Page 80 of Heartbroken Husband
“It’s a miracle, right?” He twisted open another water bottle, the muscles in his forearm rippling for a moment with the movement. “She’s informed me that I’mokayfor an old person.’”
“Coming from her, that’s basically a gold star.”
“I was honored,” he said, the warmth in his voice making me feel all tingly again.
The realization that he genuinely seemed to like being around them, around all of us, startled me every time, but before I could comment on it, Amber appeared in the doorway.
“I’ve had an idea,” she declared.
Zach visibly braced himself, pausing and slowly pulling the bottle away from his mouth. “That can’t be good.”
She ignored him and focused on me instead. “The girls and I are going to have a slumber party at the guest house tonight.”
I frowned. “What? Why?”
Her grin widened. “We’ll order some pizza and watch movies. They can stay up late. Whatever they want. It’ll be a blast.”
Tiny, pounding footsteps immediately erupted overhead, letting me know that the girls had definitely heard her, but I shook my head when I met her gaze anyway.
“You don’t have to do that,” I protested. “Seriously, Amber.”
She’d been enjoying her paid vacation and letting it be known, and I was enjoying having the girls with me all day again after so long, but she gave me a look I’d never seen from her before. “You deserve some time off, so they’re coming with me.”
The girls exploded into motion behind her, racing down the stairs and almost skidding as they came to a stop in the doorway. They were speaking over each other, both of them facing her and already pleading for their favorite snacks and movies.
She agreed to everything, laughing as she whisked them away to the pool. Zach and I seemed to realize at the same time that we were going to have a whole night alone together, and when I glanced at him, he appeared just as surprised as I felt.
A strange, aware silence settled between us as I caught his gaze, my own nervousness reflected back at me from his eyes, but there was something else there, too. Something that looked a lot like hope.
After another moment of that awkward, cautiously hopeful silence, he suddenly cleared his throat and set the water bottle down on the counter. “So, what do people who technically agreed to a mutually beneficial marriage usually do with an unexpected free evening?”
A soft laugh escaped before I could bite it back. It sounded nervous, even to my own ears, but Zach and I knew each other too well to hide these kinds of emotions from one anotheranyway. Of all the things that had changed over the years, that sure hadn’t been one of them.
“I don’t know,” I said finally. “It’s kind of weird to say this, but I think we can do just whatever the heck we want?”
CHAPTER 29
ZACH
Iwas ripping off the band-aid. At least, that was what I’d told myself when I’d asked Adeline out to dinner tonight. The official narrative was that we wouldtalkabout thetimelineand other things that didn’t matter anymore the second I laid eyes on her.
When I had looked up from my phone to see her walking into the kitchen, where I’d been waiting for the last couple minutes, my entire plan for the evening fell apart. Every coherent thought I’d ever had was suddenly just gone, very much including all the rational, reasonable excuses for taking her on what could probably be described as a date.
It was a little bit fucking unhinged, really, how just seeing her in the simple dress she’d changed into knocked me completely off my game. In the years we’d been apart, I hadn’t only spent time with supermodels on Jameson’s yacht. I’d been out with socialites, actresses, and beautiful women I’d met through work or at conferences. I’d dated heiresses, teachers, and just about everything in between, and yet, none of them had ever made me feel like this.
The dress skimmed her curves, her strawberry blonde hair loose around her shoulders and her makeup light enough thatI could still see the freckles across her nose. All of a sudden, it was like I was twenty-three again, completely, catastrophically in love with my best friend.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t so different from being thirty-two and probably still completely, catastrophically in love with her. The light blue fabric of the dress had a slight shimmer to it, accentuating her eyes and making the color pop, and as soon as she lifted her gaze to mine, my heart started racing like I was a teenager again, seeing his prom date for the first time.
She smoothed a hand down the front of the dress as she walked in, that same, nervous light flickering in her eyes that had been there from the moment Amber had told us she’d been taking the girls tonight. “Is this too much?”
“No,” I said, clearing my throat and trying to remember how this even worked. “You look beautiful, Adeline.”
After she’d searched my gaze for a beat, the nerves visibly left her body, a small smile even tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Thank you.”
Amber had taken the girls to the guest house already and Bear had gone too, which meant that we had no buffer right now at all. The stakes suddenly felt even higher when silence fell between us, and I cleared my throat again.
Focus, dude. You probably look like an amateur right now. Although, to be honest, I felt like one too, but this wasn’t the time. Adeline and I hadn’t had dinner together alone in years, and somehow, I was sure tonight would set some kind of precedent.
