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“Hi!” I shout, partly startled and partly relieved. “Oh my god! You’re Zach!”
“Do I know you?” he asks, his dark brows drawn down. Up close, he’s even more attractive than he was that night. A sharp jaw, the shadow of facial hair across his chin and cheeks, blue eyes surrounded by such thick lashes they appear as if they’re straight out of a dream.
“I’m…” I lower my voice, trying to tame my trembling hands. “Sorry. I’m Mae’s friend. Diego told me he talked to you. He said he told you she was missing.”
“Oh.” He looks away, startled by the trap he’s walked into. “Right.” He nods seriously, looking around as if checking to see if anyone’s watching us.
“Anyway,” I say quickly, hoping he won’t try to leave, “Mae always raved about you in college. I can’t believe she didn’t tell me you were the one she was dancing with Tuesday night.”
“Ah!” He snaps his fingers. “Right!That’swhy you look familiar! I couldn’t figure it out.”
“You also approached me at the bar when we first boarded,” I tell him, sidestepping to let an older couple out the door and moving closer toward him. “You asked if she was Mae. I guess you recognized her right away.”
“Yeah, I did. She, uh, she’s always been able to catch my eye.” His smile is nostalgic. His eyes become sad. Ghosts of memories dance behind their glassy exterior. “I couldn’t believe she was here when I saw her. I mean, what are the odds, you know? But, even before I asked you, I knew. I’d know her anywhere.”
“How long had it been since you saw each other?”
His eyes widen. “Saw each other?” He puffs out a breath of air. “Gosh, five, six years, I guess? It had to be. We hadn’t spoken in…well, at least five years. She stopped coming by my house when they were in town for the summers. I didn’t really know why, but I assumed she’d met someone. She told me Tuesday night that she’d gotten married.”
“Yeah.”
“Any chance he’s an asshole?” He laughs. “Sorry. Kidding. But, yeah, it was a shock. I hadn’t heard.”
“She told me she loved you…back then. You guys were pretty serious, I guess?”
He runs a hand over his mouth. “Yeah, we were. At least, I thought so. I never really saw her marrying anyone else, to be honest.” He’s quiet for a long while, as I try to decide what to say. Before I can, he says, “My parents own the Shoreline Grill. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with it, but it’s the little restaurant near the hotel where her family would always stay. Growing up, I was there all the time, playing out in the sand in front of the restaurant, trying and failing to surf when I got old enough.” He chuckles. “I don’t know if she told you, but that’s where we met. We were pretty much inseparable after that first summer. They were only in town for one week every summer, but we spent every bit of it together. When she was sixteen, when her mom got really sick again for a while, she spent the whole summer with my family. It was… That was when I realized I loved her.”
He looks over at me as if he’d forgotten I’m here, then clears his throat. “Anyway, then one year, she just…didn’t reach out. I called and texted her a bunch of times and never heard back. Or, when I did hear from her, it was a text here or there saying she’d call when she had a chance. She never did. I guess it’s when she met her husband.” He shrugs, failing to look unfazed. “We loved each other, but the timing was never right. We were just stupid kids, you know? I’m… I’m so sorry to hear she’s missing. I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding.”
When his voice cracks, I realize I want to believe him. Wholeheartedly.
Am I a fool?
“What happened between the two of you that night? You were dancing and then we left. Did you plan to meet back up at the bar?”
“Yeah. I wanted to talk to her, and I kept trying to, but she said it would be too hard to explain everything to you. I just wanted to catch up, you know? I think we were both just in such shock to be seeing each other after all these years. So, she told me to walk away and act like I was just some random guy. She said she would meet me at the bar at three if I still wanted to talk. To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure if she would actually be there or if she was just trying to blow me off again. But when I got there, it was just like old times. We tried to catch up on everything. She told me about her parents and her marriage, about you, and her job at the assisted living facility. I caught her up on my parents and the bachelor life. Once we got going, it was hard to stop.Talking, I mean. It was…really good to see her again.”
Something in his tone sends warmth creeping up my neck. “Did anything happen between the two of you? After you left?”
He hesitates but eventually shakes his head. “I walked her back to the elevator and kissed her, but she stopped it. She told me she couldn’t do that to her husband. So, I did the only thing I could do. I gave her a hug and said goodbye.” Tears fill his eyes and he coughs, looking away long enough for them to disappear. “Which is why I ran when I saw her husband in the casino. I recognized him from dinner that first night and assumed he’d heard about the kiss. I didn’t feel like dealing with that.”
“You ran from Blake?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No, I don’t think so. Honestly, the past twenty-four hours have been such a blur.”
“Well, if you see him, apologize for me. It was the wrong thing to do.”
“Kissing her? Or running?”
He gives me a sheepish grin and shrugs one shoulder. “Both, I guess. I’m… Look, I’m not a bad guy. Our situation is just complicated. Obviously, I misread it that night. It was my bad.” He looks down. “Anyway, she’ll turn up. She has to.”
I swallow, no longer able to feel the optimism he carries. “Well, I’ll let Blake know you’re sorry. And thank you for talking to me. For not running away.”
“If I’d realized she was missing, I would’ve talked to him, too. I hate that this is happening. Especially to her parents.” He pauses. “How are they handling it?”
“Not well,” I admit. “They’re on their way down, but I’m not sure what they’ll be able to do. There’s not much any of us can do at this point.”
