Page 61 of Not Until I Found You

“Fine,” he says, chuckling as he drops a wild card onto the pile. “I’m changing the color to blue.”

“Of course you are.”

I glance down at my hand and groan because I have no blues. I start drawing, one card, then another, until finally I get lucky and slap one down. Across from me, Zane’s finger starts tapping lightly against his knee again.

I wiggle my eyebrows at him. “Are you nervous?”

He smirks and retaliates by laying down a skip card, then a reverse, then another reverse, and finally a blue one.

“Oh, come on!”

He gives me a full smile that shows all of his beautiful teeth. “When I was a kid, I used to steal my Pops’ Ensure drinks.”

I blink at his confession. “Ensure drinks?”

“You know, those vitamin shakes that elderly people drink.”

“First of all,” I counter, laying down a card, “a lot of adults drink those. Not only old people.”

“That’s fair,” he admits. “Either way, I took one sip and was hooked.”

I laugh, unable to help myself. “How did that even happen?”

“I asked my Pops what they tasted like, so he poured a little in a mug and let me try it. My eyes had lit up, and he pointed a finger at me, telling me I had to stay away from them. They were his and only his.”

“And you didn’t listen?”

“Not even a little bit.” His shoulders bounce as he laughs. “I started taking one every other day. Then it turned into every day.”

I chuckle, knowing he had to have gotten caught stealing from his grandpa’s stash. “How much trouble did you get in?”

“Well, at first, he didn’t catch me. Until one day he set up a camera in the kitchen and caught me on film taking one from the fridge.”

He calls Uno and lays down his last card, winning the first round. Another boom shakes the house above us, causing us both to jump and look up toward the ceiling.

“Another round?” I ask as a distraction.

He nods, his fingers resuming their tapping, and Sven snuggles his head further against Zane’s legs. He must sense his discomfort, and it’s cute seeing how much the sweet dog loves his owner. Zane’s tapping stops as he reaches down and gives Sven a scratch on the head.

“That’s actually how I started working for my Pops when I was thirteen,” he continues.

“Thirteen?”

“Yeah. He made me work off what I owed him.” He shrugs. “I ended up liking the work. Using my hands to build something was good for me. And I enjoyed having my own money.”

I deal the cards slowly, watching him now. “That’s really young.”

“Yeah, but it taught me a good work ethic early on.” He smiles softly. “And it stuck.”

The way Zane has talked about his job with me over the past month has stuck with me. What he does is important, not only to him, but to the people who depend on him in this small town. He’s never once complained—well, besides the heat of the summer, but who doesn’t complain about that? There’s been no bitterness or negativity, only pride and purpose with his career.

I’ve noticed the same thing with Ashton. Neither of them is spending their life chasing something bigger. They’re invested in the people and places right in front of them.

Derek’s career is the opposite. His ambitions always sounded impressive when he talked about them, but they never landed anywhere solid. Everything was about the next promotion, the next opportunity, the next version of life that would finally make him happy. He was always looking ahead, always reaching for something just beyond his grasp.

Zane is the complete opposite of Derek, in every way. Maybe that’s what makes learning these small things about him feel unexpectedly compelling.

Our eyes are dancing with each other. This close to him, I can see every color in his irises, every freckle dotting the strong line of his nose, and everything beyond him is a blur, as if I’ve adjusted the focus on a camera until he’s the focal point.