“Have you been playing me?Using me for my connections to my mom?I have to admit, the burned sandwiches, the fire and the sob fest against my chest were a nice touch.”He laughed, a harsh sound to his own ears.
Tilly rose from the table and stalked over to him.“Excuse me?You think all of that was fake?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore.I thought you were different.I thought you wanted me for me.Not for who my mother is.You’re like most of the women I dated.”
Zach’s hurt was overriding his common sense, but he didn’t care.He wanted Tilly to be different.He’d fallen in love with her, and he didn’t want it all to have been part of a grand scheme.
“You’re making assumptions here that are unwarranted and unfair, Zach.You still don’t even know what I was going to ask of you.”
He scraped a hand down his face, tiredness pervading his soul.He didn’t think he needed to say it, but maybe he did.“You were going to ask me to phone my mom and see if she would be the narrator for you.”
“I’m not going to lie and say that didn’t cross my mind when I opened my binder.”
God, he hated being right.
“But,” she continued before he could say anything.“That’s all it was, a fleeting thought, because you’re more important to me than your mother.What Iwasgoing to ask you was if you would help me memorize the script.Idecided that I was going to be the narrator.I’ve done it enough times in practice, so why shouldn’t I do it for the main event?I wanted your help, and all you gave me were accusations and assumptions.All unwarranted.”
Was she telling the truth?Had that been her plan all along, or had she come up with it on the fly when he called her out?
He didn’t know what to believe anymore.
Had he gotten it all wrong?
“I can see from your hesitation that you still don’t believe me.”She lifted her chin, and he couldn’t unsee the hurt in her eyes.“I think you should leave.I relieve you of your obligation to the show.”
“Tilly...”He paused, unsure of what to say because he still didn’t trust that what he was seeing was true.
“Stop.”She held up her hand.“Nothing you can say will erase what you’ve said.Please just go.”Her voice broke on the last words and she turned away.Zach wanted to reach out and pull her in, but he didn’t.
He gave her what she wanted.
*
Darkness had fallenagain, and Zach still sat in the chair in his living room, staring at the unlit Christmas tree.All joy he’d derived from it was gone.
All day he’d been going over the past few weeks with Tilly.The genuine joy she’d shown when they’d had a good run-through.The way she’d worked so hard to get the show put together.There’d been nothing fake about her.And he’d gone and accused her of using him.
He should’ve remembered how she’d changed her mind after he told her about his mom.
Fuck!I’ve messed up so bad.
Zach wished he had some whiskey or bourbon.Or any type of alcohol, so he could make himself forget how stupid he’d been.
Lights flashed through his front window and then disappeared again.
He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair.
He should be used to the lack of sleep.After all, he’d trained his body to work on minimal shut-eye, but it was more than a physical exhaustion that was dragging at him.
At the knock on the door, he groaned.The last thing he wanted to do was talk to anyone.If he thought for a minute the person was Tilly, he’d be up out of his chair and yanking the door open.But it wasn’t going to be her.If he kept quiet, whoever was there might think he wasn’t home and go away.
They knocked again, but this time a voice he never thought he’d hear said, “Zachary, open the door.I know you’re in there.”
“Mom?”He couldn’t quite believe she was here.
How did she find him?
“Zach, please open the door.”She knocked again.Or more like pounded on it.If he knew one thing about his mom, once she had her sights set on something, she didn’t give up.
