by Durano, Liz
When I was sixteen, she almost lost the shop when business was too slow and that’s when I vowed then to make enough money to buy the property outright one day. And it’s something I finally did last year using everything I’d saved up and every commission, choosing to buy a historic commercial building instead of a Federalist Victorian.
“Do you still like him?”
“Ryan? No!” I exclaim, staring at Parker in horror before continuing in a calmer voice. “Hell, no. It’s just… it’s just that I’ve spent the last seven years working for this company and I don’t want to throw it all that away just like that.”
“So you’re going to see it through until you get that bigger office?” Parker asks. “Is that the goal?”
I think for a few moments. “Does a corner office count? One that has an amazing view of Manhattan?”
He chuckles. “That good, huh?”
“An Instagram-worthy view, yes, although not as high as I would like.”
“Would that be a better corner office?” Parker asks.
“Maybe. But I’ve only been working toward this one corner office. I actually haven’t thought of anything beyond that.” I pause. “Hearing myself say all this sounds so silly… so shallow. I mean, it’s just an office, right?”
“It depends on many things,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean you have to be ashamed of your dreams. If you think you deserve that corner office, then get that corner office. Or in my case, do that three-year residency and work my ass off until I made it.”
“Is that what you did?”
“Pretty much.” He twirls a lock of my hair around his finger. “But after years of eighty-hour weeks and barely having enough time to live a life outside of the hospital, I knew something had to give.”
“And so you picked Auburn Springs, of all places.”
He grins. “I certainly did.”
“Small world, isn’t it?”
Parker kisses my forehead. “I’ve got no complaints. None whatsoever. In fact, I haven’t stopped thanking my lucky stars for making that choice because I found you again.”
His lips brush over my eyelids and then my cheekbones, moving lower to graze against my lips, tender from our kisses earlier. A good feeling, one I’d been looking forward to since I saw him again.
For how could I forget just how he kissed me that night in Vegas… or the way he made love to me like I was the only woman who mattered. How can I forget the way he looked at me as if he were really seeing me, to the way he touched me, explored me, loving every curve and every fold of my body, coaxing me out from behind the armor I’d always hid behind?
“Lie on your back,” I whisper. Parker looks skeptical but rolls onto his back anyway, taking me with him so I end up straddling his hip.
“What is it you want to do?” He asks as I weave my fingers with his and kiss him on the lips. I savor the taste of his tongue on mine before moving lower, my mouth leaving a trail of kisses on his neck, the hollow between his collarbone, his muscled chest and his flat abs.
“I need you to help me forget that corner office,” I whisper as my mouth glides even lower, the head of his hard cock pressing against my chin.
“I can do that.” Parker groans when I lick the pre-cum glistening along its tip. “How long do we have?”
As I wrap my hands around his cock, hot and hard against my palms, I squeeze gently and he closes his eyes and moans. “However long you can give me.”
Chapter Ten
Ava
Parker drops me off at the house at six in the morning. Not his choice, but I didn’t want the whole neighborhood to witness my walk of shame even though there’s no point in hiding it. When you’re just coming home while everyone is on their way to work, pretty much they have an idea where you spent the night. And it’s definitely not in your bed.
Still, I’m thirty-one-years-old, old enough to think for myself and make my own decisions. And I sure as heck can spend the night anywhere I damn well please. At least, that’s what I tell myself after insisting that Parker stay in the car and not walk me to my front door. I just wish I’d planned my return home a little better, like hours earlier… before the sunrise.
But it’s useless worrying about my walk of shame, not when Mom is too preoccupied in making sure the Easter egg hunt tomorrow is a success that she doesn’t even notice I spent the night somewhere else.
But it could also be worse. She could have noticed.
I hurry up to my room to shower and change, the transition from being vulnerable with Parker to helping being a responsible daughter throwing me off my game. Why I’m worried about what our friends and neighbors must think of me I can only blame on watching my father drive away from the house one last time in full view of everyone on the block. There was no hiding that one.
Everyone knew.
But it wasn’t that they knew about Dad’s affair and his decision to divorce Mom so he could marry the other woman that bothered me. It was the pity I saw in their eyes when we attended church that Sunday. Worse, even my friends at school knew and felt sorry for me. Sure, time heals wounds but they have a tendency to leave invisible scars behind, as if to make sure you never forget the lessons. And I certainly never did.
Never be vulnerable.
But why do I have this nagging feeling I did exactly that with Parker and so soon after meeting him again for that matter?
“Do you need help putting the goodies inside the eggs?” I ask when I enter the kitchen. On the table, I find two bins filled with unopened bags of colorful plastic eggs sitting next to another bin filled with individually wrapped candies and toys.
“That would be wonderful, Ava,” Mom says, grinning broadly. “Oh, and by the way, you’ve got a hickey right here.” She points to a spot on the side of her neck as I bring my hand up to my neck.
“Wonderful,” I mutter under my breath as I rush into the guest bathroom and look at my reflection in the mirror. Sure enough, there’s a hickey right where I remember Parker kissing me during our second round hours earlier.
