Zelda was sitting at the bar while looking at her phone and joking with the bartender, Jonny, who she knew from high school, when someone sat on the stool next to her.

"You know, I kept waiting for you to invite me to join you, why didn't you?" Boone asked, his physical nearness overwhelming her as he leaned in to softly speak in her ear.

Jonny had been wiping down the bar, but he paused for a minute, noting Boone's arrival, before continuing with what he was doing.

"I didn't think you would be interested," Zelda said lamely. She didn't invite him because his presence was overwhelming, and she needed to catch her breath.

"Why wouldn't I be interested in spending time with an old friend who I haven't seen in over eight years?" he asked in disbelief as he picked up a menu and scanned it.

Zelda could feel his gaze on her profile when she didn't respond to Boone's comment right away. "We were never friends Boone," she whispered. "You and Zebadiah were the friends."

Jonny was still wiping the same spot and he coughed as Zelda said Boone's name.

Boone looked at him with his intense stare for a moment, noting his presence. "I'll have exactly what she's having," he said setting the menu aside and looking at Zelda once more while Jonny hurried over to the computer to place the order and then got Boone an iced tea.

"I'm sorry you felt that way, Zelda." He sat quietly, waiting for her to respond, but all she could think to do was shrug.

"It hardly matters now, does it?" she asked as she reached for her tea and set her phone on the bar.

"Perhaps not," he agreed after a moment of silence. "Fill me in on what you've been doing all these years," he insisted, changing course with the conversation.

Zelda looked at him and their eyes meet. She wondered if he was really interested or if he was just playing nice for her bother's sake. She always had the feeling that he had been friendly towards her for Zebadiah's sake, and that he didn't really care for her one way or another.

"I got married, had a daughter, was widowed, took care of my ailing father, and sat on too many committees to count." It was a brief summary that didn't even scratch the surface of the hardships that had been and still were her life.

"And now?" Boone asked, pushing her to share when he knew she didn't want to.

"And now, I am raising my daughter and still sitting on too many committees to count." Zelda smiled at her little joke. She hated committees, but she was expected to carry on the family tradition and be the family representative. Her brother ran the business, she ran the family.

"Did you ever finish school?" he asked as he took a sip of his own tea.

Zelda had dropped out of her first year of grad school to follow Collin Strauss, her husband, to California. She had been twenty-three and needed to get away from her family and their expectations, at least that was what she told herself, but now she was beginning to realize it was to get away from Boone. She hadn't known at the time that she had moved from one hell to another. What was it they said about, 'better the devil you knew'?

"I'm working on it now," Zelda admitted. Indeed, she had gone back to school the previous spring and was signed up for classes that started the following week. She would secure her masters and then, who knew? She had no plans beyond graduating.

Zelda had learned in the past eight years to not look too far into the future because if she did she would be overwhelmed by the impossibility of it all. So, she only focused on her present-day goals, and once those were completed she moved on to the next goal. In the beginning, when Collin had died and she had been learning to take care of a newborn, it had been a handy outlook to have. Back then the goal had been to just survive the day.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" Boone asked as their food was delivered. "I'll take the check," he said softly to Jonny.

"Boone, I can pay-" she stopped as she realized she couldn't, and she closed her eyes once more in mortification as she realized that she couldn't because she still didn't have her wallet.

"Aren't you glad I joined you," Boone whispered into her ear, and Zelda had to fight back a shiver that chased it's way up her spine at his heated breath on her neck and ear.

"Is that why you joined me?" she asked, opening her eyes to look at him.

"No, you're pretty enough to find someone chivalrous man to pay your bill," Boone teased as he turned towards his meal.

"I'm not sure if that is a compliment or an insult?" Zelda said shaking her head before she joined him in eating her own meal.

"Definitely a compliment. Now, you were about to tell me what you were thinking about?" he asked, not willing to let the topic go.

Zelda opened her mouth to speak, but he stopped her by holding up his hand.

"The truth, Zelda," Boone insisted.

"I can't imagine why you care, Boone." She shook her head in disbelief.

"I have always cared, Zelda." His eyes met hers and she could see the sincerity there.

"I was thinking about how it's not wise to look too far into the future, that it is better to focus on the here and now. And how, when I was a widow with a newborn, it was best just to focus on surviving the day. Perhaps that's why I didn't go back to school until now." Zelda was lost once again in her memories of being a new mother while eating and she missed Boone's hand on the bar clench into a fist next to his bowl of etouffee.

"Now it's easier?" he asked. Boone's voice was calm and easy, possibly even bored sounding, and it caused Zelda to stop and look up at him.

Zelda paused, quietly noting his fist where it rested on the bar. "No, it's not easier. In some ways, it's more difficult, but I now have a little more free time since Eden is in school."

"Now, if only you could disentangle yourself from some of those committee meetings that you have." It was a witty thing to say, the kind of effortless comeback that Boone had always been so good at, but somehow, she got the feeling that he had left the conversation when she had started to talk about Eden.

It wouldn't be the first time, most people, especially those without kids, didn't really have an interest in hearing about Eden, and Boone as a single man wouldn't be much different.

Boone finished his food then drained his glass of tea while looking at his watch. Then he stood and placed some money on the bar for the food.

"I'm sure we will see each other soon, Zelda," he said seriously before he left her with a nod.

"He left in a hurry, what did you say to him?" Jonny asked, moving to place the money in the register. "Was that really the mysterious Boone Norris that everyone keeps talking about?"

"Yes, it was and I wasn't talking about anything out of the ordinary. I was talking about Eden," Zelda said thoughtfully as she worked at her food.

"That would do it. Nothing worse than a single man finding out that the lady comes with baggage," Jonny said offhandedly.

"Jonny!" Zelda reprimanded his rudeness. "Eden is not baggage!"

"Not to those who love her, but to a handsome, single, rich man she is. Sorry, love, but it's true." He shrugged as he closed the till and bused Boone's dishes. "I have to say that I am impressed, Zelda, Boone Norris. You wouldn't believe some of the stories I heard about the guy."

"Baristas, bartenders, and barbers," Zelda said with a shake of her head. Tiffany had been right.

Zelda took her time finishing her meal and then walked home replaying the conversation she and Boone had, trying to figure out where the change had happened.

No matter how Zelda looked at it, the change was when she had started talking about Eden.