by Natalie Ann
But she should take any advantage she could get because she really wanted this job.
Especially if she was pregnant, it’d be helpful to not be on the road and out of town so much.
She took a deep breath and walked into the bathroom, picked the test up, and her eyes filled with tears.
Son of a bitch! How the hell did this happen when she was always so careful about everything in life? And what would Evan think when he found out? Would he think she did it on purpose? Didn’t he say there were plenty enough women in his life that were like her mom and wanted what some would consider a free ride?
It didn’t matter that it never crossed her mind and she wasn’t like that.
Or that she knew beyond a doubt she was in love with Evan. They hadn’t even said the words to each other.
She blew her nose and wiped her eyes. She had to pull herself together now. He’d be here soon and she was meeting the rest of his family.
Somehow she was going to have to put a good front on so no one suspected the secret she had until she could figure out a way to tell her baby’s father.
It was barely another twenty minutes when she heard Evan’s truck in her driveway. Good thing she got all her crying out of the way.
“Are you ready?” he asked, walking in. “I was going to text, but you said anytime after an hour. It’s almost ten thirty now.”
She hadn’t realized it was ninety minutes since he’d left. She was too busy feeling sorry for herself and trying to plan out her future.
She had to stop that now. This wasn’t the time to even think it. Not when she was going to meet his family.
“Ready as I’m going to be.”
“Stop,” he said. “Ryan is the one that hates this party, but even he doesn’t mind it anymore.”
“I don’t think I’d mind it as much, but there will be a lot of eyes on me in your family.”
“You aren’t the first person I’ve dated,” he said, laughing.
“Very true. Do I need a chair or anything?”
“No. I brought a few for us already and have them set up by my family. Of course you might want to grab one and move it if it gets to be too much for you.”
“I doubt that will happen,” she said. She grabbed her salad. “I don’t need drinks, right?”
“No. We’ve got them for our family in an area. I grabbed things for us too.”
“Then I guess we are ready,” she said, locking the door behind her.
It only took a few minutes to drive there, with Evan parking his truck on the grass by the grill. When she got out, she looked around and saw salads and food under a big tent. “Let’s go put that in the pools.”
“What?” she asked.
“There are a ton of kiddie pools for people to put food on ice to keep them cool under tarps.”
“Your family thinks of it all, don’t they?”
“We’ve been doing this a long time. Then I’ve got to get some wood out of my truck. I volunteered to go get it at my grandparents’ place since I had to pick you up.”
“You didn’t have to,” she said. “I could have driven here.”
“Stop,” he said. “Someone had to get it and I did since I was leaving. You took that the wrong way.”
She had to stop reading into things. Where did the confident person she’d always been go? Right now she was hiding behind a corner because she’d gotten knocked up.
But she came out fast enough with Evan’s family.
His parents were warm and welcoming, his brother Christian funny.
“This is Kaelyn, my sister,” Evan said a few minutes later when the woman and child she’d recognized before came walking over with Harris Walker. Hard not to know who he was.
“Nice to meet you,” Parker said, shaking hands with everyone.
“The neighbor that got Evan to stop hating neighbors,” Harris said, laughing.
“I could see where he might not like people too much,” she agreed. “I’ve had nothing but great experiences so far here.”
“That’s what the family always wants to hear,” Kaelyn said.
Scarlet was standing in front of Evan with her arms lifted. “E, up?”
“E?” she asked.
“Uncle Evan is just jumbled. I told her to call me E,” he said, lifting his niece up and putting her on his hip. He sure did look good with a child there.
Darn it, she had to stop thinking that.
“Oh no, you should run,” Kaelyn said to her. “Here comes Whitney. She’s a huge fan of yours.”
“Fan?” Parker asked. She did get a lot of people that noticed her in the beginning, but not many in a while. Not unless they were diehard fans of the show. Or they knew she was from this area.
She was guessing Whitney was both.
“Parker. I’m so thrilled to meet you. I’m Whitney Butler. Can I tell you that I would have flipped Keegan the bird on the way out of tribal council, but you were so professional. I guess that explains how you can stand being around Evan so much.”
Everyone laughed, even Evan. “I’m not that bad,” he said.
“Really?” Kaelyn said. “Maybe not now, but you used to be.”
“I think you can still get grouchy,” Parker said.
“Only when you insist on doing things yourself when I can do them for you,” he said.
There was silence with that statement. “I don’t need you to do anything for me. I’m perfectly capable. Ask your cousin Whitney. She saw what I could do on national TV.”
“I saw it too,” he said, shocking her.
“You told me you didn’t watch the show.”
“I didn’t. I don’t. But of course I was going to go back and watch you. Yep, you can light a fire if we get stranded in the woods. I won’t argue with you because I’m sure you could do it faster. You can beat me in a swim race. Hell, in any race. But I’m bigger and stronger than you and if I see something that is fifty pounds, I’m going to damn well pick it up and move it faster than you. Faster than you can tell me no.”
