“Let go of me, Parker.”
I did as she asked.
“I want you to tell me what happened.”
“And I said to forget it. It’s honestly better that way, trust me.”
“I just—”
“Parker, I’m not going to change my mind. I want to move on. I have to go.” She stormed away from me. Her sneakers banged against the wooden pier.
Move on from what?
My chest tightened as I hoped that I hadn’t ruined our friendship for good. Sienna liked to play and laugh and banter. When she fell into a dark mood, it was only because of serious circumstances. What had I done that was so terrible to turn her against me like that? It had to be bad.
I waited a little while before I went back to the diner to get my car. I wanted to give Sienna the space she needed at the moment. Maybe she would come to her senses and talk to me after she cooled off. I had to give her that time. Especially since I’d apparently done something to make her furious with me.
Instead, I leaned over the edge of the railing and watched the movement of the water beneath me. The lapping of water against the pier calmed me down and opened my mind. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead into my folded arms. I willed myself to remember, but of course, nothing new came to mind.
I couldn’t believe I had changed the course of everything with one night. And it had been a good night. A really good one.
I knew our friendship was strong, but I’d never been on the receiving end of one of these reactions from Sienna. They usually involved her ex-boyfriends.
It was a relief that we didn’t have sex. Had I come on to her? I thought she would have told me if I had. If anything, she’d at least make fun of me for being a drunken slob. She had a high tolerance for my bullshit, so I must have done something completely out of character. Her cold-shoulder treatment was scarier than any insult she could have thrown at me.
My mind whirred with the possibilities, but I couldn’t come up with anything that would turn her against me like that.
My phone blared from my pocket and I quickly grabbed it. I wanted it to be Sienna. It wasn’t. Rachel’s face appeared on the screen. I pressed the IGNORE button and shoved the phone back into my pocket. I couldn’t deal with her right now. With Sienna mad at me, my world felt like it was crumbling. And with Rachel’s added pressure about the wedding, I was in way over my head with these two women.
I inhaled the salty scent of the sea and pushed off the railing. I’d given Sienna enough time to get into her car and go home. I started for the diner. It wasn’t in my nature to give up, especially where Sienna was concerned. Knowing her as I did, I would give her the space she needed. One day was my limit. Then I would try again to win her back. I had to. She was my best friend, and I was lost without her.
Chapter Twenty
Sienna
My alarm had just gone off Wednesday morning when I heard a loud banging on my front door. I had a very good idea who that was.
I grabbed my phone and texted Parker. “Go away.”
He responded back within seconds. “Open the door.”
His persistence was annoying at times. I hadn’t heard from him in a day, and if I was honest with myself, it wasn’t my best day. I couldn’t fault him for giving me space, since it was exactly what I thought I wanted. I knew I wasn’t wrong for feeling the way I did, but he was adamant about not remembering Saturday night. Tony even confirmed Parker’s story yesterday at the diner.
Tony had pushed for information, but if I wasn’t telling Parker, I wasn’t going to tell him. I wasn’t ready to say any of it aloud. Tony seemed to have a sense about it and asked me some leading questions, which I promptly ignored.
I wrapped my robe around my body and cinched the middle. I wasn’t blind to the way Parker looked at me when I came to the door in barely any clothes. When we didn’t have feelings for each other, I didn’t think anything of it. Now that I knew he thought about me, I didn’t want to confuse him any more than he already was.
I opened the door. He thrust a cup of coffee at me. “Morning.”
“Hi.” I turned and crossed the room, sitting at the breakfast bar. I glanced out the sliding doors to the patio, and it was still dark out. We were a pair, the two of us, waking up before the crack of dawn. At least I had a reason for it. He had some strange insomnia. I took advantage of sleep when I could.
“I’m going to get right into it,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes. “Okay? Into what?”
He put his cup on the breakfast bar and grabbed the seat next to me, shoving it under him. He sat and leaned closer to me. “I spent all day yesterday trying to figure out what I did.”
“Parker, I told you not to worry about it.”