Made For Us (8 page)

Aidan couldn’t help the sour look he gave her. “Cute. No, that’s not what I meant. I’ve never…socialized…with the people who work for me. And—”

Zoe cut him off. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. It was just dinner, Aidan. That’s all. I know you have to be a certain way on the job site. If the workers get the impression that you’re a pushover or that you’re their pal, they’ll take advantage and slack off. I get it. You don’t have to take it to such extremes, though. You can be tough but fair without being such a jerk. If you had just talked to me like a normal person, this all could have been avoided.”

It was everything that should have made him happy to hear and yet it didn’t. Just dinner? Was that really all she thought? Was he the only one who felt anything between them? Looking at her blank expression, Aidan suspected he was. And now he felt like a fool.

And then out of nowhere, a scene played out in his mind.

“How am I going to know the difference between a girl I can trust and one…you know…I can’t?”

A
wide
smile
crossed
his
mother’s face. “I’ll let you
know.”

He hadn’t thought about that conversation with his mother in years. The daisy on Zoe’s shirt last week had freaked him out because it just seemed like too much of a coincidence. He felt a connection to her that he’d never felt with another woman. He enjoyed talking with her, bantering with her. Hell, he even liked arguing with her. He liked the way her green eyes darkened when she was angry and how her ivory complexion flushed when she was nervous.

In all the years since that conversation with his mother, Lillian had been fairly discreet about passing along her opinions of the girls he dated. She never came right out and said she liked or disliked any of them, but he knew her well enough to catch on that she didn’t think any of them were right for him.

And she had been right.

He wished he could talk to her just one more time.

It was hard, but he had to force himself to look away from Zoe’s face because he had a feeling she probably thought he was crazy.

And that freaked him out too.

Zoe had her keychain dangling from her fingertips, awkwardly fiddling with the keys as she waited for him to say something. A sparkle of red caught Aidan’s eye. When he looked closer he saw that it was a pair of crystal cherries.

That
can’t be a coincidence
, he thought and quickly snuck a peek at the sky. Was that what was going on here? He shook his head to clear it. No. That was impossible. Feeling spooked, Aidan took another step away from Zoe. “Well…um…I better go and grab my order. My father and sister are probably wondering where I am.”

She simply nodded.

“So…um…have a good weekend,” he said as he continued to walk backward toward the restaurant.

“You too,” she said softly and turned to climb into her car.

Standing in the doorway, Aidan watched Zoe drive away and had to wonder what in the world was happening to him.

* * *

It wasn’t until Darcy had left the dinner table with her phone in hand—making plans to see a movie with friends—that Aidan finally decided to approach the subject with his father.

“Can I ask you something?” he began cautiously as the two of them worked together to clear the table.

“Sure,” Ian said. “Anything.”

“Do you ever…I mean, have you ever, you know, felt Mom around since she died?”

Ian stopped dead in his tracks. “What are you talking about?”

Damn
it
, Aidan thought. Maybe he should have just kept this all to himself and slowly gone insane on his own. “You know what, it’s nothing. Never mind. Forget I even brought it up.” He quickly disposed of the pizza boxes and poured out the remainder of his beer because, clearly, the alcohol was not helping the conversation.

Standing back, Ian watched his son move nervously around the kitchen. The kitchen was completely clean and yet Aidan continued to walk around, wiping down surfaces and straightening magnets on the refrigerator.

Ian’s eyes narrowed. Aidan had never been one to talk about himself or ask for help when he needed it. He supposed it came from the sense of responsibility Aidan had, being the oldest and all. But right now, Ian would bet every penny he had that something had knocked Aidan off balance. Ian was just about to ask him about it when Darcy came bouncing back into the room.

“Okay, so Julie’s mom is going to pick me up and drop us off at the movies. We’re going to the nine o’clock in town. Then we’re going to grab ice cream afterward and I’ll be home at midnight. Is that okay?”

She was pushing her luck, Ian thought to himself, but he’d let it slide for tonight. Tonight he needed some time alone with Aidan to see what was going on. “That’s fine, Darce. Just promise to give me a call if you’re going to be later than midnight.” He watched his daughter spin with delight.

