Chapter 29
ZACH
Iwas ripping off the band-aid. At least, that was what I’d told myself when I’d asked Adeline out to dinner tonight. The official narrative was that we would talk about the timeline and other things that didn’t matter anymore the second I laid eyes on her.
When I had looked up from my phone to see her walking into the kitchen, where I’d been waiting for the last couple minutes, my entire plan for the evening fell apart.
Every coherent thought I’d ever had was suddenly just gone, very much including all the rational, reasonable excuses for taking her on what could probably be described as a date.
It was a little bit fucking unhinged, really, how just seeing her in the simple dress she’d changed into knocked me completely off my game.
In the years we’d been apart, I hadn’t only spent time with supermodels on Jameson’s yacht.
I’d been out with socialites, actresses, and beautiful women I’d met through work or at conferences.
I’d dated heiresses, teachers, and just about everything in between, and yet, none of them had ever made me feel like this.
The dress skimmed her curves, her strawberry blonde hair loose around her shoulders and her makeup light enough that I could still see the freckles across her nose. All of a sudden, it was like I was twenty-three again, completely, catastrophically in love with my best friend.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t so different from being thirty-two and probably still completely, catastrophically in love with her.
The light blue fabric of the dress had a slight shimmer to it, accentuating her eyes and making the color pop, and as soon as she lifted her gaze to mine, my heart started racing like I was a teenager again, seeing his prom date for the first time.
She smoothed a hand down the front of the dress as she walked in, that same, nervous light flickering in her eyes that had been there from the moment Amber had told us she’d been taking the girls tonight. “Is this too much?”
“No,” I said, clearing my throat and trying to remember how this even worked. “You look beautiful, Adeline.”
After she’d searched my gaze for a beat, the nerves visibly left her body, a small smile even tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Thank you.”
Amber had taken the girls to the guest house already and Bear had gone too, which meant that we had no buffer right now at all. The stakes suddenly felt even higher when silence fell between us, and I cleared my throat again.
Focus, dude. You probably look like an amateur right now. Although, to be honest, I felt like one too, but this wasn’t the time. Adeline and I hadn’t had dinner together alone in years, and somehow, I was sure tonight would set some kind of precedent.
Either we’d both enjoy it and make a point of doing it again, or it’d be awful and awkward, and she’d avoid date nights for the rest of our lives. So I swept a hand toward the garage and fell into step beside her when she started walking.
“We’re going to the restaurant at the golf course a few miles away,” I said. “The only alternatives were driving all the way back into Milwaukee or the takeout pizza joint I ordered from the other night, but the only tables they’ve got are plastic and a danger to even lean on, let alone eat at.”
She chuckled, smiling at me when I opened the passenger door of the Cullinan for her. “Honestly, anything I don’t cook myself is a treat. We could’ve gotten grilled cheese from a food truck and eaten it on the sidewalk, and it still would’ve been amazing.”
I nodded but made a mental note to take her someplace spectacular when we got back to Chicago. Somewhere worthy of her.
After she’d lowered herself into the seat, I shut her door and jogged around the car, hitting the button on the remote control between the seats as soon as I climbed in behind the steering wheel.
As the garage door lifted slowly behind us, I glanced at her again.
“We should make this a thing, don’t you think?
Not date nights in the romantic sense, obviously, but just meals together that you haven’t had to cook. ”
I saw a flash of something that looked a lot like disappointment on her features, but she shook it off too fast to pinpoint exactly what it had been. “Sure. That would be amazing.”
“Okay,” I said. “We’ll do it.”
We lapsed into another silence after that, and this time, it stretched until after we’d been shown to our table once we’d arrived at the restaurant.
It was nothing fancy, just a practical choice for golfers to grab some food at before or after their games, but at least the tables were made of wood rather than brittle, sun-bleached plastic, so I stuck by my choice.
A waitress showed us to a table next to a window overlooking the course and we ordered drinks, but once the waitress was gone, the silence became unbearably awkward. I looked at her from across the table, reminding myself that this was Adeline Morris.
Once upon a time, she’d been the person I could—and had—talked to about anything and everything. It was only weird because we were making it that way.
