Hello, Goodbye

Chapter Twenty-Five

Zeke was right on time the next day, knocking on her front door at exactly noon. She was so excited to see him that she'd gotten up early that morning to make sure she was ready to go on time as well. It was weird. She knew it wasn't a date. But for some reason it felt more like a date than any other outing they'd had together. She thought back to that night at the bonfire, and how he'd had his hands on her body as they danced in the firelight. How they'd stared up at the stars for hours talking about old astrological stories she'd read as a kid. How they'd held hands that whole night.

She really wanted to be more with him, but she didn't want to force anything. So when she opened her front door that afternoon and saw him standing there, she didn't touch him. As happy as she was that they were hanging out again, she wanted to put some physical distance between them. She really was tired of being pushed away and then pulled back in. She needed to maintain some level of distance from him, if only to protect her own heart. And maybe in time, her feelings for him would begin to shift from romantic love to something much more platonic.

"Hey," he said, smiling when he saw her in a way that made her want to swoon. "You look fantastic." She wished she could say she hadn't put anything more into her appearance than she usually did, but it would've been a lie. She'd spent a couple hours on her hair alone, making sure her long ginger locks were done up in the perfect side braid. Her makeup was as close to perfect as she could get, and she was wearing her favorite summer dress. She wasn't trying to send him any signals. But she loved seeing that smile on his face. She loved the way it made her feel.

"Thank you," she said, fighting a blush as she closed and locked the door behind her. They walked together down the steps and onto the sidewalk. The ice cream shop was just a few minutes down the road into town, so she didn't think it was worth bringing the car. They talked the whole way to the shop, and as they talked she could feel herself moving closer to him. At one point his hand grazed hers, and she felt like they were magnets being drawn to each other. But then she reminded herself the importance of distance, and she subtly moved away from him.

She ordered her ice cream and his frozen lemonade, and they walked together out in the summer sun. And then finally, he said, "So there's kind of a reason I wanted to hang out today."

She raised her eyebrows. "You mean other than to apologize for being a crazy jerk the other night?" she said, taking a tiny bite of her cookie dough ice cream cone.

He winced, but nodded. "Yeah. And I really am sorry, by the way. About all of that. And everything else too."

"Apology accepted," she said, smiling.

He grinned. "Excellent. But the other reason I wanted to hang out today is that... well... I got the results back. The DNA results. They came in the mail yesterday."

Her jaw fell. "Oh my goodness! Zeke!" She gave him a gentle shoulder nudge, which went against her no touching rule. "You're holding out on me. What did it say?"

He gave her a tiny nervous grin and shrugged. "Actually, I don't know. It's in my pocket. I guess I haven't been brave enough to open it yet. So I thought maybe we could open it together?"

"Are you sure?" she asked, staring at him so she could get a proper read of his reaction. "Because I know I did this with you, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you wanted to open it in private."

"No," he replied. Then he shook his head. "I mean, yeah. I'm sure. I tried to open it a few times yesterday, but I just kept thinking about you. And how I was a total ass to you the other night. And how I really didn't want to find out without you next to me. Is that okay?"

She nodded. "It's more than okay. Tell you what. Let's open it at the beach. I know a pretty quiet spot. It'll probably be just the two of us. And then we can open it together and process the news in a little bit of privacy."