Zella covered her face with her hands. "I look like an idiot with you stringing me along like that. Everyone must have had a good laugh when I said how much I wanted to have my picture taken with T. J. Zereth." She lowered her hands and glared at him. "You!"
"No, I don"t think they did. I think-"
"Don"t bother. I"m leaving."
She turned, grabbed her purse off the coffee table, and stomped toward the door.
"Wait. Don"t go. I can explain. I didn"t tell you because I wanted to get to know you first, before you found out who I was. I wanted you to get to know the real me first."
She skidded to a halt, spun around, and pointed at him. "The real you is a liar, and I don"t want to know that person." She turned and continued to the door.
Trevor raced in front of her and splayed his palm on the back of the door to stop her from opening it. "We need to talk about this. Besides, I brought you here. I have to drive you home."
"No you don"t. I will never get in a car with you again. Or a room. I"ll catch the bus. If you try to follow me or stop me, I"ll scream and someone will call the police."
He pulled his hand away from the door. Zella yanked it open and stormed out, leaving him standing in the doorway.
The second her foot touched the sidewalk, the tears she"d been fighting streamed down her face. She should have thought about it sooner. After reading Trevor"s chapter, she knew the t.i.tle-Till Death. And she"d seen on T. J. Zereth"s website that same t.i.tle was his next upcoming release.
Words that she"d heard very recently, twice, at Cindy"s wedding and again at Annie"s wedding, rang through her head. Wedding vow words. "Till death do us part."
She thought she had been falling in love with Trevor and that maybe one day in the future there could be a wedding. But not now. The words till death now had them parting for a very different reason, and maybe it was just as final.
She got on the first bus that came by, not caring where it was going, only that it was taking her away. Just like in every make-believe story, this was The End.
Chapter 9.
Trevor sucked in a deep breath to gather his courage and knocked on the door.
He knew that the relationship between Zella and her mother wasn"t great, but for the moment, she was his only connection to Zella.
He"d been a mental wreck all day Sunday, and even going to both the morning and evening church services hadn"t helped. He"d nearly broken down and cried like a wuss, and the few people at church whom he"d told about his writing already thought he was a bit mentally unstable.
Every time he"d called, she hadn"t answered. She hadn"t replied to a single text.
It didn"t take a rocket scientist to know she wasn"t going to go to the book club meeting on Friday night. Even if she did, he couldn"t wait that long.
He couldn"t visit her at the pharmacy where she worked, nor could he wait by her car to try to talk to her in the parking lot. He didn"t like being a public spectacle, and he knew she wouldn"t either.
His only option was to talk to her in the privacy of her home. It probably wouldn"t be all that private with her mother home, but her mother was the only way he was going to get in the door.
The door opened. Melissa gasped, and then her face hardened into a tight mask. "Go away or I"m calling the cops."
"The cops? But-"
Melissa stood back, with the obvious intent of slamming the door in his face.
Before she could do that, he went for the proverbial foot-in-the-door trick.
Often people were nervous around him because of his size, but he"d never thought anyone would be afraid of him to the point they needed protection from law enforcement. Especially a woman.
Especially the woman he loved and would die for. Or her mother.
He grimaced, waiting for the pain. He had just told himself he would die for her. A broken foot was nothing in comparison.
All he felt was a small nudge, but he heard a large string of curse words that would do any sailor proud spewing out of Melissa"s mouth.
Trevor looked down and grinned. He"d forgotten that since he was coming straight from work, he was still wearing his steel-toed, CSA-certified, size fourteen safety boots. Not only good for falling windshields, they were also good for solid oak doors wielded by angry women.
Without moving his foot out of the doorway, he leaned forward. "I really need to talk to Zella when she gets home."
Melissa had the door gripped so tight her knuckles were turning white. "She"s not going to talk to you. I don"t know what you"re up to or what you"re trying to get Zella involved with, but I won"t allow it. If you don"t go away, I"m calling the cops."
