Chapter Ten

Zane

Standing there with a to-go tray of two coffees, Zane’s stomach churned as he knocked on Lily’s front door. After all, it wasn’t quite noon yet so coffee seemed like a good choice.

They had spent so much time jumping from activity to activity, he thought a little downtime was in order. Hoping hot coffee and nowhere else to be would give them some time to get to know one another a little better. They had Christmas in common, but he’d like to know more about this young woman he was spending all this time with.

But the sudden knot in his stomach had him second-guessing his plan.

Maybe he should’ve called first rather than just showing up unannounced. What if she wasn’t home? Now it just felt kind of rude as if he was invading her space. What if she was still asleep? She didn’t seem like the sleeping till noon type, but what did he know?

And maybe he worried too much.

A beautiful smile lit up her face when she opened the door, and her eyes met his. “Zane? Hi! What are you doing here? We didn’t have plans this afternoon, did we?” She looked at her watch then back at Zane. A slight look of panic flashed across her face, and she was obviously trying to mask it with a grin. She wiped her hands on a dishtowel that she was holding.

“No.” Zane put a hand up in front of him, keeping the other one on the coffee cup carrier. “Sorry to worry you. No. Our plans aren’t until tonight. I just had been thinking that—” Suddenly, he had no idea what he really wanted out of today. It was as if he was on the spot and everything he wanted to say left his brain. “I brought coffee.”

“Zane? Do you want to come in?” Lily stepped aside and held the door open.

Luckily, he was able to get out a tongue-tied, “Yeah, sure.” When he stepped inside a scent of goodness reached his nose. “Are you baking?” he asked.

“I am. It’s that time of year, you know. Christmas cookies and all that. C’mon, you can be my taste tester.”

As she led him through the house and into the kitchen, the aroma of cookies filled the air.

Zane looked around the room and saw numerous mixing bowls lining the counter. Along with cookie cutters and scraps of discarded dough. A buzzer went off, making them both turn toward the sound.

“It smells wonderful in here.” Zane set the coffee cup holder down on an empty part of the counter.

“Take your coat off and make yourself comfortable. I need to grab these.” She ran to the stove, grabbed oven mitts, and turned off the timer.

He slid off his jacket and tossed it on the back of a chair. He watched Lily in the kitchen. She was obviously in her element.

It reminded him of when he was little, and his Aunt Alice would help him and Spencer make cut-out cookies to leave out for Santa.

“Do you need any help?

“Um.” She looked around. “I do have two more dozen to bake and then four dozen to decorate. Are you offering your assistance?”

“Yeah, sure. I stopped by to see if you wanted to go for a walk or go grab some lunch but baking cookies sounds like more fun.”

“Then it’s settled. If you want an apron, there’s some extras hanging over there.” She pointed to a few hooks on the wall that held two more aprons.

“I think I’m okay,” Zane said as he washed and dried his hands.

“The dough is next to the rolling pin and ready to be rolled out. You can use any of the cookie cutters you choose. If you can roll the dough to about one-third inch thickness…”

Zane must’ve given her a weird look when she said “one-third inch”. He didn’t mean to, but he’d never heard anyone use such exact terms when baking unless it was on one of those baking television shows that his aunt always watched.

“Sorry.” Lily chuckled. “It’s not like you need to grab a ruler or anything. Just don’t make them too thin. Try to keep them about this thick.” She held her fingers apart at what he assumed was about one-third inch.

“Got it.” He went with what his aunt taught him, rolling the dough out until he thought his aunt would approve. For once, his childhood lessons superseded his math and science skills.

“Oh, that’s perfect.” She looked over his shoulder and smiled. “You are a natural.”

He used the cookie cutters while she iced the freshly baked cookies.

“So, tell me a little about who Lily is.”

“Me? Oh, I’m boring. You don’t want to know about me.” She turned away from him, but he was sure she was blushing at his question. “Tell me about Zane.”

If she wanted to play it this way, then fine. “Okay, I’ll start. I’m not the athletic type and might look like I’m scrawny,” he flexed a non-existent muscle, “but I run 5k marathons any time I get the chance. I’m kind of a gym rat, but I’m not there to get buff, just to stay fit. I grew up with my cousin, Spencer, and we’re still close today. He’s actually my roommate.”

“Oh yeah?” Lily put another tray in the oven. “Your families must’ve been really close.”

He wasn’t interested in telling her that part of his life just yet. “Um, that’s a whole other story that I really don’t feel like getting into right now.”

“Oh, okay.” She looked up, meeting his glance as she closed the oven door. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Let me see, what else can I tell you about myself? I like football and go to games anytime I get the chance, but I’m more like the ‘band-nerd’ rather than the ‘star-athlete’ if that makes any sense.”

