Zack left Wickersham Hall as soon as he was able. He climbed inside his truck and slammed the door, wondering why he'd ever agreed to Kaitlyn's request. He'd known this would be a difficult job. He'd known he'd be forced to deal with George and Wynonna even though they were the last two people he ever wanted to have to talk to again in his life.
But he'd agreed. All for the chance to see Becca. Even if he still wasn't sure of why he wanted to see her at all.
He drove back to his studio, located near the veterinary clinic, but bypassed his turn. Several minutes later, he found himself sitting outside of the Shake Shak. Emma, his half-sister and cousin as weird and redneck as that sounded, spotted him from inside and motioned for him to come in.
"Hey! I was hoping you'd stop by," Emma said once he'd made it inside the old-fashioned diner. "How are you?"
Emma enveloped him in a hug, smelling of more than a little Shake Shak fry grease.
"Been busy. What are you doing here?" he asked, releasing her and following her urging to seat himself on one of the bar stools facing the ice cream machines.
"Dad and Helen are off on an anniversary trip and I told him I would check in on things."
In the years since finding out that Frank Wyatt was his father, Zack had formed a strange relationship with the man. Not exactly something anyone would call father-son but more... mentor? Counselor?
Emma was largely responsible for the change, hiring Zack to work at the Shak despite her father's upset, and getting them together as often as possible just to form a connection. Eventually the awkwardness lessened and they began to talk man-to-man. And as strange as it had seemed at the time, he'd eventually been able to forgive Frank and his biological mother for making the decisions they had and was able to focus on the here and now.
Emma returned from refilling a patron's soda glass and settled herself back behind the counter.
"Well? Don't just sit there. I know today was the day you met with Kaity Waites and her family. How'd it go?"
He lifted an eyebrow. "I didn't tell you that."
"Yeah, well, I have my ways," she said, laughing softly. "Oh, come on. You know everything happening in Stone River flows through here at some point. Besides, the wedding is the event of the season," she added with a smile, shoving a folded newspaper across the counter to where he sat. "Everyone is talking about it. The wedding, the magazine spread... Sally Mitchell said her daughter called her earlier and told Sally she'd spotted you and Kaity walking the grounds at Wicker," she said, using the locals' nickname for the old estate. "And then she saw you inside talking to the Waites family... Including Becca."
Kaity's big blue eyes stared up at him from the newspaper. He'd taken the photo of Kaity and her fiancé, but looking at it now he saw it as a man and not a photographer. Would he ever find someone who would make him look as happy as the couple on the page?
"Hey," Emma said, nudging his hand with hers. "You okay?"
Zack shifted his gaze from the newspaper to Emma and shook his head. "Yeah."
"Your mouth says yes but your body says no. That bad, huh?"
Several seconds passed before he was able to speak what was on his mind. "She has a kid," he said, careful to keep his voice low so none of the other customers could overhear.
Emma had been around that fateful summer and knew of his and Becca's... fling. Emma knew he'd taken the brunt of all that had happened, and also knew how badly he'd been hurt because of the accusations of being a gold digger and using Becca to try to get money from the family. "She has this big ring on her finger. It was just-- Seeing her and her son-- Knowing she married someone else when I wasn't even good enough for her to..."
"Listen to me," Emma said. "You are the best, and that was her loss, you hear me? You don't need to prove yourself to anyone, Zack."
"Still--"
"I get what you're saying. No matter how many times you tell yourself it doesn't matter, you still wonder. But that won't get you anywhere."
"I know. But in this case, I know exactly what he had that I didn't--money, a name, connections. Everything Miss Waites apparently wanted in a husband."
Had a part of him actually hoped for some impossible scenario where Becca came running into his arms and apologized for leaving him? Yeah, right. Things like that only ever happened in books and sappy movies. "I don't know what I expected but it was more than her pretending nothing had ever happened between us."
"She may have pretended but I'm sure it wasn't easy for her, either. Just remember that when you decide."
He glanced up and found Emma's eyes trained on him. How amazing was it that when he'd met her she was totally blind but now... "Decide what? What do you mean?"
"I mean, thinking about having to deal with Becca as part of the wedding party as well as the wedding planner is one thing, but actually seeing her face-to-face is another. Will you be able to handle being around her after all that was said and done?"
"I signed the contract. Besides, life goes on, right? Turn the other cheek? Forgive and forget?”
"Zack, just consider something, okay? You were both so young. As hard as it is, remember to look at things from a grown man's perspective rather than a teenage boy's, okay?"
Yeah, they'd been young. But not too young. He'd been nineteen at the time, nearly twenty, to Becca's seventeen. But she'd finished her senior year of high school and seemed more mature than most of the girls her age, different than the other girls who lived in the affluent area of Rose Hill. But it had all been a lie.
"I'm not defending her. Not at all. But it's never easy standing up to your family. I know that all too well," Emma said. "And... so do you."
Emma referred to her overprotective father and sister and how they'd sheltered her during her years of blindness, but the second reference named his adoptive father, a drunk and abuser who never had a kind word for either of his kids. But the circumstances between the two scenarios were polar opposites.
Weren't they?
"I certainly can't imagine how difficult it would be to stand up to George and Wynonna Waites."
"They are a force to be reckoned with," he murmured, wondering if maybe he had been a little unreasonable when it came to his expectations of Becca at such a young age. But he'd loved her with everything inside of him and he'd thought she'd felt the same--until the night George had caught Zack sneaking into their Rose Hill house.
