ago. How’s DC?”
“Behind me,” he said, sounding relieved, but there was something else in his voice too, an edge I didn’t quite like. “We’re finally on our way home.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “What’s going on?”
“You and I need to talk,” he said. “Tomorrow morning at the office. First thing.”
“I’ll be there,” I promised, even though I was on edge now myself thanks to him. “Is everything okay? Is Dad—”
“Oh, God. No, it’s nothing like that. He’s fine. I swear.” At least this time, I believed him. “He’s not sick and he’s not thinking about running for president either, so whatever you’re thinking he wanted with me in DC, it’s not that.”
“Well, thank God for small mercies,” I joked, then reassured him that I would see him tomorrow and hung up.
Finally getting to work, I managed to lose myself in the ins and outs of my day-to-day, the routine coming easily once I forced myself to stop thinking about Adeline.
By the end of the day, I’d been surprisingly productive, but when I walked into the kitchen to start planning dinner, I realized my productivity wasn’t quite over yet.
Although I’d done well for myself over the years—better even than any of my siblings—with investments and an impressive stock portfolio, I refused to be caught dead having DoorDash drop off something like groceries.
Which was how I found myself at the grocery store at eight p.m., picking up some things that Theo kept scarfing down in record time.
Honestly, I did this run at least two to three times a week, and I still couldn’t keep his favorites stocked. Maybe I really would actually be better off living alone.
I was still pondering it when I heard a familiar voice behind me.
My stomach sank, my heart twisting behind my ribs.
I turned without really needing to. Adeline had her phone pressed to her ear as she grabbed two gallons of milk from the case.
Her reddish blonde hair had been pulled into a ponytail, but more than a few tendrils had escaped during the course of the day.
Her hands were shaking slightly as she reached for the bottles.
Her usually soft, beautiful features were knitted with tension, her lips slightly parted and her eyes round. “No, I haven’t heard anything about it, but I’ll ask my lawyer for a timeline.”
A moment later, she nodded and ended the call, but she was clearly struggling with the milks, her cart, and her phone still pressed between her cheek and her shoulder.
I saw the moment the phone started sliding and I couldn’t help myself, lurching forward to grab the milks before she shattered her phone.
She looked up just as I grabbed the milk, gaping like a fish for a moment before clearing her throat and straightening up a little. Those blue eyes were still too wide and shimmering with tension that looked a little too much like panic.
“Thank you,” she said gruffly. “That was a good save.”
I set the milk down in her cart, not expecting her to say anything else, but an awkward moment passed and she was speaking again. “Being out of milk constitutes an emergency for my kids, seeing as how Lu’s diet is whole milk, dry toast, and vanilla yogurt at the moment.”
Obviously, I was out of my mind because instead of just nodding and walking away like I should’ve, I was suddenly speaking too. “How are you?”
Fuck, what a stupid question. I know she’s not well. She can’t be.
Her eyes watered briefly before she blinked back a wash of emotion that made me seriously consider running all the way to New York to drag her soon-to-be ex-husband through the streets. Or maybe something worse.
When it became clear that she couldn’t answer, I shook my head. “I’m sorry. That was a really stupid question. You don’t have to say anything.”
A stilted laugh came out of her, but the tension between us was so thick, I couldn’t wade through it if I tried. One thing I knew for sure in that moment, however, was that if I couldn’t just talk to her for a minute, I was going to die right here in this grocery store.
Theo would have to stock up on his own snacks. The horror.
“Can we get lunch tomorrow?” It was robotic, a reflex, my client voice apparently alive and well, and yet, I’d asked the question.
She stared at me for a beat, clearly as shocked by the invitation as I was for extending it, but then she nodded. “I take lunch between eleven and noon.”
“We can meet at Starburst Diner. You remember it, right?”
When she nodded again, I turned and started to leave, but then I thought about that panic in her eyes and the tension lining her features, and I spun back to face her again. “Can I give you ride to wherever you’re going?”
She shook her head and smiled softly. “Thanks, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Tomorrow.
The moment I walked into the W&S offices for my meeting with Alex and saw my dad for the first time in months, however, I knew I might not make our lunch date. But I also knew I might not want to.
Because standing beside my father was another old man I knew so well, and his presence here, today, absolutely could not mean good things for my future—and, for that matter, probably not for Adeline’s either.