“You again!” I gritted.

This time, a smile fell onto his lips. “Apparently so. Sorry about that. I wasn’t—”

“Paying attention?” I grumbled. “Like earlier?”

This time he chuckled. When he wasn’t scowling or yelling, he was a handsome man, dark brown hair, blue eyes. He wore a black T-shirt that hugged his body, showing off his impressive build.

“What exactly is your problem?” I demanded. “And what the hell is so funny?”

“My problem?” He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. When I didn’t answer right away, he stopped, and his face started to get a little red. He began to shift from one foot to the other, and then he dropped his arms to his sides. “Look, I’m sorry,” he said, finally letting his guard down. “It’s been a hell of a day. Shit, a hell of a month, and to be honest, I’m just not really at my best right now.”

“Could have fooled me.” I shrugged, still feeling a little under attack.

“I think perhaps we should start off on a different foot. I’m Zach,” he said, holding out his large hand to me.

“What if I don’t want to?” I bit back, watching him. When he didn’t move, I finally slipped my small hand into his and gently shook it. “Zach, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Iris.”

“Iris, nice to meet you,” he said, slowly letting go of my hand and meeting my eyes.

“So, what has you all frazzled?” I questioned.

“God, what doesn’t. It all started this morning with my eleven-year-old.”

Small world, I thought to myself. “You have an eleven-year-old? My oldest just turned eleven a couple of weeks ago. Right now, my boys are home, probably killing each other.” I smiled, and we both laughed. I glanced at my watch. I really should grab what I came in for and get back to The Deep Dish. I needed to order the pizza before too much longer.

“Look, I should get going. I’ve got to get our pizza ordered,” I said, reaching in front of him and grabbing two bags of the boy’s favourite chips and a bottle of soda.

“Taking pizza home for dinner?” he questioned.

Almost forgetting our run-in only a few minutes earlier, I nodded. “Yep, I promised them tonight would be pizza.”

Zach glanced at his watch. “Once I get our pizza, I have to get my daughter. The guy at the pizza parlour said it would be a good fifty minutes. Did you want to grab a coffee while you wait?”

I glanced around at the people passing by. I’d never had coffee with a stranger, especially one who had treated me the way Zach had earlier. However, he seemed to have a lot going on, and he seemed to be a little calmer at the moment. I glanced at my watch. “I guess it won’t hurt. I’ll go pay for this and then go order the pizza, and I’ll meet you at The Crispy Biscuit.”

“Sounds good. While you order your pizza, I’ll grab us a table.”

Ten minutes later, butterflies in my stomach, I met up with Zach outside of The Crispy Biscuit. It took no time for us to get a table and a cup of coffee.

“I don’t normally do this,” I said, shrugging out of my sweater.

“Do what?” Zach questioned.

“Meet up with complete strangers for coffee.”

Zach chuckled. “I wouldn’t call us strangers. We are on a first-name basis.” He winked. “And you know I have a daughter.”