Casual Affair

There were several moments of silence until Peter let out a deep breath. “Bloody hell,” he said, amusement lacing his words.

Zane met his eyes. “What?”

Peter raised his brows. “You like her. Dare I say, you might actually love the woman?”

Zane didn’t even attempt to deny it. He just rubbed the back of his neck and remained silent.

“Holy shit. That’s why you came back early? Because of her?”

Zane bent forward, burying his face in his hands. “Yes.”

“Bless my soul, it’s a miracle.”

He heard the noise of electronic buttons being pushed and looked up to see Peter typing into his phone. “What are you doing?”

Peter didn’t even spare him a glance. “I’m booking the hall right now. Because if you’ve found yourself a girl who’s willing to marry your ugly arse, there’s no time to waste. She might change her mind.”

Zane snatched the phone out of his friend’s hand and sat on it. “She’s already changed her mind, you git. If you haven’t noticed, she didn’t come back with me. There’s a reason I left early in the first place.”

Peter finally looked serious. “Which is?”

Zane told him everything that had transpired, including what had led to him fleeing to London to seek advice from his unhelpful friend.

“So let me get this straight,” Peter said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “You left the country in order to give her space, but without telling her? And you haven’t spoken to her since?”

Zane nodded. “That’s about right.”

“Unbelievable,” Peter said, shaking his head. “You’ve bloody lost the plot, mate.”

Zane knitted his brow in confusion. “How?”

“She thinks you’ve left her for good, man. Think about it. You haven’t contacted her, didn’t answer the phone when she called you, and she has no idea if you’re ever coming back to the States. Pretty much every woman in the world would take all of that as a sign you’re done with the relationship.”

Zane thought about it, looking at everything from her point of view, and came to the same conclusion. “Bugger me,” he said on a groan.

“Yeah. That’s something you might want to sort out, and soon.”

Except he wasn’t sure anything had changed on her end. Though she had called him, so that had to mean something, didn’t it? Perhaps she was ready to talk, and hopefully mend things between them.

He could only hope.

“What if she says she still needs space?”

“You’ve given her over a month and left the country. I’d say that’s space enough.”

Ah, but Bea was a different breed of woman. Just because it made sense to him didn’t mean it was the right answer.

“She said I was controlling,” he murmured. “That I was overbearing and needed to back off because I was crowding her. She actually used the word ‘suffocating.’”

Or maybe he’d said that. He couldn’t remember anymore.

“And she’d be right,” Peter said flatly.

Zane peeked up through his lashes, fearful of seeing the truth in Peter’s eyes. “Am I really that bad?”

Peter tipped his head back, rolling his eyes. “Do you never listen to me? I’ve been telling you that for years. Yet it takes a stacked woman with a southern accent for you to actually hear it…”

“Mention one more thing about her body and I’m going to lay you out.”

“Okay, fine,” Peter said. “But seriously. Do you not remember what you said when I first mentioned you taking the position in the States?”

A lot of things were said during those conversations. “Perhaps you could be a bit more specific,” Zane suggested.

Peter sighed. “Oh, I love you, mate, but you can be so oblivious sometimes. You said you didn’t know if you could leave her for that long.”

Zane’s mother.

Well, her grave. All that remained of her.

He visited her there every week, like clockwork. He brought her flowers, told her about his life. It had been that way ever since he and his father had first put her there. Over the years, he’d never been able to move too far away from her.