His face had changed, and his hands looked rougher, but he was still the same in the looks department. His heartbreaking green eyes, brown hair, and figure were still the same, but something in the depths of his eyes had changed.
“Bailey,” he whispered, sipping his beer slowly, “how are you?”
I smiled -or tried to- at him and spoke, “I’m good, I guess. I got into Princeton and I’m studying art history.” He smiled as I spoke and covered my hand with his, giving it a gentle squeeze. My whole body froze, and his smile slipped a little.
“This was a mistake. Bailey, I’m sorry, I have to go. Thank your friends for me.” He shrugged out of the booth and after a second, I followed him.
We reached the street and I called his name, making him freeze.
“Zane, wait up.” He turned as I moved towards him and his eyes were watery. We stood apart, and he glanced at me and then down at the sidewalk.
“I’m so… I’m so, so sorry… Bailey, I never meant.” His broken voice hurt me, and I moved towards him. He pulled me into his arms and sobbed into my shoulder, “Since I got clean all I wanted was a chance to apologize to you, to my dad, and Coop, but my dad won’t hear it. He told me if I go near you or Coop, he’ll have me arrested, so I stayed away.”
His breath against my neck was comforting and I kissed his cheek before I murmured,
“It’s okay. You weren’t yourself; I forgave you a long time ago.” He nodded and stepped back smiling at me.
“I’m so lucky to have seen you, Bailey.” We walked back into the bar and sat catching up for the remainder of the night.
“Do you still see Coop?” he asked as we sat beside each other, and I closed my eyes.
“No, I haven’t seen or spoken to him in two years.” My voice was sad, and pain still shot through it as I thought about Cooper. I opened my eyes and found Zane watching me.
“You really loved him, didn’t you?”
I nodded and a tear slipped from my eye.
I scrubbed it away and smiled at him. “But enough about me, tell me about you.”
He smiled sadly at my deflection but began talking, nonetheless. “I got clean two years ago; I’d been robbing a liquor store and the owner got hurt. He was a nice man and told me if I agreed to get clean, he’d drop the charges against me, and he told me that in his youth—” He broke off as Marie came over and sat beside me.
“Bailey,” she whined, “come dance with me.” I smiled and shook my head at her, and she went off with Xavier, one of the boys from our class.
“Where was I?” Zane asked, smiling at me.
“The man who let you off,” I supplied as the music got louder and my head nodded along to the bass.
“How about we meet for lunch tomorrow and I tell you then. You go back to your friends and have fun.” I beamed at him and handed him my cell, getting him to put his number in it.
As I got up to dance, he leaned close and gave me a hug whispering, “Coop’s a fool if he lets you go forever, Bailey. See you tomorrow.”
I grinned as he left and made my way to the dance floor to shake my ass with my friends. I kissed a few guys and even kissed a girl that night, and we ate fast food on our way back to our hotel. The next morning, I woke at ten a.m. and went for a shower. Once I was out of the shower, I texted Zane and told him where I was staying.
He texted back straight away and said he’d meet me in an hour and asked if I wanted burgers for lunch. As I waited to meet him, I fought the urge to text Coop, but I gave in and sent him a message, which came back undelivered. I tried to call him and heard a message saying that his number was no longer active.
To stop myself getting upset I focused on getting ready and then spent the rest of the hour reading my favorite book. Once the hour was up, Zane texted to say he was downstairs and I left Marie a note, telling her I was out at lunch and would be back soon.
As I waited on the elevator my nerves fluttered and I curled my fingers into my hands pressing the nails into the skin to help keep me calm. The elevator went down the seven floors slowly and eventually stopped at the ground floor. I got out and glanced around for Zane, but I couldn’t see him anywhere. I moved towards the entrance and he stepped out from beside a plant to meet me.
“Bailey,” he whispered, and I went into his arms for a hug.
“Hey, Zane,” I muttered as we stepped apart and he motioned to the woman at his side. “This is my wife, Samantha, but you can call her Sam, and this is our beautiful baby, Oliver.” He scooped the baby up and passed him to me as I stood open-mouthed in the lobby. I glanced down at the baby and he opened his eyes, took one look at me, and smiled before nodding back to sleep.
“Well, hi, Bailey, it’s so lovely to meet you,” Sam said, as she leaned over kissing my cheek gently. “I’ve heard a lot about you over the years and I can’t wait to get to know you better.” I glanced at them both and saw happiness shining out of them as they watched me with their son.
“I can’t believe you have a son.” I stared at Zane and Sam, both shocked and delighted at the surprise of the news.
We went for lunch and Sam impressed me with how incredible she was. She was a kindergarten teacher and her dad was the store owner who’d let Zane off. At first, he was apprehensive about their relationship but over the years he’d warmed to Zane and he adored his grandbaby.
As I left them, Zane promised to try and come back to Minnesota, and he wanted to talk to his dad and Coop again, but he didn’t know if they’d even hear him out. I said I would try to bring it up when I was next home, but I warned him that it would be a while before I was home.
I went back to the hotel and all too soon it was time to head back to school. Once there I busied myself with my studies, had a few dates which went nowhere, and spoke to Jay in London. I missed him and our calls were never long enough, but it made me happy to hear from him.
The days passed quickly and turned into months with finals and assignments and applications for my classmates being handed in as they wanted to go forward in their careers, but I made sure to keep in touch with Zane and Samantha. They sent me pictures of Oliver and updates on how Zane was getting on at college. I went back to New York for his graduation as a youth counselor and I was so proud of him and all he’d achieved.
When it came time for me to pick my career, all I wanted was to open my own gallery and have my friends and family enjoy the glorious works of art that I would display. I decided to apply to a few galleries to get an idea and experience of how things worked before I tried to branch out on my own. Shawn had offered me the money to buy my own gallery, but I was loath to take it. I’d never really forgiven him for his awful behavior towards me and his kids when I was a teenager.
After graduation, which my mom and Shawn attended, I’d come home and moved in with Jay into an apartment in Jefferson. My granddad became sick and I spent a few months living with him and my grandma nursing him until he passed away at seventy-nine.
I’d started looking for a job again because I’d put it on hold while I was caring for my grandma and was browsing in Par Excellence, a café come gallery with my mom when I got chatting to Martine. Martine owned Par Excellence along with her husband Sean-Paul and happened to mention that they were looking for a general manager and with my degree, would I consider applying.