Page 29 of Their After Hours Playbook

“Yes. That would be great.” He pulled a corkscrew out of the kitchen drawer, then two glasses from an overhead cabinet. “I’ll get going on dinner. It won’t take long.”

Paige tackled her one job while Zach got out a large, deep pasta pot and filled it with water from the pot filler at the back of his range.

“I made puttanesca sauce before you came over.” He went to the fridge and brought out a glass bowl, which he emptied into a medium saucepan.

“Yum. That’s one of my favorites. I love the olives and capers and chili flakes. I’m impressed.” Paige poured the merlot she’d brought into the two glasses. Then offered one to Zach.

“It’s really simple.” He clinked his glass with hers.

“I’m still impressed.” They both took a sip, maintaining eye contact the whole time. How a small drink of wine could be so hot, Paige did not know. She was loving it, though. “So, I didn’t realize you went to Harvard.”

“Business school. My dad insisted.”

“Ah.” She didn’t really care to discuss Tom, so she didn’t offer more.

“Where’d you go to school?”

“U Conn, of course.”

Zach looked at her and his eyebrows drew together. “Why ‘of course’?”

“Because that’s where my mom coached. For her entire career in women’s college basketball.” The confusion was still clouding his face. “My mom. Elaine Moss?”

His eyes grew as large as saucers. “Your mom is Elaine Moss? How did I not know that?”

“Was. She passed away almost two years ago.” Saying it out loud still hurt, even after all this time.

“Oh. Right. I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks.” She shrugged. “As for how you didn’t know, I have no clue. I figured everyone knew that about me.”

“I don’t know why I didn’t put two and two together, but I didn’t. That is so impressive. What a career she had. An absolute legend.”

Paige took another sip of her wine and leaned against the counter, watching Zach tend to the food on the stove. “She was an amazing woman. She’s the reason I got into sports. I idolized her. I wanted to be her.” It was the absolute truth. Paige’s mom had been her north star for her entire life, and she’d frankly felt a bit aimless since her death. Even though things were going well with her career and business, it still felt like there was little reward at the end of the day.

“Did you ever think about going into coaching?”

“I didn’t. I guess I felt like I needed to have been a player if I was going to go that route. That didn’t really pan out, even though I tried like hell.”

“No talent for it?”

Paige glanced down at her chest, then pointed. “These got in the way. As soon as I hit puberty, which was pretty early. Having big boobs made it really hard.”

“Well, I’m sorry your dream of being a player didn’t pan out, but I’m thankful you turned out the way you did.” He cleared his throat. “Was that weird of me to say?”

She laughed quietly. “No. It’s actually pretty adorable.”

He smiled. “Good. Because I’m definitely going for adorable.”

“What about you? Did you play any sports?”

“Everything. Baseball, basketball, golf, lacrosse. You name it, I tried it. I wasn’t particularly good at any of it, but I always thought it was fun.”

“No football?”

He shook his head and opened a cabinet door to pull out a box of pasta. The water in the pot was steaming, but had not yet reached a boil. “No way. My mom wouldn’t go for that.”

“Smart. The head injuries can be terrible.” Once again, they’d circled around to the subject she had wanted to avoid, but she did want to get to know Zach better. “When did your mom and Tom meet?”

---