She didn’t have a chance to say another word when she heard a man’s laughter and turned. “Evan. Seriously. When are you going to learn?”
“My cousin Ryan,” Evan said. “He thinks he’s being cute, but we all know he’s twenty times worse than me.”
“He is. And I’m Shannon Butler. Ryan’s new wife. He’s the biggest grouch in the family and he’s stubborn with it too.”
“I’m not the biggest anymore by the sounds of it,” Ryan said.
“Ryan’s not grouchy,” a little girl said. “He’s fun. Even Taffy and Oreo like sitting on his lap the best.”
“My stepkids, Jeffrey and Maddie, and their dogs, Oreo and Taffy. I’m sure you can figure out which is which.”
“I can. It’s nice to meet you all. Is there anything I can do to help before the rest of the people get here?”
“We’ve got most of it covered,” Kaelyn said. “Just enjoy yourself.”
There was squealing coming from the parking lot and she turned with the rest of the group and saw a woman pulling an extremely attractive man over with her quickly. “I got engaged this morning.”
Kaelyn hugged the blonde beauty. Then Harris did the same, before shaking the man’s hand. “My sister, Sarah,” Harris said. “And her now fiancé Caden Finley. Caden bought Ryan’s old house, so I guess my sister can officially be at this party too.”
“Damn,” Evan said. “You took the plunge.”
Sarah punched Evan’s arm. “See? You were wrong.”
“What was he wrong about?” Parker asked after the introductions were made to her.
“He said men don’t change when they hit a certain age, but Caden did. He changed for me.”
Sarah’s fiancé snorted. “I let her think that.”
“Stop,” Sarah said, laughing. “And since Evan is dating someone now for what I heard was over a month, I guess he can change a little if he wants to too.”
Parker looked at Evan and saw him sm
irk. “Maybe you were right, Sarah. When it’s the right person, anyone can change.”
23
Rolled With The Punches
“See? You survived your first Paradise Place picnic.”
They were back at his house and sitting in the living room with the TV on for background noise. Having been outside all day, Evan just wanted the air conditioning. Even Parker looked a little wilted when she normally blossomed.
“I did. It wasn’t so bad. I think I drank about seven bottles of water and barely went to the bathroom.”
“It was hot today. One of the hottest days we’ve had for it. I think that is why people didn’t stay as long as normal.”
“What do you do if it rains?” she asked.
“Change the date. They won’t have it if it’s raining. Our family is flexible. It might not work for other people though.”
“But since your family is doing it all, it should be up to you,” she said.
“Exactly. Sorry that so many people were giving you crap about me today. I didn’t expect that.”
She smiled. “I kind of did. Well, maybe not that bad. I think they just like to pick on you.”
“I’m used to it. You got noticed quite a bit,” he said.
He shouldn’t have been shocked by it, but he’d lost count of the number of people who came up to ask if she was Parker that was on Survivor. Then once word got out, even more came over. You’d think she was a celebrity or something for someone who didn’t even win any money. But she rolled with the punches.
“I didn’t think I would be. Maybe now it won’t be so bad. Or at least next year it won’t.”
“Nah. You saw Harris doesn’t get much of it anymore. He didn’t go the first year he lived in the development. He was dating Kaelyn but wanted no part of it. He was still in a transition of sorts with his life too. Then last year they were married with Scarlet as a baby and most knew he was there. Plus, he’d been helping kids out the summer before on the grounds with baseball. It was old news, you could say.”
“I thought it would be with me too.”
“Are you worried about it affecting your chance of getting the job?” he asked.
He knew she’d interviewed again last week and though she’d played it down, saying if she didn’t get it, it’d be fine, part of him didn’t think that was the case. That maybe she was putting on a front in case it didn’t happen.
“I don’t know what to think. It was years ago and I didn’t do anything bad in my eyes.”
“I don’t think anyone thinks that. But those that are more conservative and old school might think it’s the wrong kind of attention. The smart ones will know it’s a good thing. They’d see how hard you work and how straightforward you are but professional and polite about it. Trust me, I think it will work in your favor.”
“We’ll see,” she said quietly.
He’d noticed she was quiet today. More than normal. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah,” she said, yawning. “Why do you ask?”
“You’re not your normal self. Unless the heat just got to you.”
“I think it did,” she said. “I’m beat. No plans tomorrow, right? I’ve got a lot of paperwork to catch up on since I crammed some of my visits in to have Thursday afternoon off for the interview.”
“So anytime you want to take a day off or a few hours you’ve got to make it up?” he asked.
“There isn’t anyone else doing my job for me if I’m not there,” she said. “I’m sure if you are off there are other people still keeping an eye on stuff to make sure deadlines are met and so on. Kind of like what Ruby said today. When she is out on maternity leave, someone else is getting all her sales.”
