Page 103 of Tempt
“No.”
“You’re still in Chicago?”
“Uh, no.” I leaned back against the sink. “I’m in Michigan.”
A pause. “Interesting.”
“I drove Millie home. She wasn’t feeling well, and I didn’t want her light-headed behind the wheel,” I said defensively.
“So you’re at her house now?”
“Yes.”
“Do I even need to ask if you had the talk you were supposed to have?”
I closed my eyes. “No.”
“No, I don’t need to ask, or no, you didn’t do it?”
“Yes.”
He exhaled. “Okay, then. So you’re there. Are you going to see your son and have the talk with him?”
“No.”
“I’m a little confused, Zach. What are you doing?”
“I’m going to spend a couple days here lying low, and when she feels better, we’ll have the talk. Then I’ll leave.”
If I said it, maybe it would happen that way.
Jackson chuckled. “Okay. Whatever you say.”
CHAPTER22
MILLIE
“This one?” Zach gestured at the balsam fir.
I studied it critically through softly falling snow. Took a sip of my hot chocolate. “No. There’s something weird going on at the top.”
He gave me a look. “This is like the tenth tree you’ve rejected.”
“I know, but I have to look at it every day. I want it to be perfect.”
He grit his teeth and walked up the row a little more, bow saw in one hand, blue plastic tarp in the other. “How about this one?”
I walked around the tree in question. Poked in its branches to check for animals. Leaned in and sniffed it. “It doesn’t have a scent.”
“Yes, it does. You have a cold—you can’t smell.”
I shook my head. “This isn’t the one.”
He exhaled, his breath making a little white puff in the icy air. “It’s a tree, Millie Rose. Not a wedding dress.”
“Let’s keep looking.” I nudged him forward with one elbow, and we turned up the next row.
“How about this one?” He pointed the saw toward another tree. “It’s nice and full at the top.”
