“Browning, of course. That makes complete sense.” Suddenly, I’m in her arms and flashback to a moment, at fifteen, when she caught me on the verge of a panic attack and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I inhale sharply and she pulls back. She takes my hands instead. “It is so nice to see you.”
“It’s great to see you, too,” I say and find myself grinning, fully lighting up for this woman who believed in me. “I was just saying to Addie that I’d need to find you and thank you.”
“Thank me? Oh, honey, why?”
“You, uh, I can probably thank you for my career. You were the first person who told me I was a good writer and you put me on the paper. That meant a lot to me back then.” I pause, then let out a breathy laugh. “It still means a lot to me.”
Wendy’s eyes shine. She runs her index finger along her waterline and removes any evidence of tears. The crow’s feet next to her eyes deepen as she grins at me.
“Thankyoufor that. I still wholeheartedly believe what I said. I’ve read every one of your books. You just keep getting better.”
I swallow back my own emotion and mutter out a lame, “Thank you.”
“I’m proud of you.”
Shit.
Don’t cry.
Don’t cry. Don’t—
“Zander!” It’s Tabitha’s voice. There’s a frantic edge to it that shoots panic through my entire body. “You need to take Addie home.”
I shake my head and blink, trying to get a hold on the situation. “What’s going on?”
Addie is not with Tabitha. Tabitha stands in front of me, eyebrows arched in worry, a hand on my wrist. I search the crowd for my sunshine and find her slumped against the side of the duck stall.
“I think she has heat exhaustion. She has a bad sunburn and started talking about being dizzy.”
“Shit,” I say. She was sweating like we were in an oven when she was on my arm, but part of me just thought she was nervous about her dad’s reaction to me. “Okay, I’ve got it. I’ll text you when we’re at her place.”
Chapter Nineteen
Adelaide
Zander puts me in the shower the second we get back to my house. He literally carried me out of the park, blasted air conditioning on me in his SUV, and stripped me in the bathroom, before setting me up in my bathtub and turning on the shower head. If I didn’t feel so loopy, I would swoon. Or maybe I’m already swooning and it’s just adding to the whole heat exhaustion thing.
But, really, I’ve never seen anyone step into action like that.
It was hot.
Like really hot.
Like I’m sitting in a bathtub wet in more ways than one kind of hot.
Zander searches through my bathroom cupboards, attempting to find the aloe vera I have stocked away somewhere. Normally, I would let him know exactly which organized basket within the cupboards I’d put it in, but I can’t yet wrap my mind around it. I know I’m doing better, though, because I can form thoughts other than how absolutely terrible I feel.
I could probably stand without having to close my eyes now.
“Shit,” Zander mutters as he knocks a basket of skincare out of the cupboard, and then, “oh, found it!”
He piles the rest of it back in, and I vow to rearrange it once he leaves. He brandishes the green bottle triumphantly. I smile from my bathtub home. He pushes himself off the floor and places it down on the counter, then picks up his phone. To my understanding, he’s been texting Tabitha, updating her on any change in my condition.
Which, once again, is hot.
I’m pretty sure this isn’t a symptom of heat exhaustion, and even more certain I shouldn’t be having sexy, thirsty thoughts while potentially dehydrated…but here we are.
“Hey,” I say, and Zander’s eyes snap right to mine. He immediately pockets his phone and is at my side. I giggle, reach out for his arm, feel the tingle of connection between us. “I think I’m ready to come out now.”