Rushing over, Darcy planted a loud kiss on his cheek. “Thanks, Dad!” And then she ran from the room.

Ian didn’t want to start a conversation that had the potential to get interrupted when Darcy got picked up, so he bided his time until then. He talked to Aidan about sports scores, his conversation with Owen earlier in the day, and the possibility of Owen coming to town for a couple of weeks after the New Year.

For the first time ever, Ian was impatient for Darcy’s ride to arrive. Even though they spent a lot of time together, he and Aidan tended to stick to family matters and work. Aidan wasn’t the type to talk about himself or any personal problems.

“Darce!” he called out when he heard the sound of a car horn coming from the driveway. “Your chariot awaits!”

As predicted, she tore through the house like a tiny tornado. She hugged them both good-bye and let the door slam shut behind her.

“She’s a force of nature.” Ian sighed. A smile crossed his face as he went to sit down in the living room. But it slowly faded as he took in Aidan sitting on the sofa looking positively miserable.

“What’s going on, Son?”

Aidan looked up. “What are you talking about?”

Ian simply leveled a glance at his son. No words were necessary.

“Okay, fine. It’s just that, I come home here and…sometimes it’s like Mom never left. Everything is still exactly the same. I can look in every room and remember everything about her. But outside? I never felt… I never sensed her presence, I guess, until recently.”

“Okay,” Ian said simply, wondering where Aidan was going with this. “And did that bother you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.” He scrubbed a hand across his face. “It’s…it’s kind of embarrassing.”

Now Ian shrugged. “Might make you feel better to talk about it.”

Aidan had his doubts but figured if anyone could help him, it was his father. Shifting in his seat, Aidan told him about the long-ago conversation between him and his mother. “She always helped, Dad, right until the end. And now? Now…I’ve met someone and…she’s amazing. She’s sexy and beautiful and she challenges me and infuriates me and she makes me laugh.”

“Those are all good things, Aidan, but I don’t understand what this has to do with your mother.”

Aidan leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “What was Mom’s favorite flower?”

“Daisies,” Ian said with a smile. “She said they were very happy flowers.”

“Maybe it’s common, maybe it’s not, but…I never noticed daisies where any other woman was concerned. I mean, how often do you see a grown woman wearing clothes with daisies on them?”

“That’s an odd question,” Ian said, considering it. “Not very often, I suppose. But that doesn’t mean it’s unusual.”

“Zoe had a shirt with a big daisy on the front of it the other day,” Aidan said miserably. “I took one look at it and damn near had a panic attack.”

“It’s just a flower, Aidan. And for that matter, it was just a shirt. It’s not a big deal, Son.”

“Okay, then there were the cherries.”

“Cherries?”

Aidan nodded. “During that same conversation with Mom, she was wearing the apron with the cherries on it. Do you remember it?”

“Of course I do. Your sister wears it when she bakes.”

“Tonight, I ran into Zoe at the pizza place. We were talking out by her car, and I look down and her keychain is a pair of red crystal cherries. It can’t be a coincidence!”

Ian wanted to hug his son, but he had a feeling that Aidan wouldn’t find the comfort in it that he would. “Aidan, while yes, those things are reminders of your mother, I don’t think that they’re actual
signs
from your mother.”

“So you’re telling me that you’ve never had anything happen that can’t be explained? Never stumbled across something that just made you think of Mom?”

“Well, I didn’t say that, but—”

“Dad, I know it sounds crazy, but I don’t know if I can just blow it off as a coincidence. Every time I find myself struggling with my feelings for Zoe, I see something on her that reminds me of Mom. Whenever it happens, I hear Mom’s voice, reminding me that she’d help me.” It was important for Aidan to convince him. “Dad, I don’t know whether I’m having these thoughts because Zoe reminds me of Mom, or because I’m losing my mind.”

Unable to help himself, Ian reached out and pulled his son into his embrace. He held him tight for a solid minute before straightening. “If you believe that your mother is trying to tell you that Zoe is the woman for you, then I think you should follow your heart.” Emotions clogged his voice. “All she ever wanted was for you to be happy. She would never steer you wrong.”