“She’s due in December, I think,” he said. “Not too many people are house hunting or signing contracts then. But while she is out Whitney will take the calls and the contracts and do what she can until Ruby is back to finish it off. She won’t lose much with us. The family decided not to use anyone else. It’s not worth it. She’s too good at what she does. How the firm she works for handles it, though. Not sure.”
“It’s nice when you find people like that,” she said. “Just like you. You’re good at what you do.”
“What’s that?” he asked, picking her legs up that were curled under her hips and putting them on his lap. They’d taken a shower when they got back to cool off, but he was ready to heat back up.
“Making me feel good,” she said. “Why don’t you do that again. Then we can curl up in bed for the night.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, rubbing her feet. “You look tired to me. Did you have a longer week than normal?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “We all have long weeks. It happens.”
“It does,” he said. “And if you get this job, it won’t be as bad.”
“If,” she said. “And if not, then no worries. I’ve got a great job that I love.”
But he wasn’t so sure she loved it as much as she said she did.
He stood up and held his hand out, then pulled her to the stairs and into his room. She wanted him to go to work and then sleep the rest of the night and he was damn well going to give her that.
He found lately that he’d give her anything she wanted if she just asked and decided that he didn’t even care about the ribbing he’d gotten from his family today.
The next morning, Parker rolled over and started to cough. When she sat up in bed she realized she was going to gag and got up and went to the bathroom fast.
Shit, shit and double shit. How the hell was she going to explain this?
By the time she was in there with the water running and had taken a few deep breaths, she’d managed to quiet her stomach down. She filled up the cup on the sink and took a sip of water, then another. Had a few more coughs, a few more sips and felt she was good enough.
She did her business and washed her hands and came out to see Evan sitting up in bed. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I got a tickle in my throat and sometimes once you start coughing you can’t stop.”
“True. But you ran to the bathroom fast enough to make me think you were going to put your hand behind your ass on the way like one of those players on your season. Who was it? And what did they eat?”
She started to laugh. “It was Roger and he thought he was being cute eating some bugs. They didn’t agree with him. No, I ran fast because I didn’t want the coughing to wake you.”
He looked over at the clock. “It’s seven. I’m not sure the last time I slept that late.”
“So you were as tired as I was. If I didn’t start coughing, then we both would still be sleeping. I’m sure you’ve got things to do today too.”
“I do,” he said. “I need to run to the store and get some food. Do you need anything? I know you normally go on Saturdays but were busy yesterday.”
“I can get my own groceries,” she pointed out.
“Don’t get your back all up,” he said. “I know you can. I asked if you wanted me to because you said you had work to do.”
She sighed. He was only being helpful and it made her nervous how he was going to be when he found out she was pregnant. The first thing she needed to do tomorrow was make an appointment with her doctor though and get it all verified.
“I’m good. I might run over after I shower since it’s quiet first thing in the morning.” They normally spent more time together on the weekend than this. Even yesterday they weren’t together as much. “Do you want to come over for dinner later?” she offered.
He smiled at her. “I wouldn’t mind that if you are cooking. But don’t go out of your way.”
“I need to eat myself. We both have things to do. Didn’t you say you had to go back over and help clean up the grounds today?”
“I do. I said I’d be there around eleven or so. I’ve got plenty of time.”
“Come give me a kiss. I’m going to head home now while you jump in the shower,” she said.
“We can’t take
one together?” he asked. “We did when we got back yesterday.”
“We did, but I don’t have any other clean clothes here.”
“You’re no fun,” he said.
“I’ll make it up to you later. I promise.”
“Deal,” he said, giving her a kiss like she asked. When he was in the bathroom, she grabbed her clothes and put them on, then went out the front door.
Evan’s one neighbor a little down was out walking her dog. They made eye contact, but she didn’t care. Everyone saw them together yesterday at the picnic. She’d even talked to that neighbor who’d made a comment about seeing her and Evan at each other’s houses now and again.
Parker hated that maybe she was being watched and talked about and wondered how much more it was going to be when the bun in her oven started to cook.
24
No Joke
It’d been a little over two weeks since the picnic and Parker had been to the doctors and had it verified she was indeed pregnant and due on April first. Figures it’d be an April Fool’s baby. Kind of ironic, even though it was no joke.
The day before her appointment, she’d gotten a call that she was one of the two finalists for the development position and she met with the board of trustees just last week. They said there would be a decision this week but didn’t give a timeline.
In her experience, the longer it went on, the worse her chances were.
Since it was Monday, she wasn’t going to stress until she got to Wednesday if she hadn’t heard a word.
Once she knew what was going on with this job, then she’d have to figure out a way to tell Evan about the baby. She shouldn’t have even waited this long, but there were so many things up in the air. They hadn’t even told each other how they felt.
Heck, she had no clue how he felt about her.
Sure, he loved being with her. They got along. They were great in bed.
But love? She had no idea where his head was at and she was afraid to be the first one to say it to him.
She’d never been afraid of much in her life, but this was scaring her like the fear of a gremlin after midnight hiding under her bed.