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Replacing the food into the bag, he set the bag in an empty waste basket and left the room. Closed the door behind him.
On the way back into Zoe’s office, he asked Janet, “Are the wastebaskets emptied every evening?”
“Yes, they are,” she said. “Is there something that requires special handling?”
“I left the food that was delivered for Zoe in the conference room. Just wanted to make sure it would be collected tonight.”
She tilted her head. “Something wrong with the food?”
“Not that I could tell. But why take any chances?”
She nodded. “It’ll be collected tonight.”
“Thanks, Janet.”
He went back into Zoe’s office and found her staring out the window at Puget Sound. The water was choppy today, gray with the overcast sky, and her arms wrapped tightly around her waist as she stood in front of the window.
“I’m sorry you have to deal with this,” he said quietly. “Nothing about this is fair or right.”
“No one said life was fair.” She spoke without turning around. “I had a horrible thing happen to me when I was in high school. At the time, I thought my life was ruined. My father was dead. My mother, sister and I had to change our names and leave Illinois. I had to cut ties with all my friends. That’s a lot for a kid in high school.”
She turned to face him. “But I survived, and so did Mel. My mom died in a car accident about five years ago. Drunk driver ran a red light and T-boned her. But he was arrested and tried and he’s in prison now. And Mel and I have done pretty well. She owns a security company. I own a technology company. So I shouldn’t complain.”
“What about your personal life? Are you in a relationship?” He should have asked her that yesterday, but he’d dreaded hearing her answer.
Zoe slowly shook her head. “No. I don’t do relationships. I date occasionally, but I don’t get emotionally involved.”
“How come, Zoe?” he asked softly.
She turned to face him. “What about you, Spence? Are you in a relationship? Involved with anyone?”
“Nope,” he said, and he hoped his voice was light. “I’m free as a bird.”
“How come, Spence?”
He didn’t point out that, instead of answering him, she’d thrown his words back at him. “I’m never in one place long enough,” he said. “My job takes me all over the country, and I’m rarely deployed for longer than a week or two. Hard to develop a relationship in that amount of time.”
She studied him for a moment. Gave him a tiny smile. “And you like it that way, don’t you?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “It is what it is, Zoe.”
She nodded. “Yeah. For me, too. So I guess we’re alike. Skating over the surface, never going too deep. Never getting uncomfortable. Never forging any messy ties.”
She was right. They were similar. And he’d always thought that his choices made a lot of sense. How could he commit to someone if he’d rarely be with her?
But he rubbed the place on his chest that hurt, right over his heart. It was a lonely way to live. But it was what he’d chosen.
