Page 23 of The Last Love Song
“I can take you back if you want.” He checked his watch.
“No. I know you’re running late. Worst-case scenario, you can loan me this for the day.” She patted the SUV’s dashboard in an effort to keep things light. “I just need to be back in town for a lesson with Megan at two o’clock.”
“Are you free for dinner later?”
“You were serious about that?” She’d had a crush on him in high school. And the old feelings were definitely in danger of returning if he kept this up.
“I’ll be honest, I have a few things to ask you about the town and your dad’s work. But mostly I want to thank you for going with me this morning. I was afraid I’d say something really inappropriate since I’m tired and Tiffany McCord is one of my more challenging town council members.”
Heather relaxed a bit. A thank-you dinner was not a date. Maybe he didn’t have a secret agenda for wanting to see her, after all.
“She’s a force to be reckoned with, isn’t she?” Out the window, the signs of fall were starting to show as the road became more rural.
A few yellow leaves mixed with the green, and an occasional tree sported a whole branch of red. Normally, autumn ranked as her favorite season, but it had been a while since she’d walked among the falling leaves and truly enjoyed the season.
“Right. We’ll call Tiffany that.”
“Why didn’t you sleep last night?” She had always envisioned his life as perfect.
Back in high school when his family had experienced the scandal with his father, Zach had seemed untouched by it all. If anything, he’d been more of a presence in the school and had volunteered at a local nursing home. She remembered he’d organized a concert for the retirees, bringing the high school choral group to the rest home during Christmastime.
“Sometimes I need to burn the midnight oil to keep up with the day job and town business, too.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
“Only if you want to talk about what made you so upset this morning when I called.” He glanced her way across the enclosedspace, the moment far too intimate with his hazel eyes missing nothing. “You sounded like you’d been crying.”
So he was not just observant but also frighteningly perceptive. And apparently they both had secrets to keep.
“Must have been my allergies.” She wouldn’t discuss her health with family, so she sure didn’t plan to bring it up with him. “And you’re not exactly making your case for dinner if you’re on some kind of fact-finding mission.”
His attention firmly focused on the road again, he shook his head.
“Just trying to be a friend.”
Remembering how kind he’d been on the phone, assuring her she’d be a success at whatever she tried, she regretted shutting him down that way.
“Thank you. And it was nice of you to see if I needed a ride this morning, too. I appreciate it.”
“Is that so?” He shot her a sly, sidelong glance, his good humor restored. “I had the distinct impression you would have gladly overslept and missed the Tiffany McCord three-ring circus.”
“She’s really gotten under your skin, hasn’t she?”
He shrugged. “I’m not a stupid man. I run a successful business. I’m experienced in a lot of areas. But I’d like to think I’m also smart enough to listen to people with much different experiences than me at the town meetings. Like, if Harlan Brady speaks up—a lifetime farmer who’s never left Heartache—I’m going to pay attention.”
“Harlan doesn’t speak unless he has something to say.” Heather had always liked him. All the more since he’d started dating Nina’s octogenarian grandmother. The two of them painted the town.
“Right. But Tiffany has a way of cutting off people like that with a sentence that usually begins ‘When I was in charge of a Fortune 500 company budget…’”
Heather laughed. “I’ve heard that one a few times. Once, when we couldn’t find the box of lost-and-found items for the Little League, she brought up her experience managing inventory for a Fortune 500 company. Because of that, she suggested she be in charge of the rec department stockroom. Which also happens to be one of the barns on the farm, by the way.”
Zach lifted an eyebrow, his profile incredibly handsome.
“You store the town equipment at your mom’s place?”
“Always have. We don’t have storage facilities at the fields. The high school shop class built the shed on the property, and they keep school equipment there for team practices.”
For a moment, she sensed he was concerned about it. But then they pulled into the fishing and boat launch area along the river just north of town. Cars and trucks filled every space. Country music played through a big pickup truck’s speakers, the back window featuring a pink sticker that read Redneck Princess. A small tow-behind trailer had been converted into a concession stand for the day, and it sat parked at the water’s edge. A big banner with the Upstream logo was tied between two massive hemlock trees. A van with the McCords’ company name stood open and transformed into a minishowroom next to a small canopy sheltering tables and shelves of gear. Fishing poles and colorful lures overflowed from the racks.
