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I shouldn’t be as shocked as I am that he listened to me when I talked about my ideas for over the mantle. Zach is an excellent listener, and I told him at least a dozen times what I imagined for that spot. It was one of the scenes we had to shoot over and over to get right.
What surprises me is that he reallyheardme.Like what I said wasn’t just for TV. Which it wasn’t, but it’s easy to forget that when my ideas have been crafted into scripts by a writer. Sometimes I get confused about what I’ve really thought and said and what Teri and Ike are telling me to think and say. I wouldn’t blame Zach at all if he felt the same way.
“I didn’t overstep, did I? Picking it out without you?” His eyes bore into me, waiting for my approval. Anxious for it in a way I’ve never felt before. “You’ve had so much on your mind with the show and everything that I thought it would be a nice surprise.”
“It’s the best surprise. I love it. And I love that it’s for your granny’s old house. Everything about it is perfect.” I squeeze my arms around his waist and lay my head on his chest. “We can pick paint colors and accessories that will make this piece the focal point of the whole house.”
His fingers curl around my hip. He slides his thumb under the hem of my sweater and traces the waistline of my jeans, sending waves of pleasure to crash over me.
The moment is perfect, and I’m so happy to have someone like Zach by my side. Even if I wish it were as more than a friend.
“You’re the best teammate I could have ever picked.” There’s so much more I want to say. Like that we should see if we’d make a good forever team. And that Dad always calls Mom his teammate, and that’s what I’ve always wanted. Someone who knows me so well, he can anticipate my next move.
Instead, I squeeze Zach tighter. “Thank you so much.”
Rather than squeezing back, he pulls away. His hand drops from my hip, and though the distance is only inches, it feels like a chasm has opened between us.
“That’s what friends are for,” he mutters, confirming what I already know he feels about me.
Chapter 30
Zach
It kills me to pull away from Georgia. Finding Carly with Laker Brad doesn’t come close to this level of disappointment. I still feel her soft skin on the tips of my fingers.
She’d looked so happy to see me when I walked through the door. Her whole body vibrated in the way it does when she’s excited. Like she has electricity running through her veins.
For a few minutes, I let myself believe I was the source of that electric current. But showing her how I feel has only made things more awkward.
My bad.
“Mom and Dad are expecting me to swing by, so I’d better go,” I tell Georgia. Myfriend.
Or, how did she put it? Myteammate.
She barely says goodbye. She definitely doesn’t ask me to stay a little longer, so I don’t invite her to come with me.
The wordteammateand the way she said it ring in my ears for the entire ten-minute drive home. No matter how loud I blast my music, I can’t drown out the sound of Georgia’s voice.
When I get to the house, I follow the smell of cake wafting from the kitchen to find Adam there. He’s doing the dishes, including the ones with the telltale signs that he’s made his famous seven-layer chocolate cake. And I’m relieved he’s alone.
“Where is everyone?” I ask, taking the just rinsed, spotless plate from him and sticking it in the dishwasher. Growing up in restaurants made us all very thorough dishwashers.
“WatchingThe Sound of Musicwith Mom.” He rinses another plate, and I rack it behind the others.
“You’d rather do dishes than watch it again?” The first notes of “Do-Re-Mi”drift in from the TV room down the hall.
“You wouldn’t?” His eyebrow shoots up as he hands me the next plate.
“I’m more than happy to stay right here.” I grab a dishtowel from the drawer next to the dishwasher and wipe my soapy hands on it.
“How’d it go with Georgia? Did she like the picture?” he asks.
“Yeah. Tell Evie thanks. I couldn’t have found it alone.” Disappointment hangs heavy on every word, as though I’m delivering bad news instead of the update he’d hoped to hear.
“It was your idea. Did it work?” Adam won’t let me drop my gaze from his as he hands me a pan to dry.
“Showing her I want to be more than friends?” By the tone of my voice alone, he should know I crashed and burned.
