Bride by Mistake (9 page)

“Do you see anything appropriate, Liza?” he asked.

She turned the pages slowly, smiling at the various creations. Finally she stopped. “What about this one? It’s called A Cottage Garden.”

She pointed to a rectangular cake with several tiers, decorated with gaily colored flowers. Hmm. Maybe Gilda was an artist after all. “I like it,” he said, feeling genuinely impressed.

“So do I.”

When Gilda returned, they ordered the cake then headed out to their cars. Zach felt suddenly hungry. Remembering his refrigerator was bare and that his housekeeper had the day off, he turned to Liza. “Are you hungry?”

“I’m always hungry,” she said. “Um, recently, I mean. What about you?”

“To be honest, my head is pounding and my muscles ache, but I’m hungry too. Why don’t I pick up a pizza and meet you at your condo so we can share it?”

Liza paused a moment and bit her lip. Finally she said, “Okay. That’ll be fine.”

“See you in a little while…Oh, Liza?” Zach said, just as she turned to go.

When she turned back to look at him, the attraction kicked in again. More powerfully than ever.

“What is it, Zach?”

“Gram will love that cake. It’s a great choice.”

Her smile drew Zach like a high-powered magnet draws paper clips. “I’m glad,” she said. “Eloise is one delightful lady.”

And so are you
, Zach thought. But he didn’t say the words out loud.

Meg drove fast, hoping she’d have time to straighten the condo before Zach appeared with pizza. She’d vegged out all afternoon bemoaning her lost vacation—and her powerful attraction to Zach that refused to back down.

She groaned as she recalled the disastrous state of Liza’s living room. All afternoon she’d tried every trick she could think of to make herself feel better, including yoga and meditation. While they usually helped calm her, they didn’t work today.

In addition, Meg had indulged, heavily, in comfort food: several kinds of Oreos and chocolate milk, her drugs of choice. While she’d managed to dull her senses, she couldn’t erase the stirrings she felt for Zach. They stayed uppermost in her mind.

Next, she’d pulled out half of Liza’s DVD collection and searched through them until she found the right movie:
Doctor Zhivago
. Those were the only characters she could think of with
lives more confused and complicated than her own. Maybe they would claim her full attention.

Meg glanced down at the gas gauge and panicked. Empty! She looked around for a gas station and spotted one just ahead. Fortunately, she was able to cruise to a pump—probably on fumes—hop out, and grab the nozzle. Of course she picked the most cantankerous pump of all. The nozzle managed to click off every thirty seconds or so.

Come on, come on
, she urged. But it took forever before the tank was full. When the nozzle clicked off the final time, she sighed. Thank goodness!

Meg hopped back into Liza’s Volvo and sped toward the condo. But every stoplight in the city turned red the moment she approached. She hoped the pizza place Zach chose was backlogged so she’d have time to straighten the condo before he showed up.

She swung Liza’s car into the driveway, and a moment later, Zach pulled in behind her. Meg groaned and banged her fist on the steering wheel. Nothing, nothing was going her way.

“My, but you’re quick,” she said as they both climbed out of their cars.

Meg noticed the Lexus’s mangled bumper and damaged back end. “Your poor car,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged. “At least it’s fixable.”

“How’s your neck?”

“Still attached, I’m happy to say.”

Meg smiled. Zach seemed less stressed than he had been earlier in the day.

“They fixed that pizza in a hurry,” she observed.

“Pizza City takes great care of me. Since I live alone and almost never cook, I’m a frequent customer. They’ve moved me to VIP status.”

“Well, come in,” Meg said, wishing like crazy that she’d cleaned up after herself earlier. She unlocked the front door and they entered the condo together.

“Liza, you’ve been robbed!” Zach shouted. “And they ransacked your living room!”

Meg didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The room looked even worse than she remembered! She’d pushed the coffee table aside to make room for her yoga mat, which was stretched out full length in the middle of the floor. Empty Oreo cookie packages lay scattered about, along with half of Liza’s DVD collection, and she’d left the chocolate milk sitting in the middle of the coffee table. It did look as if someone had broken in. As Meg surveyed the damage, she understood Zach’s reaction.

“Don’t be silly,” she said as she cleared off a spot on the coffee table. “Just set the pizza down and give me a minute to clean this up.”

Meg could feel Zach staring at her as she gathered up the DVDs, grabbed the yoga mat, and headed for the kitchen. Two more trips and she’d restored Liza’s living room to its normal pristine state. “There. Much better,” she said, forcing a smile and a confidence she didn’t feel. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

As Meg headed for the kitchen, she realized that after announcing the robbery, Zach hadn’t said another word. But as he’d watched her clean up, she’d seen question marks in his eyes.

No doubt he’d never seen an out-of-place cushion in Liza’s condo, much less a trashed room. But since Meg hadn’t planned on Zach coming over, pizza in hand, she wasn’t prepared.

Tell him the truth
, her common sense urged.
The pretending’s gone on long enough.
Meg knew it was past time to set the record straight. When Zach discovered she wasn’t Liza, he’d understand all the inconsistencies.

