“Hey, the hair, mom.”
She snorted as she pulled him close and hugged him. She’d been so young when she had him that it had always felt as if they were just two kids, trying to figure things out. That in a way, they were growing up together. “You can go,” she said, finally releasing him. He stepped a good five feet away from her and adjusted his hair.
Sunny motioned for him to follow and as they walked down the hall, Danielle could feel her stress lessen.
“You owe me a story!” Sunny called over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner.
Danielle gave her a noncommittal wave as she turned the door handle and made her way into her apartment…and right into Zach’s bare chest.
He was standing in her kitchen, wiping his gloriously tanned skin with a tiny kitchen towel. When he saw her, he seemed just as startled as she felt, standing there in the open door.
She cleared her throat as she dropped her gaze and stepped inside. “Um, is everything okay?” She forced herself to speak even though her voice was wavering like a teenager going through puberty.
“I got sprayed and these were the only dry towels available,” he said, his low, smooth voice twisting her stomach and making her feel lightheaded.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, making her way over to her desk in the far corner, putting as much distance between her and Zach as physically possible in her tiny apartment, and fiddled with a stack of papers there. She couldn’t help but study him from the corner of her eye. At first, he was watching her as if waiting to see what she was going to do. Then, he focused on drying off his arms, chest, and then face and hair.
Danielle finally had to drop her eyes and stare—probably a bit to hard—at the writing on the top paper. He’d certainly changed since they were teenagers. He’d always been tall but gangly. Now? Yeah, gangly was not the word she would use to describe him.
“So, you have a son or nephew?”
At the mention of Jesse, she jerked up to see him smiling in an uncomfortable and unsure way. Realizing that he wasn’t suggesting who the father was, she forced herself to calm down.
“Um, yeah. He’s my son.” Why couldn’t she just get her emotions under control? Zach was going to see through this facade. She just knew it.
Zach remained quiet as he ran the towel over his hair. Then he nodded. “I always knew you’d make a great mom. He’s how old?”
Not sure how she felt about Zach’s compliment, she decided to shrug it off. “He’s, um, six,” she lied, dragging out every syllable of the last word.
It didn’t feel natural, lying to Zach, but right now, she’d do just about anything to keep Jesse’s age a secret. Besides, this was probably the last time Zach would grace her apartment. Why was she worried that he might find out and get upset?
This meeting between them was just a blip on her radar. Once he fixed her faucet and she got her story, they’d be done. Just as they had been years ago.
Zach lifted up his shirt and stared at it. “There’s probably no way you have something I can wear,” he said, glancing over at her.
Danielle chewed her lip as she thought through what she had. The only thing she could come up with was probably the last thing Zach wanted to wear. It was a shirt she got Isaac at a fair once and had taken it after he passed away as a reminder. It was buried in a box in her closet and honestly, she wasn’t even sure it was still there.
“I do, but I’m not sure you want it,” she said, the breathiness of her voice surprising even her.
Zach raised his eyebrows. “Why? Was it your ex’s?”
Danielle’s stomach squeezed at the thought of Isaac. “Yes,” she whispered, hoping he’d understand from her tone and that one little word.
Zach studied her with a smile before it dropped. “Oh,” he said.
Danielle nodded and an awkward silence fell around them. She watched as he tried to process what she’d said. When he moved to speak, she realized just how much they had to unpack and suddenly, she didn’t want to do that.
“But it’s okay. I mean, it’s in the past and it’s not like he’s coming back to claim it.” She shot him a smile as she fought back the tears that were forming on her lids. Geez, why was she so weak? Isaac had been gone for so long, she’d moved on.But, with the return of Zach, everything that she’d thought she’d successfully buried wasn’t as buried as she thought.
He started to protest but she waved him away as she moved past him to her bedroom. He reached out to stop her, but she wouldn’t let him, breaking the grasp he had on her arm.
“Dani,” he said, his voice low with caution.
“It’s okay. I’m okay. It’s fine.” She pinched her lips together. Well, when she said that over and over like that, he’d realize that it wasn’t fine. Or, maybe it was but Danielle just wasn’t clear on how to make it fine.
Zach was quiet and when Danielle looked up to see what he was thinking, she could see that he was concerned about her. She focused on him, hoping that he’d understand what she needed and drop this conversation. That unpacking the past was the last thing she needed.
He held her gaze for a moment longer before he nodded. “Okay. If you’re okay with it,” he said.