"I"m not trying to get Zella involved in anything. Please let me in. We need to talk." From the look of Melissa, he needed to talk to her almost as much as he needed to talk to Zella.
"No. I don"t allow criminals and hit men into my home. I"m warning you."
"Hit men? What are you talking about?"
"I don"t know what you"re up to, but I know you"ve been getting Zella to do your dirty work. I heard her asking about poisons and noxious compounds. Whose brake line are you planning to cut and make it look like an accident? I know you"ve been threatening her. I won"t let my little girl get involved with a sc.u.mbag like you. Now go away."
"Dirty work?" Trevor"s head swam. "I"m not a criminal. I"m a mystery writer. The world knows me as T. J. Zereth. I know you"ve got all my books in your house."
"No we don"t. Zella threw them all in the fireplace last night and burned them."
Trevor cringed. Along with his books, he felt his heart go up in flames.
He cleared his throat then lowered his voice to sound as nonthreatening as possible. "If I wanted to I could push the door open and barge in right now, but I would never do that. I"ll wait for you to voluntarily open it and let me in. I know I"ve hurt Zella. It"s just a misunderstanding, but it"s a pretty big one and I want to make it better. I need your help and your blessings. Please let me in."
He held his breath and waited. He felt himself about to pa.s.s out from lack of oxygen when slowly the door opened.
"Thank you," he said, inhaling deeply.
"How can you be T. J. Zereth? He"s Annie"s and Zella"s favorite author. I thought you were her new boyfriend, the man she met at the book club."
"That"s right. All of the above. I made a big mistake and didn"t tell her everything about myself because I wanted her to get to know me first, just as the man from the book club."
"Didn"t you trust her? Did you think it would make a difference?"
"At first, yes. I was afraid. I also didn"t know Zella enough at that point. I know now it wouldn"t have made any difference to her. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but most often ineffective. I need to tell her how sorry I am." He paused, which made Melissa look up, right into his eyes. With eye contact locked, he continued. "It all happened pretty fast, but I love your daughter and I need to tell her that. I only hope that she"ll forgive me for my poor judgment." He held out the special copy of his latest book that he"d brought. "I know she hasn"t finished reading this one yet, and I want her to have this as a gift. When I give it to her, I would like it if you could give us some time alone to talk."
Melissa blinked. "Are you really T. J. Zereth?"
Trevor smiled. "Sometimes. But for now, I"m just plain old Trevor Jones. That"s the T. J. part."
"I guess that makes sense." Melissa checked her watch. "She should be home any minute."
"I know." He squirmed and felt his cheeks heat up. He hadn"t slept well, and then he"d gone into work early in order to take a long lunch break, and he"d fueled himself with far too much coffee, which was catching up with him. "Before she gets here, may I use the washroom?"
Melissa pointed. "Down the hall and to the right."
Just his luck, Zella came in while he was still washing his hands.
Her voice echoed down the hall loud and clear. "What"s this? I thought I burned it."
He cringed as Melissa"s voice came back even louder; he could picture her doing it on purpose so he would hear. "He brought it here for you, as a gift."
"Trevor was here? When?"
Trevor cringed. He"d parked down the street so she wouldn"t see his car and know he was there. Now he wasn"t sure he"d made the right decision.
He strode down the hall, stopping at the entrance to the living room.
Zella stood facing Melissa, her back to him, his book in her hand, her posture ramrod stiff.
He cleared his throat. "I got here about ten minutes ago, and I"m still here."
She spun around so fast her hair smacked Melissa in the face.
"I have something to do in the kitchen," Melissa muttered then turned and left the room.
Zella held the book out toward him at full arm"s length. "I don"t want this. Take it back and go home."
