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“It’s only a month. It’s not the long-term retainer we wanted.”
“It’ll come. I know you’ll get it done.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“So, can you tell me about the guy in the Bahamas?”
Allison hesitated, not sure she wanted to dive into the topic. This wasn’t a quick conversation, and there was so much about this situation that she was still trying to mentally unpack. “His name is Zane. I’ve known him for fifteen years. He’s a friend of my brother’s, and we just happened to end up at Rose Cove at the same time.” She decided to skip the heavier part of the story, the details about how she’d been longing for him all those years and that the idea of letting go was a miserable one.
“Did he at least rock your world?”
“Oh, yes. Several times.”
“And now?”
“I don’t know. I think we’re back to just being friends.”
“Are you happy with that arrangement?”
Allison sighed. She wasn’t happy with it, but she also didn’t see a way past it. Maybe it really was easier if she and Zane stayed friends. “I’m not sure, but I’ll figure out at least some of it tonight. He’s coming over to my brother’s for dinner.”
Ten
Zane’s first day back at the office after the Bahamas trip was less than productive. Between a million phone calls from concerned friends and clients, and his pervasive thoughts of Allison, he got very little work done. For some ridiculous reason, he kept seeing flashes of Allison flitting around the island in her sarong. It was so bad that he’d referred to one of his marketing managers as Allison when her name was in fact Maria. He hadn’t even been close. A mistake easily swept aside when he blamed it on the exhaustion from the storm, but it was a sign that he was going to have deal with this. It had been shortsighted to think that he and Allison could sleep together, shrug it off and return to their old dynamic. So where would they land? He had no idea.
By the time he’d hopped in his BMW to head to Scott’s house for dinner, he was still catching up. He’d left a voice mail for his mom, but she was just now calling him back. He pressed the button to put her on speaker.
“Hi, Mom. I take it you got my message?”
“I didn’t even know you’d left the country. Shows you how out of the loop I am.”
“Would it have been better if I’d told you I was down there? Wouldn’t you have worried? I know you don’t like to worry.”
“Well, of course, I would’ve been concerned, but you’re a survivor, Zane. I never doubt your ability to figure out how to find your way through a tough situation.”
The undertone of her comment was that he’d managed just fine in his teenage years when everything had gone south. It was nice to get that stamp of approval, although he knew that it was just his mother being a mom. “Thanks.”
“What took you down there? New marketing client in the Bahamas?”
“I went on vacation.”
“No!” His mother gasped, which turned into her musical laugh. “My son? Went away for fun?”
Zane had to chuckle, too. “Believe it or not, yes. I’ve been stressed, and I needed to get out of Falling Brook to clear my head.”
“Are things at work not going well?”
Zane took the turn onto Scott’s street. Scott and his wife lived in one of the original Falling Brook neighborhoods, which was seeing a revival. Older, stately homes were being remodeled and updated, with young families moving in. Zane saw it as a move in the right direction. This town needed some freshening up. “Actually, things at work are amazing. We’re too busy, but in a good way. We’ve reached the point where we’re turning away potential clients. That’s something I never even imagined six or seven years ago.”
“Then what’s bothering you?”
Zane pulled up in front of Scott’s house, a recently restored five-bedroom Tudor with a pristine putting green of a front yard that was Scott’s pride and joy. Zane put the car in Park and killed the engine, sitting back in the driver’s seat and running his hand through his hair.
“You’re being quiet,” his mom said. “Just come out with it. You know you can tell me anything.”
He knew that. It didn’t make his embarrassment over what he was about to say any less real. “It’s Joshua Lowell. I got sucked into some drama with him. Someone anonymously sent me a paternity test saying that he had a child he wasn’t willing to claim responsibility for. I talked to a local reporter who was working on a piece about him.”
“Have you lost your mind? Why would you get involved in that?”
