Back to You

Rae calls Zach on her way to work. To Rae's surprise, the phone call is answered right away within one ring.

"...Hello?" Rae says. She hears rustling sound and some faint chattering. She presses the phone to her ears harder. She thinks she hears a female voice in the background. Rae suddenly feels a little...annoyed? Disappointed?

"Hello!" Finally, Zach answers but it sounds like he just shut a door close in a hurry.

"Um, is it a good time? Am I interrupting something?" Rae can still hear some noise in the background.

"No, it's fine. What's up? Oh, right. You want Zach Jr. I mean, Z. You want Z back, right?"

"Right, Z. Just checking if you are free now? If not now, are you free tonight?" Rae still works until 9 P.M. tonight.

"Um, maybe tonight then. I don't think I can make it back to my office anytime soon or within reasonable time frame." Zach speaks in a business-like tone.

"OK, well...," Rae is about to say, see you after 9 o'clock at your office, but she hears a female yelling in Zach's background:

"Is it a girl you're speaking to on the phone, Zach? Tell her to come over."

"Maddie!" Zach seems to have turn away to shout at that girl.

Maddie? A new girl, huh? Isn't his girlfriend's name Nikki?

But Rae realizes she is being intrusive to Zach's down time. He seems to be working all hours every day already. She shouldn't be this selfish. Plus, she is using Z for free.

"I'm so sorry, Zach. Would you rather do this on Monday?" But immediately, Rae remembers she has to make bread samples for the food competition with Dan. "Shoot, no, um...let's see, what time on Monday," Rae is now trying to think if Monday evening would work. Yeah, it should be. That will also help her stop spending too much time with Dan and being seduced to have sex with Dan again. She should not be seeing Dan after dark.

Zach can tell Rae seems to have plans on Monday. And he knows that's the only day she is off. Although he really is unavailable now, and Monday is easier for him, he also remembered he did tell Rae last night at that alumni party that he would be done with Z today.

He didn't even know why said that to give Rae the impression that he was free today. He is not. Not really. Not until later tonight. Did he want Rae to meet him later tonight?

Maybe he does want that.

"Just meet me tonight." Zach says quickly.

"Ooh! Zach is meeting a girl tonight and he refuses to bring her over." A female voice says in the background.

"Get out of here, Maddie. Jesus Christ." Zach yells again.

"Sorry to call you at a bad time," Rae is a little confused by the situation on Zach's end.

"It's OK. Do you have a car?"

"I do, why?"

"Nothing. Just in case I might have to meet you somewhere that's not within your walking distance from your work. I'll text you." Zach adds.

"I don't have to get Z tonight if it's inconvenient. I'm sorry. It's your day off. I always forget that most people have weekends off." .

"Don't apologize. When it comes to Z, I don't have off hours. Your feedback is helpful to me. I have to go now. Talk later," Zach hangs up.

Rae then goes to her job at the pizzeria, then she goes to work at the bakery. She goes through the motions the entire day without thinking about anything else. But she knows she's excited to possibly have Z back.

Once again, she gets off work at 9 o'clock. She quickly checks her phone. There is a text from Zach: "Hi Rae, I am sorry but I'm not back in Boston area. Do you mind making the drive to this address...."

Rae sees the address is in the town where her friend, Marina, is from. Marina says, Zach went to the same high school with her. This town must be his hometown. He's asking me to his home?

It's not terribly far away, it takes about 30 minutes to drive there. When she arrives, she can see there are two cars parked on the driveway, even though there is a garage attached. Looks like there some visitors to the house today. It's a nice big house in a nice suburban area. Well-maintained garden and lawn. A clean porch with outdoor cushioned seating. An elegantly decorated big white door.

She gets off the car and she has a paper bag in her hands. She wants to text Zach first but she decides she'll just ring the doorbell.

The big white door opens quickly. A young girl with curly light brown hair stands by the door. Her face turns very excited upon seeing Rae, "Hello! Nice to meet you. Come on in! Zach is inside!"

Rae smiles, "Hi, I'm Rae. Zach told me to come here to pick up something."

"We know!" This girl laughs.

Rae can only assume this is Zach's relative. She walks in with her, she sees a very well-kept and tidy entry way. This girl leads her to the living room.

"My name is Madison. You can call me Maddie. I'm Zach's sister." The young girl smiles. "Zach told me you went to Gloucester, too? I'm a senior there right now."

"Oh that's great. So you are graduating?"

"Yeah. In a few weeks. And we managed to keep Zach around because we want to see you."

Rae sees that Zach is kneeling near the TV in the living room and uses the remote to scroll through the TV control menu. He doesn't look too happy, though.

Maddie whispers, "We made him go through a different setting to find a non-existing setting I made up on purpose. Don't tell him yet."

Rae smiles.

Zach is so focused on the task on hand that he doesn't even know Rae is standing behind him.

"Hey, you wanna say hi?" Maddie pushes his head.

Zach looks up, he quickly stands up.

"Oh, hey, thanks for making the drive. My sister and my mom won't let me leave."

An older woman approaches from the other side of the living room that's connected to another room.

"Hello, welcome. I'm Zach's mom, Beverley." A blond woman in her late 50s or early 60s says with a warm smile.

"Hi, Mrs. Evans. My name is Rae."

"Do you want something to eat? Something to drink?"

"Oh no, I'm good. I actually brought something for you guys," Rae lifts the paper bag in her hands up, "They are a variety of bread I made. There are a few gluten free ones, just in case. There are also a few lower carbs ones, just in case you are on a diet." Rae chuckles.

After assuming that it's an address in Zach's hometown, she thought she should bring something over, in case his family is there. If there isn't anyone, she could simply give them to Zach anyway.

"Oh my, how wonderful!" The mom takes over the bag. "You are too nice!" She takes a look into the bag, "Oh they smell so good. Wow. Thank you."

"OK, there's no video screenshot function and no video recalling mode, Maddie. You must have remembered it wrong. It just doesn't have anything you said at all, and I even looked up the manual online." Zach growls.

"Yeah Zach, I know. I made them up and I was just stalling you until your... 'Friend'... gets here," Maddie giggles, emphasizing the word, friend.

Zach rolls his eyes. "Real mature. Get a life, Maddie."

"Hey, don't be mean," Rae punches Zach's arm, "She probably just wants you to stay home a little longer. When is the last time you came back here?"

"Yeah. You're always hanging out with computers and robots in Boston." Maddie adds, "Isn't that right, Z?" Maddie turns to the couch behind where they are standing.

Rae's eyes follow Maddie's. She then realizes there's a man sitting on the couch watching them with a smile.

This... this is Z?