“I just miss her so much sometimes,” Aidan said softly.

“Me too.”

And then Aidan did something he hadn’t done in sixteen years.

He cried.

A week later, Zoe sat with rapt attention as she watched the evening news.

“As of right now, this is a tropical storm, but it’s slated to pick up intensity in the next couple of days. If things go as predicted on our models, we’ll hit a category-one-hurricane status on Monday as it approaches the East Coast. It is expected to make landfall on the central Carolina coast.”

“Of course it is,” she murmured as she continued to listen to the report.

“We’ll keep you posted on evacuations and hurricane preparedness as we go through the weekend.”

Shutting off the television, Zoe looked out at the beach. She could see the difference in the waves and the sky since yesterday, and part of her was scared but the other part couldn’t help but be fascinated.

On the screen was a brief list of things that coastal residents should know and do, like making sure to fill their cars with gas and having IDs that listed their addresses, in the event of an evacuation. A category-one hurricane did not necessarily mean evacuation, but should she have a plan?

Standing, she walked out on her back deck and noticed that the crowds had thinned out, but that wasn’t unusual for a stormy day. There were some television crews taping their reports farther down the shore, but as far as she could tell, life was staying pretty close to normal, and if that was going to be the case, Zoe figured she’d hit the supermarket and stock up on snacks and comfort food and hunker down to wait out the storm. It could be exciting to watch Mother Nature unleash her fury on the beach.

She looked at the clock and saw it was only eight. There was plenty of time to do a little shopping and be home in time to…well, nothing. It was another Friday night, and she had nothing to do.

Lame. Very lame.

Thirty minutes later, Zoe stood in the produce section wondering how her comfort food plan had completely crumbled. Obviously people took these hurricane predictions seriously because there seemed to be a thousand people in the store. Zoe was shoulder to shoulder with a group of people picking over the last of the apples.

Deciding that fruit and vegetables were highly overrated, Zoe thought a change of strategy was in order. While these people were busy buying healthy stuff, Zoe made a beeline for the bakery. Finding slim pickings there as well, she finally had success in the cookie aisle. Loading the basket with all of her favorites, she then hit the remainder of the staples—bread, milk, meat, and eggs.

The checkout lines seemed to go on forever, and it didn’t make sense to be choosy about which one she joined. Stopping at the back of a line, she looked around in amazement. She’d never dealt with anything like this—the frenzy, the flutter of activity.

“Oh, Zoe dear, how are you?”

Turning her head, Zoe noticed her neighbor, Mrs. Maddox, in the line behind her. “Oh, hi, Mrs. M. I thought I’d get in some shopping before the storm. Guess we got here just in time, huh?” she asked with a chuckle.

Julia Maddox was in her seventies and had lived on the coast her entire life. With her children grown, now it was just her and her husband, Fred, here. “I never understood the reasoning behind it and yet I can’t seem to help myself,” she replied. “Our pantry is always fully stocked, but as soon as I hear a storm warning, I find the need to come to the store and buy more. Fred doesn’t even question it anymore. He simply gets in the car and waits.”

Zoe smiled and looked down at the items in her cart. “Well, my pantry isn’t very well stocked and since the shelves here are nearly wiped out, there wasn’t much to choose from. But I think I have enough to satisfy me in the junk food department.”

“You’re always welcome to come and sit out the storm with us. We’ve been through enough of these that we rarely leave. Sometimes the predictions are worse than the reality.” She sighed and leaned a little on her cart. “After a while you learn that it’s okay to stay put and just stay inside.”

“I bet you’ve seen some amazing storms.”

Julia nodded. “Mother Nature sure is something. There’s something oddly soothing watching a storm blow through.” She chuckled. “My daughter Beth doesn’t necessarily agree, but she’s learned to not argue with us.”

“Does she live nearby?”

“She’s about two hours inland. I spoke to her earlier and she’s already chomping at the bit to get us to drive in to her, but I put her off.” She shook her head. “I think it’s too soon to start packing up. Besides that, Baron doesn’t like long car rides. Poor thing gets carsick.”

