Page 31 of A New Chapter

“Ok.”

Zack had one foot out the door when he turned around and called, “I stocked up on the rum and Coke.”

She put her hands on her hips and stuck her tongue out at him as he went away laughing.

When Wednesday rolled around, Emma expected to hear from Zack, since Gracie was most likely with Alicia. When she climbed into bed that night, he still hadn’t called, and it struck her that maybe he had a date. Since they were just friends, it would be perfectly acceptable for him to go out with someone else—her too, for that matter. But why did the very thought of him dating disturb her? The idea of Zack focusing those gray eyes on some other woman and touching someone else with those amazing hands while smiling that devilish smile…

Ok, this was bad. Very bad. Emma had been skeptical about Zack keeping up his end of the friend bargain, and here she was thinking about his eyes and his hands and his mouth. Not good at all! She would have to ask him never to wear the Superman boxers in her presence again. Wait a minute, she couldn’t do that, because then he would know that she was still attracted to him. Thank goodness Gracie would be there on Friday night. Zack wouldn’t be able to strut around half-naked then.

Emma soothed herself to sleep with visions of creamy macaroni and cheese and the sound of Gracie’s laughter dancing in her head—until the damn boxers showed up again. “Ugh!” she shouted and buried her face in a pillow.

The next day, just before closing time, Emma decided to call Zack. Up until now, he had been the one to call her, and since she was a modern woman, there was no reason why she couldn’t call him. Besides, it wasn’t like she just wanted to hear his voice. She actually had an important question to ask.

“Hello?” Zack answered, sounding pleasantly surprised.

“Question,” she said. “What are Gracie’s favorite types of books?”

Zack lowered his voice and replied, “Just a minute.”

He must have covered the phone with his hand, because his voice was muffled when he said, “Go up to bed, and I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Oops. I didn’t think that Gracie would still be up. Sorry about that.”

“No worries,” Zack said. “So, her favorite books right now are the Little Critter series.”

“Good taste. I want to bring her a book tomorrow night, but I wasn’t sure what she liked.”

“I can name some of the ones she already has.” He rattled off a few titles, and Emma jotted them down.

“Ok, that helps. Thanks.”

Emma wasn’t sure what else to say, so she was just about to end the conversation when Zack said, “I missed you last night.”

Huh?

“I wanted to call, but since you were coming over for dinner this week, I didn’t want to seem like a pest. I don’t want to be the kind of friend that calls too much, if you know what I mean.”

Emma giggled and was oddly touched by the sentiment. “You’re not a pest, Zack. I would have liked to hear from you. In fact, since we’re confessing, I missed you too.” Why was it always easier to say such things over the phone?

“Yeah?”

She heard the smile in his voice and knew she wore a matching one. “Yeah,” she replied softly.

“Good to know.”

Emma suddenly heard a very loud voice yell, “DAAAAAD!”

“Time’s up,” Zack said apologetically.

“Ok. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“We can’t wait.”

Neither can I, Emma thought when she hung up the phone.