Always You (A Magnolia Falls Novel) (12 page)

She leaned back in his arms and looked into those whiskey eyes that had the ability to make her feel drunk.

“There’s always been a place for you in my heart. You claimed it the day you fished me out of the lake and ever so gently checked me for broken bones. You were my hero that day.”

Zack flashed her a mischievous grin. “That was the day I discovered my sister’s best friend was all grown up. With curves. That examination nearly killed me. Once I made sure you were okay I had to jump into the cold water and go for a very long swim.”

“I remember that. I thought you were irritated with me for jumping over the falls. I was trying so hard to impress you, instead I ended up feeling stupid.”

“You were beautiful going over the falls. I will forever have that image ingrained in my memory.”

“Zack. I love you.” She heard his breath hitch after her declaration, and her heart sank. Maybe she misread him. Did he feel the same?

“Diana, I feel as if I’ve loved you all my life. Thank you for giving me a second chance. For giving us a chance at happiness. I promise I won’t screw it up this time.”

“Well, in all fairness, you didn’t screw it up last time. I was a big part of what happened ten years ago. If I had trusted you and given you a chance to explain, things might have been different. You wouldn’t have—” She stopped herself right before she brought up the topic of his deceased wife. What was wrong with her?

“I wouldn’t have what? Married Hannah?”

She remained silent. When she didn’t answer he released her and said, “Dinner is going to get cold if we don’t eat soon.” He turned and busied himself at the stove.

Her stupidity ruined a perfect moment between them. She was an attorney. She got paid to think before she spoke. Just then he turned back to her and reached for her hand. “Look at me, kitten,” he said.

She looked up. “I’m sorry, Zack. I shouldn’t have brought up Hannah. I had no right to.”

“You have every right.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his other hand so as not to release her hand. “And I will tell you everything, after dinner.”

“You don’t have to. Really, you don’t.”

“I want you to know,” he said, simply.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Zack couldn’t believe what had just happened. He had hoped, but he never dreamed Diana would love him. Not so soon anyway. He had already determined he would win the love of this amazing woman who had long ago captured his heart. She was his, as he was hers. Now all he had to do was tell her all about Hannah and then convince her to spend forever with him, even though he had been a world-class jerk to his sweet wife.

He laid her plate down in front of her where she had taken a seat. He had wanted everything to be perfect tonight so he’d found a picture on the Internet of what was, in his opinion, a romantic dining room setting. Then set out to recreate it in his own house. The round dining table was covered in a white table cloth. Flickering candles surrounded by red roses in a crystal vase graced the center. Not so tall as to obstruct his view of his lovely date. As a final touch there was a standing flower arrangement in the corner with more lights.

“This room is amazing. Did you do it yourself?” She asked, as if reading his mind.

He sat down across from her. “I wish I could take all the credit. I found a picture and gave it to my new intern. She went out and found what was needed and set it all up. I would have made a mess of it if I’d done it myself, and I wanted tonight to be perfect.”

She reached over and squeezed his hand. “It is.”

***

After dinner they sat on his back porch swing. It was a chilly night, so Zack had brought a blanket out they were snuggled under. Zack wrapped his arms around Diana as she leaned on him. He was nervous to tell her about Hannah. He planned on being honest and hoped nothing he said would change her feelings for him. His thoughts drifted to sweet Hannah, with her serene smile and kind, blue eyes.

“If you don’t want to talk about her, you don’t have to,” Diana’s small voice reached him in his memories.

“I met Hannah while I was in college. We started out as friends, working on projects together, then spending time together in social settings. She became my best friend. I always knew her feelings for me ran deeper than just friends, but I needed her so I ignored it. It was cruel and selfish of me because I didn’t return her feelings. I dated other girls and urged her to date as well. I even set her up with several of my buddies who I knew would treat her well. Being the good sport she was she would usually agree, even though her heart wasn’t in it. You have to understand something about Hannah. She was a people pleaser. Always had been, and at that time in her life, she wanted to please me. Being the jerk that I am, I took advantage of that. She wasn’t weak, just always thinking of others and ways to make them happy. That was who she was, the kindest, most selfless person I have ever met.” He stopped to collect his thoughts. How to go on with the next part of this story.

“Jillian once told me something similar about Hannah. She didn’t talk about her much, but I have to admit I pestered her into telling me what she was like. After that day I never asked because it seemed as if you had found the perfect woman. You and Jillian make her sound perfect.”

Zack’s arms tightened around Diana. “She wasn’t you,” he said in a low voice. “And that was the problem. I couldn’t love her because I still loved you. She knew how I felt about you. We had discussed you at length, and she helped me get through that first year of college after I’d lost you.”

