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Zoe. I need you to come for me. Can you do that?
Jesus. Yes. I just did. Holy hell.
Good. I love when you do that for me.
That makes two of us.
“Hello?” Ben clearly wanted my attention.
Sighing, I texted her.
My brother’s here.
You go ahead. And thanks for that.
My pleasure.
I put down the phone. Odd, when Zoe and I texted, every doubt melted away. But as I looked at my brother and thought of the questions he’d asked, the doubts came rushing back.
Zoe deserved so much. Not just a guy who could get her off with a few text messages. But one who knew what the hell he wanted. Tomorrow I was supposed to be heading to the bank to secure a loan, but wasn’t there truth to Ben’s words? Did I really want a restaurant?
“What’s wrong, Nate?”
I could have said a lot of things. At the end of the day, Ben would have listened if I talked about how I had more nightmare-filled nights than dreamless ones, always about the incident. I could have told him he was right, and that I didn’t think a restaurant was a good fit for me. Or shared my concerns that, for the first time in my life, I questioned if I was good enough for something. Or more specifically, someone.
Instead, as my brother waited for me to answer, I said the one thing that wasn’t really true.
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
But really, I wasn’t fine at all. And I had no idea what the hell to do about it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
zoe
I looked down at my phone, wondering how Nate’s meeting had gone with the bank. Shouldn’t he be done by now? It had been over two hours since his appointment but still nothing.
I stood up from my desk and decided to make the rounds to distract myself. Starting just outside my office in the lobby, I spent an hour at nearly every spot in the resort, talking with employees and ensuring all was running smoothly. By the time I got back to my desk, positive I’d have a text from Nate, I was surprised to see only one message from Charlee. Otherwise, nothing.
I called her.
“What’s up?” she answered. “I didn’t expect you to call. Just wanted to let you know the manager’s meeting was moved up this week to tomorrow. My father wants to be there, but he had something with the township supervisors Thursday.”
“Same time?” I asked, opening my phone’s calendar.
“Yep. Are you clear?”
“I am.” I moved the meeting day up.
“Thank God. If you weren’t there, who would I scribble notes to the whole time?”
I thought about that one. Not too many candidates. All of the other resort managers were at least two decades older than us. Charlee, then me, were the first two “young blood” hires, as Mr. Donovan had called us. A new generation for the company, so to speak.
“Good question,” I said, putting my phone back on the desk.
“So what else is going on? How’s life sans Nate for two days?”
“I’m waiting to hear from him, actually. He had his meeting with the bank today.”
