When he’d read through it twice, he leaned against the bar. He got it. Life wasn’t exactly going smooth for him either. With his father’s health issues, the takeover attempt of his dad’s business, and just trying to figure out where he fit in, Zac understood more than she knew.
Tabitha’s hand settled onto his thigh. He gazed up into her eyes and decided he wasn’t going home with her. He wasn’t going to have sex with her just to forget about his mystery girl. If he was brutally honest, he didn’t even want to anymore. The moment was over.
“Sorry, Tabitha. Something’s come up. I can’t tonight.” He stood and her hand fell away along with her seductive smile. “Raincheck?” he asked without meaning it.
“Raincheck.” She rose on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear. “I guess my B.O.B. will do the job meant for you. And when we have that raincheck, we’ll go all night.”
Even though Zac had no doubt that she meant it, he had no intention of following through. Well, at least not until he figured out what was going on with his mystery girl.
The ten-minute drive to his apartment felt like an eternity. He wanted nothing more than to respond to her that they could meet this weekend or tomorrow or whenever worked for her. But he didn’t want to scare her off, either. She was clearly going through a lot and needed time to figure it out. The most he could realistically do was listen via messages.
Before he stepped into his apartment, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID. Chomper. Why was Macie calling?
“Hello?” he asked, trying to keep the curiosity out of his voice. He let the irritation shine through.
“Sorry to bother you, but I... I thought since we’re supposed to try this whole getting along thing that I’d make dinner for Saturday.” Macie inhaled loudly into the receiver. Was the overly confident Macie nervous? Zac had a hard time believing that, but she sounded uncomfortable at a minimum. “It’s going to take a while to go through everything and I figured it would be nice if I knew if you had any allergies.”
Zac wasn’t really sure how to respond. “No food allergies.” Not that he had other plans on Saturday, but he hadn’t expected it to take more than an hour. “How much stuff do we have to go over anyway?”
“Well, with the shower, there’s the party supplies, the menu, the RSVPs, and we need to go through the guest list to make sure everyone has been notified. The invites went out already, but there’s still time to contact anybody Ford wants to add. Sylvia’s been leaning on me to get everything done. As if I don’t have other things to do. Since Ford wants it joint, then I need you to give me some input.”
“That’s a ... quite a lot,” he said.
“Then there’s the bachelorette-slash-bachelor party. I’ve already made calls about a party bus, but in light of combining the parties, we’d probably need two. Or we’ll have to do something else entirely. I had everything tentatively planned out, but nothing’s been booked, thank God. The cost has to be a factor, too.”
“I hadn’t even thought about that.” He just figured they’d all go to a club and get drunk. “Is there enough time to get everything done?”
“Barely, but if we work our asses off on Saturday, we’ll have a solid plan to move forward with. Lauren’s already ordered twenty more invitations for Ford’s half of the shower, but I don’t know if that’s enough. Do you have his guest list?”
“Um... no.”
“Okay, I’ll get it.” Someone shouted her name in the background. “Shit, that’s Alex. I have to go. I’ll see you Saturday.”
She hung up and Zac pulled his phone away from his ear, staring at it as if it would tell him that wasn’t Macie but someone pretending to be her. She was way too nice. Almost human.
He shook his head and sat on his couch with his tablet. Macie was a ball of energy welded together by confusion. He couldn’t read her. And he wasn’t sure he really wanted to, either. He opened his app and reread mystery girl’s message. Then he composed his own.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Glorious Friday. Even though Macie still had to go to work, the feeling of a Friday didn’t disappear. She sat in her chair with her tablet, sipping coffee with enough sugar she should just own her own sugar plantation. The air conditioner kicked on, freezing the beads of water still on her bare skin from the shower. She’d get dressed before she left. There wasn’t any reason to wear clothes in her own home.
The news was grim as per the norm. Even the celebrity gossip she secretly followed was depressing. Macie clicked on her Blind Friends app expecting nothing. He hadn’t responded so far, why start now? The red one over the inbox surprised her. She opened it.
I read this and thought “yes, I do understand.” Then I read it again and I found that even though I understand the situation, I don’t understand the standing up. It’s only fair that I’m honest. And honestly, I opened up the app tonight to delete my profile and move on. I’d given up. And I’m not one to do so lightly. When I saw your message, though, I knew I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. (Where does that come from anyway? Clichés drive me crazy. After a quick Google, I found out it comes from boxing. When a fighter wants to end a fight, they literally throw in a towel. Now I know.)
Tonight I went to a happy hour with my co-workers. It was miserable and I didn’t want to be there. I’m not welcome among the crowd for reasons that are obvious. Well, not to you but maybe one day they will be. So, I get it.
But life is always going to be overwhelming. Something is always
