I run my fingers over the soft pants. They look fancier than anything I’ve worn but feel like pajama
pants. It wouldn’t be a hardship to wear them. So why am I still unsettled by this?
“How much are they?” I ask, pinching the pants between my fingers.
“You don’t want to know,” he says with a dawning smile. “Same as you going to a thrift store,
remember?”
“I remember,” I say as Bridget comes back with more clothes. “But if I let you buy me these, you
need to let me buy you some things too. I’ll order them online. You’ll love them.” Then, with a smile,
I follow Bridget into the changing room. Zach’s hand at my waist stops me from closing the curtain.
“What exactly are you going to buy me?” he asks nervously.
I grin, feeling like I have my footing again. “It’ll be great. I promise.” My smile falls. “I thought
you were going to walk out on me…when you got up, I mean.”
He nods and presses the softest, most barely there kiss against my eyebrow. “I don’t leave people
I care about Maya, remember?”
“And I’m on that list?”
He hums low in his throat and steps back, pushing one hand into his suit pocket as the other grips
the curtain. “Right near the top,” he murmurs, his words cracking right into my chest. Then he pulls the
curtain closed and I’m left reeling. Bridget chatters in the background as I stand stunned, wondering
how that happened so fast. And wishing desperately to be the first person on that list. I almost can’t
imagine it, being someone’s number one.
But I’m also realistic enough to know that I don’t usually get what I want.
30
ZACH
T his relationship shit is hard.
For the first time in my life, I want to see a woman again. And again. Which apparently
means dealing with shit and not walking away.
I’m excellent at sticking it out…with my family. For so long, they’re all that matters. But this
dynamic? Feeling like I have to chase Maya, like she’s on the verge of bailing, is stressful as fuck.
But also really fucking refreshing.
I’ve never chased a woman. Not once. Once I developed my fishing strategy, I just let that sucker
roll. I didn’t need to do anything but flash my watch and my smile, and the women jumped on my
