Made For Us (17 page)

“Are you kidding me? I just hope I can afford it!” She said it with a laugh, but there was a large amount of truth in that statement. Her house on the beach had been older and in need of a lot of work, but Zoe had chosen it because of the location and the cheap rent. She didn’t want to insult Lisa by offering something too low or pass out from sticker shock if Lisa threw out a high monthly rate.

“Zoe, trust me. You can afford this place.”

She only wished she had Martha’s confidence. They walked back down to the coffee shop, and Martha discreetly walked away to get herself some coffee and a scone and to leave Zoe and Lisa to talk. “So? What did you think of it?”

“I love it!” They laughed and then Zoe turned serious. “It really is nice and I can see just how I would decorate it. What do the utilities usually run on average?” That seemed like a reasonable place to start.

“Utilities are included,” Lisa said immediately.

“Oh, okay. Great. So…um…what were you looking to get rent-wise?”

Lisa hesitated and then said, “You know what, Zoe, I’m actually kind of hoping I can make a deal with you. The place is nice enough, but I think if it was upgraded, with some really nice features added to the kitchen and bathroom, I’d be able to get a lot more rent in a few years. If you’d be willing to trade your decorating skills for some of the monthly rent amount, and live in the place while it’s upgraded, I think we can really help each other.”

She named an amount and if Zoe had been drinking anything, she would have spit it out across the room. “You’re not serious, right? I mean, you can get four or five times that amount!”

Lisa reached across the table and placed her hand on top of Zoe’s. “Listen, my mother adores you and she doesn’t like many people. Knowing that you work for her, I asked her if it would be okay for me to ask you this, and she said it wouldn’t be a problem because she only does commercial decorating and I know you had your own business before. I didn’t inherit my mom’s decorating skills, and I know the place could be so much more valuable if I got it done right. I’ll pay for the materials, of course, and your fees will be part of a barter deal for the rent. I love that place. It was my first apartment, and it’s where I started my business and met my fiancé. It’s a good place with a lot of good memories. This could be really good for both of us. What do you think?”

Tears sprang to Zoe’s eyes. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“Say that you’ll take it and that you’ll make it totally fabulous and then invite me over to have some wine on the roof once in a while.”

“Deal!” They stood and hugged and that’s when Martha joined them. “I can’t thank you, either of you, enough.”

“Nonsense,” Martha said. “No thanks necessary. We’re happy to help.” Lisa waved and excused herself to go help another round of customers.

Zoe stood there for a moment and for the first time in days felt a tiny hint of hope.

* * *

Hours later, Zoe had to wonder how she had gotten to this point in her life. So much drama in such a short amount of time, and she still felt relatively sane.

Martha had said her good-byes and Zoe got into her car and drove away.

It only made sense to drive by where her house used to stand and see if there was any way to retrieve any of her belongings. Her heart lurched at the site of the fallen house. The police were there as well as insurance people, the landlord, and the property management people. Parking her car a safe distance away, she approached the group hesitantly. They all recognized her, including Officer Hannigan, and together they did what they could to recover some of her things.

An hour later she walked away pretty well empty-handed. Almost everything was a loss. She hated the look of pity in their eyes, and even though she knew she had someplace to go, another home to go to, this small chapter of her life was over.

It wasn’t until she was driving away that the first tear fell.

“It’s not fair,” she muttered, fiercely wiping the tears away as she drove. “All I wanted was a chance to start my life over. Why did it have to be
my
house that fell? Everyone else got to go home while I have all my personal items littering the Atlantic coast!” She knew she was being unreasonable and babyish. Lots of people didn’t get to go home—their houses had water damage, and missing roofs, and broken windows. There were lots of people in a similar boat. In fact, she knew deep in her heart that she was a lucky one, but it sure didn’t feel like it when she was touching the splintered wood and digging through debris to find shattered pieces of her life. She had hoped that watching the video loop on the television would have prepared her better, but clearly she was wrong.

