ZAC WAS LESS ENTHUSIASTIC about the bachelorette party Macie had planned. Instead of getting frustrated, she promised herself she’d listen and take his suggestions into consideration. It wasn’t easy, but she managed. Every plan she had set into place needed to be scratched. That was the only headway they made. By the end of the evening, the only thing they agreed upon was starting over. At least he liked the biscuits.
This was going to be harder than she thought. Even though she knew he was Guy, it didn’t make it any easier to get rid of past prejudices. Macie sat in her chair and stared out the window. Zac exited the building, stopping before the sidewalk. His jeans hugged in all the right places. Macie had never denied how attractive he was, but knowing the real Zac amplified it by a hundred. Getting past years of animosity would take time. And patience. More patience than she normally had.
Zac glanced back at her building before shaking his head and heading off down the sidewalk. He disappeared around the corner, and Macie finally relaxed. She wanted to confess everything to him the minute he stepped into her apartment. When his gaze trailed over her legs, she knew she at least had that on him. Macie stretched her legs out in front of her. They were her best assets.
Her phone vibrated on her desk. Macie was so lost in thoughts of Zac, she didn’t look at the caller ID. “Hello?”
“Why is Zac leaving your place?” Lauren shrilled on the other end. Her flair for the dramatic sparked at the most unusual times. After all, it was Lauren and Ford who wanted joint parties.
Macie laughed. “Because we’re planning the bachelorette/bachelor party. Why else would he be here?” If only he was here for something else. “Wait, how’d you know he was here?”
“Oh, that makes so much sense. And Ford told me Zac was there.” Lauren sighed the kind of sigh that meant there was something else going on.
“So, one, are you stalking me? And two, why’re you really calling?” Macie asked. Lauren never called unless she wanted something, or needed something. It didn’t matter if that something was information or notes for a class or for a recipe. Lauren was never one to call to chat. Macie liked that about her. It was one reason they got along.
“You know me so well.” A door closed on Lauren’s end. “It’s Ford. He’s stressing out like I’ve never seen. He got his first bill for his student loans earlier than we were told. And... it’s higher than we expected. A lot higher.”
“Like how a lot?” Fear squeezed Macie’s chest. Ford had scholarship money. More than Macie had gotten. If he was panicking, what would her first payment look like?
“Like how-are-we-going-to-live a lot.” She paused. Macie could almost see Lauren closing her eyes and covering her head with a pillow. Sure enough, Lauren’s voice was muffled when she spoke again. “It’s more than our rent. I’ll have to get a job. Freelancing won’t cut it. The money MatchInHeaven pays freelancers isn’t enough long term. We could live off it for a while, but not for long. And we’ll have to hold off starting a family. That alone is eating at him. It’s eating at me, too.”
“Ford’s always been a traditionalist in a male chauvinist sort of way.” Macie never approved of his desire to marry and start a family immediately, but Lauren wanted the same thing. Who was she to judge?
“Stop. You know I want a huge family. And it was in the plan. We planned out every aspect of this. How could we have miscalculated so ... poorly? Even Zac thought we’d be in a good financial situation.” Lauren’s voice cracked. “What’re we going to do, Mace?”
“Survive.” Macie picked through her mail as she talked. A knot formed in her stomach. If Ford had gotten his, hers wasn’t far behind. Most of it was junk mail but a white envelope with bright blue lettering caught her eye. There it was. Her first loan payment notice had come in. It wasn’t supposed to start until six months after graduation, but there it was. She swallowed hard. If Ford’s was more than their meager rent, how much was hers? She stared at the envelope for a moment before her gaze drifted toward the spiral painting. “That’s all we can do.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
For three days, Macie avoided her phone and her Blind Friends app. She went through the motions in zombie mode. Everything was done by the time she left work Sunday. That left Monday and Tuesday to curl up into a ball and hide from the loaming bill on her counter. She couldn’t pay it. She couldn’t pay half of it. Hell, she couldn’t pay a quarter of it. She could only pay the amount she’d budgeted for. She thought about calling the company and pleading her case, but it wouldn’t do any good. So she did the only thing she could think of. She cried.
Then she wrote to Zac.
I’m ruined before my life even starts. I mean really starts. Not that life doesn’t start the minute you’re born, or conceived depending on your point of view, but you understand, right? I mean my adult life. Everything I’ve been working toward these last four years might as well have been a pipe dream.
My first bill for my student loan payment came in. It’s far more than I expected. Like so much more I’d have to mortgage all my vital organs to pay half of it. I’m terrified. And I’m angry at myself for not realizing how much it would be. I even sat down with a financial advisor at school before graduation to help me figure out where I was and what I
