Page 7 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
Zoe’s face fell. She was still getting used to him being back, but part of her had hoped that Tom had come home to start on wedding plans. Ever since he’d proposed, nothing had moved forward. To be fair, Zoe hadn’t really been pushing to start planning either. And with Tom’s new show taking up all of his time, why should she be the one to make sacrifices in her career to organise this?
“Sounds good.” Zoe answered flatly. “Filming will probably end late again. We’re cursed this season.”
“Sorry to hear that. C’mere, give me a kiss.” Tom leaned in and kissed Zoe on the lips before heading upstairs. “Break a leg with the interview!”
A few moments later, the doorbell rang. Zoe headed out to find Nicki with a small paper bag in her hand.
“Got us some scones from the coffee shop for us on our way there.” She held the bag up high, wiggling her brows.
“You didn’t.” Zoe snatched the bag and looked inside. Blueberry and chocolate chip scones. “And you got my favourite?”
Nicki smiled. “Of course. I’ve worked with you long enough to know your scone tastes. And also that you perform better with sugar in your blood.” She walked back down to the driveway and got into the driver’s side of her car.
Zoe sighed and got in on the other side, biting into one of the pastries as she did. “Nicki, I swear to god I’m going to marry you.”
“Do you think Tom’ll agree with that?” She laughed.
“Honestly, I think he would.” Zoe said, her smile dropping. She leaned her head in her hand, elbow propped up against the window. She took another bite of her scone, followed by another larger one.
They stopped at a red light. Nicki turned to Zoe. “Is there something you want to talk about?”
Zoe sighed. “I don’t want to bother you with this. I’m sorry I even mentioned it. Forget about it.”
“This is still part of my job, Zoe. If you do this interview withHerin a bad mood, it’s not going to go well.”
Nicki was right. Zoe should just get it out of her system. There were for sure going to be questions about her engagement to Tom. It had been minor gossip in the tabloids when he proposed last spring. The car rumbled and started again.
“Fine. We’ve been engaged for a year and nothing has been planned yet. We don’t see each other that much. I thought that being engaged would make us more involved in the relationship but it didn’t.” Zoe bit her lip.
“Do you know why nothing is happening?” Nicki was driving carefully, eyes on the road, but still managed to seem very focused on Zoe. She really was a pro.
“It’s tough to say. I think we’re both at major points in our careers and it’s going really well. Why would we stop the momentum to organise a wedding?”
“Then why did you get engaged in the first place?”
Tough question. “We got engaged so we could have more time together.”
“And now you’re not planning the wedding because you don’t have time with each other.”
Zoe leaned back in her seat. “It sounds so pointless when you put it like that.”
“I don’t think it’s necessarily negative. You both got engaged because you love each other and felt spending time with each other was a priority. That sounds pretty good. Weddings take time and you’re not quite there yet, but the fact that you know you want to have that with each other at some point is a good thing, don’t you think?” Nicki pulled into the parking spot in front of a fancy hotel - where Zoe was meeting up with the journalist.
A silence filled the car for a moment. “That makes sense. I think I need to stop worrying about it. Things are working out with Tom and it’s good. I never moved in with anyone before him, you know?” Zoe could feel the clouds in her head clearing out.
“Yes, to each their own pace.” Nicki put a hand on Zoe’s shoulder. “You’ve got this. Now go inside and smash this interview.”
“I will!”
* * *
Two hours later, the black Fiat 500 screeched to a halt in another parking lot, the one from the filming studio this time.
“We’re only re-shooting some scenes for the Christmas special today. It shouldn’t end too late.” Nicki pulled her phone out. “And we already have an email from theHerjournalist thanking you for the lovely moment!”
Zoe was glowing in the passenger seat. “You can answer her and say that the pleasure was all mine.”
The interview had gone pretty well. It was the usual questions about Zoe’s work-life balance (“It’s difficult, but I make a point to make time for my friends and family!”), her favourite recipes (“I like challenges so every new recipe quickly becomes my favourite. Though I have to say that my grandma’s recipe for lemon drizzle cake is my go-to when I have guests over.”), the new season of “Cooking from A to Zoe” (“This one’s going to be everybody’s favourite, stay tuned!”) and finally, her relationship with Tom Wright (“It’s wonderful, he’s my best friend and my partner. Sometimes it’s tough with our schedules but we make it work. The wedding is coming along but we have no date yet, we’re not in a hurry. What matters is that we’re together.”) Zoe didn’t know how she would’ve answered that last question had Nicki not cleared her head out. Once again, everything was a success all thanks to her amazing assistant.
