Page 58 of Best Friends for Never

She’s next to Axel, who is holding a kid who looks to be about four, two identical ones standing next to him. Another woman, who I assume is Axel’s wife, has her head tossed back and is laughing at whatever Parker’s saying.

“Yeah, I’d say,” Gran says, and I hadn’t realized I’d said anything out loud. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

I can’t speak. Can’t even nod along in agreement.

All I can do is stare.

Her eyes wander around the room, then land on me, and I see her stiffen, but not even that can distract me.

Parker’s usually tied-back auburn hair is hanging loose around her shoulders in subtle waves, one side tucked daintily behind her ear. A knee-length, pine-colored dress clings to the curves she almost always hides underneath paint-stained overalls or T-shirts that are two sizes too big. She’s wearing black high heels—a first since she didn’t even wear them to prom—that make her legs look a mile long, and sparkly earrings dangle from her ears.

She’s not just beautiful, she’s stunning.

And now she’s running away.

“Go.” Gran unhooks her arm from mine and shoves me forward as Parker tries to disappear into the crowd. “I’ll be fine. Talk to her.”

I push through the crowd, ignoring people when they call out to me. I only have one thing on my mind, and right now, it’s Parker.

I barely catch a glimpse of a green dress as the door leading to the basement closes.

“Noel, just the guy I was—”

“Rain check, Garth,” I say to the owner of Bigfoot’s Hideaway as I reach the door.

I throw it open without a care about the scene I’m surely making and step into the stairwell, letting the door close behind me.

“Parker! Park—”

There’s a surprised squeak at my back, and I spin around to find her with her back pressed up against the wall.

She was hiding—literallyhiding—behind the door.

“Crud,” she whispers, and I grin.

“Yeah,crudis right. Are you really trying to run from me?”

She straightens, then lifts her shoulder. “I’m just getting some fresh air.”

“In the stairwell that I know leads to nothing but a storage room for all the bingo tables?”

She notches her chin up. “Yes.”

I roll my eyes. “Come on, Parker. You can’t run forever.”

“Why not? You did.”

My jaw tics. “I”—I jab a finger into my chest—“didn’t run. I told you where I was going. I told you where I’d be.Ibegged you to come, andyounever showed.Youstopped calling.Youstopped answering the phone.Youstopped being there forme.”

“Because I was scared!” she explodes. “I was scared. You asked me to leave behind everything I knew and loved and follow you to LA like some lost little puppy. Why? So you could grow bored of the girl from your small-town life and take off again, leaving me alone to fend for myself?”

“I wouldneverdo that.”

“Don’t be so sure. People make promises all the time they can’t keep. My father did it to my mother. He promised to love and cherish her, but when he wasn’t satisfied with what this town could offer, he took off and left us and never returned. Like you. I knew you were never coming back the second you left, just like him.”

Jesus.Is that what she thinks? Is that how she’s seen this all these years? That I’m like her father, and I abandoned her? It was never supposed to be like that. I wanted her there more than anything.She’sthe one who didn’t want to come.

I suck in a deep breath, running my hand through my hair. “Peter, I ...”

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