Zeke

Alicia slid her hand into his. He could feel it trembling slightly.

"N-Nice to meet you too," she said. "Again, I mean."

Zeke grinned.

His sister asked if he had remembered the girl—Alicia—but his memory came up empty. Surely he'd remember a face that lovely. The thick, glorious waves cascading down her back, the doe eyes still staring at him with shock...

Those deep, dark eyes...

Then something shook loose. It was the day he moved Celeste into her dorm for her freshman year. Her roommate had been a nice but dorky girl who looked like a kid with her tight curls twisted into pigtails and wearing the ugliest overalls Zeke had ever seen.

There was very little in that memory that resembled the gorgeous women now before him.

And yet those striking dark eyes were the same. Those eyes, deep and dark and edged with thick lashes, struck him to his core... Those lovely dark eyes were now drilling into him with a desperate message.

Don't mention it to your sister.

Zeke's grin just widened.

This could be fun.

"You certainly have changed," he said. "I hardly recognized you."

"I could say the same," Alicia said, her voice shaky. She released his hand.

"Now, that's all done," Celeste interjected, looking between them, confused. "Zeke, who I really want to introduce you to is..."

Celeste ran back to her side of the table.

"Sterling."

Zeke had to tear his eyes away from Alicia and look at the stranger at the table Celeste was now standing next to.

Sterling.

The guy—Sterling—stood up from the table and reached across the table to shake his hand.

He was an imposing figure. If Zeke had to guess, he was taller even than him, and Zeke was not a short man. It wasn't only his height that made him intimidating. His eyes, half-hidden behind his shaggy hair, were hardened and sharp, while his strong jaw clenched as though he wanted to be anywhere but here.

Zeke raised an eyebrow.

This was the guy Celeste had chosen for herself? If Zeke had to guess, he would take Sterling as some moody English major who sulked around reading poetry. Since when had Celeste been the type to go for the broody type?

Zeke looked at his sister, wanting to gauge what Celeste could be thinking. But as she looked back at him, she only offered a bright, expectant smile.

Finally, he took Sterling's hand. The shake was tight and tense. As they shook, Zeke noticed that the edge of Sterling's sleeve had pulled up, revealing a sliver of dark design embedded in his skin. As Zeke's gaze rose to meet Sterling's steel-hard eyes, he caught another glimpse on the side of his neck.

Tattoos. And many of them, judging by the heavy turtleneck he needed to hide them.

"Nice to meet you," Sterling said, stone-faced.

"Yeah, you too," Zeke replied, pressing his lips together to force a smile.

Zeke stared the guy down.

He didn't like what he saw.

Everyone retook their seats, and Zeke was left with the only remaining seat. He noticed it was directly across from Alicia. Alicia seemed bothered by this fact and looked anywhere but at him.

Zeke smirked. What happened to the fiery girl at the bar? He wondered if her discovery that he was her best friend's brother changed anything. He hoped not. After all, he had been looking forward to seeing her after this...

Would she still show up?

"So, Zeke," Celeste said, raising her voice to be heard from the far end of the table. "How's work? How's your company doing?"

Zeke struggled to keep his expression calm. It wasn't easy.

"Hard to say. I sold it."

His family's eyes went wide.

"You sold your company?" they all said in chorus.

Zeke nodded. "That was the deal I just wrapped up."

"But without your company," his mother said, the shock plain on her face, "how are you going to get by?"

Zeke laughed, but it came out stiff. "You don't have to worry about me moving back home. I got a nice payday from the buyout, so I'll survive."

"It's not the money we're worried about," Herb interjected. "It was your company—your pride and joy. Why would you want to sell it?"

Zeke couldn't stop the wince that gripped his whole body, but he tried to make it look like a shrug. He straightened up and smiled, doing his best to remain calm.

"Lots of reasons," he said, clearing his throat. "Mostly that my heart wasn't in it anymore." He gave another hollow laugh. "And so my co-founder was kind enough to offer me a very fair payout."

Zeke fought off the wave of bitterness that shot through him.

It was the least he could do...

"Well, what are you going to do next?" Celeste asked, her voice a little higher than usual. He could tell that she was trying to put a positive spin on the conversation. Typical Celeste, trying to look on the bright side of things, like she was the star on top of a Christmas tree.

So, what was a bright star like her doing with a gloomy grump like Sterling?

"I've yet to figure that out, but I'm sure I'll land on my feet," Zeke said, jumping on Celeste for a proper distraction. "Enough about me. How's school going, Cee?"

Celeste dropped her gaze, looking bashful. "Oh, you know. Same ol', same ol'. Nothing as impressive as selling a company."

