Page 15 of Shame Me
I could practically feel the color leaving my face. “Oh, we’re not—”
His smile seemed all-knowing, as if he’d seen through the wall that our lips had been momentarily locked. “Out of us three guys, he’s the marrying type.”
“What does that even mean?”
“C’mon, Dani. You’re not dumb. Out of us three guys, you have to know Braden is the one who’s gonna wind up with a wife, kids, and a dog. I’m never gonna get married—and, if Zack does, it’s gonna be twenty years from now, after he’s sown all his wild oats.”
His words hit me all wrong, because he didn’t know everything, even if he thought he did. “Are you a fortune teller now?”
Grinning, he picked up his cup of coffee. “Nah, just the next best thing.” And then he gulped from his mug as if it were room temperature.
“And that is?”
“I’m an analyst. I take in all the available information and figure out what’s coming. When you can see every possible path and then consider the personality of each person involved, you can make a prediction that’s right on the money.”
I tried to consider if I’d ever seen Cy do that—and, while I knew the guy was pretty sharp, I didn’t think he could forecast our futures. Besides, it made me sad picturing Zack as single twenty years from now.
I didn’t want to wait that long for him.
Although I didn’t know if I wanted to have kids—or even a dog—I knew being in my late thirties or early forties would make it far more difficult. I wanted to have a choice.
And I wanted it to be with Zack.
Although my mind had toyed with Braden for just a few minutes while I could still taste his lips on mine…my heart was still with Zachary Ryan, just as it would always be.
And I wanted Cy to be wrong.
My phone had long since gone to sleep. “So what predictions have you accurately made?”
He smirked. “I knew Mr. Evans was gonna retire after our junior year.”
That was one teacher I’d never had, because he taught woodworking and some other classes I wasn’t interested in. “Wasn’t he, like, a hundred years old? Couldn’t anybody have guessed that?”
“No. They all thought he was gonna work till he croaked. But he’d said some things in class that made me figure that was what he was gonna do—and I was right.” Although I didn’t respond, he could tell I wasn’t impressed. So he upped the ante. “And I knew Parker was gonna blaze at some point. I didn’t knowwhen—but I knew he would.”
“How’d you know?”
“It was clear he didn’t want to be with us. He wanted to be in a band, yeah, but he didn’t like Zack’s vision, and he didn’t keep that a secret. He bristled at almost every single suggestion Zack made—so I wasn’t surprised when he left.”
“But did youpredictit?”
Scooting back his chair, Cy got up to refill his coffee. “I told Zack one day before practice when Parker was late. I told him Parker’s days with us were numbered. If you don’t believe me, you can ask him.”
“No, I believe you.”
About Parker. About Mr. Evans.
But not about Zack.
Never about Zack…because I had to believe he would eventually see me and know I’d been waiting for him forever.
Until then, I had to try to let him go.
Two weeks later,we had a show at a little place in Denver in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The venue was called After Hours and the only parking available was a paid lot next to the building or on the street. I’d learned quickly that parking downtown was hard to come by, especially when you had your entire band and equipment in a huge cargo van.
Despite the cold weather, I’d purchased a black pleated miniskirt I found at a thrift store that fit me perfectly with tips I’d made from my new job cleaning hotel rooms. There was nothing fun about the work, but I did get a few bucks in tips every day. It was surprising to me just how filthy some people could be while other rooms hardly looked used at all. The hardest part was getting up early after a night when we’d had a concert.
But I was young. I could sleep when I was dead.