“Ah, don’t worry about it, Ava,” Mom says as she pulls out a chair and sits down. “It’s cute.”
“Mom, it’s not cute. I need to cover it up.”
“For whom? It’s not like people don’t know you guys are seeing each other.”
I sit down across from her. “It was just dinner, Mom.”
She arches an eyebrow. “Just dinner?”
I feel my face turn warm. “Alright, it was more than dinner but it’s no one else’s business but Parker’s and mine what we did after.”
“I never said it was,” Mom says as she opens up a package of plastic eggs and lines them up on the table. “Anyway, why don’t you get this started and I’ll make breakfast?”
“Not until I get concealer all over this.” I step out of the bathroom, my panic rising as I hear voices in the front yard. Lisa should be here anytime soon. “It’s bad enough everyone knows I went out with him.”
“I like it, actually,” Mom says, beaming. “It’s like he marked you so everyone will know you’re off limits.”
I hear the front door open and Lisa announces her arrival with a cheery good morning.
“Mom, please don’t embarrass me,” I say as I rush toward the stairs.
“Oh, please, Ava,” she says, laughing. “Look at it this way. At least, one of us is getting some.”
* * *
Two hours later, Mom and I have all the plastic eggs filled with goodies and stacked in two plastic bins on the kitchen table. She doesn’t mention Parker or our date at all, all her attention back on the Easter egg hunt as more of the neighbors arrive to help set up the backyard.
While I clean up and gather all the trash, Mom joins everyone else outside. Through the screen door, I see inflatable bunnies, ribbons, pastel-colored egg accents dot the garden. Mom’s climbing roses fill one side of the gazebo and on the other side, bougainvillea covers the trellis. It’s almost surreal, as if the only thing missing i
s a camera crew waiting for the actors to arrive to film a scene.
“I’m so glad you can finally join us for Easter, Ava,” Lisa says when she comes inside to get a pitcher of iced tea. “This is one of the events your mother looks forward to every year, and this year is even more special because you’re here.”
“I’m glad she’s okay.”
“She just gets tired easily now, so we kinda keep an eye on that,” Lisa says. “And you’ve been doing such a good job keeping an eye on her, too, even though I’m sure you can’t wait to go back to New York.”
“I still have to let the office know I’d like to say another week,” I say. “I want to make sure that Mom’s a hundred percent okay before I go back.”
Lisa pats my hand. “You’re a good daughter, Ava. She’d like that very much. Although to be honest, she’d like it if you stayed in Auburn Springs for good. She told me the other day that you could always open your own ad agency.”
I look at her surprised. “She did?”
Lisa nods. “Yup. Just don’t tell her I told you.”
I almost tell her that I’d like to stay for good, too, but that would be my night with Parker talking, not me. I don’t even know where to begin if I moved back home. It’s also the last thing I need right now. I still have work to do back in New York.
“Is there anything else you guys need help with?” I ask instead.
“No, we’ve got everything ready to go pretty much,” Lisa replies. “Oh, and don’t forget to invite Dr. O’Neill tomorrow. We’d all love to meet him.”
“He could be working,” I mutter as my phone buzzes with a new text message and I see Ryan’s name on the display. He’s only messaged me five times in the last two hours but I’ve yet to open a single one.
“No, he’s not.” She cocks her head toward the patio where everyone is seated around the table, talking. “Brenda, the woman in the green top, is his secretary and she told us he’s off tomorrow.”
“Oh, the perks of living in a small town,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“Oh, shush,” Lisa says, laughing. “You love it just the same.”
I don’t answer. I excuse myself and make my way up the stairs to my room. My phone buzzes again and this time, I look at Ryan’s name.
I need you. Please answer my messages. The meeting is on Monday.
As my thumb hovers over the reply button, I pause, my conversation with Parker coming back to me. I can’t believe what I’m idiot I’ve been all this time, doing Ryan’s bidding for him any time he wanted.
Sure, there was a time when I thought we could actually work as a couple and we’d stop slinking around town as if we were having an affair. But for me to keep on helping him after we broke up, making him look good with every campaign that took off even though he had no idea what he was doing, I can only blame myself and my blind ambition.
And for what? That corner office? The promotion that’ll never happen because it’s just like Ryan to promise things he’ll never deliver? I’m smarter than this and no way am I answering his messages from here on.
I silence my phone and toss it on the bed.
I deserve better.
Chapter Eleven
Ava
The next morning, Mom and I attend Easter Mass. Everyone is happy to see her, especially the ones who didn’t have a chance to visit her at the hospital and Mom gets to thank them in person for all their cards and flowers.
And then there are the friends who are curious about my relationship with the town’s new doctor. How did we meet? How long have we known each other? Are we dating?
As tempted as I am to tell them to mind their own damn business, I realize it’s really not their fault that they’re nosy. They’re our friends. I’ve known them since I was a child and they were there for us after Dad moved away. They made sure we didn’t want for anything at all. It’s a sense of community I never bothered to cultivate back in New York because life was just too hectic to maintain one.
