Page 69 of The Complication
“The first part is the hardest. You have to give him time to figure shit out on his own. Reassure himself that he wants to be with you because of how he feels about you and not because of what you can give him financially.”
That was the shitty part, because there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I didn’t doubt Parker. He’d never once asked me for money or any kind of support. I was the one who was constantly doing things for him, whether or not he wanted it. Parker relying on me too much and hiding from the world had never once crossed my mind. I had been more concerned with my overwhelming need to buy him and Joy everything under the sun.
Sebastian had once asked me if I’d ever wanted to spoil someone. At the time, my answer had been a quick and easy no.
Parker and Joy had changed that. Now I felt like all the wealth I’d accumulated over the years had one purpose—to make them as happy and comfortable as possible. Whatever they wanted or needed, I wanted to buy.
“That being said…” Rome drawled out, hooking my wandering attention. “There are things you can do to nudge him in the right direction.”
And this was why I’d gone to see Rome. I knew the devious bastard had to have some tricks up his sleeve.
“You need to send him little reminders that your door is always open for him. Entice him back to your side.”
“How? I think he’s still got a key to the house, but Franks would always let him straight in if he—” I cut off my words when Rome began waving his hands at me.
“Not what I mean. Smaller. Subtle.” He lowered his voice to a whisper, as if he were telling a secret. “You’ve got to be sneaky.”
I frowned. “Sneaky is not my strong suit.”
“Yeah. I know,” Rome huffed. “I’m gonna guess you’ve never sent flirty texts to Parker.”
“No, I haven’t.”
Rome nodded and took another drink of his water. “Yeah, you flirting suddenly would probably cause him to have a heart attack or run for the hills. Too suspicious.”
“No texting. Got it. Email?”
Rome was quick to shake his head. “No, texting is still best for you. I’m afraid if you email him, they’ll sound like business proposals.” He suddenly narrowed his eyes at me. “Have you texted him since he moved out?”
“No. I wanted to give him the space he needed to figure things out and not feel pressured by me.”
Seven days and not a single word from Parker. It had been pure hell, and I wanted it to end now. There was still the commission, but it was put on pause as Parker got resettled. I was sure we’d talk about it eventually, but I didn’t want to pressure him about work and potentially push him even further away from me.
“Okay, good!”
“This is not good.”
“It is. Because you can now send him a very simple ‘How’s it going?’ text. You’re just checking on him and Joy. Very low-key conversation starter. Don’t get into a long conversation unless he instigates it.”
“Why would I do this?”
“To remind him you still exist and that you care about him and Joy. Very simple. Get him thinking happy thoughts about you.”
Okay. That made sense. “Next?” I prodded.
“Share something from your day. Small things. You triedsomething new for breakfast. Saw a pretty bird out your window. Little things. Just that you saw something nice, and you wanted to share it with him. Or! Ask him for help with something. Tiny, simple questions. Like ask for some advice or an opinion on something. This shows you need him and value his opinion. Everyone wants to feel needed.”
“That way, he knows I dependon him.”
“Exactly. The important thing is that you need to keep these brief interactions. Plus, you do this only once or twice a day at most. You don’t want to overwhelm him.”
“And eventually, after enough time, he’ll want to move back in?”
Rome’s nose wrinkled up as he cringed. “That’s the long-term goal. Short-term goal: a date. You want him to ask you out on a date. Or maybe after a few weeks of casual texting, you can ask him out to dinner with Joy. If you include the baby, you show him you want the kid in your life and you’re not expecting it to get too sexy. He might feel more secure with the baby there.”
That made sense. Not to mention, I missed Joy as well. A dinner with Little Miss and Parker sounded like heaven to me.
“Okay. I can do this. I will win Parker.” His advice was surprisingly simple and smart. Maybe he spent a lot of time trying to win over his exes. Or Rome had gotten better at handling people because he so often put his foot in his mouth. Either way, I felt like I finally had a plan.
