Chapter 235 - Nothing Happened
Angela and Karen heard nothing strange in the answer. They started talking about the jacket again while Zac arranged the bags around the groceries already inside the trunk.
Roxie heard the refrigerator, the electric bill, and the crackers on the kitchen counter inside his words.
She needed things.
Zac closed the trunk and opened the passenger door for her.
Angela smiled. "Princess treatment."
"Shut up," Roxie said.
Karen and Angela continued teasing them while they walked toward Karen’s car. Roxie waved goodbye and climbed into the Tesla.
Zac joined her, closed his door, and looked over.
"You okay?"
"Yes."
"You look tired."
"We walked through every store in the mall."
"You bought enough."
Roxie looked toward the back. "Angela made me."
"Sure."
"She did."
Zac leaned across the console.
His hand rested lightly against the side of her neck before he kissed her. The kiss was soft and brief, with none of the urgency that had followed their fights.
Roxie touched the front of his shirt before he sat back.
Roxie described Angela throwing napkins across the table and Karen wearing a fry beneath her nose. Zac told her they were all getting banned from the food court before VCU.
The afternoon settled around them again.
Roxie looked over her shoulder at the bags inside the back.
Her smile faded.
"What the fuck am I doing?"
Zac glanced toward her. "What?"
"I spent more money today than I usually spend in a year."
"You needed clothes."
"I bought three shirts because Angela liked them."
"Did you like them?"
"That isn’t the point."
"It sounds like the point."
Roxie looked at him.
Zac kept his eyes on the road, but the corner of his mouth moved slightly.
"I have a new car," she said. "The taxes on the bungalow are handled. The bills are handled. He said he’ll pay for college, and now there are enough clothes back there to replace half my closet."
"Good."
Roxie turned toward the window.
"I feel like I woke up inside someone else’s life."
"It’s still your life."
"No, it isn’t."
Zac’s fingers shifted around the steering wheel.
Roxie watched the businesses pass outside.
"Last week I was thinking about whether I could pay the electric bill and buy groceries. Now I walk into a store and use his card."
"The money is yours."
"It came from someone I won’t even call my father."
"Then don’t call him anything."
"That doesn’t change where it came from."
Zac remained quiet for a moment before answering.
"Use what he owes you." Zac’s jaw tightened. "Make him pay now."
Roxie looked at him.
There was no sympathy for Mr. Robinson in his voice. Zac wanted her to take the money because Mr. Robinson had failed her, not because he believed the man deserved forgiveness.
She understood the difference.
Zac turned his palm and linked their fingers.
The bungalow came into view near sunset. Zac parked beside the charging unit and carried the groceries inside first. Roxie took two shopping bags before he could return for them, then followed him through the door.
For the next half hour, they moved between the car and the kitchen.
Zac arranged the groceries across the counter while Roxie carried her clothes into the bedroom. Every time she returned, another part of the kitchen looked full. Fruit filled the bowl beside the sink. Meat and vegetables went into the refrigerator. Cereal boxes lined the top cabinet.
Roxie stood in front of the open refrigerator after Zac finished.
The shelves looked unfamiliar.
"You bought four kinds of juice."
"You don’t like the same one every day."
"I drink water."
"You drink water because there’s nothing else."
Roxie looked at him.
Zac raised both hands. "I’m putting the receipt on the counter."
He placed it beside the electric bill.
Roxie closed the refrigerator.
Zac checked the time on his phone.
"I’m going home tonight."
Roxie turned. "Why?"
"I need to handle something."
"With your family?"
"Yeah."
The answer came quickly enough that she watched his face.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"What do you need to handle?"
Zac slid his phone into his pocket. "Just family shit."
"You can stay here."
"I know."
"Then stay."
He looked toward the hallway before shaking his head.
"I need to go."
Roxie folded her arms.
He had stayed at the bungalow several nights since the fight. On the nights he left, he usually waited until Roxie was ready for bed. It was barely evening now.
"What are you going to use?"
"I’ll call an Uber."
Roxie glanced toward the driveway.
"Take the car."
Zac paused.
"You sure?"
"You said you need to go home."
"I can get a ride."
"You’ve been driving it all week."
