Picking Up the Pieces

Chapter 5

Zara’s POV

I sat in my car outside Russo's Cafe for ten minutes, gripping the steering wheel like it was the only thing keeping me sane. The rational part of my brain screamed at me to drive away, to forget about the purse and everything in it. But my debit card was in there, my ID, my keys—everything I needed to function like a normal human being.

"Fuck it," I muttered, slamming the car door harder than necessary.

Josh was exactly where I expected him to be, sitting at a corner table with that infuriating smile plastered across his perfect face. My purse sat on the table between his hands like a hostage.

I marched straight to the table, grabbed my purse, and turned to leave without a word.

"You look incredible in that dress," he called after me.

I stopped despite myself, looking down at the simple black dress I'd borrowed from Green's closet. "Thank you," I said curtly, not turning around.

"Zara, wait. Please. Can we talk? Just for a few minutes?"

Every instinct told me to keep walking, to get as far away from this man as possible. But something in his voice made me pause. I turned around slowly.

"Five minutes," I said, sliding into the chair across from him.

"I wanted to apologize for last night," he began, his gray eyes serious. "If you feel like I took advantage of you—"

"You didn't take advantage of me," I interrupted. "I was drunk, not unconscious. I made my own choices, however stupid they were."

"They weren't stupid." His voice was soft, almost gentle. "You were in pain, and you needed someone to make you feel wanted. There's nothing wrong with that."

"There's everything wrong with that when you're doing it with a complete stranger."

Josh leaned forward, his elbows on the table. "But we're not complete strangers anymore, are we? I know you take your coffee black, that you read mystery novels when you can't sleep, and that you have a scar on your shoulder from when you fell off your bike at age seven."

I stared at him. "I told you all that?"

"Among other things." His smile was warm now, not the cocky grin from earlier. "You also told me you wanted to be a teacher before life got in the way, and that you make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world according to your college roommate."

"I can't believe I told you about Green."

"You talked about her for twenty minutes. How she saved your sanity in college, how she was one of the first persons who ever really saw you." He paused. "I'm glad you found her again."

Despite myself, I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders. "How did you get my number, Josh?"

He had the decency to look sheepish. "Your phone was buzzing all morning with work calls. I answered one—figured it might be important. The number was in the call history."

"You answered my phone?"

"A guy named Lucious from the bar was wondering where you were. I told him you'd had a family emergency and would call him back."

I blinked. "You covered for me at work?"

"Seemed like the least I could do after you ran out like the building was on fire."

We stared at each other for a moment, and I felt that same dangerous pull from the night before. The way he looked at me like I was something precious, worth protecting.

"Why do you want to know me better?" I asked quietly.

"Because last night, in between the pain and the alcohol, I saw something extraordinary. A woman who's been beaten down by life but refuses to stay down. A woman who fights back, even when she's scared." His hand moved across the table, stopping just short of mine. "I felt a connection with you, Zara. Something real. I can't just walk away from that."

"Josh, my life is a complete disaster right now. I'm temporarily homeless and I just discovered my entire family is built on lies. I'm not exactly girlfriend material."

"Who said anything about girlfriends?" He grinned. "How about we start with friends? Friends who happened to have amazing chemistry one night but can also just talk over coffee."

I found myself smiling despite everything. "Friends don't usually see each other naked on the first night they meet."

"We're unconventional friends."

The waiter appeared, and Josh ordered us both coffee without asking. Somehow, he'd already figured out how I liked it.

"Tell me about your job," he said once the waiter left.

"I'm the account manager at Murphy's Bar. Glamorous, I know."

"Nothing wrong with honest work. I waited tables in college."

"Really? Mr. Expensive-Suit used to sling hash?"

"Absolutely. Best damn waiter at Denny's, according to my manager." He leaned back in his chair. "What did you want to be when you were a kid?"

And somehow, we were talking. Really talking, like we had the night before but without the desperation and alcohol clouding everything. Josh was funny and smart and genuinely interested in what I had to say. He told me about growing up poor, working his way through business school, building his consulting firm from nothing.

"So you're self-made," I said, impressed despite myself.

"We all are, in one way or another. Some of us just get better starting materials."

Time slipped away without me noticing. Before I knew it, the cafe was nearly empty and the clock on the wall read 10 PM.

"I should go," I said reluctantly. "Green's probably wondering where I am."

"Can I see you again?"

I hesitated. Every rational part of my brain screamed that this was a bad idea. I was rebounding from the worst day of my life, and Josh was clearly out of my league. But there was something about the way he looked at me...

"Maybe," I said finally.

"I'll take maybe."

He walked me to my car, and for a moment, we just stood there in the parking lot under the streetlights.

"Thank you," I said. "For tonight. For making me laugh. I haven't done that in a long time."

