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Jessa only ate half of her meal and took the rest with us in a little white box made of some kind of stiff, cardboard-like material. She bickered with me about paying, but finally relented, smiling softly as I paid for both our meals.
As we walked to the car, I tried to stop myself from blurting what I truly wanted to say. I didn’t want this to end yet. I didn’t want to bring her back to the arena, back to her car.
“You know…” I began and stopped walking.
Jessa turned and stared at me, confused.
“I’m not ready for this to end.”
CHAPTER14
JESSA
I somehow managedto keep the container of bacon mac and cheese from tumbling to the ground. I was shaking.
Could Zach tell I was shaking?
“No?” I questioned with a breathy laugh. “Then what would you like to do?”
He took a step forward. “I want to know you. I want to know everything. I want to drive you around until you tell me to bring you back to your car, and I’ll hang onto every word you say.”
Every word? Every dang word he said made my insides melt and throb at the same time. It was a confusing sensation in my already-full stomach, and I should have been uncomfortable…but I wasn’t.
Why wasn’t I uncomfortable?
While my mind raced, I nodded, and Zach unlocked the passenger door of his shiny black BMW and raced forward to open it for me, grinning adorably. I slid onto the cool leather seat, and Zach pressed the door closed. He rounded the hood, smiling brightly at me the entire time, and settled himself behind the steering wheel.
I twisted and placed my container of leftovers on the backseat next to my bag. Zach watched me and waited until I was buckled in before he started the car. Cold air blasted from the vents, and I felt that pang of jealousy again.
I needed air conditioning, but the summer was almost over. I wouldn’t need it again until next summer, so I could manage until then. I hoped. Unless Connecticut decided to have an unseasonably warm winter, I would probably be fine.
I couldn’t afford to get my car fixed right now. Especially not with the looming potential of Power Play coming to an end. Even though Zach had a plan, that plan could possibly fail.
During Andrew’s meeting with the board last week, he came back, and he had acted weird. I immediately assumed the worst and figured that the board told him that if we didn’t find the funds to get us through this season, Power Play would come to an end on December thirty-first.
“Ready?” Zach questioned.
I nodded, and he pulled out of the parking spot he had expertly backed into when we had arrived at my dad’s favorite restaurant.
“So…do I get to know more about you too?” I asked softly.
“We can talk about me later. Like I said, I want more of you, Jessa. Tell me about your family.”
A knot that felt like a stone weighed heavy in my stomach. I wanted to tell him to ask me something else, that my family was boring, and then I thought about lying. A lie was easier than the truth, but I couldn’t lie to him. I wasn’t sure why, but maybe it was because I didn’twantto lie to him.
“My family…” I began playing with the hem of my shirt. “My family is broken into tiny, jagged pieces that stab into my heart,” I admitted weakly. “My mom moved to Florida, I think, last year to be with a man she met online and knew for about two days, I’m pretty sure. My younger sister hates me. Why, I’m not sure. She’s eighteen and lives with our grandparents, who are fine, I guess. My dad died when I was nine.”
“I’m sorry,” Zach whispered.
I believed him. He wasn’t just saying it because it was the right thing to say. He meant it. He meant every word he said to me.
I finally found the courage to look over at him at a red light. He was already gazing at me as if his heart was as broken as mine. Like his heart brokewithmine.
“Please tell me yours is better than mine.”
He flashed a tight, strained smile. “Not really. Don’t know my dad, my mom is in Hempstead, where I live, and I don’t have any siblings. My grandparents are here, and my grandfather likes to come to my practices and games to yell at me.”
“Oh,” I said slowly.
