Page 43 of Zane

When Zane lifted his hand to rub his forehead, she said, “Headache?”

He glanced at her. “Yeah. But that’s nothing new.”

“Really?”

“My head aches to some degree for a good chunk of most days. Sometimes it’s worse than others.”

“I guess that’s maybe to be expected because of the concussion, right?”

“That’s what they tell me,” he muttered as he ran a hand through his hair. “Doesn’t make it any easier, though.”

Though Kelsey didn’t want this time to end, she didn’t object when he said he needed to go lay down. She hoped that this conversation was the start of more to come.

After he’d left her alone in the kitchen, Kelsey sat by herself for a few minutes, trying to decide if she should get excited or maintain her reserve.

In the end, she decided to be excited in the moment, but reserved in the future. And she needed to keep herself from building up expectations for what was to come.

Zane had promised her nothing.ThisZane had promised her nothing.

HerZane had promised her everything.

And she wanted that everything more than ever.

Her mind might be cautious, but her heart loved and missed Zane so much that it didn’t even want to consider not sticking this out. No matter how difficult it might be.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Though he would have liked to stay in his room, Zane forced himself out of bed and pulled on a pair of loose gym shorts and a T-shirt. He needed to take a shower at some point that day, but it required more energy than he had at that moment.

He dragged a hand through his hair, then stood for a moment in the darkened room to brace himself for the world beyond his door. It had been a long week, and he would have much rather stayed in bed.

Despite the conversation with Kelsey on Sunday, things hadn’t magically become easier between them. He hadn’t gone out of his way to avoid her, though, and it didn’t seem that she had tried to avoid him either. That hadn’t made their interactions any less awkward. If anything, they might have gotten more so.

It was a Friday, so no surprise, the house was quiet. He made his way to the stairs and carefully maneuvered himself down them to the main floor. It was only then he heard movement and became aware of the aromas in the air.

When he moved through the entryway to the kitchen, he spotted Kelsey standing at the counter. She had a mug in one hand and was staring down at her phone in the other. There was an electric griddle on the counter in front of her with circles of pancake batter on it.

Looking up, she regarded him for a long moment before she said, “Coffee and some pancakes?”

He nodded as he slowly crutched his way over to the counter and sank down on a bar stool there. He appreciated that shehadn’t asked how he was doing, but that probably meant he looked as bad as he felt. Or worse.

When she set a large mug of coffee in front of him, Zane lifted it and took a sip. Perfect. It was then he realized that she’d doctored the coffee exactly how he liked it.

As he watched, she pulled some containers of berries from the fridge, along with a can of whipped cream. She got a couple of plates from the cupboard and set them on the counter.

He wondered if this was a breakfast she’d made them before. So far, she was getting out all the things he liked with his pancakes.

Music played in the background, so there wasn’t a heavy silence when they didn’t talk. He was glad she didn’t press for conversation because he wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t be a little snappy with his replies.

She used a spatula to move three perfectly formed pancakes from the griddle to one of the plates. After adding some blueberries and cutting up some strawberries, she squirted a healthy dose of whipped cream on the pancakes.

“It says it’s made from real whipping cream,” she said when he eyed the can. “I forgot to buy cream to whip myself.”

He looked up to find her watching him with slightly narrowed eyes. “I’m sure it will be fine.”

She carefully slid the plate across to him, then opened up the silverware drawer and took out a couple of forks and knives. Handing him one of each, she set the others down on the second plate, then poured more pancake batter onto the grill.

Zane watched her for a moment, then bowed his head to thank God for the meal that Kelsey had prepared for him. Hetook a bite of pancake with berries and whipped cream and hummed in appreciation.

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