Page 31 of The Complication
I hesitated, no words coming to me, not sure whether I should stay or leave him to his quiet moment alone. Thankfully, Parker solved the problem for me.
“Sit. Talk to me for a while without worrying that the world is going to fall around our ears.” Parker lifted a hand and waved me toward him. But I had no desire to sit on the floor. I crossed to the chair closest to him in his line of sight and sat. However, my butt had barely touched the cushion when I shot up again.
“What about the baby? What if she wakes up?”
Parker grabbed a small white box sitting next to him. He raised it and gave it a shake. “Your shopper was wise enough to include a baby monitor. If she wakes up, I’ll hear it.”
With a grunt, I returned to my seat. “Did you discover anything missing? Is there anything that you or Joy need?”
My companion smirked and shook his head. “Not a thing. I think I’m better supplied now than I was prior to the fire, and I’d been sure that Molly bought Joy every baby gadget and gizmo under the sun.”
“Good. That’s good.”
“Declan…”
There was a weight to his voice that made every muscle in my chest tight. My hands were folded together in front of me with my elbows on my knees, and they fisted as I waited for him to continue.
“Everything you’ve done for Joy. All those fucking clothes for me. I don’t?—”
“Please stop thanking me. It’s the only thing you say to me now. I don’t want you to feel beholden to me.” I paused and licked my lips. “My friend was in trouble due to no fault of hisown, and I stepped in to help. Anyone with the means would have done the same thing.”
His full lips twisted into something that seemed cynical and hard to describe. “Friend. I like that. Prior to all this happening, I’m not sure you would have called me that. I drove you crazy in the office.”
“On purpose,” I growled. I might not generally pick up on all the basic social cues, but I knew Parker had been going out of his way to irritate me.
“True. But when we saw each other outside the office, it was only for sex. Nothing else.”
“We talked. Some.” My fingers had relaxed, but they were starting to ball up. “I’m just not…good…at conversation.”
Parker huffed and grabbed his drink to swallow half of it. “You converse fine. Whoever convinced you that you don’t is a fucking idiot.” He set his glass on the floor and returned his eyes to me. “Plus, you let me ramble on about stupid things like my art.”
“Your art isn’t stupid.”
Parker’s rough laugh drifted through the room, and I straightened. “You never even saw my art.”
“Just a little from the doorway, but from how you talked about it, I knew it was important to you. The most important thing to you. That means it’s not stupid.”
The slow smile that spread across Parker’s handsome face was like watching the sun rise over the ocean, bright and sparkling. “And you think you’re not good at conversation.”
I looked away from him, no longer able to hold his gaze without the feeling of heat creeping into my ears and cheeks. But I held on to the image of that smile in my mind. I wanted to do everything I could to keep that same expression on his face all the time. The world was a better place because of that look.
Parker continued, oblivious to how he was changing my life one smile and kind word at a time. “I know you’re notrushing Joy and me out the door, but I promise we won’t overstay our welcome. The apartment complex seemed confident that they’d have the paper work people needed pulled together on Monday or Tuesday. I think they’re trying to get some report from the fire department first. Then, the insurance company thinks it will be only a few days after they get the paper work to cut me a check to cover all my household items. I figure on Monday, I’ll start searching for a new apartment and a new job.”
“You could…wait…” The words tumbled from my lips awkwardly, like a landed fish trying to flop its way back to safety.
“Wait? Why?”
I kept my eyes locked on the floor. Sometimes it was easier to say things to Parker when I didn’t have to meet his gaze. “You’ve been through a lot recently. You lost your best friend, gained a daughter, and lost your home in a fire. Maybe you could not do anything for a while. Stay here. Spend time with Joy. Let yourself recover before rushing off to the next thing.”
Parker said nothing. The silence stretched until it filled the massive room, forcing me to finally look up at Parker. This time, he wasn’t staring at me, but at the blank wall again.
“It’s tempting. I would like to spend some time with Joy and sneak in some more reading about babies. Molly used to text me all the time about the books she was reading, so she’d be ready. It would be nice to not always feel like I’m completely lost.”
My eyebrows puckered on my forehead, and I shook my head. “You don’t appear lost to me. You know when to feed her and how much. You’re very good at changing diapers. She’s always laughing. I might know nothing about babies, but she seems happy to me.”
“Thanks. My mom gave me a crash course in babies the week she was in town, and Molly left behind a lot of notes in Joy’s baby book about things she liked. It’s helped.” Parker satup and tossed back the last of his virgin bay breeze. He lowered his glass, and the ice clinked loudly. “But I think I’d go stir crazy if I wasn’t working. Not that I’m in a big hurry to return to the world of cubicles and suits.” He took a long look at the empty glass in his hand and I got the feeling he wished he had another bay breeze, but not a virgin one.
“After you finished with Courtland, you didn’t intend to get another office job, did you?” I asked as I dug through memories of old conversations we had. “I can’t remember exactly what you said, but I always thought it strange that you weren’t trying to get a permanent position with Courtland Enterprises.”
