“Nothing, forget it.”
“No, Sienna, talk to me. Do you know something?”
“I crossed a line. I’m sorry.”
He sighed. “I mean, sure, we haven’t had sex yet, but a lot of couples do that, right?”
Was he asking me if this was normal? I’d only heard of abstinence with religious couples, and from what I knew, neither Rachel nor Parker were.
“And sometimes she can be a bit prickly, but deep down, she’s really great.”
It was the first time I heard the uncertainty in his voice about his relationship with Rachel. Maybe the stress of the wedding and living with that girl for the rest of his life were giving him cold feet. There was nothing I wanted more than for them to stop dating, but Parker had trusted me to be the most important person in the wedding—other than the bride. I owed it to him to at least be supportive of his choice. I wasn’t going to be the person who made him regret anything.
“As long as you feel that way.”
His jaw worked for a few seconds before he spoke. “We’re going to go through with it. It’s the right thing to do.”
There were many things that would warrant a “right things to do” scenario. Marrying someone wasn’t, unless he’d knocked her up, and for me, even that was a stretch. But they’d also have to be having sex for that to happen.
His uncertainty was plain, and I wondered would he change his mind if I pushed him a little more….
For the moment, I decided to drop it. Maybe this conversation would make him rethink his decision. And I was once again straddling that line of going too far. I didn’t want him to resent me or think I didn’t support him in his choices. We’d done so much to keep our friendship intact over the years that an argument over this might be a tipping point in the wrong direction.
“What was it that you needed my help with?” I asked him.
He snapped out of his daze and did one more swipe of the table with his rag. “I double checked with the venue that we wanted for the wedding, but it’s booked solid for two years. So I wanted you to come with me to find another place.”
“Oh, okay,” I glanced at the clock. It was pretty late.
“It’s too late now, though,” Parker said.
“I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “It’s fine.”
I didn’t know why I felt so bad. Maybe because I was feeling guilty over how I felt about Rachel when he clearly wanted to go through with this. “I have tomorrow off. I can help you then.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” There was nothing I wanted more than spending an entire day with my best friend, especially after I’d offended him. I would try harder to be a good sport, but it would take everything I had to do so.
Chapter Nine
Parker
The conversation with Sienna played on my mind the entire night. Even though we’d ended the night on good terms, I wondered what was going on in her head that had been left unsaid.
I showed up at her house the next morning, at a more reasonable hour and with coffee in hand. When she answered the door she was wrapped in a blanket and she muttered a “good morning” and scooted off toward the couch.
She flopped onto the couch and adjusted the blanket so it was over her head like a hood and wrapped around the rest of her body like a coiled snake.
“Did you sleep on the couch last night?”
“Yeah. I fell asleep watching television.”
I cocked my head. Sienna rarely watched television before bed. She was a strict believer in no technology for at least an hour before going to sleep. With her early hours, she needed as much uninterrupted rest as possible. I wondered if she’d had as much trouble sleeping last night as I did.
“My neck is killing me,” she said, stretching it out.