I’ll Be There (6 page)

“A guy who is struggling to overcome the biggest challenge of his life.”

Zach found Alex's direct candor somewhat startling, and yet it put him at ease, somehow. He felt like Alex was actually listening without judging, or worse, pitying.

“Yeah, maybe. But…I think most people would be a little more…receptive to having people around, especially their family. I know they love me and they're concerned for me and even want to help me. It's just too damn hard to accept their help because I've never really needed it before.”

“It's a pride thing.”

Zach looked up at him. “No…it's…”

“Pride,” Alex finished for him. “Normally, I'd say a little pride is a good thing. But right now? In this situation?” He shook his head. “You're only hurting yourself and screwing up your chance for a full recovery.”

“So…what am I supposed to do? Open my door and let everyone I know come in here and play nursemaid to me? Let everyone watch me struggle to walk or move or get myself dressed? Why not put some bars on the doors and treat me like a freak in a cage? We can charge admission.”

“What's your field of business? Entertainment?”

A frown crossed Zach's face along with confusion. “What? No, why?”

“Because that's a pretty wild imagination you've got there.” He chuckled. “Do you think your family and friends are amused by your struggles?”

“I'm sure some of them are.”

“There could be a couple of reasons for it,” Alex said. “But I think the people who genuinely care about you aren't taking any pleasure in watching you struggle.”

Again, Zach wasn't so sure. “So…what do we have to do?”

A wide grin crossed Alex's face. “For starters, I need to know your schedule. I'm guessing that was your assistant here earlier?”

“Gabriella. My father thought it would be helpful for me to start working again and sent her here to help me get back into the swing of things.”

“By the lack of enthusiasm in your voice, I'd say you're less than thrilled with the situation.”

“That's the understatement of the year.”

Alex sighed and thought for a minute. “We can go one of two ways—we can work your sessions into your work day. One session in the morning, one in the afternoon.”

“Won't it be inconvenient for you?”

With a shrug, Alex said, “It's my job. I don't mind it at all.”

“What's option number two?”

“I speak to your father and tell him you need to focus all of your time and energy on your rehab, and having your assistant here and being forced to work is hindering your progress.”

“So you'd lie to him?” Zach asked sarcastically.

“So it
is
a lie?” Alex shot back.

Crap.
Zach realized Alex had caught him admitting that having Gabriella around to get him working again wasn't what was hindering his progress.

But, amazingly, Alex didn't push it. “If that's what it would take to get you to commit to your therapy, then I'd do it.”

The idea was beyond appealing to Zach. He'd be rid of Gabriella without looking like the bad guy and his family would be off his back because he was finally committing to his therapy. It was a win/win situation for him no matter how he looked at it.

You're a coward
.

Oh, yeah, then there was that. Every once in a while, his conscience came out to tell him he was running scared. He'd like to tell it to shove off, but Zach knew better. There was a lot of truth in that statement. Gabriella wasn't the problem, per se, but she was definitely a distraction. A beautiful, sexy distraction. He groaned.

“Are you in pain? Is something starting to bother you?” Alex asked as he stepped forward.

“No. Just thinking about…” He sighed. “Everything.”

“Ah. Like I said, we can go either way on this. I want to customize our time together for maximum benefit to you.”

It would be so damn easy to tell Alex to call off the hounds and then he'd be left alone to just deal with his physical rehabilitation in his own way and in his own time. Alex seemed like a decent enough guy, and Zach felt they'd be able to work together without too much confrontation, but was that really what he wanted? Working with Gabriella and getting involved with the company again had invigorated him to an extent. Could he really just step back and let Ethan take over and then ask him to step down when Zach was ready to return full time? That just didn't seem fair.

None of this was easy. The only thing that stood out as a necessity was not having Gabriella in close proximity. As much as he knew there was never going to be anything between them—no matter how much he fantasized about it—Zach didn't want her seeing him like this. He had to push her away. For his own sanity.

For his own peace of mind.

Looking over at Alex, Zach studied him for a long moment. “I'm normally a very good judge of character,” he began. “Don't make me regret trusting you.”

Alex grinned and pulled his iPad out of his bag. “Let's get to work on getting you up your next mountain.”

* * *

Two hours later, Gabriella was back. She saw Alex's car was still in the driveway so she kept herself busy setting up the next round of contracts and files for Zach's approval as well as the video of the proposed new office space. When the task was completed, she did a quick cleanup of the living room and kitchen and even went so far as to take out the trash. When Alex and Zach still didn't emerge, she settled in to answer emails on her laptop.

Alex came into the living room some twenty minutes later. “We had a great session,” he said.

“That's wonderful. How do you think he's doing?” she asked, concern lacing her tone.

“I think he still has a long way to go but if he continues on the path we mapped out today, he'll start seeing a big improvement relatively soon.”

Gabriella's eyes went wide. “Really? How can you be so sure?”

“I've been doing this for a long time, so I can say that a lot of a patient's recovery has to do with their attitude. Zach and I actually spent a large part of our time today just talking and getting to know one another. I know his expectations and he knows mine. Now we're free to get started.”

She almost started to cry with relief—and surprise—and had to wipe away an errant tear. “So…so how is this going to work? How often will you be here? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Twice a day to start with. Zach requested I come first thing in the morning, so the session shouldn't interfere with your work schedule. Then I'll come back later in the afternoon when you're getting ready to head out. This way each of us can focus on the part we're here for.”

“I…I just can't believe he's really agreed to this. Everyone has been hoping and praying he'd engage but…” She couldn't help but let the bubble of excitement come out in the form of a giggle. “You're like some sort of miracle worker!”

