“Happy Birthday, Zachary!”
All the employees at the boat shop cheered and tossed confetti when he walked into the break room at the end of the workday.
“Ah, you were all only pretending you’d forgotten. Clever.”
Other than a couple of low-key birthday wishes, no one had said anything.
Annie gave him a birthday hug. “I kept telling Ramona you’d be mad or sad that we’d forgotten—”
Ramona nudged Annie out of the way to slip her arms around his neck and give him a quick kiss. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“I did wonder, but no, I wasn’t bothered that you hadn’t shouted out birthday wishes all day.” Truthfully, he’d been thinking of someone else—and his plan to find her.
Ramona pulled him to a table at the back covered with gourmet goodies. Wine bottles sat in an ice bucket, and Annie went to work opening them.
“This is…great.” Shit. He needed to get to Portsmouth before a certain architect left work for the day. Hadn’t she said she put in a lot of hours? She’d beaten herself up for not working on a Saturday when her father had his heart attack. He touched his wallet in his back pocket, where he’d written down the date.
“You look unhappy,” Ramona whispered. “Did I mess up?”
He shook his head, then pulled her close to plant a kiss on top of her head. “No, it’s just the surprise thing. Thank you.”
Of course, he’d have other days to find Wendy. But it seemed they kept missing each other. So even if he arrived later than planned, he would still carry through. He would wait outside her office building and see where she went to celebrate. If she wasn’t wearing one of those sparkly tiaras, or if there were no balloons or friends making it obvious that it was her birthday, he would mention that it was his. That would start a conversation, what a coincidence, it’s mine, too, and all that.
She’d broken up with Todd three months ago, plenty of time to be ready for at least a new friendship. Wendy-future swore there would be an instant connection between them. The way he’d felt both times she’d come to him, he believed it.
He imagined various scenarios as he ate stuffed mushrooms and prosciutto-wrapped provolone and drank wine with his employees.
His. Well, his and Ramona’s. Charles had offered to sell Zachary half the business when he retired. He gave Ramona the other half. Just as Wendy had predicted, Ramona had offered him her half of the shop in exchange for a business marriage. She’d prepared a whole plan, explaining how they would be wealthier if they were funneling both their incomes into one residence. Carpooling would save money. They’d be a tighter, stronger team.
Truthfully, Wendy’s warning hadn’t really mattered. He wouldn’t have accepted anyway. So he and Ramona were now business partners, though he felt a little odd about the fact that she still harbored feelings for him.
Hadn’t Wendy warned him about that too, how Ramona wouldn’t give up?
“Time to blow out the candles!” Maura called an hour later, gesturing to an elaborate cake being wheeled in on a cart.
He laughed. Now this was a special surprise. The cake was in the shape of his sailboat. Tall candles were cut at various heights to emulate the mast and sails. “Wow, that’s incredible. It even has Bermuda Blues on it.” He looked at Ramona, who had to be behind this. “Thank you.” Despite her clinginess, she was a good friend.
“Make a wish,” Pete said, “before those candles topple.”
Zachary smiled. He had almost everything he wanted. His only wish: to find Wendy. He blew out the candles to much applause.
After everyone finished their cake, he thanked them. “This has been great. But I’m afraid I need to get going.”
“We could go to Dirty Mike’s for beer and karaoke,” Peter suggested.
Ramona touched his arm. “Or someplace quieter. A nice dinner at Beaumont’s.” She glanced back to include those in the vicinity. “For whoever wants to go.”
“Quiet?” another guy said. “What, is Zachary eighty?” He broke into gusts of laughs.
“Thanks, everyone, but I’m just going to take a drive on my own. Good night.”
He left without responding to the jibes, or Ramona’s sad face. She’d been trying to make plans with him all week to celebrate. He’d had lunch with her, but he’d sensed her disappointment.
Ah, Ramona. Funny, sad, sometimes angry, sometimes sweet. He cared about her, and he’d found her to be a good business partner. She put her all into the shop, for her father’s sake—he checked in from time to time—and for Zachary’s. He didn’t know if she did it for herself though.
His thoughts turned to Wendy as he headed to his car. Would she remember him down in Miami at the pizza shop? If she did, she’d probably think he was a stalker. She would look a lot like she did when she came from the future, which was only three years from then. He smiled as he remembered her touching his face last time and whispering, “You’re grown up.” God, he couldn’t wait to see her, to touch her. Laugh with her. He’d insinuated that he had no time to date, but the truth was, he had no desire to. The women he’d passed time with didn’t begin to make him feel what Wendy did.
“Zack!”
He knew it was Ramona before he turned to find her running out, an envelope in her hand. Breathless, she huffed, “We forgot to give you your card.”
“Thanks.” He opened it, smiling at all the signatures. Even though he’d become their boss, he kept a casual interface with everyone. He worked on the boats. He was still one of them. “Nice.”
“Well, good night.” She started to back away.
His phone rang. His gran’s number showed on the display. “Hi, Gran. What’s—”
“It’s your granddad,” she said on a sob. “He’s in the hospital. I think…I think he had a stroke.”