“I have something to confess,” I said finally.
Adeline’s gaze lifted away from the menu she’d been staring at, a slight smile ghosting across her lips. “You bought the car because Amber was right and all our stuff wouldn’t have fit in whatever else you own? I already guessed as much. You did say you only got it that morning.”
“Well, yeah. There’s that, too.” I held her gaze and drew in a deep, steadying breath. Then I pushed forward, intent on breaking the ice. “I actually even got all the way to my Jaguar before I realized it was going to be a problem.”
“You should’ve just said. The girls and I could’ve driven up with Amber.”
I shook my head. “No way. The purpose of this whole trip is for us all to get to know each other, right? Besides, Amber’s car wouldn’t have had enough space for all your stuff either.”
“True.” Those blue eyes met mine. “I really appreciate all the effort you’ve put into this, Zach. Honestly, I didn’t expect any of it.”
“You didn’t ask either,” I pointed out. “I’m doing it because I want to. Speaking of which, we’re okay, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean with me buying Lu a new bike and everything.”
I paused when the waitress came back with the bottle of wine and sparkling waters we’d ordered. She poured us each a glass of the white without pausing for me to try it, then flipped open a notepad and poised her pen above it.
“Are you ready to order yet or do you need a few more minutes?”
I glanced at Adeline, who was chewing her lower lip, her eyes back on the menu in front of her. Then I turned to the waitress. “I’ll have a double bacon and cheeseburger with extra fries.”
The woman nodded and Adeline looked up, clearly surprised by my order but also seeming a bit relieved before she nodded. “I’ll have the same, but a single burger and just the fries that are served with it is fine. Nothing extra.”
“Coming right up,” the waitress said, spinning and taking off after flashing us a smile.
Adeline narrowed her eyes at me once we were alone again. “First, you didn’t have to order my college favorite, and second, we’re okay. Next time, let’s talk about it before you take her on a ridiculously indulgent shopping spree, but I understand that you probably didn’t want to wake me to ask.”
“It wasn’t ridiculously indulgent,” I argued lightly. “She needed a bike, so we went and got her one.”
“A brand new, top of the line—”
“Top of the line from Wal-Mart,” I cut in. “It’s a nice bike but it wasn’t expensive at all.”
“It’s also not like she’s about to cycle across the continent, so for what she needs it for, that bike is as top of the line as it gets,” she countered, smiling. “Plus, you also got her rain boots and sunglasses.”
“Well, we were already there in the store,” I said. “I couldn’t say no.”
She shook her head at me, almost smiling. “You’re going to have to learn how to do that, you know? Say no.”
“Why?”
She chuckled and arched an eyebrow at me. “They’re never going to stop wanting things. If you keep saying yes, you’re going to end up having to buy another ranch just as a storage facility to keep all their stuff.”
I rocked my head from side to side, pretending to be considering it. “Apparently, real estate is always a great investment. Another ranch couldn’t hurt.”
She laughed, the sound so bright that my own nerves finally eased a little. It was also getting easier the longer we talked, the awkwardness kind of just melting beneath the familiarity of the rhythm we were falling into.
The conversation picked up from there the same way it used to, both of us effortlessly bouncing from one topic to the next.
We talked about boarding school and terrible cafeteria food, then reminisced about the time Jesse had accidentally set a curtain on fire trying to impress a girl during winter break.
“He told me that wasn’t true,” Adeline said.
Both of my eyebrows shot up. “He was lying. Nate made him carry around a fire extinguisher for two weeks after as a safety measure.”
She laughed. “Well, it’s not like Nate can talk. Do you remember that time he got us trapped in an escape room? Maybe he should’ve been carrying around a fire extinguisher too. It would’ve helped us bash down the walls.”
I groaned, lowering my forehead into my palm. “Don’t remind me. Do you know he still blames me for that? He says I didn’t want to read the instructions because I was too busy staring at you.”
“Well, were you?”
I looked up at her again, blowing out a deep breath through my nostrils before I shrugged. “Maybe, but I maintain it was his fault. He kept insisting that he knew what he was doing, and clearly, he didn’t.”