I gaped at him as he picked up his keys and left. I couldn’t argue about him leaving in front of Parker.
“Wow, you’re a good boss for letting him off this early in the day.”
I gritted my teeth. “Parker, I’m going to need you to take some orders for me.”
There hadn’t been any more large clusters of patrons, but I was still going to slap Tony for leaving me alone for the rest of the day. Parker’s charm managed to get him through a few mishaps, and I seriously needed to work on his handwriting, but overall the rest of the day went off without a hitch.
I locked the front door and looked around at the mess in the dining room. Tony was always good at picking up after each customer left, but Parker hadn’t been. It wasn’t his fault, but this was going to take some time to clean up.
“You can head out,” I said to Parker, “I think you’ve been normal long enough.”
“Did you think I was going to let you do this by yourself? What kind of friend would I be?”
I smiled and tossed him a rag.
“Are you still happy with your business?” he asked.
“Of course I am. Even though the hours are hard and it's quite thankless. I enjoy being my own boss. You can understand that.”
“Oh, yes. I do.”
“And I love the people I meet. Especially the Lamontes. I look forward to seeing them each day.”
“Harriet mentioned she and Kenneth were good friends growing up.”
“I know. It’s like a love story from a movie.”
We met in the middle of the room and rinsed our rags in the bucket I’d placed on the center-most table.
“Do you ever wonder why we didn’t get together at any point?” he asked.
My entire body turned to ice. I had thought about it many times in my past. Had he? Why was he bringing this up now? Were things that bad with Rachel? Was he making sure he’d have someone to fall back on if they didn’t work out? That wouldn’t be fair to me and my feelings. I wasn’t going to be a rebound for anyone.
I glanced up at him. “Our friendship is too good to risk. And it doesn’t matter anyway; you have Rachel now and you’re getting married.”
“Right,” he said and dipped his rag in the water.
I sighed. Why did I come off so snippy? He was obviously asking me for a reason. If I was a good friend, I would try to help him. But when matters of the heart involved me, I tended to run away. This was for the best, though. It had to be. I hated how my feelings were all jumbled about him. The wedding couldn’t come fast enough. Once everything was all said and done, I’d have a reason to let all of those feelings for him go.
I slapped him in the arm, needing to lighten the mood. “Remember, tomorrow is your bachelor party.”
His brow wrinkled.
“Don’t be like that. This will be one night that you’ll never forget.”
Chapter Fifteen
Parker
The next morning, I woke early to Sienna knocking on my door. This was her idea of paying me back, so I took my time getting there, knowing it would piss her off.
When I opened the door, I got a face full of confetti. I spit out the few pieces that got into my mouth and glanced at the floor, which was covered in black and red confetti pieces.
“Nice,” I said.
Sienna laughed, hard enough to have to hold her sides. “You should have seen your face.”
I gestured for her to come in and closed the door. I knelt down, trying to scoop up as much of the confetti as I could. It was difficult, since the pieces were paper-thin and insisted on sticking to the tile.