“I get that. I always felt that way too. Never quite fit in with the popular crowd. I was never a party girl, too busy studying with my nose in books. That’s what happens when you want to go to law school.”

“Law school, huh? Nice,” Zane continued, not missing the way Lily was slowly opening up to him yet afraid to make a big deal out of it either. “My family is small, but we are very close.”

Lily, who was busy icing some cookies, didn’t even look up from her work. “Mine too. We are very close and when we get to spend time together, we make it count.”

Zane had finished his task of cutting out cookies. “Looks like I’m all done over here. Can you use some help decorating?” He quietly moved next to Lily.

“Sure.” Lily moved the containers of icing in between them.

Zane looked at some of the cookies she’d already decorated. “Wow, you are pretty good at this.”

“Oh, thanks.” Lily shrugged. “It’s nothing special.”

“Please. You’re decorating skills are amazing.”

Her face turned a light shade of pink. “If you say so. What is something you don’t tell a lot of people?”

That was a good question, and he had to think about that for a moment. “While everyone knows I like to read science books, what they don’t know is I really enjoy a good horror or fantasy novel.”

“Horror, huh?” she mumbled.

“Yeah. You a fan?”

She shook her head no.

“Scared?” Zane nudged her with his elbow.

“No, I don’t get scared,” she said with conviction. “I just don’t like it, that’s all.”

“Okay, okay.” He held up his hands in front of him.

Things were quiet for a few minutes until Lily spoke up again as she decorated the last few cookies. “I learned how to bake from my grandmother. My mom was never really a baker. She was really busy, so she would stop at the local bakery for desserts. When I was little, my grandmother would babysit me, and we’d bake cookies. It was our thing.”

Zane nodded. “Nice.”

“I don’t think my baking holds a candle to hers, but I think the cookies are okay.” She took a bite of one.

“Just okay?” He tasted a cookie too, not convinced that these cookies were only okay. “Holy crap these are delicious. I mean, they smelled wonderful while you were baking them, but they taste even better than they smelled. Do you take orders? Man, you should open a shop.”

That got a hearty laugh out of Lily, which finally made things seem less formal and more relaxed between them. They laughed over her being a baker/lawyer someday, imagining that shingle hanging outside her office. As they cleaned up the baking mess, they both were scrubbing the counter and came face to face.

“Hang on, you have a little bit of flour on your cheek.” Zane ran his thumb under her eye, brushing off the smudge of flour.

His hand lingered against her soft skin. Slowly, their laughter faded. They were standing inches from one another with their eyes locked and their bodies inches from touching.

His heart pounded, and his mouth went dry as he looked at her lips.

Faint Christmas carols played in the background, but it was hard to hear them over the loud beating of his heart.

Their eyes were still locked on one another.

“Lily,” he began. He was going to do it. It was the perfect time to tell her. They moved closer to one another, their lips only inches apart. “I—”

“Oh. My. God! What a day!” A female came in the door, slamming it behind her and tossing shopping bags on to the couch. “People out there are nu—”

Zane’s focus on Lily’s lips was broken as they both turned to look at the loud young woman.

“Harley?” Lily asked. She sounded surprised as if she wasn’t expecting the young woman to walk in on them.

Zane surely wasn’t.

“Oh, hey. Sorry. I didn’t know you had company.” The young woman looked mortified as she tried to back out of the room. “Just pretend I’m not here. Don’t let me interrupt you, just keep doing whatever it is you were doing.”

Lily bolted to the opposite side of the kitchen as Zane. “Don’t be silly. We were just making cookies.”

“Yeah, you were making something all right…”

“Harley!” Lily said in a scolding voice.

Before Lily could say anything else, the young woman, apparently named Harley, began to run upstairs but before she got to the top of the stairs, she yelled, “I told you so!”

Zane raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help himself when he asked, “Told you what?”

“Oh, nothing.” Lily waved him off as she turned back to her trays of cookies. “What was it you were going to say before we were interrupted?”

Now it was Zane’s turn to hide his uncomfortableness. “Me?” He shook his head. “It wasn’t anything.”

“Well, it was something. You started to say something.” She walked over to him, leaned on the counter beside him and bashfully moved her glance from the floor to his face. “You know…when my roommate interrupted us.”

Oh, he knew exactly what they were interrupted from doing—almost kissing—but the moment was gone now.

“So?”

“I was just going to say that I need more coffee.”

More coffee? I’m such a dork. I couldn’t think of anything better than more coffee?

“Sorry!” Harley said as she snuck down the steps. “I forgot my coffee down here, and you know I need my caffeine.”