Hell, I never even bothered to cultivate it during my return home either. Instead, other than my date with Parker, I spent every minute of my day away from Mom’s bedside glued to my laptop working on the campaign.
But not anymore. I actually switch off my phone while we’re at church and am determined to keep it off for the rest of the day. No work. No obligations. No Ryan talking me into doing the presentation for him, for that matter.
By the time we make it to the car after Mass is over, Mom’s calendar for the next three weeks is filled with visits from friends who, knowing I’m heading back to New York soon, are determined to keep her company and help her any way they can.
Before long, our friends and neighbors arrive at the house with food and drinks, and together with Lisa, they set up the tables for the gathering. Larger tables for the adults and the small tables for the children who are too excited to sit still as they wait for the Easter egg hunt to begin. I spend my time answering questions about my life back in New York and whether or not I’m thinking of moving back to Auburn Springs and settling down. I don’t answer that last one simply because I don’t know.
When Parker arrives bringing a potted tulip and a basket of baked goods from a local bakery, I can’t help but feel giddy as I formally introduce him to everyone. I have to force myself to stop thinking about our time spent together, the hours spent in his arms and losing myself to his kisses. Suddenly I don’t care about that corner office or having my name on the ad project that Ryan promised would get me that promotion.
All I care about is this moment where I get to be with friends and family and watch Ryan charm Mom and our friends with his wit and his charm. Nothing could be more perfect than this… except for the part where I’m supposed to go back to New York and lose myself in work.
* * *
An hour later, Parker and I join everyone else in the backyard where somehow we each end up with a basket for Easter eggs.
“But we’re not kids,” I protest as I try to hand the basket back to Mom but she shakes her head and shoos Parker and me away.
“Just how many eggs did you guys hide out here?” Parker asks as we dodge scampering kids in search of metallic eggs one of our neighbors claimed contained some sought-after superhero and My Little Pony toys.
“I must have filled a hundred eggs yesterday… maybe more,” I say as we make our way to a bench at the far end of the garden. “The neighbors brought a few bins, too, including the ones with toys. We just filled ours with candy.”
“Their dentists will be happy then,” Parker says, grinning as he picks an egg tucked behind the bench and drops it into my basket. “Thanks so much for inviting me, Ava. I’m having a wonderful time.”
“Thanks for saying yes.”
He squeezes my hand. “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world. It’s my first Easter egg hunt since moving here.”
I chuckle. “I don’t remember it ever being this crazy, but as long as the kids are having a blast, that’s what matters.”
“When are you going back to New York?”
As I turn to look at Parker, I want to tell him that I don’t want to go back to New York. If I could bottle up this moment—my mother back home surrounded by friends and family and me sitting underneath the shade of bougainvilleas next to the man I’m falling too fast for, I would. But I can’t. All I can do is treasure this moment because there’s no stopping my return to New York where my promotion just might be waiting for me and maybe even that corner office I’d wanted so much.
“In a few days,” I reply. “Tomorrow, my boss presents the campaign our team has worked hard for the last two months and I’m crossing my fingers he doesn’t mess it up.”
“Can he mess it up if the project is already completed?”
I shrug. “It depends. If he takes credit for everything like he has in the past, he just might. He may not be able to answer why we chose to go with certain copy versus others. That kind of thing. I just hate my team getting blamed for any failure because their
creative director has no clue.”
“Or you can let him fail and learn to take responsibility for it,” Parker says softly. When I don’t look amused, he chuckles. “Thanks for coming to my TED talk.”
This time, I smile, giggling as he squeezes my hand. “Why do you have to make sense?”
Parker shrugs. “Because you know I’m right. And you also know you could walk away but you choose not to.” He pauses, takes a deep breath and exhales. “But I didn’t come here to tell you what to do, Ava. Only you know what you really want.”
We stop talking when children scamper toward our direction, hunting for more eggs. Their baskets are overflowing but apparently there are a few more metallic colored eggs hidden in the garden.
“Why don’t we find ourselves a metallic egg or two?” Parker says, getting up and offering his hand. “I want to score one of these cool toys myself.”
I giggle as I take his hand, standing on tiptoes so my lips are in line with his ear. “Too bad there aren’t any eggs containing toys of the adult variety.”
“We can fix that later,” he murmurs, pulling me toward him and kissing me lightly on the lips.
“Stay with me tonight,” he whispers as I bite my lip, aware that we’re doing this in full view of everyone. I’m not even going to play hard-to-get, not when we’ve been past that stage since Las Vegas.
“Just tell me when.”
Parker brings my hand to his lips, his stubble grazing my skin. “When.”
“Nice try, Dr. O’Neill,” I whisper, giggling as I pull away. “But we have children present and right now they need some adult supervision.”
Parker tugs my hand, pulling me back toward him. “Lucky for you, this doctor is willing to wait.”