Sunny held up her hand as she shook her head. “Oh no, I’m not saying that. It’s good. Danielle is way too over-protective. She needs a little shock sometimes.”
Zach watched Danielle and Jesse, he doubted that’s what Danielle needed as an alone and single mom, but he wasn’t sure if it was his place to tell Danielle what she needed.
When he turned his attention over to Sunny, he saw her observing him. “Danielle told me that you guys have a history,” she said in a matter-of-fact manner.
Zach pushed his hand through his hair. “Oh yeah?”
Sunny nodded. “Yep.” Then she steadied her gaze as she stared at him. “Some heavy stuff went down.”
That was putting it lightly. But he wasn’t sure where to go with that so he just nodded. “Yeah.”
Danielle pushed Jesse in the direction of his room, telling him to get dressed in his pajamas and then turned to the two of them. She kept her gaze away from Zach as she approached. “Thanks for coming over Sunny. I’m okay now.”
Sunny nodded and then looked from Zach over to Danielle. “Sounds good. If you need me for anything else.” Then she leaned over to Zach and whispered, “Remember, she could stand to be uncomfortable.”
Zach glanced over at her but she was smiling at Danielle and making her way toward the door. “Good bye, Jesse,” she called toward his room as she pulled open the door and stepped out into the hall.
Once the door was shut, Danielle turned to Zach, her lips pinched into a hard line as lines of stress and worry streaked her face. “I think you should go,” she said, walking over to the door and pulling it back open.
Zach’s lips parted as he stared at her. “Danielle—” he started, but Danielle just held up her hand.
“I think it’s better if we just keep things professional from here on out.” She met his gaze and the pain that resided there almost took his breath away. He’d never meant to hurt her and the fact that she looked so upset was killing him inside.
He was the fixer and it was taking all of his strength not to pull her close and fix whatever pain she was holding inside. Then he realized, if that were true, he needed to leave. She wanted him to go and he should respect that. So he made his way over to the bathroom and retrieved his tools and supplies and made his way over to the door.
Danielle was standing next to it with her arms crossed in front of her. She was staring hard at the ground when he approached.
He paused, hoping she’d look up at him, but she didn’t. Not wanting to leave her mad, he leaned toward her, hoping his advances would come off more playful than anything.
“I’m really sorry,” he said. The depth of his tone surprised even him.
She shrugged and her eyes swept up to meet his. “I know.”
They held each other’s gaze for a moment. He wanted to know that she believed what he’d said. She swallowed and then motioned toward the door. “I’ll email you about the next meeting.”
Zach nodded and then took a few steps before turning back to her. “Jesse is a great kid. You’ve done a good job.”
Danielle’s lips parted as if she hadn’t expected him to say that. She studied him for a moment and then nodded. “Thanks.”
The air hung heavy as the silence engulfed him. Realizing that this was her way of shutting him out, he smiled and made his way into the hall.
“Bye Zach,” she whispered and then the heavy sound of her door shutting filled the air.
Now alone, Zach let out his breath and tipped his face toward the ceiling. He stared at the discolored popcorn texturing as he contemplated knocking on her door and demanding that she speak to him. That he wasn’t going to let her shut him out one more time.
But, he knew that the only motivation for that was a selfish one and he didn’t want to be that kind of guy. If he was different, and wanted to show her that, he needed to move forward onherterms.
Even if it felt as if it might kill him, that’s what he needed to do. Because if he loved her—which he was pretty sure he still did—he needed to show her. And if she needed a man to go slow, then he’d be that for her.
Chapter Ten
The next morning, Danielle lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling above her. She was stretched out under the blankets, the cool breeze of the fan blowing on her.
And she was thinking about Zach.
No matter how much she tried to push the images of him last night from her mind, she couldn’t. He was stuck in there, flipping through her mind like a song she couldn’t forget. He was so engrained in every part of her, that just a few days around him, and it was like nothing had ever changed.
Except that they had. She’d changed. He’d changed. And Jesse’s presence changed everything.
