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HOPE
Ishift on the couch, but my gaze remains fixed on the bedroom door. I wait for Zach to make an appearance, but it’s already been an hour. He asked me to sleep, but how could I without knowing what he’s thinking? I closed my eyes, hoping he’d say something, maybe to himself, but he was quiet as a mouse.
Where the hell is he?
Is he repulsed after knowing my truth?
If he can’t continue with this proposal or if I’m not good enough for him, I need to know. I’m a big girl, I can take the truth. To calm my restlessness, I open the article in my phone and read about the famous baker in France who is commercializing her local family business.
Another shiver runs through me,this time waking me up.
“God, why is it so cold?” It takes me a second to realize that I have fallen asleep without a blanket.
I sit upright in a rush and glance at the clock. It’s past midnight.
What the heck is wrong with me?
These days, I’m sleeping like I haven’t slept in forever. Maybe I am finally catching up with all the stress of previous years.
I turn my head and peek over the arm of the couch to look at Zach as I usually do multiple times in the night.
My heart tightens when I don’t see the usual folds of the blanket.
Why is his bed empty?
I jump off the couch, dropping the pillow on the floor. With my heart pitter-pattering in my chest, I rush to his bed and pull on his perfect covers, hoping that he will magically appear somehow.
Tears race down my cheeks as I ball the corner of the blanket and flop down.
He did it.
He went to the fifth floor.
My brain throws all the expletives it knows at Zach. It’s been less than twenty-four hours since he was in bed with me, and he’s already gone to someone else. Someone perfect. Someone who’ll clear his palate of my bad taste.
My heart plummets and I worry that it was me who pushed Zach to that room. Before tonight, he was sleeping here. It’s somehow my fault…
Stop it, Hope. Not everything in this world is your fault.
But even then, my mistakewasto fall for his charms, knowing he hasn’t promised his fidelity.
A few hours ago, when I opened my heart and shared my past with him, I felt it meant something to him too.
My mind is slowly going crazy with these emotions.
Fuck you, Zach Teager. I’m not going to spend any more time on you. I take a deep breath and run my hands over my face. Tightening my ponytail, I decide to get some work done, at least that would be better than wasting my time, feeling pathetic.
But my steps come to a halt when I find Zach sitting at the breakfast bar. The main kitchen light is off but there is enough glow from the billboards outside that I can make out his silhouette.
What is he doing here?
My heart soars with hope. Maybe he spent his night in the suite and not on fifth floor.
I enter the kitchen carefully and notice that he has a coffee mug before him.
“Do you want me to make you some coffee?” I ask, turning on the low light of the kitchen.
It seems to break his trance and he looks up at me with wide eyes before his expression changes. He glances at me in that weird way he’s been doing since morning.