"Uh, excuse me?" Alicia jumped in. "Nothing impressive? You made the tippity-top of the Dean's List!"

"Yeah, I'd consider that impressive," Sterling added, smiling for the first time. Zeke noticed that the guy's shadowy exterior seemed to pull back when he smiled at his sister...

"Oh, did you?" his dad said with a cheer. "Congratulations! I'm so proud."

"That's my girl!" his mom said, beaming. "She gets those brains from me, y'know."

His dad scoffed. "And what does she get from me?"

Everyone laughed, even Zeke.

"Well done, Cee," Zeke added after the laughter cleared, "though I'm not surprised. You always made the honors list. I'm sure this school loves you pulling up their average."

Celeste's face fell, and his parents shot him warning looks. Across from him, Alicia frowned.

"I only meant Grove University is lucky to have you," Zeke quickly corrected, "at least for a little longer. You graduate next summer, don't you?"

Celeste seemed to brighten again. If Zeke didn't know better, he thought he heard his parents sigh with relief.

"Yep, next summer," his sister said.

"Have you started to think about what comes after?" his dad asked.

Celeste went red and dropped her gaze to the plate in front of her, looking shy once more.

Or nervous.

"Well, a-about that," she began. "I-I've been thinking that I might not want to leave Winter Grove just yet."

Next to her, Sterling saw her nervousness. He reached out and took Celeste's hand, holding it tight and squeezing it. Zeke watched as Celeste finally pulled her gaze up to meet Sterling's. Her eyes were warm, questioning, but whatever look Sterling gave back seemed to give her strength before she turned to face their parents.

It seemed that Celeste was about to make an announcement.

A chill shot up Zeke's spine as he feared the worst.

Was she engaged?

Pregnant?

Planning on staying in Winter Grove forever?

Fear shook through Zeke at the last thought. He hated the idea of Celeste staying in Winter Grove. It was like something from a nightmare, picturing someone as brilliant as Celeste wasting away in this tiny nowhere-town, flushing all her potential down the toilet for some flop-haired poet.

He felt a rush of hatred for Sterling, already blaming him for ruining her life—

"I... I..." Celeste stuttered before blurting it out. "I want to get my Masters at Grove University."

Zeke let out a long breath...

Her life wasn't ruined. Not yet. But it might be if she stayed in Winter Grove any longer...

Zeke couldn't stop from frowning.

Once again, his eye landed on Sterling, suddenly suspicious. Fortunately, he wasn't alone in his hesitation. His parents exchanged a worried look.

"Oh, dear," his mother began. "You know we want to support you in any way that we can, but..."

"...but your college fund only had enough to cover four years," his dad finished. "There's a little left, but not enough for your Masters."

"Oh, I'm not worried about money. My place on the Dean's List has secured me a good bit of funding, and there are more grants and stuff I can apply for. I just wanted to know what you think." She looked over at Zeke, wary. "Your opinion matters a lot to me."

Next to him, his dad mimed wiping his brow. "Oh, well if that's all you want..."

"Then of course, we support you!" his mom said. "You know we believe that you should do whatever makes you happy. And if you really do need the money, we might be able to figure something out..."

Zeke noticed his mother glancing at him from the corner of her eye. He knew she would never ask in front of everybody, but Zeke could guess what she was thinking.

With his newfound wealth, would Zeke be willing to help Celeste out?

The truth was, he would love to pay for his sister to get her Masters...

Anywhere but here.

Celeste was still staring at her brother, waiting for him to say something. "Zeke, what do you think?"

Zeke cleared his throat. "I think a Master's is a great idea. But are you sure that you want to do it at Grove University?"

Celeste's face fell. "Why wouldn't I?"

Zeke hesitated. He didn't want to get into this whole thing again. And judging by the way his mother stared at him, neither did his parents.

"I just want to make sure you explore your options before getting your heart—" he glanced at Sterling, "—set on the wrong thing."

"I have explored my options," Celeste insisted. "And I choose Winter Grove. What's wrong with Grove University?"

In his head, Zeke rattled off his objections. It's small, lacking, no one's heard of it, a more prestigious school would look so much better on a résumé, and it's a little too close to a certain someone...

But instead, he tried to be diplomatic. "Winter Grove is fine, I just think you can do better—"

"I'm doing just fine!" Celeste argued.

Lydia tapped her fork against her water glass, letting out a sharp ring, getting their attention.

"You're making our guests uncomfortable," she said, in that cool and calm way that Zeke knew meant business. "We can discuss this later."