Baron was the Maddoxes’ beloved miniature American Eskimo dog. Every morning, Zoe watched Julia walk up and down the beach with the dog. “That’s not good. Poor boy. So you think you and Mr. M. are going to stay put?”

Again Julia nodded. “My Freddy loves to watch the Weather Channel. He doesn’t think this storm is going to amount to much of anything. So,” she began and motioned to the food in her cart, “I’ll bake some cookies, make a nice stew, and make sure that my Baron has enough food and puppy pads just in case he can’t go out.”

Zoe frowned. “I thought you said you didn’t think it was going to be that bad?”

“Well, bad enough to evacuate, no. Bad enough that I’m not going to want to walk around outside, yes.” She chuckled. “I’m getting a little too old to be walking around in the wind and the rain. And Baron is a mama’s boy and he prefers that I walk him.” She shook her head and laughed. “That makes Fred very happy!”

“I’ll bet,” Zoe said, joining in the laughter. The line was moving quickly and before she knew it, she was loading her groceries onto the belt. She turned and looked at Julia. “Do you think there’s anything else I need to do to be prepared?”

Julia looked at the food Zoe was unloading. “I think you’re going to be fine with the food. You might want to tape the windows,” she said with a shrug. “Sometimes we do; sometimes we don’t. If you’d like, I’ll send Fred over tomorrow to take a look at things.”

“That would be wonderful. Thank you so much,” she said as she sagged with relief. “It’s my first hurricane.”

Julia smiled. “A good storm can be exciting, that’s for sure. But living on the coast, it can get tiresome…fast.”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugged again. “If it’s an active hurricane season, it’s not unusual to find yourself standing in line like this more and more often. It can get expensive.”

“Because of the damage?”

“Because of the food shopping!” Julia laughed. “Fred says he’s the most well fed during an active storm season.”

Zoe couldn’t help but laugh with her. Her food was all on the belt and currently being rung up. She helped the cashier bag everything up, paid, and wished both Julia and the cashier a good night.

By the time she got home, it was nearing eleven and she was exhausted. Once the groceries were all put away, she changed into a pair of yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt and walked down to the beach. The wind was pretty powerful and the waves were bigger than anything she’d ever seen before.

“I wish you could feel this, Mom,” she said quietly, looking up at the starless sky. “The wind feels amazing and the waves look and sound pretty fierce.” She stood and let the wind whip around her. She thought about her conversation with her neighbor and looked at the houses that lined the beach. There hadn’t been time for her to meet a lot of people, but she vowed to change that. Back in Arizona, she’d known everyone in her small town and had had a wonderful support system around her, even in her darkest times.

But the home that had once been her comfort now only carried painful memories. Everywhere she turned reminded her of her mother. The decision to move hadn’t been easy, but Zoe had needed a change. The only thing she knew was that she wanted to live on the coast; it didn’t matter which one. Some online job hunting eventually brought her to North Carolina and even now, with the threat of somewhat dangerous weather, she wasn’t sorry about being there instead of back west.

“I’m sorry about that too, Mom,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I’m not there. I haven’t been to visit you and you have to know that it kills me. I know we discussed this a long time ago and this is where you wanted me to be but…I feel like I’m not being a very good daughter. I’m here, living my life, and you’re…” She swallowed hard. “You’re all by yourself.”

She couldn’t have said another word even if she wanted to. Her heart was too heavy.

Zoe’s walk down the shore and back was shorter than normal because the wind was whipping and it really was getting late. Back at the house, she locked up and closed the blinds and got ready for bed. There was a level of restlessness she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Maybe it was the impending storm. Or maybe it was Aidan. She hadn’t allowed herself to think about him. Much. She knew that dating a coworker or client was never a good decision, but she would have considered it for him.

And she had a feeling she would have really liked it.

* * *

The rest of the weekend was like nothing Zoe had ever experienced before. While a lot of her neighbors had packed up and taken off for parts farther inland, there were a few who were taping up their windows and standing their ground. The property management company had called and gone through a list of things she would need to do to prepare the house, but they would send someone out to board up the windows for her if she was going to leave.

