A Million Little Things. Susan Mallery
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darted around him and headed for her bedroom. Once the door was closed, she allowed herself a three-second victory dance, then ripped off her shirt and shorts.
She stared at the choices in her closet. Since working at home, she hadn’t had to worry about what to wear. She mostly wore jeans or shorts with a T-shirt. She didn’t want to put on any of her sensible teaching clothes, which left her eyeing her date dresses.
“Not a date,” she whispered. “But still nice.”
She settled on a red short-sleeved dress with a flattering V-neck. The style was simple—a modified A-line that followed the curves of her body. The color was deep and good for her. She slipped it on, then raced into her bathroom.
She applied mascara, blush and lip gloss, then brushed out her hair. She had a natural wave to her dark hair. Most of the time she fought it, but right now she didn’t have time. She added a little volumizing spray, then went back into the bedroom where she put on hoop earrings and slipped into four-inch taupe heels.
She walked back into the living room and found Steven on the sofa with Mason. The cat was stretched out, kneading a pillow while Steven rubbed his face. Both males looked at her. Mason gave her that slow I-love-you blink while Steven quickly rose to his feet. His eyes widened slightly.
“You look great.”
“Thank you.”
“That was fast.”
“I didn’t do that much.”
He motioned to the door. She picked up her bag and led the way, carefully locking the door behind her.
“Olives okay?” he asked.
“Sounds perfect.”
Olives was a martini bar near the business district in town. While tourists sometimes wandered in, the place was mostly frequented by locals. Zoe hadn’t been in ages. Back in the day, she and Jen had often gone there for drinks and to talk.
Steven parked his Mercedes SUV and walked around to her side to open her door. The polite gesture surprised her until she reminded herself that not every guy was Chad, and wasn’t that nice to know.
Once inside, they found a small corner table. Their server came over. Zoe ordered a lemon drop while Steven chose a vodka martini.
“You didn’t say shaken, not stirred,” she said when their server left.
“Bond and I are different kinds of guys.” He leaned forward and smiled at her. “What are you up to these days? Last I heard, you were teaching at the same school as Jen, but you left.”
“I did. I’d been working part-time as a manual writer. They offered me a full-time position after a particularly difficult week of teaching, so I said yes.”
Which was all true, if not the complete truth. She’d also quit her teaching job on the foolish assumption that she and Chad were going to be married and starting a family. Working from home would have given her time to be a stepmom to his kids. But none of that had come to pass and she was living her post-Chad life now.
“What’s the best part about what you do?” he asked.
“Good question.” She thought for a second. “That I help people. Most consumers never read the instructions, but a few do and every now and then someone really needs to understand how to work an appliance or troubleshoot it. When they do, I’m going to help them.” She smiled. “Some of my work is for medical equipment manufactures. I’m guessing those people really do read the whole manual.”
He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “You do realize that no man is going to read the manual.”
She laughed. “I’m very aware of your gender’s many flaws.”
“Hey, that’s not a flaw. We’re born with intuitive knowledge.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?”
Their server returned with their drinks and the small plate of bruschetta they’d ordered.
“What’s the part you like least?” Steven asked.
“I’m by myself all the time. I didn’t realize how much I would miss people, but I do. I want to wander down the hall and talk to a coworker. When I was a teacher, I felt like all I did was talk to people, but now, there’s no one.” She sipped her drink. “Mason can be very charming, but he’s not much of a conversationalist.”
“I got that vibe from him. He’s the strong, silent type of cat.”
She smiled. “He’ll appreciate that you got that.”
“Any regrets on leaving teaching?”
She had plenty of regrets but they were mostly about Chad. “There are things I miss, but I’m not sure I want to go back. I like my job—I just wish it were different.” She looked at him. “What about you? Do you like what you do? You’re in the family business, so I’m not sure you could leave, but still.”
“I’d always known I was the heir apparent and I was okay with that. I just didn’t expect to have to take over so soon.”
Right. Because his dad had died. “I’m sorry.”
“Me, too. I miss Dad every day. He was a great guy. For a while I wasn’t sure I could do it—run the company like he did. Then I figured out I wasn’t supposed to. That I had to run it like me. Either we made it or we didn’t.”
“You made it.”
His dark gaze settled on her face. “You can’t know that.”
“I kind of can.” She held up one finger. “Jen would have mentioned if you were destroying the company.” A second finger went up. “You don’t strike me as the kind of man who would let himself fail. Not with something so important. It’s more than your family’s business. The company has what—a couple dozen employees? You certainly weren’t going to put all those people out of work.”
He looked both proud and a tiny bit uncomfortable. “Yeah, well, things are moving in the right direction.”
“Your dad would be proud of you.”
“That’s what my mom tells me.” His expression turned serious. “When he died, it was a shock for all of us. I wasn’t surprised by that, but I didn’t expect his passing to change me as much as it did. I guess I’d taken him for granted.”
“It’s a kid thing,” she pointed out. “We assume they’re always going to be there for us.”
He nodded. “When I was little, I was happy that my parents were so connected. They were a unit. There was no playing one against the other. As a teenager, I was embarrassed by how close they were. It wasn’t cool. But later, it was the best. How they loved each other. Jen, Brandon and I worried that Mom wouldn’t be able to go on, but she’s pulled it all together.”
“She has. Pam is amazing.”
“If I agree, you have to promise not to tell her.”
Zoe laughed. “Because she can’t have too much power?”
“You know it.”
“I will keep your secret, but you owe me.”
“Will fixing the stairs make us even?”
“It will.” She lightly touched his arm. “I really appreciate you helping out with that. I have to tell you, when I got locked in the attic, I totally freaked out.”
“Sure. Who wouldn’t?”
He was nice, she thought happily. Honorable. When his family had needed him, he’d stepped up—even though he’d been suffering himself.
“Handyman skills and you like cats,” she said, her voice teasing. “Why isn’t there a Mrs. Steven Eiland waiting for you somewhere?”