She was right. Sterling was frowning, looking worriedly at Celeste, while Alicia was eyeing Zeke.

"Alright," Zeke said. He knew better than to argue when his mom was in that mood—though he didn't understand why his parents weren't concerned.

"Fine," Celeste huffed.

"Now," his mother continued, returning to her regular cheery self. "What should we talk about instead? Celeste, why don't you tell us about that lovely festival—"

Annoyance still prickling at his spine, Zeke turned his attention to the man of the hour. "Why not talk about Sterling? This dinner is about getting to know him, after all."

All the eyes turned to Sterling. He looked back, his eyes darting around, clearly uncomfortable under the spotlight. He wasn't expecting to be dragged into the center of this all. Celeste is watching her brother warily, as though she didn't like what he was up to.

"So, Sterling, what do you do?" Zeke asked.

It took a second, but then Sterling cleared his throat.

"I'm a bartender."

"Working to put yourself through school?" Zeke asked. Though he had little hope in imagining what subject Sterling studied, he at least had to give him credit for that. Working while going to school was no easy feat. "That's admirable."

"No, I... I don't go to school here."

"Did you already graduate?" Zeke asked. And he decided to stick around this nowheresville? Much less impressive.

Sterling closed his eyes for a moment before answering. "Uh, no."

Oh.

It felt like a rock landed in his gut as Zeke realized that Sterling could be something worse than a poet.

"You're just a bartender?"

"Zeke..." his father warned.

But Zeke wouldn't heed it. He could tell the mood around the table had shifted—Celeste was now giving him a pleading look, too—but he didn't care.

"He's not just a bartender," Alicia snapped. "He's a great bartender!"

Zeke glanced over at her. She was full-on glaring at him now.

"He's one of the best," Celeste added, though the shaking in her voice undid her conviction.

Zeke took a deep breath. Maybe he was being unfair. If everyone said he was so great, then perhaps he was. Every profession had room for excellence—the upper tiers of skill and recognition from experts. Winter Grove may be small, but even it had respectable hotels and restaurants to appeal to high-end tourists.

"Do you work at one of the hotels around here?"

Zeke thought of the inn where he and his parents were staying—it was great, recognized in international guidebooks and everything. It had a bar. If perhaps Sterling worked somewhere like that, then—

"No," Sterling answered.

Zeke's good hopes faded. "Then where?"

Sterling swallowed, and his jaw went tense as though the answer was physically difficult to get out of his mouth.

"A local bar called... The Snowball's Chance."

Zeke's eyes went wide.

"Wait. That place down the street? That gross dive bar? That's where you work?"

Alicia leaped in. "It's not gross."

"It doesn't matter if it's gross," Zeke retorted. "What kind of job is that? It has no future, no room for growth—it's a dead end!"

Celeste shot up from her seat.

"Come on, Sterling. We're going."

Sterling just looked confused. "Huh?"

Zeke huffed. "Oh, come on, Cee. Don't act like this."

Celeste rounded on him. "I should be the one saying that to you! Sterling is important to me and I'm not going to sit here and let you speak to him like that!"

"I didn't mean anything by it—"

"Too late. You should head back to the hotel. You seem to have left your manners in your room." She turned to Sterling. "Let's go."

Sterling did as he was told. He got up and gave a solemn nod to Zeke's parents. "It was nice to meet you."

Celeste took his hand and shot one last icy look at Zeke before she stormed out of the restaurant, Sterling following behind.

"I'm going to go after them," Alicia said, getting up. She threw a scathing look in Zeke's direction before chasing after them.

Alone at the table with his parents, Zeke sank back against his chair.

His dad sighed and rested his head in his hands. "That could not have gone worse."

"Oh, Zeke," his mom groaned. "Was that really necessary?"

"I didn't mean for it to happen like this!" Zeke said. "When you told me we were meeting her new boyfriend, I wasn't expecting someone like that. What happened to that other guy she was seeing? Jared?"

"They've been broken up for a while now. She's been with Sterling for almost a year now."

A year?

This was worse than Zeke thought.

"What does she even see in him?"

"He makes her happy, I guess," his dad said with a shrug and another exasperated sigh. "They seem to really love each other."

Zeke had to grit his teeth. "Well, love doesn't pay the bills. You're really okay with her wasting all her intelligence and potential on some... some bartender?"

"If Celeste likes him," his mother said, but even she was starting to sound unsure, "he must have some redeeming qualities."

"Maybe you just have to get to know him," his dad offered.

Zeke scoffed.

The last thing he wanted to do was to 'get to know' Sterling Holt.

✨