“You must have changed your mind at some point since you married her.”

“No, my feelings never changed. Our senior year her parents and little sister were killed in the Flight 097 crash. She didn’t have any more family. All she had was me. She was devastated, rightly so.

“Most days I had to drag her out of bed and walk her to class, I helped her complete her assignments. She barely graduated college. It got to the point where I decided to rent an apartment off campus and move her in with me.

“Her roommate couldn’t take her crying every night. The only way she wouldn’t cry is if she were sleeping in my bed with me. It was all platonic at first and would have remained so if I hadn’t been a bastard of the first degree. I had taken her into the city for the weekend hoping to cheer her up.

“We were walking out of the Empire State Building when I saw you. You were with a guy who had his arm around your waist. You were both laughing. You looked so happy and the fact that it wasn’t me putting that smile on your face killed me. I never told Hannah, I just turned us around so you wouldn’t see me.”

Diana sat up and turned to look at him. “Our senior year of college?”

He nodded.

“I wasn’t dating anyone at that time.” She looked up as if searching her memory. He saw when she remembered. “It was wintertime and freezing outside.”

“Yes, we went up during winter break.”

“I was doing an internship at a law firm during my break. The man I was walking with was a co-worker. He had just put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him because the weather was so cold. There was nothing going on between us. He had asked me out, but I did not accept.”

Zack wanted to slap himself on the forehead. That one moment had changed everything.

“It didn’t look that way to me. So that night, at dinner, I drank too much. Hannah had to get me to our room. I took advantage of her kindness that night. Not by sleeping with her, but by asking her to marry me. After seeing you and thinking you had moved on, I decided it was time I do the same. Hannah was ecstatic. I couldn’t break her heart by breaking the engagement when I was sober the next morning. So, before we left New York we went shopping for rings.”

“I’m so sorry, Zack. I feel partly responsible.”

“No, the mistake was all mine. No one else’s. For three years we scraped along as husband and wife. Hannah said she was happy, but I always felt bad I couldn’t love her the way she deserved. She deserved someone who wanted to give her the moon, which is why I was about to ask her for a divorce when she told me she was pregnant.

“That’s when I knew for sure I didn’t make her happy, because I saw her truly happy for the first time as she planned for the arrival of our son. It made me feel good that I was finally able to contribute to her happiness in some way, by giving her a child who would love her unconditionally. It wasn’t the same, I know, but it was all I had to give.

“When she was seven months pregnant she was hit by a drunk driver. They got her to the hospital fairly quickly and tried to save the baby, but they couldn’t. She died that night, and our son died with her.”

Diana wrapped her arms around him, and he held onto her. “Oh, Zack. What a terrible thing to go through. I am so sorry.”

“I didn’t feel I ever had the right to be happy again. Which was why you kept getting mixed signals from me. I didn’t think I deserved you because I could never give Hannah the love she deserved. Why should I have what she didn’t?”

“What made you change your mind?”

“Jillian. She told me about a conversation she and Hannah had. She made me see that by not reaching out for happiness I was dishonoring everything Hannah was. I’m convinced she would want me to be happy.”

“I think I would have liked her. Too bad I didn’t get the chance to meet her.”

“Now that would have been awkward. The love of my life and my wife in the same room.” The thought made him shudder.

He looked into Diana’s green eyes and stroked her soft hair. “She would have loved you though. You are so easy to love.” He pulled her to him and kissed her softly. He didn’t deserve a second chance at love and happiness, but he was going to reach for it anyway.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Later that week, Zack was walking out of Joe’s coffee shop when he ran into Diana, or rather she ran into him. Literally. “
Whoa
. Are you running a marathon in heels?” He reached out and steadied her to keep her from falling.

She looked up. “Nope, just hoping I’d run into you.” She smiled up at him.

“What if it hadn’t been me coming out of that door?” He asked.

“Then it would have been some other guy sweeping me off my feet.” The teasing smile on her lips beckoned to him.

“Oh yeah. But could he have done this?” He kissed her and backed them toward his truck parked at the curb. He stopped when her back reached the truck door.

“No. I’m quite certain you are the only one who has the power to do this to me,” she said.

His finger stroked the side of her face. “What is it exactly that I do to you, kitten?”

“Make me forget I’m running late. Which was why I was running in the first place. I need coffee.”

He held his coffee cup out to her. “I’ve only taken one sip, but it’s yours if you want it. The line inside is crazy, so I wouldn’t suggest going in if you are already late.”

