his actions. He couldn’t express the anger he felt over what his father had done.
The only thing he could do was try to find a way to forgive.
It was difficult. But he was managing.
But forgiveness would come a lot easier if I knew my relationship with Rhea hadn’t been ruined.
When his messages didn’t work, he tried sending her gifts. He ordered flowers and had them sent to her apartment. He sent baskets of fruit, arrays of organic jams. He even visited a jeweler, chose several pieces he thought she might like based upon the things he had already seen her wearing, and had them sent over one by one every day for a week.
He tracked the shipments on his computer, ensuring that each one arrived on schedule. Every time one of his tracked items gave him the cheery message, “Your package has been delivered!” he felt an irrepressible rush of excitement. Maybe this would be the gift that persuaded her to call him.
But it never was. Days went by, then weeks, and she still hadn’t called.
And then, at last, one evening, the phone rang.
Zach stared at her number for a long time before picking up, unable to believe his good fortune. Could it really be her? Was she really reaching out to him at last?
He answered the call. “Rhea?”
When she spoke, she sounded so exhausted that his heart broke. “Zach, you can’t keep sending me jewelry.”
“I want to give you jewelry,” he protested.
“You have to stop,” she insisted. “It’s not as if I’m going to wear it.”
“Why won’t you?”
“You know why. You and I don’t have that relationship anymore. How am I supposed to wear this necklace without thinking about that?”
“Do you like it?” he asked her. “The necklace, I mean?”
“I love it,” she said quietly. “You must have known I would.”
“Then you should wear it.”
“Whether I like it or not isn’t the point, Zach.”
“Rhea, please,” he said. “Please don’t throw away everything we had. I know things are complicated right now—”
“Complicated is putting it mildly,” she said.
“I know that,” Zach agreed. “It’s a lot to deal with. It’s a lot to try to work through. But we can work through it.”
She was quiet.
He took it as an encouraging sign.
“It’s you and me, Rhea,” he urged her. “After everything we’ve been through, we owe it to ourselves to try one more time, don’t we?”
Silence.
“We owe it to the baby, don’t we?” he asked. It was the last card he had to play.
She hesitated for a moment. “I can’t argue with that,” she murmured.
His heart leapt. “Will you see me?” he asked. “Please?”
“Not at your house. And not at mine.”
“That’s fine,” he said quickly. He would take anything. “We can meet and have dinner.”
“Okay. Dinner. One dinner.”
One dinner was more than enough.
“Tomorrow night at the Lily Garden? Seven o’clock?”
“That’s fine,” Rhea said, sounding resigned.
It pained Zach to think that she was unhappy about the idea of seeing him. But at least she had agreed to see him, and that was what mattered most. He would have his opportunity to apologize for the way he had behaved, and to make things right with her.
Rhea had arrived first, and Zach found her waiting for him at the front of the restaurant.
“I thought maybe you weren’t coming,” she said softly.
“After all the work I did to persuade you to talk to me again?” Zach said. “I wouldn’t have missed tonight for anything in the world.”
They were shown to their table. The host pulled Rhea’s seat out for her, and she thanked him as she sat down. Zach felt a pang of jealousy. He wanted to be the one pulling Rhea’s chairs out for her.
Things will be better after tonight. I just have to make her see how sorry I am for everything that’s happened between us.
He waited until the water had been poured and the orders had been placed. Then he faced her.
“Rhea,” he said, “I owe you an apology.”
She waited.
“I owe you several apologies,” he went on.
“Is that why you wanted to meet me?”
“Well, that’s a big part of it,” he said. “Was it not clear from the messages I sent?”
“I suppose,” she said. “I wondered if maybe you thought you had apologized enough already.”
“Not by half,” he said. “The way I spoke to you when you told me you were pregnant—that was unforgivable. I’m so sorry. Of course I don’t need to see a paternity test. What a stupid, mean thing to say.”
She shook her head slowly. “You really hurt my feelings