assured him.
Zach’s breath caught in his lungs. Delia might be glad to be here, but Zach wasn’t sure how he felt about the fact that she’d so suddenly appeared back in his life.
She had thrown him off balance. Emotionally, he was having a harder time staying upright than Spence was.
He’d imagined Delia’s return to Serendipity a thousand times, but the stark reality of the moment was completely different than anything his mind could have conjured—never mind his heart.
“Zach?” Delia called just as he was about to close the door behind him.
Just her saying his name made a ripple of awareness flow through him. He took a deep breath, casually arched an eyebrow and turned toward her.
Her eyes were shaded and her expression neutral. It used to be that he had easily been able to read the depths of her heart through her gaze. But he would have thought the time and distance would have changed that ability.
He was surprised to find that it hadn’t. He could see that she was struggling emotionally with this unexpected reunion, just as he was.
He questioned her with his eyes. What did she want—or expect from him, for that matter?
He was aware of the very moment she elevated an emotional barrier. Her gaze turned from a glimmering sapphire to a steel-blue. Clearly, whatever courtesy she had shown him had been for Spence’s sake and not his own. Although, why that should surprise him was beyond his comprehension. Hadn’t he done the same with her—or at least had tried to do?
He dropped his brow. He didn’t know whether she had put their past aside. He only knew that he couldn’t.
She had left him without a word. She had broken his heart.
There was so much he wanted, no, needed, to say to her, but the words would not come. And even if they had, now was hardly the time.
“Well?” he asked when she continued to stare at him without speaking.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” she said in a raspy near whisper that sounded dry and strained.
His brow lowered further. “For what?”
“For helping me out here today. For being there for Spence. I might have been able to do it without you, but I don’t think he could have.”
“It’s my job,” he replied curtly.
“Maybe,” Delia said, shaking her head. “But I don’t think that’s all it is.”
His mouth twisted but he didn’t deny it.
“I’m glad I could help,” he said after another extended silence. Help Spence, he added to himself.
She hesitated, looking as if she had something else to say, but then her jaw tightened and she shook her head almost imperceptibly. “So, I guess I’ll see you around.”
He nodded. This conversation was over. His gaze broke with hers as he gestured toward the door. “Spence and Ben are waiting for me.”
He turned and nearly sprinted for the door. It was more of a getaway than an exit.
How, he wondered, was he ever going to be able to work with her when just seeing her drudged up so many uncomfortable feelings?
If there was a way out of this, Zach didn’t know what it was. He knew how God would want him to respond—with forgiveness and love. Zach wasn’t sure he could manage either one of those right now.
Maybe ever.
Chapter Three
Two more days passed before Delia was ready to turn the clinic sign from Closed to Open, and by then it was Friday afternoon and the end of the workweek. The supplies she’d ordered online had arrived and were organized, the financials were up to date. She’d talked Vickie McCall, who’d been Doc Severns’s receptionist, into returning to her old job. Monday morning the clinic would officially open for business.
She wondered how long it would be before her tiny waiting room was full of people. The word was definitely out about the clinic reopening, at least to some extent, or Zach would never have known to bring Spence in.
Her best guess was that Jo Hawkins Murphy, the owner of Cup o’ Jo, the local café, had learned of her arrival and spread the word. News traveled fast with that good-humored, redheaded lady. Jo was better advertising than a television ad—and a good deal more persuasive—so on the off chance that the woman hadn’t heard of her return, Delia thought it would be worth a walk down Main Street to fill her in.
Besides, she hadn’t had much of an opportunity to reconnect with her old friends—except for the occasional email, and that just wasn’t the same thing as face-to-face contact. She was anxious to hear what they’d been up to recently.
Eventually she’d bring Riley along with her and introduce him to the town. She hadn’t planned to return to Serendipity, but she was here now and she had to face reality. People were going to start asking questions about Riley. Someone was bound to do the math, and like it or not, the truth would eventually come out.
It was imperative that she protect Riley against the gossip that was sure to arise—and better that she tell Zach the truth before he found it out any other way.
Soon. But not today. Right now, she had enough on her plate just getting the clinic open.
She pulled her hair back into a smooth ponytail and checked her makeup before leaving the clinic. She didn’t know why she bothered—Serendipity was a country town with country ways. Hair and makeup were simple here.
Her heavily lined boots clapped loudly against the wood-planked sidewalk as she headed for the café. The ever-present Texas wind had a strong nip to it, and she pulled her wool coat more closely around her neck.
Her mind drifted as she walked. Nothing in the scenery was any different than she remembered from her youth. Serendipity was a settlement unchanged by time, looking nearly identical to what Delia imagined it must have looked a hundred years ago.
It was her perspective that had changed. Her heart. And now she was more confused than ever.
Catching up with old friends and announcing the opening of her clinic weren’t her only reasons for visiting Cup o’ Jo. She wanted to know more about Zach before she introduced him to Riley. It was better to be prepared than to be taken off guard, and she’d seen enough in her interaction with him to realize things were different now.
Zach had been a passionate boy, but self-centered in his every thought and action. He’d gotten her into all sorts of trouble—encouraging her to ditch class, driving recklessly with her on his motorcycle—even getting her arrested. It was hard for her to fathom that he could change so completely, even given the ten years since she’d seen him. Leopards could not change their spots, and neither, Delia believed, could Zach Bowden.
Once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker—right?
Still, he hadn’t asked if he needed to stay around and help her out with Spence, nor had she indicated
