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 would talk about the timeline and 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 that I 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.
Either we’d both enjoy it and make a point of doing it again, or it’d be awful and awkward, and she’d avoid date nights for the rest of our lives. So I sw ept a hand toward the garage and fell into st ep beside her when she started walking. “We’re going to the restaurant at the golf course a few miles away,” I said. “The only alternatives were driving all the way back into Milwaukee or the takeout pizza joint I ordered from the other night, but the only tables they’ve got are plastic and a danger to even lean on, let alone eat at.” She chuckled, smiling at me when I opened the passenger door of the Cullinan for her. “Honestly, anything I don’t cook myself is a treat. We could’ve gotten grilled cheese from a food truck and eaten it on the sidewalk, and it still would’ve been amazing.” I nodded but made a mental note to take her som eplace spectacular when we got back to Chicago. Somewhere worthy of her. After she’d lowered herself into the seat, I shut her door and jogged around the car, hitting the button on the remote control between the seats as soon as I climbed in behind the steering wheel. As the garage door lifted slowly behind us, I glanced at her again. “We should make this a thing, don’t you think? Not date nights in the romantic sense, obviously, but just meals together that you haven’t had to cook.” I saw a flash of something that looked a lot like disappointment on her features, but she shook it off too fast to pinpoint exactly what it had been. “Sure. That would be amazing.” “Okay,” I said. “We’ll do it.” We lapsed into another silence after that, and this time, it stretched until after we’d been shown to our table once we’d arrived at the restaurant. It was nothing fancy, just a practical choice for golfers to grab some food at before or after their games, but at least the tables were made of wood rather than brittle, sun-bleached plastic, so I stuck by my choice. A waitress showed us to a table next to a window overlooking the course and we ordered drinks, but once the waitress was gone, the silence became unbearably awkward. I looked at her from across the table, reminding myself that this was Adeline Morris. Once upon a time, she’d been the person I could—and had—talked to about anything and everything. It was only weird because we were making it that way. “I have something to confess,” I said finally. Adeline’s gaze lifted away from the menu she’d been staring at, a slight smile ghosting across her lips. “You bought the car because Amber was right and all our stuff wouldn’t have fit in whatever else you own? I already guessed as much. You did say you only got it that morning.” “Well, yeah. There’s that, too.” I held her gaze and drew in a de ep, steadying breath. Then I pushed forward, intent on breaking the ice. “I actually even got all the way to my Jaguar before I realized it was going to be a problem.”
“You should’ve just said. The girls and I could’ve driven up with Amber.” I shook my head. “No way. The purpose of this whole trip is for us all to get to know each other, right? Besides, Amber’s car wouldn’t have had enough space for all your stuff either.” “True.” Those blue eyes met mine. “I really appreciate all the effort you’ve put into this, Zach. Honestly, I didn’t expect any of it.” “You didn’t ask either,” I pointed out. “I’m doing it because I want to. Speaking of which, we’re okay, right?” “What do you mean?” “I mean with me buying Lu a new bike and everything.” I paused when the waitress came back with the bottle of wine and sparkling waters we’d ordered. She poured us each a glass of the white without pausing for me to try it, then flipped open a not epad and poised her pen above it. “Are you ready to order yet or do you need a few more minutes?” I glanced at Adeline, who was chewing her lower lip, her eyes back on the menu in front of her. Then I turned to the waitress. “I’ll have a double bacon and cheeseburger with extra fries.” The woman nodded and Adeline looked up, clearly surprised by my order but also seeming a bit relieved before she nodded. “I’ll have the same, but a single burger and just the fries that are served with it is fine. Nothing extra.” “Coming right up,” the waitress said, spinning and taking off after flashing us a smile. Adeline narrowed her eyes at me once we were alone again. “First, you didn’t have to order my college favorite, and second, we’re okay. Next time, let’s talk about it before you take her on a ridiculously indulgent shopping spree, but I understand that you probably didn’t want to wake me to ask.” “It wasn’t ridiculously indulgent,” I argued lightly. “She needed a bike, so we went and got her one.” “A brand new, top of the line—” “Top of the line from Wal-Mart,” I cut in. “It’s a nice bike but it wasn’t expensive at all.” “It’s also not like she’s about to cycle across the continent, so for what she needs it for, that bike is as top of the line as it gets,” she countered, smiling. “Plus, you also got her rain boots and sunglasses.” “Well, we were already there in the store,” I said. “I couldn’t say no.” She shook her head at me, almost smiling. “You’re going to have to learn how to do that, you know? Say no.” “Why?” She chuckled and arched an eyebrow at me. “They’re never going to stop wanting things. If you ke ep saying yes, you’re going to end up having to buy another ranch just as a storage facility to ke ep all their stuff.”