She reached for his offered cup. “My very own knight coming to rescue me on his white horse. I think I would die without coffee this morning.”

He chuckled. “Will you settle for a white truck with a three-hundred-sixty horsepower engine?”

“Throw in that muffin, and I’ll settle for anything.”

He handed her the bag he’d been holding in his other hand. He lifted it above her head when she reached out for it. “I deserve something for giving up my breakfast.”

She placed her hand on his chest and leaned towards him. “I’ll pay up tonight. Liz and Logan are taking Jessica and Cassidy to a play at the high school. Come by as soon as you’re done with work.”

He handed her the bag with the muffin. “I’ll be there,” he said.

She placed a quick kiss on his lips and rushed away. He watched her until she rounded the corner. He just couldn’t wipe the big smile off his face as he thought about the coming evening.

***

Zack had hurried all day to finish on time. This was one date he did not want to be late for. He rang the doorbell and when Diana opened the door for him, wearing jeans, a black t-shirt, and a smile just for him, his heart melted. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She returned by wrapping her arms around his neck, and molding herself to him, returning the kiss. He guided them inside the house and closed the door behind them, never breaking their kiss. He turned them so her back was against the door. Gosh, he loved this woman. He couldn’t get enough of her and wanted her by his side every day.

A ringing broke into the haze she always created when they were together. He pulled away, and saw she was as confused as he was and smiled.

“It’s the doorbell,” she said.

“I know that, kitten. Should we see who it is?”

She shook her head then stopped and nodded. “It’s dinner.”

“We don’t need dinner,” he said as he claimed her lips again.

She returned the kiss briefly, then the doorbell rang again. “Pizza,” she managed to say. “I ordered it for us.”

“
Mhm
,” Zack willed the delivery boy to go away. He didn’t want this moment to end. Diana had other thoughts. She pushed at him. “Zack, we need to open the door.”

With a sigh Zack released her and stepped back, plunging his hands into his pockets. She smiled shyly at him as she smoothed her hair down. Hair that two seconds ago he’d had his hands in. She turned and opened the door. Before she could hand the money over to the delivery boy, Zack pulled out two twenties, grabbed the pizza and said, “Keep the change.” As he closed the door. He did not want any intrusions on his time with Diana.

Diana laughed. “That was rude.”

“No, it wasn’t. He got a good tip.” Zack walked toward the kitchen, pizza in hand, and set it on the counter. He turned to Diana and reached for her, but she sidestepped him and walked to the other side of the kitchen island.

“Oh no, you don’t. You aren’t going to distract me. I have plans for you tonight.” She grabbed two bottles of beer from the refrigerator and started toward the stairs. She turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Grab the pizza on your way up.”

Zack felt a huge grin spread across his face. He couldn’t wait to see what she had in store for him. When he reached the top of the stairs he found her standing against the pool table, cue in hand, soft music playing. “Are you ready to get beaten?” She was putting chalk on her cue stick.

“Ha. You’ve never been able to beat me.” He accepted her challenge with alacrity. He walked to the wall and chose a cue stick.

“These are different times. I’ve learned a few things since we used to spend hours playing up here.”

“Oh yeah. Want to bet something on those newfound skills of yours?” Zack racked the balls and centered them on the table.

“Loser has to take the winner to the next movie of his or her choice.”

“You’re on. Now, show me what you’ve got.” He stepped back to allow her to break the balls.

She leaned over the table, lining up her cue stick with the ball, pulling back then thrusting it forward, she sent the balls flying across the table. One ball fell into the corner pocket. She smiled at him as she walked past him to position herself for her next shot. Once again, she sunk a ball. After she made a third successful shot, Zack laughed. “I think I’ve just been hustled.” He picked up a bottle of beer and popped the top off.

Diana leaned over the table and positioned her stick for the next shot. She looked up at him and winked as she hit the ball and sent it flying across the table to tap a ball into a side pocket. Each time she managed to get a ball into a pocket until she had won. She stood up and set her cue stick on the wall then shook her hands to get the powder off them. “Ready to eat?” She asked.

She had beat him squarely.

Zack chuckled and set down the bottle of beer he had been drinking as he watched her clean up. “Absolutely. I’ve worked up an appetite watching you beat me.” He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms.

She laid her hands on his chest. “I told you I’d learned a few things.”

“I see you did. Makes me wonder what else you’ve learned.” He didn’t like the idea of her learning certain things he had always wanted to be the one to teach her.

She was playing with the top button on his shirt, pushing it in and out of the hole. “I guess you’ll have to stick around to find out.”

“You can bet on that.” He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her lightly. This woman in his arms was amazing, and she was his.