Page 42 of Zane

“It wasn’t intentional.”

“So, how did it happen?”

Kelsey couldn’t help but smile as she thought back to that time. “We had planned to meet for dinner with some other friends from the restaurant on our night off. Everyone else cancelled at the last minute, which meant it was just you and me at the restaurant we’d agreed to meet at. I kind of thought you’d bail too, but we decided to go ahead and eat there like we’d planned.”

“And that was it?”

“Sort of,” she said. “We ended up talking for hours. We stayed until the restaurant closed, then moved on to a twenty-four-hour place. We stayed there until around three in the morning. Though we both tried to pass it off as us just getting closer as friends, that didn’t last too long, especially since we parted ways with a hug.”

“Who made the first move to take it beyond friendship?”

Kelsey took a drink of her water. “That was you.”

His brows lifted. “Really?”

She nodded. “There was no way that I was going to put myself out there when everything I’d heard was that you didn’t want a relationship.”

“But you wanted one?”

“Yes. But I also wasn’t in the market for a broken heart.”

“What did I say to change your mind?”

“It wasn’t so much what you said as what you did.”

“Which was?”

Kelsey thought of that moment, and her heart ached with the memory. “At one point, as we were waiting to cross the street, you grabbed my hand. And you just never let go.”

Until recently, anyway.

“What was our favorite date?”

“Well, it didn’t start out as a date, but eventually, it became one because we did it every week.” She missed those evenings so much right then. “You’d make us dinner, then we’d watch one of those reality cooking shows. While we watched, you’d tell me what you thought of the food they were cooking and how you’d do things differently. You were pretty good at predicting what the judges were going to say, and who was going to end up at the top and at the bottom.”

“And you enjoyed that?” Zane didn’t sound convinced.

“I did. Part of it was just because I got to hang out with you. Part of it was the great food you always prepared. Part of it was getting to know more about you through something you were so passionate about.”

“Did I teach you anything about cooking?”

“A little. We’d do some cooking together on our days off, but I was limited to chopping and, occasionally, stirring.”

Zane seemed to mull over what she’d shared with him. She had no idea what he planned to do with the information. Even if she wanted to jump ahead to getting their relationship back on track, she knew it couldn’t happen that way.

At this point, he either needed to regain his memory, or they had to take their time getting to know each other again. This conversation was just step one in that process, and unfortunately, she knew there was no guarantee that he’d fall in love with her a second time.

It had happened so organically the first time around, which had helped Zane overcome his reluctance to be in a relationship. And it had helped her be willing to take a chance on love with him.

This time, Zane was stuck in the past at a point where he thought he was in love with another woman, and there was a possibility he wouldn’t be willing to let go of it.

“Thank you for sharing all that with me,” Zane said.

“You’re welcome. Feel free to ask me anything about our relationship.”

Zane nodded. “I’ll do that.”

Kelsey wanted to demand to know if he was really going to give them a chance, but she held her tongue. This conversation was more than she’d expected, so she would take it for now. Maybe in the future, she’d be able to ask some questions of her own.

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