If they ended up in bed together that night, she would definitely die!
“I went ahead and ordered myself a glass. I wasn’t sure what you would want.”
“It’s fine.” Gretchen kept her eyes on the small menu. When a sommelier approached, she spoke with flawless French. The sommelier was dutifully impressed. Is she French? Wow. Rachel doubted that someone like Gretchen would be impressed with her haphazard Japanese. “So… how long have you lived in the city?”
It had been a while since Rachel went on a formal date with a woman. Hell, had she ever actually been on a date with a woman before and not randomly hooked up with them? I can’t remember. Wow. This is so different already. Even so, she knew something was off. Their conversation was stilted. Gretchen had been lovely via text, but maybe that was a difference in communication styles. When she asked about Rachel’s job, however, it was complete indifference. She sighed to talk about her own job at a fashion studio.
Rachel couldn’t get a read on her. It was like her gorgeous date Gretchen didn’t want Rachel to know a damn thing about her. What was the point of going out on a date, then? Why not meet somewhere for sex if that was all she wanted? Rachel wasn’t looking for a woman to call her girlfriend, necessarily. She was looking for a good time. That was all.
“Well!” Gretchen said after an hour. “I’m afraid I totally misjudged how much energy I had last night. I better get going. Thanks for the conversation.”
Rachel killed her smile. “Oh. I see. Have a nice night.” We’re not going somewhere else? This was a total bomb. God. What did I do?
Gretchen turned around with her purse strap high on her shoulder. At the last moment, she turned around again and raised her voice. “Could I give you a bit of advice?”
Rachel forced a new, friendly smile. Way friendlier than it should be. “Of course.”
Scoffing, Gretchen said, “When you do online dating, you really should use new and current photos of yourself. I got my hair trimmed and took a bunch of new photos because I don’t want to be deceptive, you know? People don’t respond well to you using old photos that make you look better than you do now. Because this?” Her finger flicked up and down, highlighting Rachel’s physique. “This isn’t an average body type like you have on your profile.” Gretchen marched off, her bag smacking against her ass with every step.
Rachel was too stunned to do anything but grip the stem of her wineglass and blink away the sting behind her eyes. What? She looked down. Sure, she had gained a few pounds since that photo was taken, but her hair was the same and she carried weight gain well…
She looked around. More than one face was pointed in her direction. They immediately looked away again, embarrassed on her behalf.
All of these people had heard that, hadn’t they?
Rachel pulled out her phone to text Parvati. “That could’ve gone way better…” She waited for a response, but one never came. The only thing that came for a few minutes were hot tears down her cheek. How cruel could one person be?
Someone pulled out the seat across from her and handed her a handkerchief. Rachel didn’t even question it. She snatched the handkerchief and dabbed her eyes while trying to control the insulted sobs ready to wrack her body.
“Fuck her.”
Rachel looked up. Zack, dressed in a collared shirt that looked better on him than she could ever expect, gazed back at her. “What are you doing here? Did you see that?”
“I was in the neighborhood when I got your text. And yes. I’m sorry.”
“God…” How embarrassing, indeed! It wasn’t bad enough that the whole wine bar saw what happened. Now Zack was here? And had seen it? Why did he come here? To skeeze? It was the only explanation if Rachel was on a date with a woman.
“For what it’s worth, I think you look exactly like the pic you used.” Zack grinned at her. “Unless you swapped it out at the last minute for one of my pictures. That would definitely be false advertising.”
Rachel couldn’t bring herself to laugh. “She was really pretty, huh?”
“Don’t compare yourself to her.”
“You don’t get it. Pretty women like that never flirt with me, let alone go on dates…”
“She has issues. Trust me. I know women like that. She looked like a mean asshole searching for a reason to dump you.”
“She could’ve said that she wasn’t feeling it and that would’ve been fine. Did she really have to…”
“No, she didn’t, and she knows that. Rachel…” Zack took her hand on the table. “I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but you dodged a bullet. Imagine if you had gone home with her and she lost her shit.”