He'd only wanted to see Becca, to try to talk to her and get answers about why she'd been avoiding him. But George had threatened to have him arrested and prosecuted for stalking his daughter along with breaking and entering. With a misdemeanor assault charge for punching a perv coming onto his fourteen-year-old little sister already on his record, Zack knew the man could send him to jail with no problem. George had that much power with the small town legal system.
It was go away--or get put away. Not that Becca had seemed to care either way.
"So what's she like now?" Emma asked. "Is she as pretty as ever? What did you talk about when you saw each other?"
Zack rubbed a hand along his chin and pondered Emma's questions. "She looked beautiful."
"That's it? That's all you have to say after not seeing her for ten years?"
Zack stared down at the fifties-style Formica counter in front of him. Yeah, that was all he had to say.
Because he couldn't say that with one look into Becca's beautiful face he'd realized he'd never stopped loving her.
Seeing Zack again had brought out every memory, every regret. Every what if question she'd ever pondered since leaving Stone River ten years ago.
Becca pressed her fingertips to her forehead and prayed for relief from the headache beating against her brain. Stress headaches had become the norm since her divorce and she'd quickly discovered finding a quiet spot in which to breathe and say a quick prayer was the best medicine.
Too bad "quiet" wasn't available at the moment--and wouldn't be until after the wedding was over.
"You can do this, right?" Kaity asked, her tone soft. "I mean, I know the wedding has turned into a circus and it's become crazy large, but you can pull this together? Our wedding day won't actually be a circus, will it?"
After leaving Wickersham Hall, Becca had followed behind Kaity's sporty BMW to the condo she'd purchased the moment she began earning a living as an RN. The only problem was that Wynonna had followed them as well and now stood across the spacious open-concept apartment talking loudly on her cell phone.
"I've got this," Becca said automatically, lowering her hand and pasting on a smile.
"That poor man," Kaity whispered after a bit, her gaze on their mother. "Little did he know what he took on when he bid on mama's landscaping job."
Becca smiled despite the pain. It might sound to some as though they only saw the bad in their mother, but truth be told Wynonna Waites was a fabulous chairwoman. If elected, she could run the White House and get it financially in the black in no time. She was purposeful and focused, charitable. Her only problem was being so driven she sometimes forgot the toll the work took on others. "He'll be fine. Mama's a good tipper, if nothing else."
"True. And I have to say the thoughts of a bridal shower in the new design sound wonderful."
"Even though it means a fuss?" Becca teased.
Kaity laughed and nodded. "Okay, fine. I confess, I was a little sad at the thought of eloping and not wearing the white dress and doing the whole wedding thing."
"Well, now you get the best of both worlds-- the wedding without the hassle."
"Thanks to you. Becca, thank you so much. I'll never forget this. Or your courage in having to work with Zack after what he tried to do."
Becca stilled, the pen in her hand pausing over the paper where she made notes. "Pardon?"
Kaity looked perplexed by Becca's response.
"You know... the way he tried to take advantage Mama and Daddy that summer."
"Is that what they told you?"
Kaity expression changed from sympathy to startled confusion in the blink of an eye, but before she could answer Becca's question, Wynonna ended her phone call and joined them.
"Well, it took some doing, but the garden and patio will be finished in two weeks."
Wynonna settled herself at the table with her daughters, her bracelets jingling with her movements.
Kaity looked to Becca, questions in her gaze, and Becca inhaled shakily. "Well, that's good to hear. I thought while we wait for Eli to wake up from his nap, we could go over the bridal shower preferences and I'll get the ball rolling. Also, I need a list of potential bands for the wedding and--"
"First, Rebecca, we will talk some sense into your sister. Tell her you're not willing to work with that man."
"Really, Mama? Are we back to that again?" Kaity asked, immediately going on the defensive. "People change. Zack was a kid then but he's a grown man now, a good man. If God can forgive him, I would think you can, too. Especially when we all attend the same church."
Wynonna fluffed her hair and avoided eye contact.
"I agree," Becca interjected, forcing herself to say the words and somehow find the courage to mean them. "Kaity's right. Zack and I... It was a long time ago. Besides, the odds of getting another photographer on such short notice is slim to none, and if Zack's professional reputation is even remotely accurate, Kaity has done very well scoring him as her photographer."
"It's all true," Kaity said. "And the magazine is sooo happy to have Zack doing the photo spread. All the I's have been dotted and the T's crossed. Breaking the contract would be a nightmare, like I told Daddy. Now, can we please move on?" Kaity asked with a tilt of her pointy chin.
Wynonna looked highly displeased but didn't comment further.
Becca knew her mother would continue to fight against using Zack, but for now at least the issue was settled. "So, the bridal shower. Are you thinking of a garden party, formal tea, a themed event or something else?" she asked Kaity.
Kaity practically squirmed in her seat in excitement. "A winter wonderland. That will work perfectly with Mama's new patio and garden, don't you think?"
"Yes. It's perfect." But had Kaity considered the fact she was inviting Zack into the lion's den? Zack would have to come to Rose Hill for the event. Walk into the very house he wasn't welcomed into ten years ago.
One glance at Kaity's expression caused Becca to still.
Her sister knew exactly what she was doing. And with a sudden jab of awareness, so did Becca.
Kaity had hired Zack, begged Becca to come there--because like any bride in love, she wanted to matchmake.
The pleased grin on Kaity's face confirmed it.
Lord, help me. What have I gotten myself into?