lips.
“Now, what about you? What’s new?” he finally asked after we’d walked another twenty feet down the beach.
“Not much to tell.” The words brought me back to our first meeting in high school, when he gave me the same bullshit answer during our get-to-know-your-classmate activity.
“If I know anything, I know Liz Wagner leads anything but a normal, boring life.”
“Then I guess you don’t know anything.” And we laughed just like we used to. Nothing existed except us. We were in our own world.
“How long have you and Joe been together?”
And just like that he ripped our world from its orbit and threw it back into reality.
When I told Zach I’d go see Mimi, I didn’t expect to go directly from the beach. But after seeing the excitement in his eyes, I couldn’t say no.
Since I’d carpooled with Professor Mulligan, Zach offered to take me to Mimi’s then drop me off at my place. The orange color of his Jeep was usually hard to miss, but the truck was currently caked in mud.
“Ever hear of a car wash?” I asked, eyeing the mess.
“A car wash? What’s that?”
I gave a good shove to his shoulder. “Very funny, smartass.”
“I went off-roading yesterday afternoon. The inside is clean. Here, I’ll even open the door for you, so you don’t have to touch the handle.”
“How kind.” He reached around me and my breath hitched at his proximity.
“What can I say? I’m a gentleman.” His breath, warm and minty, lingered on my skin.
“That’s debatable.”
“You really know how to get to a guy’s heart.” He opened the door and waited until I climbed in.
I took my step up then turned back to him. “I try.”
He was right. The inside wasn’t a disaster. Even the back seat, which had been covered in dirt from when we went pumpkin picking, was spotless.
I was impressed.
I thought the ride to Mimi’s would be awkward, but I should have known Zach didn’t do awkward.
“Mom’s doing good, still tutoring,” he said, his eyes focused on the road in front of him. “What about you?” I asked, wanting to know what I’d missed while we’d been apart.
He stopped at a red light and glanced over at me. “What about me?”
Everything and anything. I wanted to know what became of my Zach. How similar or how different the new Zach was.
“Do you still want to be a marine biologist?”
His dark eyes twinkled. “Absolutely. The love I have for the ocean will never go away.”
The words punched me in the gut. Hard. The ocean was able to keep his love, but I wasn’t.
“By the way, your presentation was amazing.”
I took a calming breath to ease the pain. “Thanks.”
A few seconds of silence passed, but Zach could never stay quiet for long. “So have you seen Purge play?”
“More times than I’d like to admit.”
“Between me and you . . .” He waved his finger like a metronome. “They suck.”
A giggle escaped my lips and I threw my hand over my mouth.
“What? They do! Joe’s not here. It’s just me and you. You can laugh about it.”
So I did. As I was laughing a Nickelback song came on the radio and he turned it up and started belting it out.
“Come on, Liz. Don’t you remember Zach and Liz Karaoke Time?” he asked, bobbing his head to the music and tapping the steering wheel with his hands.
How could I forget Zach and Liz Karaoke Time? It was never planned. It was always a random outburst, usually on Zach’s part. We would be doing homework or just hanging out with the radio on for background noise, when Zach would hear a song and crank it up. He’d then proceed to sing as if he was trying to win the finale of
I answered him with the chorus of the song and we sang for the rest of the drive. By the time we got there I was laughing so hard my ribs hurt. Out of everything, I missed this the most. Just letting loose, being myself, and not worrying what Zach thought about me, because no matter what I did, he’d never think of me any differently.
With Zach it was easy to be me. I never had to tiptoe around his feelings or feel embarrassed for any reason. And he never tread lightly with me either. Everything was out there, front and center.
And even though I blamed Zach for the breakup because he stopped calling, I secretly blamed myself too. Because I said too much the last time we talked. I must have scared him off or something. It was the only thing that made sense. My big mouth ruined everything.
The fantasies that played out in my head about us going to school together, graduating, getting our own place, getting married, should have stayed in my head. It was too much too soon.
The assisted living community was nicer than I expected. Lush gardens surrounded the property and a gazebo complete with benches sat in the middle of the lawn. I imagined Mimi sitting there with her canvas, painting and enjoying a nice day.
Zach came around to help me down, but I was already safely to the ground, so he settled for shutting the door.
“She was good this morning,” he said over his shoulder as he walked towards the entrance. “I probably should’ve called ahead to see if that changed, but you said yes so easily I didn’t want to give you a chance to run for the hills.”
“When have you ever known me to run?” As soon as the words left my mouth, something I couldn’t decipher flashed in his eyes. I shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other when I realized my statement implied more than I intended.
Of course I wasn’t known to run. I was the idiot who sat by the phone day after day waiting for his call. Maybe I should take up running. It was probably easier to run from your problems than allow them to consume you.
“Come on.” Zach placed his hand on my lower back, then just as quickly pulled it away. But I felt the sparks right down to my toes. And from the look on his face, he felt them too.
We walked in and the woman at the desk waved. “Hi Zach,” she said with a smile, tucking her dark hair behind her ear and giving me a once-over.
He flashed his most charming smile. “Hi Cheryl. This is . . .” He glanced at me then back to her. “My friend. Liz.”
Cheryl reached her hand over the desk and I returned the gesture.
“How was the concert?” he asked.
“Fantastic. My Becky knocked them dead.”
“Sounds like she takes after her mom.” Zach winked, and Cheryl grinned. “How was she today?”
“After you left this morning she went out and got a haircut. I’m sure she talked Lucille’s ear off about you.”
“That’s good to hear. I’ll catch you later.”
“You know where to find me.”
Zach led me down a corridor and around the corner, stopping in front of a door with a seashell wreath. He knocked gently and then eased the door open. Mimi’s artistic touches were spread around her room. Hand-painted ivy wrapped around the door frame, the mirror was lined in shells, picture frames hung on the walls, and a colored glass mosaic table sat just beneath them.
Zach walked in and knelt in front of Mimi on the couch as I stared at her masterpieces, wondering if her
