“I’m glad I ran into you,” she said.
His lips quirked at one corner. “That so?”
She tilted her head in a way that told him she enjoyed their flirting as much as he did. “Mm-hmm.” She twitched her head toward the barn.
His cock gripped with need as his mind went right to the place he wanted to take Zee—back to the shower for another one of their post-yoga routines.
He closed the gap between their bodies, his heart pumping faster. “Lead the way.”
* * * * *
Zee’s stomach teamed with butterflies, and when she stepped into the loft, they swirled faster around the knots that rooted there.
Every day that passed, she felt a change in herself. It was being here, with great people who treated her like she belonged.
It was Church…and the feelings she had for him. While that package went unopened, she couldn’t get closure.
She was glad she found him because she couldn’t do this without him.
The package sat on the coffee table, impossible to ignore another minute.
She had to face it.
She stared down at the battered corners and colorful labels. The room seemed to pulse with silence. She felt Church hovering near, giving her space without abandoning her alone with it.
“I’m ready.” Her voice came out raspier than she wanted. She swallowed and tried again. “I’m ready to see what Matt sent.”
When she met Church’s gaze, he wore a hesitant expression, as if he wasn’t sure whether to stop her or help her. In the end he stepped closer and touched her arm, steadying her.
“I’m here for you, Zee.”
Battling to keep her courage intact, she nodded. “Do you have your pocketknife?”
He fished it out of his jeans pocket and handed it to her. She used it to slice through the tape on the side, unwilling to mar the label that bore Matt’s handwriting.
She held her breath as she worked the knife through the outer paper.
She expected a hundred things. Something personal. Something painful. Things that would gut her.
Church seemed to hold his breath with her as she opened the lid of the small cardboard box. Nestled inside on a bed of packing paper was a black card.
Just a black card.
It was made out of a thick cardstock and at first glance, was blank. Her brows knitted together as she turned it over in her hand, searching for meaning she couldn’t find.
“What is this?”
Church leaned close. “There’s a QR code.”
There it was on one corner, no bigger than a pencil eraser and printed in a faint gray color that almost disappeared into the black stock.
“But what is it?” She barely registered her own question because her mind was working through much, much more.
Disappointment.
After all the waiting, and the dread and longing and fear packed into opening this thing,thiswas what Matt sent her? What followed her through several states for three long years?
Church took the card and held his phone over the code. The screen flashed, loaded a blank page, then failed with an error code. He tried two more times and got the same dead end.
