Page 110 of Zane

Zane grinned. “Chinese and disaster movies. Sounds like a great plan.”

She seemed to relax right in front of his eyes, and her smile lingered as they discussed what they wanted to order. A quicksearch on his phone revealed that the restaurant the family had always used was still in business.

They didn’t have to rush to place the order, since it was still early afternoon. As they finished their coffee and pastries, they continued to chat, then Kelsey went upstairs to get changed.

When she came back downstairs, she was wearing a pair of leggings and a thin, light green sweater. Though she was blonde like Sarah, Kelsey’s style was a little more relaxed. She was also shorter and had a slightly fuller figure.

He was aware that, as a married couple, they had been physically intimate. But right then, he didn’t know how to even take the initial step of holding her hand or hugging her. But for the first time, he found himself wanting to figure that out.

While he sat at the counter, Kelsey unloaded the dishwasher, then loaded it again with the few dishes that were sitting on the counter. She wiped down the counters, then went to the laundry room and returned with a basket of clothes.

As she folded the dishtowels, Zane wondered what their home had been like in Tampa. He hadn’t had a chance to see it before it was all packed up.

“I’m sure Rori doesn’t expect you to do the laundry,” he said.

“I know, but I like to feel like I’m contributing to household chores. Especially since they don’t take rent from me.”

“Tell me about our life in Tampa,” he said.

She glanced up at him, her eyes wide. “What exactly do you want to know?”

“I don’t know. Just how we lived. Our schedules. Stuff like that.”

Pulling a towel out of the basket, she laid it out on the counter and began to fold it. “Well, your restaurant in Tampa was different from the one in Chicago. It had three seatings, starting at six, then eight, then ten. It was rare that you were out of there before midnight. Because of that, our days started later than most people’s.”

“How late?”

“Since we didn’t usually go to bed until three-thirty or so, we would wake up around noon.”

“Oh wow. Yeah, that is late.”

“We’d usually stay up for a few hours after you got home from work. We both really liked that time.” She set the folded towel on top of the others, then pulled out another one. “We enjoyed the peace and quiet of those hours. There were no phone calls or text messages demanding our attention. We could just eat together, talk about our day, and sometimes we’d watch TV or a movie. It was wonderful.”

Zane found what Kelsey had described to be very appealing.

Sarah had always been more social than him, and because he worked evenings, while she worked days, she often went out with her friends while he was working. When he’d had his days off in the week, he’d preferred to stay home, but Sarah had liked for them to go out and socialize with friends. Sometimes he’d agreed, but sometimes, he just wanted to stay home and decompress from a busy week at work.

On occasion, it had been a bone of contention between them.

From the sound of things, he’d ended up with a life that suited him well, and with a woman who seemed to appreciate many of the same things he did.

“Did we have friends that we spent time with?”

“Not really. We each had people at work we were friendly with, but none that we really socialized with.” She set the folded towel on the pile and reached for another one. “Technically, we were still newlyweds, and we hadn’t really had the chance to take a honeymoon, so we were happy to just spend time together.”

“Did we explore Tampa at all?”

“Not much yet. But on one of our days off, we’d gone to the beach.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

Kelsey wrinkled her nose as she plucked a facecloth from the basket. “No. I got a sunburn and ended up with sand in so many places sand shouldn’t be. Plus, I have to say, I’ve never really been comfortable around nearly naked strangers.”

Zane chuckled. “Actually, I was surprised to hear that I ended up in Florida. I’ve never been a big fan of beaches, the heat, or hurricanes.”

“Yes. You did mention that.”

“So why did I accept a job there?”

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