The car was winding slowly though traffic, and Zelda was focused so hard on the passing cars and people out her window that when Boone spoke, it made her jump.

"I guess I owe you a few congratulations and a few condolences since the last time we saw each other," he said, watching her reaction over his cup of coffee as he sipped from it.

"Do you?" Zelda asked, turning her attention towards the overwhelming man sitting across from her.

"Yes, congratulations on your marriage and birth of your daughter, and condolences for the death of your husband and father." Boone's eyes didn't waver from hers. Some people would look away when they were talking about the death of a loved one, but not Boone.

"Has it really been that long since we last saw each other?" Zelda asked innocently. She knew darn well it had been that long. She could remember the exact time she had last seen him. It had been at a Christmas party, he had been with his fiancé, and she had been with Collin Strauss, her then-boyfriend. There had been some mistletoe and she and Boone had shared an innocent kiss. A kiss that had disturbed her enough to say yes when Collin had asked her to run away with him.

It had been one of the greatest mistakes of her life.

"Thank you for both your congratulations and condolences." Zelda nodded in his direction. "I must admit to being curious about where you've been all these years and why you suddenly returned?"

Boone had disappeared from the New Orleans scene shortly after she had left. She had heard from a friend that he and his fiancé had called off the wedding, and that he had been so broken up about it, he had left town.

He smiled as if remembering a private joke. "I didn't go anywhere. I just stopped participating in the constant marathon that is New Orleans's high society. I stayed home, wrote a book, and focused on the family business."

"You didn't go anywhere?" Zelda asked, confused. "You wrote a book?" It shouldn't surprise her that he wrote a book, they were at university together. He had been working on his doctorate when she was an undergrad and they had both been English majors. In fact, he had been Collin's Teaching Assistant or T.A., so he had watched her and Collin's romance blossom; if one could call it a romance.

"I didn't go anywhere, and I wrote a book, several in fact." He took a sip of his coffee watching her reaction closely.

"I didn't recall seeing or hearing about you authoring a book," Zelda as she searched her memory for something that could have been said of the last few years.

"I don't publish under my real name," Boone stated, draining the rest of his coffee and setting the cup in one of the cup holders next to him as the car arrived at their destination.

His present tense response about not publishing under his real name implied that there had been more than one book. "What name?" Zelda asked, still floored at the knowledge that he hadn't gone anywhere and that he had written a book.

"The name doesn't matter," he leaned forward, waiting for the driver to open the door. "It has been almost eight years since we last saw each other, Zelda. Things, people especially, change." He let his gaze wander over Zelda's less than stellar appearance, and she blushed at his slight snub.

Had she changed that much? Boone's statement implied that she had.

The door to the car opened and Boone, ever the gentleman, waited for her to exit the vehicle first. The rain was still coming down in torrents, so Boone grabbed the umbrella from the driver as he stepped out of the car and held it over Zelda as they moved up the steps to the entrance of the opera house. The action forced her into the crook of Boone's arm, which made him too close for comfort once more.

As they pushed through the door into the lobby, a hush descended over the women who were waiting for the meeting to start. Zelda, thinking they were late, looked at her watch and saw that they had a few minutes left. She felt Boone's hand in the small of her back, pushing her forward after he dealt with the umbrella.

"Zelda, Boone!" Amy Lewis stepped forward to greet them, giving Zelda the once over, raising an eyebrow at her erratic appearance before locking her arm through Boone's and pulling him away and toward the other women.

Zelda took her chance to escape to the women's room and groaned when she saw her reflection in the mirror. It was much worse than she thought. Her hair was a riot of frizzy waves, her mascara had run, making her look like she had raccoon eyes, and the amount of cleavage she was showing was indecent. It was to Boone's credit that he hadn't laughed at her, but then he had always been a gentleman, and he rarely laughed.

Quickly, she got to work, washing her face, taming her hair into a loose bun, and attempting to adjust her suit jacket. When she finished, she looked a little too fresh-faced and schoolmarmish, except for the low-cut blouse, but she was about ready to return to the little crowd out front. Before she could exit the restroom, Gianna Beckett pushed through the door to join her. Gianna was a pretty blond who had tried to catch her brother, Zebadiah, and caused all kinds of issues for him and his now fiancé, Lucy.

Zelda did her best to keep away from Gianna, but her constant need to be kind to everyone meant that it was almost impossible to do.

"What on earth are you doing with Boone Norris?" Gianna softly asked as she primped in the mirror.

"He's an old family friend," Zelda explained without really explaining anything as she threw her purse over her shoulder.

"Is he single, dating anyone?" Gianna asked, following Zelda out of the women's room and into the now empty lobby.

Zelda heard voices from the theater and followed the noise, ignoring Gianna's questions. Everyone was sitting around tables set up on stage, and Zelda made her way down the aisle towards the group with Gianna following behind her. She could feel all eyes on her as she walked towards them, but she did her best to keep her head held high.

"Now that everyone is here, we can get started," Amy said, a note of censure in her voice at Zelda's late arrival.

Zelda took a seat and looked at her watch. She had one hour. It was a strict rule of hers that she only gave one hour to every meeting and then she left. Zelda sat on so many committees that if she didn't leave after one hour, she would forever be in meetings.

"Is there a problem, Zelda?" Amy asked with an overly fake smile.

Zelda gave her a similar fake smile and said with a voice just a full as phony sweetness, "I only have an hour, Amy."

"Same as usual," Amy made her fake smile wider, and Zelda only smiled in return.

The meeting was for the ballet's annual fundraiser and was the same as all the previous year's meetings. Everyone was thanked for helping, Boone was simpered over for sponsoring, the previous year was recapped, and the theme for the current year announced. It was going to be Shakespeare's, Midsummer Night's Dream.

Amy had taken it upon herself to hand out the assignments, and Zelda was given invitation duty, which suited her just fine because she could work from home. She often got invitation duty because she knew calligraphy.

All of this, in Zelda's opinion, should have only taken fifteen minutes, but Amy liked to hear herself talk, so it took forty-five. It didn't help that every other word she spoke caused her to place her hand on Boone's large shoulder. Something that Zelda couldn't help but notice since he was sitting across from her.

There was some back and forth of potential menu items, and then it was time for Zelda to leave, so she gathered up her things and stood, noting with a raised eyebrow that Boone stood as well.

"You're not leaving too, are you?" Amy asked with disappointment as her eyes raked over his massive frame.

"I'm sorry, but Zelda and I are due at the same meeting." Boone gave a nod without smiling and walked around the table, waiting for Zelda to join him.

Zelda didn't say a word to  Boone as the heavy silence and curious eyes that followed them while they walked up the aisle and out into the lobby.

"That was a tough crowd," Boone whispered as he pushed open the door on what had turned into a magnificently sunny day. "What's your next meeting?" he asked. "Can I give you a lift? It's the least I can do since you got me out of there."

"It's not necessary," Zelda said, lifting her face to the sun, feeling that her day was going to get better. She smiled at him. "I'm sure that we will see each other again soon, now that you've rejoined New Orleans's high society."

Boone studied her for a minute, watching the change in her demeanor. "You don't have another meeting, do you?"

"Nope," Zelda grinned. "I'm going for an early brunch."

"Alone?" he asked, but even that didn't kill her good mood. Her daughter was going to a sleepover that night, and she had no more meetings or appointments, so the rest of the day was hers. It was the kind of joy that any hardworking over-stressed mother would understand.

"Yep!" she said as she reached into her purse and pulled out her sunglasses.

"Where are you going?" he asked curiously as he watched her place them on her face.

"Maspero's to get some etouffee," Zelda threw over her shoulder with a wave.