“I’m going to call him.”
“Right now?” She glanced away from the TV and he grimaced. He’d put her off watching this for a week.
He gave a slight smile. “I’ll call later.”
“Cool.” She smiled back and lifted her plate.
He turned up the volume and slumped back on the couch to finish his food, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get into the show.
After three episodes, he called it a night. Lacy helped him clean up everything and even went so far as to collect the trash and place a new bag inside. She kissed his cheek before she left.
He locked up the house, retreating to his room. It was just after ten o’clock. Sliding beneath the blankets, he picked up his phone. Staring at the screen for a moment, he finally punched in Zane’s number.
“Hey,” Zane rumbled and Isaac imagined the soldier wearing briefs sprawled in his bed, hopefully alone.
“You have time to talk?”
“Yeah,” Zane replied, sounding wary.
“Lacy didn’t catch me in time when I stopped home to grab my workout clothes. So, I didn’t get your message,” he said in a rush.
“I see.”
“I would have been there. I wish…” He took a deep breath. “That you would have called me.”
“Me too,” Zane admitted. “I thought about it, but then I wasn’t sure if you even wanted me around after what happened.”
“The kiss?”
“That and the day of your party.”
“My party?” He frowned, scooting up in the bed. “Zane, on the day of my party, when you walked out, I sent Lacy to get you to come back.”
“You did?” Zane’s voice gentled as if his words had pleased the hell out of him.
“Yeah. Lacy told Jo for you to come back inside.”
“I didn’t get the message.”
“I guess Jo didn’t tell you, but I did want you to stay.”
“I’m glad.”
“I love the book. Thank you.” And the kiss, but he bit back the words. He didn’t want to upset the calm between them yet.
“You’re welcome,” came the quiet reply.
Quiet breathing filled the phone, the silence came across as a bit strained and he closed his eyes.
“Hey?”
“Yeah?” Zane breathed.
“Are we good?” he croaked.
“Yeah, we’re good,” came the soft, deep response.
Silence settled between them again, but instead of the previously strained atmosphere, this one was filled with something just outside of his reach. If he had to put a name to it, he’d say…hope.
“I’m glad you like the book. I was afraid after what happened.”
The book superseded all of their previous crap because Zane had remembered.
“It’s perfect.”
“There’s this little book store down on Fifth and Pine, they specialize in classic stories.”
“And you didn’t want to get it online.” He smiled.
“I never know if I order the right thing or not,” Zane grumbled.
“So, you went in person? I bet it wasn’t your usual place.” He smirked remembering when Zane told him he wasn’t a fan of reading anything other than the mission reports, or nonfiction text books to increase his knowledge and skills.
The man held a bachelor’s degree in criminology for god’s sake and was internet challenged. He, on the other hand, only held an associate’s in business and fucking loved online everything. But school hadn’t been his thing and he’d only gone and done the online course at Dillon’s encouragement.
You may want to be an officer someday, bro,” Dillon had said.
“Nah, I’m not staying in the service that long,” he’d told his brother.
He punched the speaker button and rolled to his stomach. Perching his chin on his folded arms, he smiled imagining Zane in a different kind of bookstore, one filled with storybooks with a classic fiction section.
“How’d that go?”
“I felt weird,” Zane laughed and Isaac found himself grinning like a loon at the phone.
The silence dragged for a moment.
“What are you thinking?”
“Of you in that bookstore,” he confessed.
“Yeah, yeah. Rub it in. I’ll have you know that you’re the only one I’d go into that kind of bookstore for.”
“Really?” His heart skipped a beat.
“Probably,” Zane admitted a bit sheepishly. “Is that weird?”
“No, that’s not weird at all.”
“You’re still my best friend, Isaac.”
The words brought a lump to his throat and he shifted so his cheek could rest against his hands. “I never doubted it,” he responded softly.
“Good night,” Zane said, and Isaac could hear the pleased smile.
“Night,” he whispered.
When the call ended, he rolled to his back and clutched the phone to his chest. Were they back to being friends or was this the start of something more?
Zane
He gripped the phone and held his breath for a moment, waiting, but then decided enough had been said. He hit the end call button.
Fucking interfering woman. He tossed the phone to the nightstand and flopped onto his back. He was going to throttle Jo.
He didn’t have long to wait for the opportunity when he drove to her apartment and rang her doorbell the next morning.
Her face was a mask of surprise when she yanked open the door. She took a step back.
“Come on in.”
“No, I can say what I have to say right here.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I trusted you,” he growled, shoving his hands into the pockets of his bomber jacket.
“Well, I trust you, so tell me what’s going on,” she said, lifting her purse and coat from the small table near her front door. “I thought we were going to the farmer’s market today?”
“Change of plans,” he snapped.
“What is going on?” She sounded bewildered, and that just pissed him off more.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You remember the day I walked out of Isaac’s birthday party?”
“Yeah?”
“When Lacy brought you your coat and purse and the message from Isaac.”
“That’s right, what about it?”
“Lacy told you Isaac wanted me to come back.”
“Wait, Zane, she’s lying. She didn’t tell me that! I swear it. I wouldn’t do that to