“I’d rather not, thanks.” Rachel snatched her hand back. “I don’t need your help.”
“I’m not saying you do.” Zack signaled for the sommelier to bring over Rachel’s check. “Let me get that for you. We’re getting out of here.”
“Wh… where are we going?” Rachel didn’t want to fight him. As weird as this situation was – eventually, she would have to get to the bottom of why Zack had stalked her on her date – she was grateful to get the fuck out of this cursed bar, especially if it meant Zack took her somewhere cozy and comfortable. Really, any place where Rachel could openly cry and not feel even more embarrassed, if such a place existed.
“I’m taking you back to my place. There’s something we need to do.”
Rachel slumped down against the table. “I’m really not in the mood to fool around right now, Zack.”
“I’m not talking about that.” He cleared his throat. “Something else. I only need to call the front desk in the lobby and confirm something.”
Rachel wasn’t sure she liked where this was going, but only because her day was already shot.
***
“Hell no!” She raced back to the rooftop entrance. “I’m not going in there! Are you out of your fucking mind? I thought you meant the hot tub!”
Zack stood in the middle of the Olympic-sized swimming pool in nothing but a pair of dark gray swim trunks. His hands grabbed his hips as he shook his head and clicked his tongue. Monster! What kind of freak can stand in a swimming pool like that? He’s gonna drown! Never mind he was in the shallow end, where the water only came up to his waist. “It’s three feet deep right here, Rachel.” He held his hand out to her. “You’re not going to drown.”
“And you’re not teaching me how to swim!” Rachel knew how this worked. Friends had been trying to trick her into pools for years, thinking themselves so damn clever and completely ignoring the fact that she was super hydrophobic.
“I’m not trying to teach you how to swim.” His voice echoed within the glass enclave surrounding the rooftop pool. Rachel had been dubious when they got back to his place and he showed her the bathing suit he had a personal shopper select on his dime. A simple black bikini, sure, but it was remarkably in Rachel’s size – like the clothes Judith sent Rachel home in that morning. How do total strangers know my size? Rachel barely knew her size! But he said we were going in a hot tub. Hot tubs were fine. They were controlled. Too shallow for her to realistically drown in. Rachel didn’t like the sensation of water around her chest and throat, but she could mind over matter it and eventually get used to it. She took baths sometimes, didn’t she?
A pool, though… no. That was too dangerous. She could drown.
“Then what do you think you’re going to achieve?”
“The only thing I’m achieving with you tonight, Rachel Taylor, is sharing my love of water with you.”
“So go ahead and enjoy your laps around the pool!”
Zack waded over to the marble steps leading out of the pool. “I will meet you right here and hold your hand the whole time. I’m an excellent swimmer. Not that you need to worry about that, but you are absolutely, 100% not going to drown on my watch. You’ll be too busy checking out my glistening wet pecs and I won’t be able to keep my hands off you.”
Rachel wasn’t supposed to laugh when she was terrified! She was supposed to run through the door and take the elevator back down to Zack’s floor!
But she supposed that he hadn’t reserved this space for them – for two whole hours, no less – for nothing. “You get over here right now!”
“You’re not my mom!” Rachel clutched the towel still wrapped around her body. “My mom was the one who saved me from drowning!” She had reached into that pool and pulled little Rachel’s body out as if the tyranny of God were about to rain down.
“There is nothing I could say that wouldn’t sound weird as hell, so I’ll tell you to get your cute ass over here and get in this water with me.”
“No!”
“Are you going to be scared of water your whole life?”
“Yes!”
“Then we’re not going to get to hang out much more, now are we?”
Rachel turned around. “What do you mean?”
Zack threw his arms up into the air. “I love the water! I wanna take you out on my yacht and show you what it’s like to go sailing before the summer’s up! Come on… you’ve gotta at least make peace with the water. I’m not asking you to love it, or even like it. Just stop having a panic attack every time you go near an open body of water.”