He approached her, standing close enough so she wouldn"t throw the book at him, literally. "You have every right to be angry. I know I should have told you sooner. At first I was just feeding my ego, thinking that you"d treat me as if I were some big star or something, when I wanted you to get to know just the real me." He lowered his head and ran his hands down the sides of his pants. "I wasn"t trying to deceive you. Or maybe I was, but not for the reason you think. As I got to know you better, things changed. I got scared that I wouldn"t be able to live up to your expectations. Then you would have been disappointed that when you got to know me, you"d find out I"m just an ordinary guy with a day job." He swallowed. Hard. "I"m sorry."
"Oh." Zella lowered her head and stared at the book in her hands.
Suddenly doubts roared through him. He"d had two days of agony to sort his thoughts and make his plans, but now that it was happening, he realized that he was moving too fast. Just like him, Zella needed time to think, and he hadn"t allowed her that.
Slowly she ran her fingers over the embossed lettering of his name on the cover. "I hate to say this, but you were right. I would have thought about you differently. I would have put you in a place that wasn"t right, put you on a pedestal you didn"t want to be on. But I"ll always have the highest respect and even awe for what you"ve done. You"ve been blessed with a rare and special talent." She slid a couple of fingers inside the front cover in preparation to open the book. "I"m so sorry I destroyed all your books. Since you"ve brought this one, I was wondering if you can still fulfill one of my dreams and sign it for me. That would be really special."
Trevor"s heart pounded in his chest. This wasn"t going as planned. She was opening the book too soon. "No. Wait. I-"
As she flipped the cover, a sparkle of light flashed in her eyes.
Zella gasped.
"I love you, Zella, will you marry me?" he blurted as she stared at the engagement ring he"d put in the hollowed-out center of the book.
With shaking fingers, she pulled the ring out of its nest in the book.
And handed it to him.
Trevor gulped. He"d blown it again. But he would be a man about this. He would summon all his pride and dignity and walk out with his head held high. Then when he got home, if he didn"t first run his car off the road, he would find something and break it into a million pieces, like his heart.
"Yes," Zella said, her voice trembling. "I love you, too, and I will marry you. But I can tell you don"t do happily-ever-after endings. If that"s what you want, I shouldn"t put this on my own finger. You should be the one to do that."
Trevor didn"t know how he did it without dropping it, but he managed to hold the ring in his hammy fingers, and despite his shaking hands, he slid the ring onto her finger.
"It"s a little big, but they can fix that."
"Yes, they can. But you can"t fix this book. You"ll have to buy me another one. I never did get to finish it."
"It"s got a happy ending," he said, grinning as he looked at the ring, his ring, on the finger of the woman he loved. "And now we"ve got one, too."
He started to close his eyes to kiss her, when he heard Melissa squeal and come running into the room.
"Mother..." Zella groaned as she turned around to face her mother. "We"re getting married."
Melissa clasped her hands together. "Now I get to plan your wedding. The wedding of someone famous."
"No," Trevor said. "No media, no announcements. I want something quiet and simple. No one really knows who I am, and I want to keep it that way. I want a small wedding at either my church or Zella"s church. Close friends and family only."
Zella"s eyes lit up. "Or maybe you can pretend we never had this conversation, and then we can elope."
Her mother stepped back, her eyes wide. "Elope? But what about the party? You need a big send-off."
Zella crossed her arms. "Let them party without us."
"Yeah," Trevor said. "I don"t do parties. In fact, eloping sounds like a great idea." He turned to Zella then whispered in her ear so her mother wouldn"t hear. "Let"s do that. How about next Sat.u.r.day?"
Melissa sighed. "I heard you, but if that"s what you want, fine." She shuffled out, and the room fell silent.
Zella giggled. "If this were one of your books, I"d call this a happily-ever-after ending."
"No," Trevor said, wrapping his arms around his bride-to-be. "This isn"t the ending. This is the beginning of a new story. Ours. One that we"re going to cowrite. Right?"
Zella smiled and snuggled into his chest. "Write. Er, right. Whatever."
NEVER TOO LATE.
Dedication.