Amelia Bloom
The print shop is on standby waiting for us to confirm which one we’re going with.
* * *
Zackary Evans
Designs take three days to come back on a rush order
* * *
Amelia Bloom
I sent the request on Monday afternoon and received the last one an hour ago
Three dotted lines appeared at the bottom of the chat, indicating that he was typing, then they disappeared. A few seconds later they were back…
Zackary Evans
Thanks
I blinked at the screen. Was that it? And did he just thank me?
Zackary Evans
My office first thing tomorrow. We’ll go over everything else that needs to be done before we fly out
9
The list of things that needed to be completed wasn’t small. Zac had only scratched the surface with my original task list. So either he had more confidence in me now and trusted me with the additional workload, or he knew he needed the help.
Either way, we had both been working fourteen-hour days for the last week, weekend included. It was Thursday night and we were so close. It was the final stretch, and we were on track to have everything done by early afternoon tomorrow. Which was exactly what I told myself when I looked at my watch and saw it was already past 7:00 p.m.
I’d been working primarily out of Zac’s office off my laptop since Monday. It was just easier this way with how much we had to communicate. But it had also led to a new game of seeing who gave up first.
My stomach growled as I lifted my arms and stretched them out.
“Hungry?” Zac asked, still typing.
I hated to admit it, but the guy was an absolute machine. I hadn’t seen him lose focus once since we sat down that morning.
“It’s fine.” I refused to be the first to cave. Again.
“Do you like tacos?” His eyes were still locked on his computer, his fingers moving rapidly and uninterrupted.
“Who doesn’t?”
He nodded in apparent agreement. “There’s a really great Mexican place near here that delivers. I’ll put in an order.” His hands were finally off his keyboard as he took out his phone.
“No, honestly it’s fine.”
“We’re going to have to eat sometime, Amelia.”
The food was a very welcomed interruption twenty minutes later.
“Mmm, this was a great call,” I admitted before biting into my second taco.
Normally I wouldn’t have given him the credit, but hunger does things to your brain. I was starving, and he was right—they were phenomenal.
“Best tacos in the city.”
“How is this place so good and a five-minute walk from here and I’ve never heard of it? Is it new?” It was really weird that it had never popped up on my radar. Kai and I took pride in knowing all of the good places to eat in the city thanks to years and years of hunting.
“Definitely not new.” He gave a small chuckle. “I’ve been going there since I was a kid. It’s kind of a hole-in-the-wall, really easy to walk past it without knowing. And the owner is old-school, so they don’t have a big online presence.”
“So then how did you hear about it? Your parents take you?” It occurred to me that this was probably the first normal conversation we’d ever had.
I found it extremely odd that I didn’t immediately hate it.
“Your dad did. A bunch of times actually,” he answered casually, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
Spoke too soon.
The food in my mouth turned into stone as I swallowed. I quickly reached for my water and took a sip to help it go down.
“You said you’ve been going there since you were a kid,” I managed to say without coughing. The words scratched at the back of my throat, making my eyes water.
I put down my plate and took another sip. My appetite was gone.
“Yeah, I was around ten.”
What the fuck is he on about?
“How does that make sense? You started working here in your twenties.”
His eyebrows pulled together, and he cocked his head to the side, “Amelia, I’ve known your dad for ages. That’s how I got the job here in the first…”
He trailed off and studied my face as I stared at him with my mouth open in shocked silence. It only took a second for understanding to wash over his features, and one more for it to turn back into confusion. “Did you seriously not know?”
“No, I didn’t. Can you explain?” My voice came out unintentionally louder than I’d meant, as a new scenario popped up in my head for every second that passed, none of them making any sense.
This didn’t make any sense.
I was trying to keep calm, and it wasn’t working. Why exactly hadn’t my father mentioned this to me?
He scratched his jaw in hesitation.
“Zac. Tell me how it’s possible that you’ve known my dad since you were ten and this is the first time I’m hearing about it.” I could feel the anger coming on, but I couldn’t exactly pinpoint where it was stemming from.
He was still contemplating, and we were playing the staring game again. Though I was quite sure it was more of a glare from my end.
“It’s not an interesting story. My mom used to work for your dad. And that’s how we met.” He broke eye contact and started to pack up the empty food boxes on his desk. “We need to get back to work.”
Nu-uh.
“You’re going to have to be more specific than that.” There was no way it was that simple of a story.
“No, I don’t. It’s not relevant, and we have to get all of this done.”
His jaw set in a way that made me think I wouldn’t be able to get anything else out of him, so I let it go. But only because I knew I could go to the source for the information.
Except now I also needed to find out why Zac wanted to avoid the topic.
“Oh, good morning, Milly! To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Is there a reason you never mentioned that you’ve known Zac since he was basically in diapers?” The words were coming out of my mouth before his office door had a chance to close behind me.
“Oh darling, he was quite a few years past the potty training stages when we met.” My father’s moustache lifted as he smiled at me, already amused.
“Dad, are you kidding me right now with this? How has it never come up in conversation?” I had all night to sleep and think on it, and it still didn’t make any sense to me.
“I would have loved to tell you the story, but you never wanted to talk about him. You always changed the topic as soon as his name was brought up in conversation. Or have you forgotten?”
Damn it, he was right.
“Fine, yes, you’re right,” I sighed, feeling slightly calmer than when I had stormed in. Probably now because I didn’t think he’d been trying to hide it from me.
“Would you still like to know?” His thick eyebrows raised in curiosity.
“Will I want to know?” I was becoming suspicious of how ready he was to share the information.
“You’ve trekked all the way up here and made a very excitable entrance. We wouldn’t want all of that effort to have been for naught, my darling,” he said, taking a sip of his morning tea. The familiar smell of Earl Grey filled the room, and before I even knew I wanted one, Jasmine was knocking on the door and bringing me a cup.