you for Zach.” Blowing out a breath, he stared up at the ceiling. “He is going to pound on me if he knows I’m discussing this.”
“Then maybe he should have answered me when I tried to talk to him about it the other day. I asked him again . . . and he just talked around it.”
“He thinks you’re going to run scared,” Zane said gently. “You live your life by plans—you’ve done that ever since you were a kid. Your crazy mom, everything she put you through. Zach . . . well, he never fit into your plans. He doesn’t want to scare you, especially not when he’s finally got you to see that he can fit into your life . . . like this.”
Her eyes swung to his.
“Can he?”
Abby closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands. “I never saw any of this coming, Zane. But I can’t go a day without thinking about him anymore. Not an hour. Seems like it’s a struggle to even go a minute.”
“Is that a yes?”
Abby lifted her head. And although she didn’t say a word, he saw the answer in her eyes.
* * *
Zane looked like he was going to puke as he finished setting up his equipment. “You realize he’s going to kill me, right?”
“Oh, shut up.” Abigale was nervous enough herself. She was also freezing. Which didn’t make sense, because the lights in his studio were hot. Of course, she was only wearing the green silk shirt. That would explain why she was freezing. That, and nerves.
“We can do this another day,” Zane said, his voice abrupt, edgy with his own rush of nerves.
“No. We’re doing it now.” She shot him a dark look. “If you can’t handle it, I can hit the road and see if I can find another photographer back home.”
He gave her a pained look. “And like that is going to make it any better. At least Zach knows I’m not going to be staring at you and thinking . . .” He went red and focused on the backdrop he’d planned to use. “Can you explain why it has to be today?”
“You’ll see.” The blossoms Zach had painted across her skin were already fading. If she waited more than a day or two, they wouldn’t show as well for photographs and she needed to give him . . . something. Something that showed him what she felt. And nobody could catch a moment on camera the way Zane did.
Trying to distract herself, she stood in front of the counter where he’d spread out some of the photographs he’d taken. Most of them looked like they’d come from the barbecue, she realized. She saw herself, bent over the stove. Something about the way he’d caught her on film made her think of a time gone by. Of course, the old-fashioned sort of dress really added to that, as did the apron she’d put on.
There was another one of the twins playing with little Clayton, then one of just the twins. Travis had his arm slung around Trey’s neck and if Abigale knew them, they’d been talking about Trey’s wife. Her death had left such a hole in the family.
There was one of Sebastian, alone, staring up at the sky. Lost in the stars, the way he often seemed to be.
A close-up of Zach. She touched his face, stroked a finger down the line of his jaw. “I like this one,” she murmured.
“Take it.”
Glancing up, she saw Zane moving closer.
Pulling it from the pile, she smiled a little. “Sure you don’t mind?” Slyly, she added, “You could always sell it to the tabloids.”
He laughed a little. “Nah. If I’m going to sell a picture of my famous brother to the tabloids, I’ll go for the one with more skin showing.” He plucked another from the stack and said, “But Zach would kill me. And you know I wouldn’t do that. Here . . . you might like that one, too.”
It was another one of Zach, his upper torso and face, although he’d been staring at something off to the side.
It had been right after they’d finished playing a game of baseball and Zach had taken his shirt off.
She stroked her finger down the tattoo over his heart. She went to put them both down. But for some reason, something caught her eye just then. Maybe it was the lights . . . maybe it was the way Zane had framed the shot. Maybe she