“Well…don't go getting all excited yet. I think we're off to a good start but you need to be prepared for good days and bad days. There may be times you show up here after we've done a session and he's going to be too exhausted to work, or I may need to come earlier in the afternoon and interrupt your work day. Are you okay with that?”

“Please, whatever it takes to make sure Zach recovers and is happy again, I'm on board with it. You just need to let me know if there's anything I can do to assist you.”

“Just…be patient with him,” Alex said and then excused himself to put his equipment in his car.

Gabriella was positively giddy. But as happy as she was, she knew she needed to tone it down once Zach came into the room. She didn't want to overwhelm him or offer him the opportunity to argue with her about being nosy over his time with Alex. She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water and placed one for Zach on the coffee table.

When she turned around, Alex was right behind her. “Oh! I didn't hear you come back in,” she said, her hand over her heart.

“Sorry,” he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his business card. “Here's my number. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to call me.”

“Thank you.” She took the card from him but didn't have a pocket to put it in. “I appreciate you giving me the option. I want to make sure I'm helping in any way I can.”

“Zach's lucky to have you.” He smiled at her.

“Isn't this cozy,” Zach said as he walked into the room slowly, aided by his crutches. “I believe you're being paid to work here, Gabriella, not stand there and flirt with my therapist.”

“Zach…seriously, man…” Alex interrupted.

“It's okay,” Gabriella said and smiled at Alex. “Thank you for your time.” She turned and walked over to her purse, put his business card away, and busied herself until she heard the front door close. Slowly counting to ten, she waited before turning around and facing Zach as if he hadn't just insulted her in front of Alex. “Which would you like to look at first—the video of the office space or the rest of the contracts for legal?”

Zach stared at her as he made his way over to the couch, but once he was settled he looked at everything she had set up and reached for a folder. “Let's do the contracts so you can get the revisions over to legal as soon as possible.”

Cautiously, she sat down and they soon fell into the rhythm of their work. Every time Zach quietly read a portion of the contract, she couldn't help but let her mind wander. Why couldn't he be like this all the time? Was there anything she could do to help him…relax? Chill out? Get off her freaking back?

If she could just figure out what was wrong with him or what his issue was with her, she would do everything in her power to fix it so they could go back to the way things once were between them. She missed the old Zach. There was a time when she used to look forward to going into the office, but now it was normally met with a sense of dread. While it was true she loved what she did and was good at it, Zach had a way of sucking all of the joy out of it for her and making her feel like she wasn't good enough.

Sort of like her family did to her all the damn time.

And it was really starting to piss her off.

Gabriella knew she was a good person—a good employee—and she deserved to be recognized as such. This had been brewing inside of her for a long time, and maybe the time wasn't right for her to be pushing the envelope with Zach, but the reality was there was never going to be a good time. It was going to be painful and hurtful and when it was over, one of them was going to be screaming.

And she had a feeling it was going to be her.

“Gabriella?”

She looked up and found Zach looking at her. “I'm sorry…what is it?”

“I was pointing out this clause in article four. I want you to change the terms to net sixty, and then in paragraph C, make a note to change the wording to incorporate all the divisions of Montgomerys.”

“Including East Coast?” she asked.

“Yes.”

They finished the work on that contract and the other two Gabriella had brought with her, and she quickly put them aside and set up the video for Zach. “If it's all right with you, I'll let you watch this while I call the office and go over the revisions. I took the video myself and narrated it. I think I anticipated all of your questions and concerns so I'm talking throughout the whole thing.” She gave a weak smile. “Sorry.”

Zach couldn't help but chuckle. “I'm sure I'll live. I'm used to working with you and hearing you talk all the time, Gabriella. It won't be anything new.”

It was quite possibly the longest and most pleasant statement he'd made to her since the accident. It warmed her heart but she quickly turned away so he wouldn't notice how much his words pleased her.

They worked separately—she on the phone with the office and he with the video as he made notes. As soon as she was off the phone, Zach called her over.

“I think the space looks good. It's very similar to what we already have upstairs, and hopefully next year we'll be moving to a building of our own.”

“Really? So soon?”

He nodded. “It's time.” Flipping through the notes he made, he went over some of his concerns and Gabriella made notes of her own. “If you can get the ball in motion and have management get a contract drawn, then we can start making plans for furniture delivery and for the decorator to go in and do her thing.”

“Very good. I'll make the call now and hopefully I'll be able to pick the contract up tomorrow morning on my way here.”

“Why don't you take tomorrow to work in the office? Check on Carolyn and make sure everything is going okay.”

Here we go again
. “I have been checking in with Carolyn. And Ethan. And Summer. Everything is going fine, Zach. My work is with you, not the rest of the company.”

“When I'm not there, you need to be,” he said with a hint of annoyance.

“Okay, look,” she began, her own annoyance more than obvious. “There used to be a time when we actually enjoyed working together. Don't get me wrong, we still work well together, but I have had enough of your…attitude.”

“My attitude?” he mimicked.

“And arrogance,” she added and took a deep breath, waiting for the fallout.

“Just to be clear,” Zach said as he straightened in his seat and rested his elbows on his knees, “I'm the boss and you're the employee, right?”

Gabriella nodded. “Yes, but—”

“Uh-uh. You started this and I think it's only fair I get to have my say.”

She rolled her eyes. “I didn't start anything. You did. Years ago. And I'd finally like to know why! I want to know what it is I've done to make you treat me like…like I'm incompetent!”