Chapter 14 #2
“Not even a little bit.” His shoulders bounce as he laughs. “I started taking one every other day. Then it turned into every day.”
I chuckle, knowing he had to have gotten caught stealing from his grandpa’s stash. “How much trouble did you get in?”
“Well, at first, he didn’t catch me. Until one day he set up a camera in the kitchen and caught me on film taking one from the fridge.”
He calls Uno and lays down his last card, winning the first round. Another boom shakes the house above us, causing us both to jump and look up toward the ceiling.
“Another round?” I ask as a distraction.
He nods, his fingers resuming their tapping, and Sven snuggles his head further against Zane’s legs. He must sense his discomfort, and it’s cute seeing how much the sweet dog loves his owner. Zane’s tapping stops as he reaches down and gives Sven a scratch on the head.
“That’s actually how I started working for my Pops when I was thirteen,” he continues.
“Thirteen?”
“Yeah. He made me work off what I owed him.” He shrugs. “I ended up liking the work. Using my hands to build something was good for me. And I enjoyed having my own money.”
I deal the cards slowly, watching him now. “That’s really young.”
“Yeah, but it taught me a good work ethic early on.” He smiles softly. “And it stuck.”
The way Zane has talked about his job with me over the past month has stuck with me.
What he does is important, not only to him, but to the people who depend on him in this small town.
He’s never once complained—well, besides the heat of the summer, but who doesn’t complain about that?
There’s been no bitterness or negativity, only pride and purpose with his career.
I’ve noticed the same thing with Ashton. Neither of them is spending their life chasing something bigger. They’re invested in the people and places right in front of them.
Derek’s career is the opposite. His ambitions always sounded impressive when he talked about them, but they never landed anywhere solid.
Everything was about the next promotion, the next opportunity, the next version of life that would finally make him happy.
He was always looking ahead, always reaching for something just beyond his grasp.
Zane is the complete opposite of Derek, in every way. Maybe that’s what makes learning these small things about him feel unexpectedly compelling.
Our eyes are dancing with each other. This close to him, I can see every color in his irises, every freckle dotting the strong line of his nose, and everything beyond him is a blur, as if I’ve adjusted the focus on a camera until he’s the focal point.
“I still enjoy an Ensure drink every now and then,” he admits with a shy smile. “But that secret stays between us, okay?”
“Okay.” I smile, liking that I have a secret about him.
“It’s your turn. What’s something you’ve never told anyone?”
I lay down a card and bite my lip, heat creeping up my neck as the confession surfacing has me already embarrassed. “You can’t laugh at me.”
“I can’t make any promises. If it’s funny, I can’t control how my body chooses to respond.”
I roll my eyes, buying myself a second as I study my hand before laying down a wild card. “Red.”
“Thanks,” he says, immediately slapping down a skip and a draw four, a smug grin tugging at his mouth. “Now spill.”
I draw my cards, pressing my lips together to hide my smile. “When I was eight, I found a baby opossum in our backyard. I couldn’t find its mother, so I brought it inside and asked my mom if we could take care of it.”
Zane goes completely still, his face unreadable, and somehow, that makes my embarrassment grow. I push on, placing another card down to give my hands something to do.
“My mom freaked out the second she saw him in my hands and told me to take him back outside immediately. What she doesn’t know,” I add, lowering my voice dramatically, “is that when she wasn’t looking, I snuck the little guy into my room and took care of him until he was big enough to release.”
I dare a peek at Zane, who’s clearly trying to hold in a laugh, and I reach out to shove him against his shoulder.
“Go on, laugh it up.”
A burst of laughter echoes throughout the basement. “I’m not laughing because it’s funny. I’m laughing because it’s cute,” he claims, earning a huge eyeroll from me.
I groan. “Shut up.”
“You kidnapped an opossum.”
“He needed me.”
“What was his name?”
“Peanut.”
“Peanut?”
“He loved peanut butter. It was fitting,” I defend.
Zane shakes his head, still grinning. “That might be the cutest confession I’ve ever heard.”
I attempt to hide my blush by looking down at my hand and placing down a wild card. “Blue and Uno.”
He counters with a blue card, and I slam my last one down, springing to my feet before I can stop myself.
“I win! I win!” I sing, doing a small, wildly uncoordinated victory dance before self-awareness crashes into me, and I drop back onto the couch, mortified.
Zane’s smile stretches as he watches me. “I take that back. You’re the cutest.”
He keeps his eyes on mine, and I wonder if he can feel the heat radiating off me, if he notices the way my breath catches or the electricity that skitters up my spine under the weight of his attention.
I tuck a loose strand of damp hair behind my ear, my smile turning shy right as lightning cracks overhead, rattling the house. Zane stiffens at the sound.
“You don’t like storms.”
He’s looking around the room before his eyes return to mine. “No. Not at all.”
“And yet, you ran through one for me.”
“Of course I did.” His voice doesn’t hold its usual gruffness. It’s soft as silk, and I feel it down to the tips of my toes. “I’m starting to discover that I’d do just about anything for you.”
The storm outside doesn’t feel nearly as loud as the one unfolding between us.
Over the last several weeks, I’ve realized that what I wanted from Derek was never perfection.
It wasn’t grand gestures or expensive dinners or a carefully planned future.
I wanted to be myself and for him to choose me above everything else.
Somewhere along the way, I started believing I needed to earn his affection by becoming whatever he needed me to be.
But with Zane, he’s never asked me to be anything other than myself.
He listens when I’m hurting. Sits with me when I don’t have the words.
Encourages my dreams without trying to reshape them into something that fits his own plans.
Little by little, without even realizing it, he’s helped me believe there’s never been anything wrong with me to begin with.
This summer was supposed to be about healing, figuring out who I am, and relearning how to stand on my own again.
Somehow, Zane has become part of that journey without ever trying to.
I reach for his hand, threading my fingers through his. Before I can second-guess myself, I tug gently, drawing him closer. He stiffens hesitantly, and my chest tightens with the realization of how badly I need him. I need his arms around me, to hold me.
I look at his lips before searching his eyes for the answer. Finally, he slowly wraps his arms around me and brings me toward him. Relief floods through me as I bury my face into his shoulder. I breathe him in while his hand traces slow, steady circles against my back.
I let myself have this, only for a moment, and lean into the comfort of being held by someone who understands me. My eyes sting unexpectedly, because this is what I’ve been missing…being seen, accepted, and cared for. But that’s also what makes the realization so dangerous.
My grip tightens against his shirt, because if I’m honest with myself, I don’t only want this hug.
I want more. I want the version of life that keeps appearing whenever I picture my future.
And lately, Zane’s been a part of it. The thought sends panic skittering through me.
I pull back, just enough to look down at the space between us.
This is exactly how people get hurt. Mistaking comfort for something lasting. I need to remind myself that I’ve been here before. I’ve let myself fall for someone before knowing where I stood. I don’t trust myself not to do it again, not with Zane.
I came here to learn how to stand on my own.
The whole plan was to have a summer to help out my brother, try to fix things with Dad, while remembering who I was before Derek decided who I should be.
I needed to return home steadier than I left.
Not to fall into a new relationship before I’ve even healed from the last one.