I rocked my head from side to side, pretending to be considering it. “Apparently, real estate is always a great investment. Another ranch couldn’t hurt.” She laughed, the sound so bright that my own nerves finally eased a little. It was also getting easier the longer we talked, the awkwardness kind of just melting beneath the familiarity of the rhythm we were falling into. The conversation picked up from there the same way it used to, both of us effortlessly bouncing from one topic to the next. We talked about boarding school and terrible cafeteria food, then reminisced about the time Jesse had accidentally set a curtain on fire trying to impress a girl during winter break. “He told me that wasn’t true,” Adeline said. Both of my eyebrows shot up. “He was lying. Nate made him carry around a fire extinguisher for two weeks after as a safety measure.” She laughed. “Well, it’s not like Nate can talk. Do you remember that time he got us trapped in an es cape room? Maybe he should’ve been carrying around a fire extinguisher too. It would’ve helped us bash down the walls.” I groaned, lowering my forehead into my palm. “Don’t remind me. Do you know he still blames me for that? He says I didn’t want to read the instructions because I was too busy staring at you.” “Well, were you?” I looked up at her again, blowing out a de ep breath through my nostrils before I shrugged. “Maybe, but I maintain it was his fault. He k ept insisting that he knew what he was doing, and clearly, he didn’t.” By the time dinner arrived, it felt like we were friends again, slipping back into those old skins like neither of us had changed at all. We k ept talking, laughing, and reminiscing while we ate, and at one point, when she tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled at me, I was feeling like we genuinely might be able to make this work. As the sun dipped lower over the golf course, Adeline watched it set for a beat before looking back at me. “I’m glad we came here.” “So am I.” Even if only because this didn’t feel like a disaster waiting to happen anymore. “We’ve got a deal, then? We’ll make a point of doing this every so often?” “Definitely.” “I can’t actually remember the last time I went on a date,” Adeline admitted. “Seriously?” I frowned. “Wait. That can’t be true. Didn’t you and Louis only s eparate last year?” She shrugged one shoulder, but it didn’t look as light or as easy as she was obviously aiming for. “We never really went on dates. Mostly, we just attended events together. Work dinners. Charity fundraisers. That was about it.” Bitterness twisted into a writhing, hot mess in the pit of my stomach. “What about before that?”
Her eyes flicked to the window. “Probably you.” Holy fuck. That wasn’t what I meant. “Did he honestly never take you out?” I asked incredulously. “What about in the early days, just after you were married?” She shook her head slowly. “He was busy. His dad had just signed over the brokerage to him and there was a lot of pressure to prove he was ready for the transition.” I leaned back in my chair, suddenly understanding why she’d looked like a shadow of her former self those first few times I’d seen her again. It had been a product of years of being lonely despite technically sharing a house with another person. She suddenly laughed. “Well, this is a cheerful topic.” “You deserved better than that,” I said quietly. “Seriously, Adeline. I’m sorry you had to go through it.” My heart was breaking for her all over again, but I would never say that out loud. Truth be told, I’d spent eight years angry and hurt, convinced she’d chosen another life over me, and the only thing that had stopped me from going after her had been the fact that I thought she was happy. Eventually, when I’d heard she was pregnant, I’d convinced myself that it was time to start moving on. It had been little consolation, but I’d thought that despite how shitty the arrangement had been for both of us, at least she’d found happiness. So I’d chased it too. I’d never found it. Not even for long enough to date the same woman for more than a few weeks, but all along, I’d thought the arrangement was working out for her. But now, hearing what those years had actually looked like, all I could think about was how alone she must have been. How she’d been married to someone who was supposed to have taken care of her and obviously never had. After dessert, we headed home, but I was still stuck in my head and she seemed to be feeling the same. Once we were in the foyer, I suddenly became very aware of how empty the house was and how it would be only the two of us here tonight. I opened my mouth to ask if she’d like another drink, but she beat me to the punch. “Thank you for dinner. I should head to bed, but I had a great time.” “I’ll walk up with you,” I said. “I had a good time too.” We headed upstairs side by side, all that tension from earlier rushing back, but stronger now after hours spent laughing and talking like we hadn’t once loved each other so much that losing her had ruined me. She paused outside the master bedroom and I slid my hands into my pockets to ke ep from doing something stupid. Especially when she turned to smile at me. “Good night, Zach. Thanks again. I’m sorry I dumped my trauma right over our amazing burgers.” My chest tightened with pain, but I shook my head. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
She hesitated like she wanted to say something else, but then she seemed to decide against it, simply st epping closer and pressing a gentle kiss against my cheek. I should’ve left it at that, but as soon as she pulled away, I caved in completely. “Adeline.” She turned back and I crossed the space between us, circled my hands around her waist, and pulled her into me, immediately dipping my head to claim her lips for a kiss I’d been fantasizing about for years. She froze in shock, but it was only for a moment before she melted into me, the kiss turning desperate almost right off the bat. It was messy and emotional but so long overdue that it knocked the air right out of my lungs. A soft sound came out of her, a breathy moan that nearly made me lose it right there on the spot. Without even thinking about it, I backed her toward the master. Her fingers twisted into the front of my shirt like she was making sure I would follow. Maybe it was immature not to stop and check if she was sure about this, but I didn’t care. We stumbled into the bedroom together, tripping over each other like teenagers. I nearly walked us directly into the wall. She laughed against my mouth and I suddenly remembered every single thing I’d spent the better part of the last decade trying to forget. Kissing her was like coming home after being lost in a blizzard for eight long years. We finally fell into bed together, her legs wrapping around my waist and the heat of her radiating into me despite all the layers of fabric still between us. I’d dreamed about this so many fucking times. I just hoped I didn’t lose control before I got to make any of those dirty dreams come true.