But what would Zach think of her when he learned she’d tricked him? Denise’s deception had led to divorce and a broken heart.

Meg sighed. She’d tell Zach soon, but not tonight. He’d had a rough enough day.

Zach sat on Liza’s couch, wondering how his day had spiraled out of control. He’d been blindsided by the lost account and stunned when the Lexus got creamed. But Liza’s condo in chaos was the biggest shock of all. His neatnik friend never left a glass sitting on the counter. Yet when they had walked in, the condo had looked like the aftermath of a high-school party.

She returned with plates, napkins, and sodas and joined him. “I’m starving,” she declared. “Shall we indulge?”

“You mean we’re eating in here?” he asked, dumbfounded. Once, he’d brought over submarine sandwiches and asked if they could eat in Liza’s living room while watching football. “Civilized people don’t eat in their living rooms,” she’d replied. “That’s why God created dining room tables.”

Liza shrugged. “Of course we’re eating in here. Houses are meant to be lived in.”

Zach watched in amazement as Liza dished up their pizza, popped the tabs on the sodas, and handed him his plate and drink.

“I brought your favorite,” he said. “Vegetarian Delight.”

“Wonderful,” Liza replied. Her eyes seemed slightly glazed over and her smile rather stiff.

Zach watched in disbelief as Liza began picking each and every mushroom off her pizza. “What’s wrong with the mushrooms?” he asked. “I ordered extras, like I always do.”

“Huh?” Liza turned toward him with a blank expression.

“Why are you taking off the mushrooms?” he repeated.

“Recently I’ve, um, developed an allergy,” she said. “An allergy to fungus. I must have eaten too many of them and now I’m allergic.” Liza’s pupils seemed larger than ever, and her eye had started twitching again.

“You mean eating a lot of something can make you allergic?”

“I think so,” she murmured. “But I read that on the Internet, so it’s not an absolute fact.”

Zach’s tension headache kicked up a notch. Tonight hadn’t turned out the way he’d hoped. Liza could always help him regain perspective after a troubling day. And when he’d recalled the great massage she gave him earlier, a repeat performance had sounded appealing. But that wasn’t going to happen.

Zach still couldn’t believe he and Liza were munching on pizza in her living room. Just days ago he’d have bet his life savings that that would never happen. And the sight of this room when they had walked in was branded in his memory.

Maybe he was asking too much of Liza, with all the planning and pretending. Maybe he’d put too much pressure on her, and she couldn’t deal with it.

Zach vowed that tomorrow he’d back off. He’d give his good friend some space. Then maybe, just maybe, things would return to normal.

Z
ACH SPENT ALL
morning networking with his top clients. Maybe more personal contact would keep everyone happy. At least he hoped so. He stretched and yawned, then headed for his assistant’s cubicle. “I’m going to the coffee shop,” he said.

“Good idea,” Monica replied. “You’ve been working awfully hard lately. And I know yesterday was a rough day.”

“Today will be better,” Zach replied, hoping that was the case. “But if a crisis occurs, come and get me,” he said, only half kidding. Crises seemed the order of the day.

As Zach walked past the showroom that displayed his company’s top-of-the-line furniture, he felt proud of his business. In addition to the showroom, Addison’s Fine Furniture provided a large catalog center. And a year ago he’d installed the coffee shop, where employees could relax on their breaks. While Zach didn’t visit it often, today he planned to indulge.

He ordered a mocha-cinnamon latte. As he sipped it, the spicy beverage soothed him and brought much-needed comfort. He was still reeling from the trauma of yesterday—the lost account, the accident, and the baffling dinner at Liza’s. Total chaos was the only way to describe the state of her living room.
He’d decided not to see Liza today, or even call her. His friend obviously needed a break.

Zach was midway through his latte when Monica came hurrying toward him. She stopped when she reached his table and took a moment to catch her breath. “Sorry to bother you, Zach, but your grandmother just called. She says she needs to see you. It’s urgent.”

Zach sprang to his feet. “Is she sick?” he asked. “Did she say what the emergency was?”

“All Mrs. Addison said was you should come right away.”

“Will you cancel my one o’clock meeting?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks, Monica. I’ll be in touch later,” he said as he headed for the parking garage.

Zach hopped into his Lexus and took off for Gram’s. Two weeks before, Gram’s butler, Ian, had told him that Gram was ill. And since she’d told Ian not to discuss her health condition with Zach, he couldn’t discuss it with her. While he’d known Gram would have problems, he hadn’t expected them to occur so soon. Each time he saw her, she looked perfectly healthy—like her usual wonderful self. But looks could be deceiving. Thanks to Denise’s shenanigans, he’d learned that lesson the hard way.

When Zach reached the estate, he took the stairs two at a time and burst into the house, frightening Gram’s cook and housekeeper, who was dusting the entryway chandelier.

“Maria, where’s my grandmother?”

“In the sunroom, Mr. Zach. She’s waiting for you.”

Zach strode into the sunroom and stopped cold. His grandmother sat at a beautifully set table, and she wasn’t alone. To his amazement, Liza O’Malley sat beside her! Zach’s heart, already racing, kicked into high gear.