Chapter Eighteen
“Hi, Grandma,” Zach said as he answered the phone, ducking into the bathroom so he wouldn’t disturb Flynn, who seemed to want to go back to sleep.
“You sound tired,” Violet replied on the other end, apparently not fooled by Zach’s admittedly weak attempt to sound as though hewasn’t.
“It’s early.” He moved his phone away from his ear to glance at the time and make sure itwasearly. As it turned out, it was a few minutes past seven, which gave him plenty of time to shower, get dressed, and get to class. “I have an eight a.m. class.”
“So do I,” Violet said. “But it’s for yoga and I’m allowed to skip it. You’re not allowed to skip yours.”
Zach chuckled. “I know, I know.”
He’d promised he’d take this seriously and do his best, and he intended to. Zach owed his grandma too much to disappoint her.
He owed Flynn too much to disappoint him, too. Both of them deserved his best effort.
Besides, the eight a.m. class meant he’d always have an excuse to spend the night here once a week. At least for the next ten weeks, anyway. By that time, Zach was hoping he’d maybe be spendingmorethan one night a week here.
It was hard not to like Flynn, and nearly impossible not to want to spend more time with him.
“But you’re happy with your decision, aren’t you?” she asked. “Because you can always quit. No shame in it.”
“I’m happy,” Zach replied quickly. “Seriously, I’ve got great lecturers and my classmates are engaged and I’m getting to work with a really good group of people. I feel really lucky and I can’t thank you enough.”
“As long as you’re happy,” Violet said. “Speaking of, how’s your beautiful husband?”
Zach chuckled. Flynn would havelovedto be called beautiful, he was pretty sure.
The husband part was still… not quite where they were with this relationship, though. Things were going well, but even Zach’s lonely, needy personality wouldn’t have convinced him to marry Flynn just yet.
Despite the fact that Flynn was turning out to be an incredible husband, as husbands went. He was kind, and warm, and good in bed. And hecooked. What more could Zach possibly want?
“He’s fine. Good, even. But I think he’s asleep right now, if you were hoping to talk to him,” Zach said. If he was going to keep lying to his grandma, he really didn’t want to drag Flynn into it again. That didn’t seem fair, and he’d already done more than enough.
“That’s fine,” Violet said. “I was actually calling to tell you that I’ll have a chance to see you both in person this weekend. I thought I’d come up, see that you were settled, maybe you could show me your studio like you keep promising…”
Oh no.
No, no, no.
Blood rushed in Zach’s ears, his heart pounding. She couldn’t come here.
There was no way he could show his grandma the tiny studio apartment he lived in and convince her that Flynn lived with him, and that they were both happy with that. He couldn’t convince her that Flynn could afford to look after him.
And then he couldn’t keep going to school, because she’d be mad that he lied in the first place.
Zach swallowed past a lump in his throat.Thiswas what he got for lying.
That was why his parents had warned him against it all his life. Hell, normally he would never have told a lie like this, but it had seemed harmless, and he was still convinced that it wasn’t hurting anyone, but he was about to get completely busted.
“That sounds great,” he said, brain scrambling at a thousand miles an hour to come up with an excuse, but just giving him static in return. “I’m uh… I’m not sure how busy Flynn is this weekend, though,” he added.
It was a weak excuse, but maybe it’d buy him time to come up with a better one.
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not expecting to crash your little love nest,” Violet said.
The phrasing made Zach cringe, but it was a relief to hear she wasn’t planning on staying with them.
“I have a hotel booked near where Flynn said you two lived. And I’ve got airport transfers all sorted out, so you don’t even have to worry about coming to meet me. I just want to see you happy again. I didn’t get nearly long enough with you at the wedding.”