She had agreed to tape up the windows after letting them know that for the moment, she was staying put. The woman she had spoken to had tried to convince her to leave, but Zoe wasn’t ready to concede just yet. Shrugging it off, Zoe went about cooking her comfort foods, walking on the beach while the tide was out a bit, and talking with the locals about bygone storms. Everyone had a story to tell; some were fairly tame while others scared her. The thought of jumping in her car and finding a hotel was starting to become more and more attractive.

“No, no, no,” she admonished herself, while walking on the beach on Sunday afternoon. “You can stick it out. It’s not going to be that bad and you’re going to be fine.”

“Excuse me, miss?” Zoe looked over her shoulder to see a police officer walking toward her carrying a tablet in his hand. “Good afternoon, I’m Officer Robert Hannigan. I’m checking on residents to see who is staying and who is leaving. Is this your house here?” He motioned toward hers and she nodded. He typed into his tablet. “Are you leaving today or tomorrow?”

“Um…no. I’m planning on staying.” She had meant to say it with confidence, but the stern look he was giving her instilled some concern.

“You do realize that by deciding to stay, you are putting yourself at risk?”

Zoe nodded.

“If the storm worsens and something happens, emergency operations may be delayed in getting to you, do you understand?”

Again, she nodded.

He studied her for a long minute. “This must be your first summer here because I don’t remember meeting you before, Miss…?”

“Dalton,” she said. “Zoe Dalton.”

“You’re renting, right?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever experienced a hurricane on the coast, Miss Dalton?”

“No,” she said. “I’ve lived in Arizona my entire life. I only just moved here a little over two months ago, and I really don’t want to have pack up and leave again so soon. I’ve been talking to the locals and they’ve told me what to expect. I’m not going into this unprepared. I’m going to tape up the windows and I have batteries and flashlights and bottled water. I’ve gone over all of the preparedness paperwork.”

He nodded. “Uh-huh.” He tucked the tablet under his arm. “Can I offer you a bit of advice?”

“Sure.”

“Evacuate. Leave now. I know you don’t understand this because you’ve never experienced it, but storms of this magnitude can be unpredictable. You don’t want to take a chance at being stranded or worse.”

“I think I can handle it.”

“Miss Dalton, I can’t force you to leave, but just consider… These houses are built on stilts. They’re all old and were built at a time when there were fewer guidelines. You need to think of your safety. You may not find a hotel room tomorrow. You should go now and wait until the storm passes before coming back.”

“Officer Hannigan, I’m sure you mean well and that you’re only doing your job, but I really don’t want to pack up and leave. I feel one hundred percent safe here. Really. I appreciate your concern and I respect the work that you’re doing. Honestly. But I’m going to stay.”

He considered her again for a long minute until Zoe started to squirm. He was quite intimidating—over six feet tall and just…huge. She had a feeling he could fling her over his shoulder and force her to evacuate.

“Okay,” he finally said. “If you’ll just sign here.” He took out the tablet and pulled up a signature screen for her to sign with her finger. “This states that you’ve opted to stay and not evacuate even under the suggestion of local law enforcement.” He indicated where she needed to sign. Taking the tablet back from her, he then clicked to another screen. “If you don’t mind, we also need some personal information—full name, phone number, employer—that sort of thing.”

Unperturbed, she gave him the information and he nodded when he typed in her employer. “Ah, you work for Martha Tate,” he said with recognition.

“You know Martha?” Zoe asked.

“She and my mother are good friends. They grew up together. Small town and all that. Are you working on anything local?”

“Yup, the Shaughnessy job,” she said, figuring he must be familiar with the huge project, small town and all. But she was still somewhat surprised when he started to laugh. “What? What’s so funny about that?”

“I’m sorry,” he said with amiable mirth. “Aidan’s a good man—known him my entire life—but I know what a royal pain in the…rear”—he cleared his throat—“he is to work for. You must be pretty tough if Martha wanted you to take on that job.”

Zoe suddenly had a new respect for Officer Hannigan. “Well, thank you.”

He shook his head. “Yup. Aidan’s a control freak. But he gets the job done…” He trailed off and smiled.

“Exactly!” Zoe said with a huge grin. “I’m glad I’m not the only one to think that!”

“Trust me. You’re not.”