by Claire Adams
“Then what? What happened that made you not contact me for an entire day?”
Her lips flattened. “You have a phone too, Parker.”
“Are you mad because I didn’t call you?”
“Stop saying I’m mad. I’m not. Nothing happened. It’s better that you forgot, anyway.” She brushed passed me and I lunged for her. She wasn’t getting away that easily. Her tendency to run wasn’t going to win this argument.
I took her arm. “Sienna, please.”
“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.”
“Of course I’m worried. You’re so mad at me. It’s obvious, so don’t try and pretend you aren’t.”
I looked down at my hands, unable to face him.
“And I’ve come to the conclusion of I’m sorry,” he said softly.
I tilted my head. “What?”
“I understand if I did or said something wrong. And since you’re the only one who remembers that night, I have to let it go until you’re ready to tell me. So I’m preempting whatever shit thing I said or did with an ‘I’m sorry.’ I’m so fucking sorry for hurting you, Sienna. I had such a great time that night, and you planned a kick-ass party. And here I was, the man of the hour, and I somehow ruined it for you.”
I choked out a laugh and couldn’t help smiling. Warmth spread through me and I started to thaw.
“You mean too much to me. I can’t stand that you’re mad at me. Please forgive me and accept my apology.”
“All right,” I said. “I forgive you.”
“For real?”
“Yes.”
“Can we hug it out?”
Parker stood and opened his arms.
We were not the hugging type of friends. But he didn’t wait for a response. He crushed me against him, and for a moment, I thought about Saturday night. Should I tell him about that night? It seemed we always came back to our friendship, no matter what hurdle we had to get over. But I wasn’t sure if we could get over this. Especially so close to his wedding.
“And now I have something very important to ask you,” he said, pulling away from me.
He dropped down to one knee and held my hand between us. “Sienna Morrow, will you be my best man?”
I lightly slapped his arm. “Get up, you fool. Of course, I’m still your best man.”
Parker beamed at me and my heart warmed.
That feeling quickly subsided when I realized what this meant for me. And now I knew I couldn’t tell him. He was excited about the wedding, and what kind of friend would I be if I tried to put myself between him and his happy ending?
Parker clapped his hands together, still smiling like an idiot. “All right, I don’t want to ruin your whole morning beauty routine.”
I shot him a look.
“I should go.”
“Okay, I guess we’ll talk later.”
“Yes, definitely.” He practically skipped out of my house. “I will call you later. I promise.”
When he closed the door, I sat there for a minute, soaking in my happy mood. It was a relief to be rid of the ugly monster that lived inside of me since Saturday night.
When I arrived at the diner, Tony was on the back stoop. I noticed a lack of smoke circling around his head, which put me in an even better mood than I was already in. Everything seemed t
o have fallen into place in my life, and I was much happier for it. I even had the capacity to be happy for Parker and Rachel as a couple. Whatever made Parker happy, made me happy.
“Is that a smile on your face?” Tony said then made a show of checking his wrist which was lacking a watch. “This early? Did you find your way into my stash?”
I punched him in the arm. “Don’t make me put my scowl back on.”
He held his hands up defensively. “Please, not that. That Sienna wasn’t as much fun to work with. So spill, what happened?”
“Parker came over this morning.”
Tony cocked his head. “Do go on…”
I explained that something did happen on Saturday night, but I wasn’t willing to talk about it just yet. “Parker showed up at my house this morning with coffee and an apology.”
“But he didn’t know what he’d done.”
“That doesn’t matter now. It was the thought that counted.”
“And you’re okay with this?”
I pointed to my face. “You see this smile? Yes. I’m okay with this.”
He bobbed his head. “I’m glad you two are better. You suck when you’re mad at him.”
I knew I had a hard couple of weeks in front of me with the wedding, but I would make an effort to be the best best man I could. Parker deserved that.
Tony and I prepped the diner as we did every morning, but the air was lighter between us. I even let him put his music on while we head-banged around the kitchen.
When it was almost six, I had him turn it off. With the mix of metal music and coffee, my head was light and my mood even lighter.
I unlocked the front door and went back into the kitchen.
“Sienna,” Tony said while shredding some cheese for the omelets.
I sat down on the stool and sipped from a glass of water. Screaming with the music had made me parched.
“This conversation with Parker on Saturday, I’m dying to know what he said to piss you off so much.”
“Tony, I don’t really want to bring it up again. I’m smiling, remember?”
“You obviously had the capacity to forgive him. And I know you well enough to know that you want to get it off your chest. Satisfy my need for knowledge while helping yourself.”
“Have you been watching Dr. Phil again?” I quipped.
He grinned. “Maybe.”
I had to admit it might be nice to hash out what had happened between Parker and me. And I knew Tony was a vault. I held onto many of his secrets.
“Fine, but this is between you and me.”
Tony nodded and continued to shred cheese.
“So, everything was fine. I brought him home and got him into bed. Then when I was about to leave, he wanted me to lay down on the bed with him. Of course, I hesitated, but he gave me this look I couldn’t refuse. So I did. Then he started talking about how he was lucky to have me and that he wanted us to be like Harriet and Kenneth.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tony asked.
“Well, they were good friends growing up, and now they’ve been married for forty years.”
Tony slowly turned his head to me. “Whoa.”
I nodded slowly, the feeling of regret flickered inside of me, but I quickly quashed it. “I know, right? And to be honest, I’ve always had these feelings for Parker. There was a time in our past that I thought we’d get together. But he has a totally different type of woman that he dates. So, I’m resigned to leave it the way it always has been.”
“So, why were you so pissed at him?”