“Harley, this is my…my friend Zane,” Lily introduced with some hesitation. “Zane, this is my roommate Harley.”

Harley joined them in the kitchen and put out her hand to him. “Nice to meet you, Zane.”

“Likewise.” He nodded as he shook her hand.

“Oh, right. Zane, the Christmas friend.” Harley grinned devilishly.

Nodding, he shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

Lily glanced at the clock. “Oh! Look how late it is, I better go get ready?”

“What’s the da…I mean, on the agenda for tonight?” Harley asked.

“Season’s Greenings at the botanical gardens,” Zane said.

Harley rolled her eyes, and he swore he heard her gag a little. “My sympathies, but better you than me!”

Lily shook her head with a sigh that Zane took as a combination of amusement and annoyance. “Zane, please make yourself comfortable. Help yourself to anything you want in the kitchen too, I mean, I won’t be long, but there’s drinks in the refrigerator and cookies, obviously.”

“No worries, Lil. I’ll keep your friend company,” Harley said.

“That’s what worries me,” Lily responded.

“Go ahead and do what you need to do. I’ll be fine,” Zane said.

Lily didn’t look convinced, but she nodded and went upstairs to get ready.

“So, Harley, I take it you are not a Christmas person?” Zane asked as he sat down on the couch.”

“Christmas friend Zane,” she started. “I love Christmas. I like the shopping and the good food. I like going home to spend the day with the family. What I don’t care for is my obsessive roommate, her overzealous decorating, and all of her ‘fun’ ideas.” Harley used air-quotes when she said fun and motioned around the very festive looking living room.

He couldn’t help but chuckle. The Christmas decorations were a bit extra but nothing he wasn’t used to in his own home growing up. “I can see how that might not be your thing.”

“But is it your thing?” she asked.

“Um, well, kind of. Growing up, Christmas was a really big deal in our house. We had the large tree, all the decorations, and lots of family time. Actually, the train display Lily and I went to was a staple in my childhood.”

“So you’re saying that you are a Christmas fanatic like my dear roommate is.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Is that a bad thing?”

“No,” Harley said overly dramatic. “It is a wonderful thing! Because you, my Christmas angel, you are saving me from being asked to go to all these things with her.”

Zane chuckled. “You’re welcome?”

“I have been her Christmas event date for too many years.” Harley laughed and flopped down into an armchair. “She’s all yours.”

Harley had no idea how much he enjoyed going to these events with Lily.

“Ready?” Lily called as she hurried down the steps, pulling on a sweater while juggling her purse. “Are you okay sharing an Uber?”

 

Offering Lily his hand, Zane helped her as she stepped out of the car. “Ready to see flowers?”

Ready to see flowers? That came out way more casual than he intended. There were probably a hundred other ways he could’ve referred to tonight’s activity—and he chose that one.

Lily smiled. “It’s more than just flowers.” Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that hung over her shoulder and she was wearing a knit cap that looked like a beret. “Ever been?”

Zane was focusing hard on how the color of her hat brought out the color in her eyes. It took him a minute to realize she had asked him something. “Oh, me? No. You?”

“Yeah. A few times.” Without any further explanation, she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the building.

The door they entered through led to a large room full of various train displays. The mixture of the noise of the little train motors and all the giggling from the children was almost too much for him to bear. Luckily, all he could focus on was the delight on Lily’s face as she hurried to the closest train exhibit.

“Oh! Zane, look at this one—you have to see it!” She pulled him in the direction of the train before he could even slip off his jacket.

Christmas trees filled the room with train tracks running around, under, through, and above them. Lights twinkled and soft music played in the background of all the festive chaos.

Draping his jacket over his arm, he nodded to the enormous display. “Grand Central Station?”

“Not just Grand Central Station.” She pulled off her coat and also slipped it over her arm. “But Grand Central Station made entirely of plants! How cool is that?” The child-like enthusiasm in her voice had him excited at that horticultural fact, even though he wasn’t a flower person.

The trains were very cool and the numerous different real-life stations and attractions too. He knew a lot of time obviously went into this annual display, yet all he could focus on was Lily. She ran from display to display, rattling off her knowledge of how each was created and fun facts about the designers.

“And you say you’ve only been here a few times? You seem to know this place better than the workers do.”

She grinned as she tapped her one temple. “Got it all memorized up here. And maybe it has been more than a few times.” Letting out a laugh, she added, “All right, fine, I actually volunteered here when I was a teenager. I spent a lot of time learning about everything that went into the display. You should know by now that when I do something, I don’t do it halfway.”

Zane took her hands in his. “I like that about you.”

Her eyes locked with his for a moment, and they stood together in silence.

