“They got divorced and Cathy happily moved on with her life. We still keep in touch and she’s remarried with three beautiful kids now.”
“Good for her. I like happy endings.”
“So do I.”
Zac and I paused our conversation and just stared into each other’s eyes. And the longer we did, the faster my heart beat and the deeper the breaths I was having to take. Zac swallowed hard and then turned his attention to my bouquet of flowers. They were the only thing left in my buggy.
“Speaking of happiness…” he said, picking them up. “These look like some really happy flowers to me.”
“I think they look that way too. And by the way, these were my mom’s favorite,” I said, pointing at one of the Galaxy orchids.
“Wereher favorite?”
“Yes. She passed away last year from breast cancer.”
Zac’s jaw dropped. “My God, Stevie. You have been through so much in the last year and I am so sorry.”
“It’s just life but it’s all good again now. My moving here to Dallas was a wise choice.”
“Well, I for one am glad that you’re here, and I’m glad that life is good for you again.”
“Thank you.”
Zac smiled and handed me the bouquet.
“I won’t take up any more of your time. I’m sure you need to get home so you can get ready for your dad’s arrival,” he said, glancing down at my mouth. Twice. The second time, it was a bit more than a glance. It made me wonder if there was something on my lips that shouldn’t be there, so I reached up and lightly touched them with my fingertips.
“Okay, Zac, what’s on my lips? You keep looking at them but I can’t feel anything.”
He smiled at me again and then shook his head. “There’s nothing on your lips other than that sparkly lip gloss.”
“Is that why you keep looking at them? Because of my lip gloss?”
“No. That’s not why.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s your lips.”
“What about them?”
“Stevie, I already feel like I’ve spoken out of place here and I apologize if you feel that I have. We really don’t need to be talking about your lips.”
“Zac, seriously… Is there something wrong with the way they look?” I asked, touching them again. “I know they’re full and maybe I shouldn’t wear this kind of lip gloss on them. It just draws attention to them, doesn’t it?”
He put his hands on his waist and looked down at the ground, grinning, then cut his eyes back up at me. “Nothing’s wrong with the way your lips look. Nothing at all. And don’t stop wearing that lip gloss because it looks really nice on you.”
Another pause between us and another lingering look from Zac that filled my stomach with butterflies.Again. It happened when he and I first made eye contact on the running trail and it happened too many times to count when we were at Mystic Bar. It also happened to me each time I walked into the courthouse this week, thinking I might run into Zac, although I never did. And it happened to me today when I first looked across this parking lot and saw him after he called out my name.
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
“You need to get going and so do I.”
“Okay.”
“Enjoy your time with your dad.”
“I will. Enjoy your time with your little boy at the zoo tomorrow and also that yard work on Sunday.”