Page 4 of Masked

When the officers left a half hour later, Parker stood to leave as well. “We should go get that breakfast,” he said with a smile.

Food was the last thing Reva wanted right now, but she nodded and stood.

“Stay. I’ll cook.”

Parker raised an eyebrow. “Do you even know how?”

Noah gave a sad smile. “Elise and I cooked together all the time. Breakfast is the easiest meal of them all.”

Now Reva felt obligated to stay, so she sat back down on the couch and picked up her coffee. “That sounds nice, Mr. Jasper.”

“Noah. Call me Noah.”

Reva nodded. “Can I help, Noah?”

Noah shook his head. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

“We didn’t have to stay.”

Reva touched Parker’s shoulder. “It’s important. Trust me.”

He didn’t seem convinced, but pulled out his phone and sat back against the couch and tucked an arm around her.

After several minutes, the silence became too much to cope with, so she jumped up. “I’m going to help anyway.”

Parker gave a grunt of acknowledgement and kept scrolling his phone. In the kitchen, she found Noah leaning against the island with his eyes closed.

An open carton of eggs sat out, and oil was smoking on the stove. She moved quickly and turned the burner off as she moved the pan away from the hot coils.

“I said I didn’t need help,” he said gruffly.

“Trust me, you do. You’re going to want to hide from everyone over the next few weeks and you’re probably the type that thinks it’s poor form to cry, but it’s not. Answer the phone when your friends call to check on you and don’t turn down offers to make your life easier. Because someday soon you’re going to break, and when you do, it won’t be pretty. Right now, you’re probably pretty annoyed with me because you don’t know me and that’s fine. But you should go talk to your son and I’ll finish breakfast.”

His knuckles were white as he gripped the marble counter behind him, and his eyes flashed with anger. But then his lips quirked up in a half smile.

“You’ve got spunk. I’ll give you that. That’s nothing but good for Parker. There’s a slab of ham in the fridge. If you’re going to be in here, you might as well help.”

She blew out a breath, thankful she hadn’t completely pissed him off, and opened the fridge. Along with the ham, she grabbed mushrooms, a bell pepper, and an onion and set up a workstation on the opposite side of the island.

She slid him the onion and pulled a knife out of the block.

“Trying to force me to cry?”

“So, he’s got a sense of humor. I’m willing to bet that’s one of the things she liked about you.”

He sliced the onion in half and put one piece aside. “No one has ever accused me of having a sense of humor, Reva. Even when I’m not grieving, I’m an asshole.”

She cocked her head and studied him. “Probable. But you cared about her, and she saw something in you.”

“Stop.” His voice was hard. “I can tell what you’re doing, and your one semester of psychology 101 is nothing up against my PhD.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Well, Dr. Jasper. I’m not sure what you think I’m doing, but I’m trying to be the friendly face I wish I’d had on a night similar to this. Nothing more. But I’ll be sure to tell my dissertation adviser that you don’t think I can hack it in the PhD program anymore.”

For a split second, she thought he looked impressed, but he schooled his features and went back to prepping the food.

“Psychology?”

She shook her head and pushed the diced mushrooms to the side so she could start on the ham. “I did a double major in undergrad in psychology and political science. Now I’m in a dual track Masters and PhD program where I’m studying public relations and human sexuality.”

---