The sound of a ringing bell caught their attention, and then Santa Claus belted out his traditional “Ho! Ho! Ho!” which caused a stampede of young children to run by them, almost knocking Lily off her feet.

Catching her balance, her eyes followed the gaggle of children, then she noticed what was behind them.

“Oh, wow! Look!” She pointed to a display of the U.S. Capitol building before she rushed over to it, slipping her way past everyone so she had a front row spot.

Zane did his best to follow behind her. “Right up your alley, huh?”

“What?” She cocked her head toward him in confusion. “I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say that in ages.”

“You mean—right up your alley?” he asked with a shrug. “My aunt and uncle always used that saying when I was growing up.”

Lily covered her mouth, trying to hide a chuckle. “It just took me by surprise, that’s all. But it fits you.”

“I hope that’s a good thing?”

She nodded with a hint of sweetness. “Oh, it is.”

Before they could discuss things any further, Lily shifted her focus to the government-related displays. This was becoming a trend with them.

Lily went back to reciting how the buildings were constructed using plant-based materials, and how each of the buildings were set up to mimic the real things, including the little statue of Abraham Lincoln that sat inside the Lincoln Memorial.

She stopped just long enough to sniff some flowers. Her eyes closed and a smile slid across her lips as if she was in her most favorite place on earth.

“You really like flowers, huh?”

“Well…” She smiled coyly. “I am named after one, so…”

Surrounded by thousands of flowers and poinsettias in colors he never knew existed, he still thought the prettiest thing in the entire building was her.

 

 

The ride home was a quiet one. It didn’t help the awkwardness of the moment that they were in a compact car, and he was so tall that his knees were cramped in the backseat. He was turned to the side, which only made matters worse. His legs almost touched hers now.

The car pulled up to the curb outside of Lily’s apartment.

“Well, I guess that’s a wrap for tonight?” Zane asked from the backseat of the Uber.

“Oh wait, come inside with me for a minute. I want to give you some cookies to take home.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“Nonsense! I made a plate for you, so you might as well get them.” Lily pulled him out of the car by his hand. Calling back to the driver, she asked, “Can you wait one minute? He’ll be right back.”

The driver nodded as they hurried to Lily’s front door. She quickly unlocked the door and dragged Zane inside.

Zane looked back at the car. “The car is waiting.”

“Let him wait. He’s getting paid either way.”

She wasn’t wrong.

Lily ran to the kitchen and brought back a container clad with Christmas designs. “I can’t believe you just stood in the doorway waiting. You could’ve sat down.”

He knew damn well after how tense this night went, if he sat down and waited for her, he might not want to leave. “Nah, I’m good. After all, the car—”

Lily shoved the container into his hands and tossed her head back with a subtle laugh. “The driver doesn’t care, trust me. All he cares about is your payment. He doesn’t care what we’re doing.”

He couldn’t help but watch her every movement as she ran her hands over his chest and brushed a few snowflakes off his jacket. Her hair was falling into her face.

As if it was something that he did all the time, Zane reached out and brushed a few rogue curls back behind her ear. She looked up at him, her mouth dropping open like she was going to say something, except no words came out. Instead, she searched his face and her eyes locked with his.

His knuckles trailed gently down her cheek and he admired her. Slowly they moved toward one another like they were moving in slow motion

“Hey, Lil, is that you? How was the da—” Harley called as she hurried down the stairs. “Oh! Whoops! Not again! Don’t mind me. Carry on. Act like I wasn’t even here, I mean, I’m not now, so back to whatever you were doing!”

“It wasn’t a—” Lily said at Harley as she hurried back up the stairs.

“A what?” Zane asked her, already knowing the answer. After the way Harley grilled him earlier, he knew exactly what she was referring to—that it was a date. And Lily was not very convincing when she denied that it was.

“Nothing. She’s just…Harley.” Lily waved him off and took a half-step back.

The moment was lost. Again.

These intense moments were happening more often, and he knew he needed to tell her how he felt. He just didn’t know how.

“Well…” He motioned toward the cookie container. “Thanks for the cookies.”

Lily smiled and bit her bottom lip. “Sure, no problem. After all, you did help bake them.”

Zane nodded. “Right. Well, I better take my cookies and get going. Don’t want to keep the Uber waiting too long.”

As if on cue, the driver honked his horn, which made them both chuckle.

“Yeah, you better go.”

“Talk to you tomorrow?” he asked before he turned away.

She flashed a shy smile. “Yeah. Tomorrow.”

He hurried to the car, happy at the slight bit of progress they seemed to make tonight. Because while it was true that this wasn’t a real date, one thing was crystal clear to him now—he needed to take her on a date. A real date.