Page 60 of Zane

Indian food was something that she and Zane had eaten fairly regularly when he was too tired to cook a meal for them. Her favorite was butter chicken, along with rice and naan bread. She hoped that they’d ordered plenty of everything.

“Hi, Kels,” Carisa said as she headed toward her. After giving Kelsey a tight hug, she pulled her toward the others. “Come get some food.”

Once they were gathered around the island counter, Lee prayed for the meal. when he saidamen, Rori handed out plates. Kelsey glanced at Zane, then took two.

Over the past few days, they’d had a couple of brief conversations about the state of things between them. The doctor had been right that they could fall in love again… if only Zane wasn’t in love with someone else.

Still, she’d been helping Zane when she could. It was a way to soothe her need to be with him and to take care of him. She wanted it to be a reminder for Zane of the relationship that existed between them.

Without even thinking, after she’d taken what she wanted, she began to fill Zane’s plate with the stuff he always ordered when they had that type of food.

She happened to glance at Zane and found him watching her with a lifted brow. “We had Indian food fairly regularly. This is what you always wanted. Has that changed?”

Zane shook his head. “Nope. That’s what I like.”

Kelsey quickly finished loading his plate, then carried both down to the basement. Soon, the others joined them. Wilder and Janessa were having an argument, apparently disagreeing on the best version of a show that had several different options.

“You’re crazy,” Janessa said. “He wasn’t the best lead of the three series.”

“What are you talking about?” Lee asked.

Wilder named two TV shows that were connected. “We don’t agree on which cast was the best.”

“You siblings find the weirdest things to argue over,” Jackson said as he settled on one of the loveseats with Carisa.

“Wasn’t one of those the show that Sarah was an extra in?” Lee asked.

“Yeah.” Zane cleared his throat. “She had a small role in one episode of the medical one.”

Kelsey’s stomach clenched, and any desire to eat fled. She recalled that when they’d been trying to find a show to stream, he had quickly squashed her suggestion to watch that show, saying he wasn’t interested in medical drama. Now, though, she was thinking that he probably hadn’t wanted to watch it with her because he would have seen his ex.

He could have just told her why he didn’t want to watch it. But the problem was, he’d never told her about Sarah. They’d briefly touched on previous relationships, but they’d both said that they hadn’t had any super serious ones. Zane had lied. She knew that now, and it was hard to be reminded of that fact.

Stubbornly, she clung to the belief that, despite concealing his previous relationship with Sarah, he truly had loved her. But there were moments when it was really hard to keep that belief alive.

Rather than react to the comments about Sarah, Kelsey put a forkful of food into her mouth. She was glad that she’d always been able to hide her emotions, thanks to her parents.

The irony was that being more open about her emotions was something she’d been working on with Zane. Now she was having to regress in order to protect herself from him.

“Well, we’re not watching a TV show tonight,” Rori announced. “Let’s discuss what movie we should watch.”

Kelsey suspected that Rori was saying that as a way to change the subject, and she appreciated it more than words could say.

Everyone seemed to be making the assumption that Kelsey was aware of Zane’s previous relationship with Sarah, and she’d never corrected them. She didn’t want them to know that perhaps her relationship with Zane hadn’t been quite as strong or as transparent as she’d thought it was.

As the discussion went on around her, Kelsey ate her food, though it was the last thing she wanted to do.

The only ones there with a kid were Will and Janessa, and they said that since they’d probably have to leave the soonest, they’d rather play games. In the end, they decided to leave the movie for later and play some games first, once they were done eating.

When they’d finished eating, she helped Rori gather up the dirty plates. Zane had fallen quiet after the conversation about the TV show, and he remained slumped in the corner of thecouch. She wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to bail on the whole evening.

It’s what she wanted to do.

But Zane didn’t bail, so neither did Kelsey.

Instead, she helped Rori and Lee carry down cups of coffee and some cookies. While they’d been upstairs, someone had set up an easel with a big white flip chart on it.

“Oh no,” Lee groused. “They’ve decided on Pictionary. I’m doomed.”

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