Page 102 of Faking the Shot

“About my aunt? They’ve given her only a few months, and she’s refusing more treatment.”

His heart panged. “I’m really sorry.”

“Even the house…” She sighed and shook her head. “A neighbor raised objections which means it’s going to take even longer.”

“I wish I could help somehow.”

“It helps to talk about it. I don’t really want to talk about my aunt dying to my family. It’s hard enough for them as it is.”

“I wish I wasn’t going away this week.”

“Me too.”

He pulled in, parked, and after greeting an excited Michael, walked her to the elevator then her apartment door.

She unlocked it, then turned to him. “Thanks for bringing me home.”

He scuffed a shoe on the carpet, wondering how to ask to stay a little longer—to talk, nothing more—without it sounding sleazy.

She clasped a hand over her mouth as she yawned. “It’s getting late.” Her smile held apology. “I don’t want you to be tired tomorrow, so I should let you go.”

“I can’t go until I do this.” He wrapped his arms around her, and just held her. She tucked her head into the crook of his neck and held on tight.

They stood, silent, and he prayed for her, while Louie protested the lack of attention. “You’re not in this on your own,” Zac assured her. “People care about you. Your family, Cassie, Harrison, Diana, me.”

She squeezed in tighter, and he pressed a kiss to her head. He hadn’t kissed her, not really, since New Year’s Eve. Well, the kisses they’d shared in public had more of the show kiss feel about them than the passion of that one in the middle of the dance floor.

“Ainsley,”I love you,he nearly said. But reined it in. That was something better left for Valentine’s Day, which was only a few weeks away. “I’m here for you. As much as I can be, anyway,” he added wryly. “Whatever you need, okay?”

“You’re so good to me,” she murmured.

“That’s because,”I love you, he nearly spilled again. “I care for you.”

She released her arms, glanced up at him, then tugged his face down.

But instead of kissing him on the lips, her mouth found his cheek, and she lingered there a little. “Thank you.”

He turned, hoping to brush her lips with his, but she pulled back, eased away, and stepped inside her apartment, her hand on the front door. “It’s late, and I have work tomorrow.”

“See you soon?”

She nodded.

“I’ll message you and we’ll plan a date. It’d be good to talk soon, Ainsley. To really talk. I feel like there are things to say.”

“Oh, there are.”

Her mouth pulled up in another of those expressions he guessed could be called a show smile, because there wasn’t much real about that.

And he returned downstairs, and wondered what she wasn’t saying. And whether she could ever see a future with him at all.

CHAPTER20

“Now Ainsley, are you sure about this?” Diana checked again.

She nodded, although she wasn’t sure about anything anymore. Zac’s kindness, his compassion, his offer to pray for her. How could she push away this man who was her friend?

Her impatience with unimportant things like the Christmas movie kept spilling out in more mistakes, which meant prolonged shooting. She longed to visit Aunty Win on the island again, but when was that going to happen? She needed the zoning sorted out yesterday. She needed Zac to stop being so nice to her. Pressure was building inside and out, and it wouldn’t take long before something snapped.

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