When a team of nurses stepped inside the treatment room and asked him to leave, Zach demanded to know what they planned to do.
“Dr. Sands wants her to disrobe for an examination, so we can make sure we don’t miss any of her injuries.”
“But it’s only my ankle that hurts,” Summer protested.
“Hopefully you’re right. But this is our protocol. We have to be sure.”
Summer reached for Zach’s hand. “Would you…”
So, he stayed beside her, gallantly turning his back when they handed her a hospital gown and she began to undress. But once, when she moaned, he turned. She saw his quick flush and heard his gasp before he averted his gaze from her body.
Her stomach fluttered. Funny that it hadn’t occurred to her to be embarrassed that he should see her almost naked. She simply wanted him beside her.
When the professionals finished checking her body and stooped to examine her ankle, she cried out in pain.
Zach was at her side, pressing her hand to his lips. “Hang in there. We’ll be home before you know it.”
Home. How sweetly the word buzzed in her heart. She squeezed his fingers and held on tight, feeling illogically reassured.
He was right. In less than an hour she was back at Zach’s house, propped up on his couch by plump pillows, surrounded by his remotes, her script and her favorite snacks.
Strangely, after the hospital, there was a new easiness between them. Gram and Tuck had stopped by to check on her, and after they departed, Zach remained attentive, never leaving her side for long. He said he wanted to be nearby in case she needed anything. She found his hovering oddly sweet and realized it would be much too easy to become dependent on such attentions.
When the sun went down, he cooked two small steaks and roasted two potatoes for their dinner while she watched from her chair at the kitchen table. They had their meal with wine and thick buttered slices of French bread out on the back veranda.
Again she marveled that a man who must be used to servants knew his way around in a kitchen. She didn’t mind in the least that he hadn’t thought to prepare more sides. The simple meal was perfect even before the three deer re-appeared to delight them.
Later, when she was back on the couch again and he’d finished the dinner dishes, he pulled up a chair beside her. Pleased that he hadn’t gone up to his room, she declared the steak delicious and thanked him for his trouble.
“I’m not much of a cook,” he said. “Eggs, steak and toast. That’s about it.”
“Don’t forget potatoes. Yours were very nice. Crispy.”
“Right. Sometimes I can stick a potato or two in the oven and sprinkle them with olive oil and salt. I have a cook in Houston, but I don’t like eating at home alone. So, mostly I eat out.”
“Me, too. Or I do take-out. Because I don’t have time to cook.”
“I imagined you in ritzy New York restaurants, dining on meals cooked by the world’s best chefs, eating with famous movie stars.”
When his expression darkened, she suspected he was thinking of Hugh.
“Not all that often. Fancy meals take time to eat…as well as to cook and serve,” she said, avoiding the topic of Hugh. “And fans pester you for autographs. Besides, there’s nothing quite like a homemade meal, is there?”
“You used to want to be an actress so badly. What’s it like now that you’ve succeeded?”
“It’s nice, but I work almost all the time. Even when I have a job, I’m always auditioning for the next part. When I sign on with a show that isn’t in New York, I travel and live out of a suitcase. One minute it’s a crazy life, full of parties and friends, then it gets pretty lonely. You can’t hold on to anything because it’s all so ephemeral. The friends I make within a cast feel closer than family for a while. Then they vanish after each show closes,” she admitted.
“But when you sign with a new show or film you have a new set of friends.”
“Yes, but as I get older, I see that, despite the bright lights, a life without stability isn’t nearly so glamorous as people think.”
“It’s what you wanted.”
She sighed. “Be careful what you wish for. I guess I took my real life for granted. Lately, I’ve realized how much I miss family…and roots.”
“What does that mean?”
“My job is so all-consuming that I…I haven’t been good at relationships. I’m Southern, like Gram. She sees my single state as a failure, and lets me know it every chance she gets. Her dream for me was marriage to a handsome husband. I was supposed to have two children, a boy and a girl, and live happily ever after in a cute house surrounded by a white picket fence.”
He smiled. “But you, being a modern woman, aren’t into such an outdated, traditional formula for happiness. Strange, that it can still exert such a hold over a female as wise as your grandmother.”
“You’re right, of course. I just wish I could make her understand that I have everything I set my heart on. I’m grateful for what I have, for what I’ve achieved. So many people would give anything to be me.”
She was saying the same truths she’d lived by for years, but, for some reason, the words felt hollow tonight.
Zach didn’t say anything.
She’d never imagined having such an ordinary, simple, companionable evening with him, and she found herself enjoying it more than she’d enjoyed anything in a very long time. When they’d been kids, they’d been friends before they’d been lovers. They hadn’t fallen in love until after he’d graduated and she’d been entering her senior year.
Now, as an adult, she spent so much time working on her image and her brand, so much time learning various roles, and never very much time being herself. What would it be like to have a lifetime of such evenings with a man like him? To take them for granted?
She sighed. That wasn’t who she was now. She had her career, a bright future-and it was on the stage and screen.
“What about you?” she whispered. “You’re successful. Are you happy?”
“Like you, I’m not unhappy,” he muttered thickly. “I, too, have everything I always thought I wanted…except maybe for…” He shot her a look that was so intense it burned away her breath.
“For what?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he growled. “Not even billionaires can have it all. Not that we don’t pretend that we can, with our fancy cars and homes and yachts.” Frowning, he sprang to his feet and then glanced at his watch. “But you’re injured, and it’s late. You must be tired. Besides, Sands prescribed that painkiller. I’m afraid I’ve been very selfish to keep you up so long.”
She didn’t want him to go. “No. I’m barely injured, and you’ve waited on me hand and foot… And I just sat there and let you.”
“Well, I won’t keep you any longer.”
“But I really do want to know…about you,” she whispered.
“Let’s save that boring tale for later,” he said, cutting her off. “Who knows-maybe you’ll get lucky and never have to hear it.” He picked up her crutches. “Why don’t I help you to your room?”
Feeling stunned and a little hurt by how abruptly he’d ended their pleasant evening, she got to her feet. As she stood, her uncertain eyes met his. But he wouldn’t hold her gaze.
Suddenly, she again felt awkward at the thought of their sharing the house for another night. Stiffening, he handed her the crutches and then backed away.
“I hate these things,” she said as she placed the crutches under her arms.
“It’s a minor sprain. The doctor said you might even be off them as soon as Tuesday.”
“I hope so. Thanks again for tonight. When you convinced me to come here for the weekend, I never thought…we would have this kind of evening or that I could enjoy simply being with you so much.”
“Neither the hell did I,” he admitted in a stilted tone, still not looking at her. “Believe me-I had a very different kind of weekend in mind.”