Luck. Maybe a lot of life did come down to luck. But it also came down to creating your own luck, or at least, doing your damn best to give it a shove in the right direction. It had been late by the time April had arrived home after the very successful night markets, and Zac’s lights were off. She hadn’t heard back from him after either of her messages, but maybe he needed to process them and think things through. She wouldn’t rush him or be annoying and ask ‘did you get my message?’
And having to be back at work early in Sunday morning left no time for crossing paths with him, so she focused on keeping busy in the store by planning her Christmas stock and display ideas.
‘Don’t forget Halloween,’ Belinda said. ‘We should push that as much as possible before letting the Christmas stuff take up space.’
‘You want to take over the store one day, don’t you, Bee?’ April asked. She’d never called her Bee before and didn’t know why she did just then, but it had popped out and felt right.
‘Already planning my strategy to climb my way to the top.’ She laughed a fake witches cackle and rubbed her hands together.
‘Crazy woman,’ April chuckled.
‘I have a good mentor,’ she replied.
‘Hey, so the newspaper emailed and said it’ll be a two page spread on Wednesday, showcasing the photos from the event and talking about the charity and encouraging more donations.’ April jiggled on the spot.
‘You did well, boss,’ she said.
‘We did well.’
They high-fived each other, and April went out back to the storeroom to unpack more of the Halloween stock.
The bell on the store’s door jingled, and she heard Belinda say, ‘Howdy, what can I do for you?’
‘I’m here to see April,’ said the voice, and April’s heart stopped.
No way, it couldn’t be. Not here.
She returned to the store and her mouth fell open. ‘Zac?’
Belinda’s eyes went wide and she pretended to be busy in the corner.
Zac’s presence bombarded her with a collision of disbelief and surprise. He wore jeans, as usual, darker ones, his hands in their pockets, and a thin, short-sleeved grey shirt with buttons down the front, of which the first three at the top were undone, exposing parts of his tattoos. He also wore an accomplished smile, his eyes bright and alert, gaze alternating between her and the store’s surroundings, like he was stepping into her world for the first time.
‘Zac, what are you doing here?’ She took a tentative step closer, but stayed next to the counter until she knew of his intentions. He could be here to tell her he was leaving. Today. And this would be the last time they’d see each other. Her hand shook as it leant on the side of the counter.
‘I made a promise, remember? To walk into your store one day.’ He removed his hands from his pockets and surveyed the displays to his right, then looked back at her. ‘You said it could be in a million years but I figured I might not be looking too great by then and you wouldn’t recognise me, so thought I better do it now.’
A quick smiled flashed on April’s face, sending warm shots of excitement to her cheeks. She took another step closer. ‘Wow. I can’t believe you did it. I wasn’t expecting, I …’ Thoughts came and went, but none made sense. ‘I’m glad you came,’ she said, then her body softened and she walked closer, and they stood with only a small display table separating them. ‘Zac, I’m sorry. Again. I hope my message made sense. I know you can’t just snap out of it and I wouldn’t expect you to. I hope you forgive me.’
‘I do,’ he said. ‘It’s okay, don’t beat yourself up. I know you were frustrated. But you were right in a way, I do need to start taking action to overcome it. So today, I thought why the hell not, I’ll take a little walk down to my favourite candle store.’ He lifted his palms up in the air. ‘Even though I almost changed my mind and turned back at least forty-seven times.’
She chuckled. ‘How do you know it’s your favourite candle store if you’ve never been before?’
He rubbed his chin. ‘Something about the name, reminds me of someone.’
She found herself twirling a loosely curled strand of her hair.
Zac’s face became serious. ‘The thing I’ve realised is, I’ve always found it hard to ask for help. I’ve always been the helper. Call me proud, I don’t know, but now, I know I need to get some of that help stuff. And if there’s anyone I’d want to help me with the help stuff, it’s you.’ He moved towards her and grasped her elbows gently. ‘Will you?’
She looked deep into his eyes and saw the part of him she’d seen that night during the eye-gazing exercise. The part she’d connected with, desired, wanted. She gulped. ‘I can’t imagine any other alternative.’
He smiled softly. ‘So we just jump right in, hey? As you said?’ He rubbed his thumbs back and forth across her arms. ‘Take a risk and give things a shot, otherwise …’
‘Otherwise we just stay friends and have occasional really hot sex,’ she blurted with a shrug.
A laugh burst from Belinda’s mouth, as it did from Zac’s. ‘Sorry. I’ll just ah … I have to go check something …’ Her employee scurried off to the storeroom.
‘The things that come out of your mouth, April.’ Zac shook his head with a smile. ‘I love them.’ He leaned in closer and whispered, ‘I’ve got a better idea. We take a risk and give things a shot, and we have occasional really hot sex.’ He winked.
She moved her hands to around his neck. ‘Replace the word occasional with frequent and you’ve got yourself a deal.’
‘Deal,’ he said.
He leaned closer and she tilted her face up and received his eager kiss. His lips were like sinking into a soft, supportive, welcoming bed at the end of a hard day. She wanted to stay there, immersed in him, for as long as she could. His hands held her cheeks firmly but tenderly, and then moved around her back, pulling her in close.
She nestled her head in his neck and whispered in his ear. ‘I’m with you, Zac. One hundred percent.’
‘Oh man this is so going on Facebook!’ Belinda appeared with her phone camera. ‘And hi, I’m Belinda,’ she said, holding out her hand for Zac.
He shook it and laughed.
And as the vibration of his laugh reverberated through his chest as she rested against it, she knew she had found her true home.