Jonna's life as a teacher is all routine, until she receives an online invitation from a near stranger, Zachary, and drops everything for a weekend of fun.
As the weekend evolves into much more, Jonna explores many facets of herself, with another s...
Zachary's sharp tone snapped Jonna from her reverie. Suddenly, he was in front of her and no longer under the table.
The entire thing had taken place in her imagination. And of course it had, because it had been so crazy, too crazy to be real.
Jonna cleared her throat and self-consciously crossed her legs. Zachary assessed her worriedly.
"What I'm trying to say is thank you for helping me grow up. But, I'm not sure if you care," he said, no trace of malice in his tone.
Truthfully, she was more interested in what Laney was doing than in any apology from Zachary. However, she could see it was important to him, and she was far from cruel. Therefore, she smiled and nodded.
"I'm sorry if I've been a bit distracted. Just thinking about work and such. Please, go on."
"Work, ah. I get that." His grin dissolved. "Overall, I told some really stupid lies, and I hurt a lot of people. Again, I'm sorry you had to be part of that. But I'm glad to have met you."
Jonna rubbed the soft white tablecloth between her fingers. She had trouble dispelling the image of Zachary on his knees, casting tremors throughout her body with every flick of his tongue.
"It's been something," was all she could trust herself to say.
Then, Zachary reached across the table and took Jonna's other hand in his.
"If you ever want to talk, start over, or just...hang out, I'm here for you."
His eyes oozed earnestness as he gently traced a finger along the top of her hand. The phrase "hang out" had huge undertones. Jonna found the combination of tenderness and sexual innuendo to be quite predictable. Needless to say she enjoyed Zachary's touch, but he didn't need to know that.
While extricating herself from his grasp, she replied, "Nothing's changed for me. I'm in a relationship, sort of, and I don't want to mess that up."
Quickly, Zachary stared down at the table, then back again at her. His features had shifted from eager to wounded in a matter of seconds. Jonna held in laughter.
"We can be friends," she added. "We started out just trading teacher stories, and we can still do that much."
Zachary chuckled darkly. "I guess I can live with that."
He extended a long, tanned arm, offering his hand.
Jonna recalled how deft his fingers were. Then she reminded herself to snap out of it.
She accepted the handshake, slipping away from his warm touch as fast as she could. As she tried to figure out a graceful way to end the meeting, her phone did that for her.
Ring.
The screen read: UNKNOWN CALLER
Under normal circumstances, she would have given the call the F-U button. Now, she stood, purse and phone in hand.
"Sorry, but I gotta take this. See you later."
Jonna answered the call while hurrying from the table.
"Hello?"
Silence echoed in her ear, amplified by the click clack of her shoes on the pavement.
"Hello? Laney?"
Abruptly, the line disconnected. By then, Jonna was was at her car. Through the plate-glass front window of the coffee shop, she saw Zachary pay the cashier, checking behind him as if he were looking for someone.
Jonna ducked out of sight into her car. The words UNKNOWN CALLER mocked her. Had it been Laney? Too scared to say anything?
That wasn't like Laney at all.
Although, if she were being honest with herself, she didn't know that much about Laney.
Jonna knew she should call, apologize. Yet, she hadn't really lied to Zachary, because there were other distractions besides her personal life. She had a lot on her plate at work.
So she drove to the office and forgot about being brave.
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