“After he unloaded all of this on me, he said, ‘I love you, Rachel.’”
“What the hell?” Tony said, affronted.
I smirked. “That’s exactly how I felt. Then when he didn’t call or text, it made me feel awful.”
“I can understand that. Damn, Sienna, that’s some messed-up shit.”
I sighed. “I guess I just held onto something that wasn’t there. And it's not his fault he doesn’t remember.”
“Even if he doesn’t remember, those feelings are real for him. Alcohol can be a truth serum, sometimes. Maybe if you told him what he said—”
“No, no way. He’s getting married to Rachel. I would be a terrible friend if I tried to break them up.”
“Are you sure? From what I know of her, I think you’d be doing him a favor.”
“I know. But I have to keep this to myself.”
“Even if it’s at the expense of your happiness?”
“Yes. I’d rather Parker in my life as a friend than risk losing him entirely. I know I’m playing it safe, but it’s worked for years.”
“You really are a good friend. And a bigger person than most.”
Tony and I continued to hash over the whole Parker situation between customers. But it wasn’t until one particular customer came in that all words were removed from my head.
Apparently we were in some alternate universe, because Rachel was standing in my dining room. Without Parker. Instead, she was with some other chick.
She wore a disgusted grimace again, which made my blood boil. If she was so unhappy here, why did she keep coming in? Her friend wore a similar expression. If possible, she was even thinner than Rachel, with long, silky black hair. Her blood-red fingernails were lightly scratching at her neck, as if she had some skin rash. She was going to create one if she kept doing that.
“What’s she doing here?” I asked.
“I’ll go find out,” Tony said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to comfort me or hold me back. Either way, he was grounding me in place.
I moved away from the pass-through so Rachel couldn’t see me. She gave Tony a terse smile and allowed him to bring her to a table. She said something and pointed to the table, Tony nodded and went to the serving station, pulled out a rag, tossed me a “what the fuck” look, and proceeded to clean her table again.
That bitch had some nerve.
Tony came back to the serving station. “Two glasses of water please,” he said in a high falsetto.
I smirked.
“She asked about you,” Tony said. “She wanted to say hi.”
I groaned. “Why the hell is she here?”
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling if you do as she asks, she will be out of here sooner.”
“Fine,” I said. “Put the water down; I’ll be right out.”
I knew no matter how much primping I did, I’d never impress her. But I did check myself in the mirror to make sure there wasn’t food or anything on my face. I didn’t want to give her more of an excuse to look down on me. I smoothed my hand over my hair to rein in the flyaways.
I plastered the fakest smile I could muster on my face and pushed through the double doors.
“Good luck,” Tony said when he passed me.
I nodded and took the waters from the serving station. As I made my way over to the table, my heart hammered in my chest. I had to give Rachel a chance, at least outwardly, if Parker was still going through with the wedding.
“Hi, Rachel,” I said in an unfamiliar cheery voice. It hurt my ears and ego.
“Hi, Sienna,” she said as if we were besties. My hackles rose.
I glanced at the other girl. She was staring at my chest. I already knew I had an egg stain on my shirt from earlier. Of course she’d find the only flaw on my body right away.
“Can I take your order?” I asked.
Rachel looked at her friend and her eyes flashed.
I tried to ignore the strange tingling feeling inside of me. Almost like when I was in high school and I had any interaction with the popular crowd who always made fun of me for not wearing name-brand clothing.
“Just some hard-boiled eggs, and we’ll split a slice of whole wheat toast,” Rachel said.
I didn’t need to jot anything down on my pad. That was the easiest and most boring order I’d ever received. I could almost hear their stomachs screaming for nutrition.
“You’re
Parker’s best man?” her friend asked. Her thin eyebrow rose questioningly.
I put my pad in my apron pocket. “Yeah. We’ve known each other forever.”
“Hm,” the girl said.
I stood there awkwardly for a few seconds. “Well, if you don’t need anything else, I’ll get started on your order.”
“You can have that sexy man beast come out with our food,” Rachel’s friend said.
“Sure thing,” I said turning around. I lost the smile, relaxing my sore cheeks.
“Doesn’t he remind you of the second guy you slept with last week?” the friend said to Rachel.
I sucked in a breath at the same time Rachel did.
“Shut up, Ophelia,” Rachel hissed. “We promised to leave all of that on vacation.”
Rachel slept with at least two guys on her vacation away from Parker. What the hell was I going to do with that information? The right thing to do was to tell Parker, but how could I do that when he knew I already hated her? Would he think I was trying to break them up? I had been right about Rachel this whole time, but telling Parker would break his heart.
I stood in front of the pass-through, locking eyes with Tony.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Tony said.
My hands gripped the counter as I stared at Tony, and my mouth went completely dry.
Chapter Twenty-One
Parker
I was floating between a dream-like state and wakefulness when two things happened. My phone’s text tone went off three times in a row and was immediately followed by incessant banging on my front door.
I sat up and inhaled sharply. What the hell was going on?
I grabbed my phone from the side table and turned the screen on.
Sienna had texted me in three separate texts:
“Let”
“Me”
“In”
I rubbed my hand over my face and then the banging started again.
I glanced over my shoulder at Rachel, who was sleeping like a rock. I knew that wouldn’t last long. And we’d had a good night last night; I didn’t want to ruin that. She’d been attentive and even stayed up until nine with me to watch a movie. The vacation had been good for her and for us, adding to my resolve that I was making the right decision by going through with this wedding. Sure, it would be stressful with planning something so soon, but if the rest of our married lives would be easy like this, then I’d do whatever it took.