Zac looked toward the window, then back at her. His hesitation lasted long enough to appear real.
"Okay."
Roxie walked him to the door.
He touched her waist and pulled her closer. The kiss stayed soft, with his lips moving carefully over hers before he rested his forehead against hers.
"I’ll bring it back tomorrow."
"I know."
"I’ll pick you up for school."
"Okay."
Zac kissed her once more and left.
Roxie stood on the porch while he disconnected the charger and climbed into the Tesla. He lifted one hand through the windshield before backing out.
She watched the car disappear between the trees.
Zac was going home.
The idea should have comforted her. Maybe Arthur had asked to speak to him. Maybe Miranda wanted to apologize or Mia missed him. Whatever happened between them, Zac still had a family waiting at the end of the road.
Roxie went inside and locked the door.
She put the remaining groceries away, folded the new clothes, and removed the tags one at a time. The team jacket fit perfectly when she tried it on again. The school name looked clean across the back, and the sleeves had no faded spots or loose threads.
Roxie hung it beside the old jacket.
The new one made the old one look worse.
Her phone remained silent on the bed.
Zac had gone home early several nights that week.
Before the fight, he always found a reason to stay. He stretched dinner into another hour, started a movie too late, or claimed the weather was bad enough that driving home made no sense.
Now he left even when she asked him to remain.
Roxie folded one of the new shirts and placed it inside the drawer.
Maybe things with his family were worse than he admitted. Arthur could still be trying to make him choose. Miranda might be refusing to let him stay unless he stopped seeing Roxie.
The girls at Dylan’s house entered her mind before she could stop them.
She remembered them sitting near Zac, touching his arm, and looking at Roxie like she had interrupted something. Zac said nothing happened. Dylan said nothing happened.
Roxie believed them.
She hated that the memory still returned whenever Zac left.
Her phone had not vibrated.
She checked it anyway.
There were no messages from Zac or Ethan.
Nothing terrible had happened for several days.
Practice had gone well. Angela and Karen still wanted her around. She had everything she needed for VCU. The refrigerator was full, the property taxes were covered, and college no longer looked impossible.
Zac had been sweet.
That should have made Roxie feel safe.
Instead, every vehicle passing the bungalow made her look toward the window. She checked the lock twice and looked at her phone whenever the screen caught light from the lamp.
The quiet felt temporary.
Things had been calm before Claire disappeared. They had been calm before Mr. Robinson entered the bungalow and changed everything Roxie knew about her life.
Roxie looked at the shopping bags near the dresser.
All of it could be taken away.
Mr. Robinson could change his mind. Cynthia could tell him helping Roxie was destroying their marriage. Arthur could force Zac to choose again.
Nothing stayed simply because it arrived.
Roxie changed for bed and pulled one of Zac’s shirts over her head.
Angela’s question returned while she folded her jeans.
Have you and Zac done it?
Roxie had said no.
She and Zac had barely gone beyond kissing since their major fight. They cuddled on the couch, held hands, and kissed whenever he arrived or left. Even when a kiss started becoming harder, Zac slowed down first.
He had not touched her beneath her clothes. He had not pressed her against the wall or pulled her into his lap until neither of them could breathe properly.
After their previous argument about sex, Roxie should have been relieved that he respected the distance.
Instead, she wondered why he no longer wanted more.
Maybe the fight had changed how he saw her. He had watched her throw his things and hit his face. He saw the bruises she put on her own legs.
Maybe wanting her had been easier before he knew how ugly she could become.
The girls around him at Dylan’s house came back again.
They were uncomplicated. They had money, stable families, and houses they could invite him into without unpaid bills sitting on the kitchen counter.
Roxie climbed into bed and picked up her phone.
She opened Zac’s conversation.
Did you get home?
The message remained unread for several minutes.
Roxie stared at the screen until the status changed.
Yeah.
She typed again.
Everything okay?
Another delay followed.
Roxie watched the empty space beneath her message.
His answer finally appeared.
Fine. Sleep.
She read it twice.
Zac usually told her good night. Even when they were angry, he often added that he loved her before putting his phone away.
This time, he said neither.
Roxie placed the phone beside her pillow and turned toward the empty side of the bed.
Nothing had happened.
That was exactly why she could not sleep.