“What do you have in mind?”
“Hmm.” She was out before him, the cold freeze of the enclosure sending her into her towel and grabbing her bikini top off the ground. “We’ve yet to try that newfangled sixty-nine thing all the cool kids are talking about.”
“Oh, babe.” Zack didn’t hide what he sported in his baggy swim trunks. Rachel didn’t hide how much it pleased her to stare at it. “I haven’t had a good sixty-nine in at least a week.”
“A week?”
“A week of course meaning five years in Zack speak.”
Rachel rolled her eyes before turning around. “A whole five years.”
“The question is,” he said as they approached the doorway leading to the elevator, “can you keep up with me in the good ol’ sixty-nine?” They both dripped pool water all over the elevator floor as they stepped inside. Rachel pulled her half-wet hair out of its ponytail and made sure the towel was cinched around her otherwise naked torso, the bikini top dangling from her hand. “After all, I don’t want you choking on my magnanimous manhood.”
Turned out that wasn’t an issue at all.
Chapter 25
For two more weeks, they entertained the tenuous line between casual hookup and a more serious relationship they couldn’t turn their backs on.
Rachel was aware of it every hour of her day, even when she wasn’t near Zack. But they were always in contact. They could go a whole two days without seeing a glimpse of each other, but their phones would be filled with messages, silly photos, and emojis that didn’t mean anything at all.
Rachel sent him pictures of the papers she translated. He sent her pictures of his studio, including his latest work in progress. “Agent is bringing some shmuck by next week to see my shit, lol. What do you think?” That came with a picture of a half-finished clay project that was still in the “suspiciously phallic” phase.
“Makes me think of the dildo in my nightstand.”
“OMG Rachel you can’t just talk about ur dildo and not let me see!!!!”
“Don’t have it with me, sry.”
“I’m coming by your place 2nite n ur gonna show it 2 me.”
“Okay?”
“Yesssss.”
He didn’t come over that night, but Rachel entertained her fair share of fantasies when she took her toy out and brought herself to orgasm with nothing but thoughts of him. She pretended that her silicon boyfriend accurately represented how good he would feel inside of her. If they ever got to that point.
We will. At this rate, we definitely will. Rachel looked at her calendar. Should she arrange something special for them to do on September 1st? Because if she didn’t crack before then, she was definitely celebrating the end of her vow by fucking Zack senseless. Her bed. His bed. A hotel bed. She didn’t give a crap.
As much as she wished she could spend her whole days thinking about him – when she wasn’t working at home or at Opal’s, of course – there were other pressing issues. Like the client who dropped her because he couldn’t afford her services anymore. Or the fact she hadn’t picked up any new clients since then.
The worst, however, between preparing for Sita’s wedding and freaking out over her financials, was the call she received in early August asking her to make a last-minute trip to her mother’s memory care facility.
“I have to cancel our plans tonight,” she told Zack over the phone. Her backpack was half filled with clothes for an overnight trip. She was already eating a bus ticket fare she hadn’t fit into that month’s budget. I don’t need to eat breakfast every single day of the week, right? She would have to forego going to Opal’s, at least. “Something’s come up with my mom and I have to go sort it out.”
“Holy shit. I hope it’s not too serious.”
“No, no… I need to sign some more paperwork and talk to the hospice people.”
“Hospice? Isn’t that the definition of serious?”
“I need to go visit her anyway. Sorry. I’m about to take off.”
“Wait. Let me give you a ride up there. It’s only two hours away, right?”
“Only? That’s pretty far.”
“Not a problem. I had already set aside time for you tonight.”
“I… that’s… really sweet of you.” She hadn’t bought her ticket yet. Or paid for her motel room. Maybe… “I don’t want to impose, Zack.”
“Nonsense. Like you could ever impose on me. I’ll be right over.”
What Rachel never expected was that Zack would indeed be right over… in his vintage 1961 red and white Corvette.
She had heard about the classic car in his collection, of course, but she had yet to see it for herself. Rachel definitely did not expect to see it pull up to the curb and for Zack to motion for her to get in while they still had plenty of daylight to make a jaunt up to a nursing home in the countryside.
“Are you crazy?” Rachel was already cold, and she wore a pair of thick leggings and her red flannel. The heat wave had finally ended around there, and she knew for a fact that the weather at her mother’s place was always about ten degrees cooler than in the city. “We don’t want to take something as nice as that out.”
“Why not? It’s a gorgeous day. Besides, we’re going to a nursing home! I bet the residents would love to see a vintage beauty like this!” Zack patted the headlight. “Get in, equally gorgeous girl. I wanna see your hair whip back in this car. Trust me when I say you’ll look even more glamorous than you did that night in an Aston Martin.”
Rachel shivered. In sober retrospect, that had been a harrowing ride down the freeway.
“Get in the car, Rachel!”
She jerked at the sound of his booming voice. People stood on the other side of the street taking pictures of the shiny red and white Corvette on their phones. Zack, who had hopped back into the driver’s seat with his sunglasses on, flashed them a wide grin for their Instagram posts.
Oh, well. Rachel tossed her bag into the backseat and got in. The leather seat was more comfortable than it had appeared.
“You know where we’re going, right?”
“Fuckin’ Connecticut is where we’re going.”
“That’s not a problem, is it?”
“Only if I hated Connecticut.”
The ride was as smooth as the jazz tracks playing on the stereo. Rachel forgot what she was off to do as Zack expertly turned onto the expressway and drove half an hour into the countryside with only the wind to blare in their ears and the music to echo through valleys and mountain passes. When they turned off the appropriate exit, Rachel knew it would be at least another forty-five minutes before they reached the sleepy, rural town in which her mother lived.
She had chosen her mother’s memory care facility for two reasons. One, it came heavily recommended by her mother’s doctors as one of the top places in the area for residents dealing with dementia. And two, it was far cheaper than any of the places near the city. However, the distance meant Rachel only got to visit once or twice a year. It had also meant moving her mother out of the only apartment she had lived in for twenty years and selling most of her things to pay for one month’s rent. She had good insurance, but it didn’t cover everything.
The few things her mother kept were treasured keepsakes and two pieces of vital furniture: a pink and white chest of drawers from her own childhood, and a myrtlewood rocking chair that had belonged to Rachel’s grandfather. She knew that chair was priceless, both in worth and to her mother’s sanity. One resident had already tried to steal it. God only knew when they would try it again.
“Looks like a nice place.” Zack turned off the motor in the parking lot. The one-story facility overlooked a park on one side and a scenic lake on the other. The only other buildings in the neighborhood were single-family homes and a dollar store. I should pick up some things for Mom at the dollar store. Usually she gave the nurses a budget and hoped for the best. At least if she got things herself, she could feel like her money was really going toward her mother instead of a nurse’s pocket. “Do they take good care of your mother here?”
“Yeah.” Rachel had no complaints. The director always kept in weekly contact with Rachel to make sure she stayed abreast of her mother’s well-being, and they worked with some of the best nurses in the county. The food could have been better, but her mother probably didn’t care at that point in her illness. “You don’t have to come in. I’ll be about an hour, though. I could text you to come pick me up when I’m done.”
Zack shrugged. “It’s up to you. I don’t mind one way or another.”
“There’s a grocery store nearby if you want to get a snack or something.”
“If you want me to go, I will.” Zack lowered his hands from the steering wheel. “But I have to admit, I’m curious.”
Rachel sighed. “You really want to meet my mom, huh?”
“You’ve met my whipped dad and my angry mom. Seems only fair that I get to meet someone from your family.”
“She’s the only one I have left. I don’t have any siblings, and I never really had a dad.”