“I should move to a damn mountain next time,” she said and then snorted. “Probably get a once-in-a-lifetime avalanche to wipe me out.” Didn’t things like this come in threes? She’d already lost her mother, now she’d lost her home. Did losing Aidan count as the third? Was her run of bad luck finally over?

“It is if I say it is,” she finally said as she drove on toward her new apartment. “It’s time to prove that the universe can’t keep me down.” With that thought in mind, she drove to the nearest Walmart, almost twenty miles away, and did her best to bargain shop and replace some of the obvious necessities of life.

“Now I know what Santa Claus must feel like.” Heaving the large bags into the trunk of her car, Zoe contemplated her next stop. Climbing into the car, she pulled out her phone and went to her notes application to look at what was on the list she had made earlier. “Sheets and blankets? Check. Dishes, glasses, and silverware? Check. Towels? Check. Feeling completely exhausted? Check.”

The next stop was for food. A quick check of her finances told her she was okay to restock a new pantry, and even though she felt like she could sleep for a week, she pushed the shopping cart up and down each aisle to get the necessities.

Thank God there were leftovers in her cooler so she wouldn’t have to actually cook tonight.

There were some familiar faces at the supermarket, and Zoe did her best to be polite and social and even to downplay the trauma of losing her house. People were extremely generous in their offerings of everything from food and furniture to funds to help her get back on her feet. She was overwhelmed by the way the community wanted to help her out, especially considering she was so new to the area.

It kind of reminded her of home and the way everyone embraced her after her mother had died. It was both comforting and enough to make her cry. Again.

By the time she was able to load the groceries in her car, she was ready to drop. Her limbs felt as if they were full of lead and any kind of movement was about as appealing as going on a mountain climb, which let’s face it, she
was
once she got back to the coffee shop. That flight of stairs up to the second floor with everything she had to transport was going to be like climbing Everest.

“Think of how you won’t have to go to the gym for a week after this,” she said with forced cheerfulness. And then that little devil that seemed to enjoy sitting on her shoulder every once in a while reminded her that she hadn’t been to the gym in a year. Great. Nothing like a snarky conscience to make her day complete.

It took four trips, but she finally had the last of the packages up in the apartment. Once she closed the door, Zoe looked around and sighed. There were bags and boxes on every surface, and the overall feel was chaos. There were linens to wash, cabinets to organize, and food to put away. None of which was appealing at the moment.

So she did the only thing one could possibly do in a situation like this—she opened up the carton of ice cream she’d purchased, made a plan of attack, and vowed to keep moving forward.

* * *

With that determination in mind, the transition to living in the new apartment went much smoother. By the end of the following day, it felt like she’d always lived there. While that should have been comforting, there was a part of her that wondered if there was something wrong with her. After all, what kind of person goes through so many upheavals in a three-month time span and just keeps going with the flow? Wasn’t she about due for some sort of breakdown or pity party?

“Maybe I’m emotionally stunted,” she said to herself Friday afternoon while sitting at her desk at the office. Martha had given her a couple of consultations and small jobs to fill the time until the Shaughnessy site was back on schedule. Not that she minded the break; the more time away from Aidan meant more time for her to come to grips with what was and what could have been.

“Hey, Zoe,” Martha said, popping her head into her office Friday afternoon. “I was wondering if you had the catalog for the lighting company that we use in Charlotte. I can’t seem to find it anywhere.”

“Damn it,” Zoe muttered and then looked up apologetically at Martha. “Sorry. I think I left it at the Shaughnessy site before the storm. Can we order another one, or do you need it right away?”
Please
say
order…please say order…

“I tried calling them directly to order another catalog, but they’re closed for the weekend already. Would you mind going over to the Shaughnessy site and getting it and just bringing it in on Monday?”

Like she had a choice? Zoe kind of owed Martha forever. She could handle picking up one little catalog, right? “Sure. No problem.”
Liar, liar, liar!
“I think I’m pretty much done for today, so if it’s all right with you, I’ll head over there and hopefully find it where I left it.”

“I really appreciate it, Zoe. I thought we had more than one around here but I guess not.”