"Thank you for giving me a chance to apologize. And for not blocking my number."

I smiled. "The night's still young."

I drove home with music playing softly, feeling lighter than I had in months. Green's apartment was dark when I got there—she'd left a note saying she had an early morning art class and would see me tomorrow.

I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, replaying every moment of the evening. Josh's laugh when I told him about the time I accidentally served salt instead of sugar in coffee to an entire table. The way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. How natural it felt to talk to him, like we'd known each other for years instead of days.

Maybe this was what normal felt like. Maybe this was what it was like to be valued by someone who actually saw you.

I fell asleep smiling for the first time in months.

The next morning, I called my boss at the Bar.

"Murphy's," Lucious answered.

"Hey, it's Zara. I need to ask you something."

"Kid, you okay? Some guy answered your phone yesterday saying you had a family emergency."

"That's... complicated. But I'm fine. Listen, I need some time off. Two weeks. I know it's short notice, but I can work extra shifts when I get back to make up for it."

There was a pause. "Everything alright at home?"

"I just need to sort some things out. Clear my head."

"Alright. Take care of yourself, kid. Two weeks, then I want you back bright and early."

"Thank you, Lucious. I owe you one."

After I hung up, I sat in Green's kitchen drinking coffee and working up the courage for what I had to do next. I needed to go back to Robert's apartment one last time—to return his ring and get the last of my belongings.

The drive across town felt like traveling back in time to a life I no longer recognized. How had I ever thought Robert's apartment complex was nice?

I knocked on the door, my heart hammering. No answer.

I knocked again, louder this time. Still nothing.

Using my key for what I hoped would be the last time, I pushed open the door.

"Robert? I'm just here to get my—"

The words died in my throat.

There, on the same couch where I'd found him with Katy just two days ago, was Robert. But this time, it wasn't Katy beneath him.

It was Lori. My sister. My not-sister. Whatever the hell she was to me.

"Jesus Christ," I breathed. "Robert and living room couches. It's like a fucking pattern with you."

Robert looked up, his face flushed with exertion and annoyance. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Getting my things. Don't mind me." I walked to the coffee table and dropped his engagement ring with a metallic clink. "Consider us officially over."

Lori wrapped herself in the throw blanket, her perfect hair disheveled. "Zara, this isn't what it looks like."

"Really? Because it looks like you're screwing my ex-fiancé on the same couch where he was screwing my ex-best friend two days ago."

"Whatever!" Robert shouted, finally getting to his feet. "You walked out on me, remember?"

I ignored him and headed for the stairs. My things were still in the bedroom—clothes, books, a few photos from happier times that now seemed like they belonged to someone else's life.

"You always were jealous of me," Lori called after me. "Even as kids, you couldn't stand that I was better than you at everything."

I continued upstairs without responding. Let her have the last word. Let her have Robert. They deserved each other.

It took me twenty minutes to pack everything that mattered into two suitcases and a garbage bag. As I came back downstairs, Robert was getting dressed, his face twisted with rage.

"You think you're so much better than everyone else," he snarled. "But you're nothing, Zara. You're nobody. You'll never amount to anything, just like your parents said."

I walked past him toward the door.

"I wasted five years on you!" he continued. "Five years supporting your pathetic ass, and this is how you repay me?"

I stopped at the door. "Supporting me? Robert, I paid every bill in this apartment for five years while you sat on your ass drinking beer and screwing around. The only thing you ever supported was your own laziness."

"Get out!" he roared. "Get out and don't ever come back!"

"Gladly."

The door slammed behind me with beautiful finality.

I made it to my car before the tears started. Sitting in the driver's seat with my belongings piled in the backseat, I let myself cry for the five years I'd wasted, for the family that had never wanted me, for the woman I'd been who thought she deserved so little.

My phone buzzed with an email notification. I almost ignored it, but something made me look.

It was from Lucious at the diner.

“ZARA - I'M SORRY TO HAVE TO HAVE TO TELL YOU THIS, BUT I’M LETTING YOU GO EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. SECURITY CAMERAS CAUGHT YOU STEALING FROM US ON TUESDAY NIGHT.I CAN’T HAVE THEIVES WORKING FOR ME. DON’T BOTHER COMING BACK FOR YOUR LAST PAYCHECK- IT’LL GO TOWARD COVERING WHAT YOU TOOK. -LUCIOUS.”

The phone slipped from my numb fingers.

Tuesday night. The night I'd caught Robert and Katy. The night my world fell apart. I hadn't even worked Tuesday night—I'd left early to prepare for our anniversary dinner.

Someone had framed me. But who? And why?

As I sat there staring at the email that had just destroyed my last source of income, one thought kept running through my mind:

My life couldn't possibly get any worse.

I was wrong.