“So why can’t Hazel go down?” But even as he asked the question, Parker sighed. “She’s working on a deal for your dad, isn’t she?”
“As usual. Besides, you know Hazel doesn’t have the patience for this.” I kissed a small, white scar on Parker’s chin from a long-ago ski injury and tried to savor the casual intimacy of the moment. “It’s gonna be fine, Parks, I promise. I’ll book your flight. You text Rod with an update and tell Erin you’re coming. “
He grabbed my wrist before I turned away. “Wait.” When I turned back to face him, I could tell he was trying to read my thoughts. “Are you saying I should do this because you think it’s the right thing to do or because you think it’s what I want to do?”
I stepped into his embrace and held on to him. “Uh… both? You’re a good man, so you always want to do the right thing.” I thumbed through my phone, eager to start making arrangements before I gave in to the clawing desire to keep my boyfriend within kissing distance. “I don’t want Erin to feel alone or abandoned.” And more than that, I wanted Parker to know I supported him. Always.
Parker stood up and pulled the phone out of my hand before setting it down on the table. “The fact that you still believe Erin’s a good person after everything that’s happened says a lot about the man you are. You’re a good friend, Jules.”
I was trying. I was really trying.
“You taught me everything I know,” I reminded him. “Okay, so there’s a flight leaving in three hours. I’m getting you a return flight in two days. You can change it without penalty if you need to. And I’ll be waiting for you at the airport when you get back, okay?”
Parker kissed me in lieu of agreeing. Then he dragged me away from the table, abandoning our breakfast, so he could take me to the shower and show me on his knees how much my ability to book a flight turned him on.
Who said maturity didn’t pay off?
Later, though, after Parker had left for the airport—alone, because we both knew airport goodbyes sucked—I wandered around my empty cabin and decided maturity was highly overrated. Even after five minutes of solitude, my ears rang from the silence. The air in the cabin was colder without Parker to warm it. Even the sight of his half-eaten toast made my stomach lurch unpleasantly. I wasn’t sure how I could miss him so badly when he’d barely left.
After forcing myself to do the dishes and make the bed, I texted Mikey about the meeting later. Then I flopped down on the couch and called my sister back to update her on the situation.
“He’s got a quick layover, but he should get there in around five hours,” I concluded after a quick check of the time. “And he’ll get things figured out. And it’ll be… great.” I thought my cheerful voice sounded fairly believable.
“You’re an idiot,” Hazel said flatly, proving me wrong.
“Me? What?”
“You should know that you weren’t the only person I called this morning. I called Tiller, too.”
“Oh?” I asked innocently.
“Yeah. Oh. And he assumed that I knew about your new relationship status. With Parker.”
I rubbed a hand over my forehead. “Hazel, I was going to tell you—”
“Once you’d run all the calculations and dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s? Which might have happened sometime before you two got matching nursing home assignments?”
“It’s been a matter of days. Like, two.”
“And you’ve been waiting for it for decades. Like, two,” she retorted. “And now it’s finally, finally happened. He loves you back, Jules. Which brings me back to my original point. You’re an idiot.”
“Parker going to Mexico has nothing to do with me and him,” I insisted. “He still loves Erin. Of course he does. They’ve been friends nearly as long as he and I have. So he’s going to help her out as a friend. And I support him.”
“Liar.”
“What?” I sputtered, caught. “Look, I trust Parker, okay? He says he’s in love with me, so he is.”
“I believe that. I believe the hell out of that,” Hazel agreed. “Parker Ellis has thought you personally hung the North Star since you were a first grader, and he’s steered his ship by you ever since. There was only ever the sexual attraction component that prevented you two from being the world’s most scorching couple, and from what Tiller said, Parks managed to wrap his head allllll the way around that little obstacle.”
I felt my face go hot. “Tiller’s a damn gossip.”
“Tiller also said he’s never seen either one of you look as happy, as settled, as you did the other night.”
“Really?” I swallowed hard, chest tight.
“Really. So I’m wondering, Julian, how the hell you got handed the future you dreamed of and just… waved it off to Mexico.”