“No big deal.” So. Many. Lies. “I’ll bring it with me Monday morning, along with your coffee and blueberry scone. How does that sound?”

“Like it’s not a bad way to start off a Monday.”

They walked out of Zoe’s office together and it was a good distraction—a good temporary distraction. Once in her car, Zoe went into a full-blown panic attack. What if Aidan was on-site? What if he came over to talk to her? What if he acted as if nothing had happened? What if he kissed her? Nausea rolled through her and she broke out in a cold sweat.

“Okay, first of all, no kissing. I will put my foot down on the kissing,” she said calmly as she willed her heart rate to slow down. “He hasn’t called or tried to reach out so he does
not
get to kiss me.” Oh, but she really wanted him to. “Just go in, get the damn catalog, and get out. Don’t give him the chance to engage in conversation. Be professional. Be confident.” And with one last deep breath she added, “Just don’t be…” What? “Disappointed when it turns out that he was just killing time.”

It all sounded fine and well—like she was a woman with a plan. The closer she got to the job site, however, it all became random noise in her head. All of her confident affirmations from moments ago were suddenly sounding a lot like “Just be nice to him because he’s clearly going through something” and “Ask him if he’d like to join you for dinner.” Turning in to the community, Zoe snorted at herself. “Get a grip.”

That suddenly became very easy to do because Aidan’s car was nowhere in sight. After her initial wave of relief, Zoe realized it still didn’t seem right. With everything going on in the aftermath of the storm, why wasn’t Aidan around? Of course there was always the possibility he was in another part of the subdivision. And if that was the case, she wanted to grab her catalog and go as fast as possible.

But what if he’d gone MIA again? What if whatever it was that had pulled him away from her was keeping him away from the job site too? She shook her head and pushed the thought aside. “Not my problem.”

She parked in front of the model home she had worked on and quickly went inside and looked around. Judging by the construction sounds she heard from the second floor, she’d have to redo some of that space. The last place she’d had the catalog was in the kitchen, but after scanning all of the surfaces and inside the cabinets and drawers, she came up empty. With no other choice, she had to go to the construction trailer Aidan had set up to house his mobile office.

Zoe walked across the lot and climbed the three steps that took her inside the trailer. She took a look around, hoping to find Aidan’s assistant or someone to help her.

“Oh my God! You’re Zoe, right?”

Turning, Zoe spotted a teenage girl sitting behind a desk. She had long black hair and big blue eyes—unmistakably related to the man Zoe had been hoping to avoid. “You must be Darcy,” she said with a smile and was surprised when the girl came out from the around the desk and hugged her. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Aidan hired me to work here a couple of hours a week after school. I had been bugging him about wanting a job, but he and my dad thought that I didn’t need one. So I just kept hounding them until they caved.”

All Zoe could do was nod.

“So what are you doing here?” Darcy asked. “I thought they had put a hold on the deco stuff.”

“They did. But I left some stuff here and now I can’t find it.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“A lighting catalog, actually. My boss needs it, and the last place I had it was the kitchen in the model. You haven’t seen it by chance, have you?”

“Lighting, huh? Actually—”

“Darcy! C’mon, let’s go! I don’t have all day!” a loud male voice boomed from outside the trailer.

Zoe looked at Darcy expectantly.

“That’s Quinn. Another brother.” She rolled her eyes. “My dad got held up at a job site and I need to get home and get dinner started and do my homework. Blah, blah, blah.”

“If you have to go, I can just—”

“It’s not like the world will come to an end if I don’t get my homework done on a Friday. I mean, who does homework on a Friday night?”

“Well, I suppose—”

“It’s like they don’t understand that I’m seventeen and not a little kid anymore. They need to accept that I’m almost an adult and they can’t control my every waking move. I just wish that—”

The door slammed open. “Darce, seriously, I’ve got to get going.”

Zoe stared at the man standing in the doorway. It was obvious he was a Shaughnessy: same dark hair and blue eyes, and he was just as muscular as Aidan, but not as tall. It was predictable that the entire family would be good-looking. She just hoped they all weren’t as inconsiderate as the eldest.