wasn’t true for him. Clearly. Whatever was happening behind closed doors on the
Once she was out of Zack’s driveway, she turned left. She had no idea where she wanted to go, just that she needed to get there. Away from Zack’s house and Grandpa Dan and his family who felt so much like her own. Away from a TV set. Without meaning to, she headed toward the Lowell Therapeutic Equestrian Center. She drove through the pitch-dark parking lot to the spot closest to the stables. The groundskeepers had seen her come at this hour before. No one would bother her.
Reese killed the engine and climbed out. The air smelled sweeter here, and she breathed deep. The fence called to her. She walked to it and swung herself up onto the top rail. This was her spot, the place she sat between students, when she wanted only to watch the horses and dream about making a difference for hurting kids.
On those sunny afternoons, the view from this part of the fence was like a painting, and over time it had come to represent the future for her. A future that would be built around horses and horse farms and beautiful rolling green open spaces. The future she had pictured with Zack. It was appropriate that now, through the muggy summer night, she could see nothing but darkness.
“Why, Zack? How come?” Her broken voice pierced the silence. She wiped her tears with the backs of her hands. She covered her eyes with her fingers and let the tears come. She should’ve seen this coming, with all the tweets between the two of them. With the pictures coming out of their photo shoots and staged events.
But this was Zack Dylan. No matter what her eyes had told her along the way, she had listened to her heart, to the past and everything she had known to be true about the guy she loved. Zack hadn’t given her any hint that he was falling for Zoey. Maybe Reese was going crazy, blinded by devotion. Whatever the reason, she hadn’t seen this coming.
She leaned on the fence post and stared into the black sky. The stars were alive here and with each breath, with each hard-hitting heartbeat she came to grips with reality. Her tears slowed and then stopped.
The response whispered at her from all sides, in a way that could only be divine. Reese breathed in deep again. She couldn’t change the situation. The video had told the story. Zack was caught up in some sort of relationship with Zoey Davis. Whatever their story, they were absolutely connected.
The next move was hers.
As this truth settled in around the edges of her soul, Reese felt her world right itself. Her body ached from the impact of the video, but she would get through this. Somehow she would get through it. With that in mind, she had no question about what to do next. She pulled her cell phone from the pocket of her shorts and called up Zack’s number. His profile appeared with a photo taken in May, at the beginning of summer. Reese and Zack in swimsuits and shorts, sitting on the edge of a dock at Cumberland Lake. They’d gone with the high school kids from church for a day of boating and tubing, and during lunch they’d found a quiet place to talk.
“I’m going to marry you, Reese Weatherly.” He had looked deep into her heart. “As soon as my family figures things out with the farm, it’ll be you and me. Forever.”
She had smiled and they talked about having a big wedding or a small gathering with just family and a few friends. Church hall reception or catered dinner and a dance in a ballroom. But here beneath the August night sky, that day felt like a million years ago. Like it never happened at all. Zack had become someone she no longer knew. At the beginning of his
Enough. She gripped the fence until she felt the wood splintering against her fingers. The call had to be made. She couldn’t wait another minute. She stared at the screen of her cell phone and tapped his number. Then she looked back at the sky and waited. She’d called him only a handful of times since he left, and never once had he answered. The producers made them keep their phones off—that’s what Zack had said. They were busy. Every minute booked.
Once, twice, three times it rang, keeping beat with her broken heart. She didn’t want to leave a voice mail, but she had no choice. “Zack . . . it’s me.” She kept her tone neutral. “Can you call me? We need to talk.”
She clicked the end button and realized she hadn’t breathed. A quick breath and she tucked her phone back in her pocket. There. She had done it. Whatever real or manufactured drama was playing out on
The last thing she wanted to do was drive home and watch
She had captured the show on DVR, and now she forwarded it past Zack’s performance to the end of the show and the segment with him and Zoey. Reese slid to the floor and pulled her tanned legs up close to her chin. Her long dark hair hung over her knees as she watched the reality of her life play out for all of America.
The segment ended as the teaser had promised it would. With the two kissing. Zack really kissed her. Reese held up the remote and cut the power. The screen went dark and the room followed. There were no tears on her face and none in her eyes. Just the cold, consuming shock. Because for all the ways she had pictured life with Zack, for all the happy moments they had shared and the ones she had absolutely seen coming . . . the engagement, the future, their life together, there was one thing she hadn’t imagined.
That it might end like this.
chapter
23
The high was like some crazy drug, different than anything Zack had experienced in his life. That’s all he could think as he stepped off stage with the other nineteen remaining contestants after the first live show. Carnegie Hall was packed with screaming fans, and when Zack sang the Dierks Bentley song he’d practiced all week the audience stayed on its feet and screamed the entire time. After weeks of buildup, the show had definitely delivered.
Zack couldn’t wait to talk to Reese, see how she felt about his performance and ask how she was doing. He hadn’t been on a computer in days, and he hadn’t talked to Reese in that much time at least. A few texts but nothing more. Their distance was beginning to worry him and tonight he felt desperate to hear her voice.
When the show ended, the group of contestants moved to a small room backstage. Zack tried to catch his breath. Adrenaline flooded his body, making his heart race and sustaining the feeling he’d had onstage. Backstage Zack’s group hugged and talked and laughed all at once. Congratulations flew from one singer to another. The judges had made sweeping comments about how theirs was easily the best group.
Zack wondered if Reese had watched the show with his family the way she had planned. He had no cell service in Carnegie Hall and it could be hours before he would have a chance to call her. Like always, there was no time to rest. In the next few minutes William Gaines was supposed to meet them with an update.
“That was unreal.” Zoey worked her way to the spot beside him, as breathless as he was. Without hesitating she threw her arms around his neck and stayed that way, swaying in the kind of hug usually reserved for long-lost lovers. “You were amazing, Zack,” she whispered, her eyes wide with clear admiration. She stepped back, her face bright and full of life as she looked at him. “I swear, you’re gonna win the whole thing.”
“Not me . . . you.” He put his hands casually on her shoulders. After all they’d been through on the show, Zoey meant a lot to him. But there had been no more clandestine hallway moments, no temptations like there had been the night they kissed. When this was all over, his heart would belong to Reese.
“I felt shaky on the belting notes.”
“Not at all. Did you see the judges?” He grinned at her. “You started singing that Kelly Clarkson song and they were on their feet before the first chorus.”
