Putting away any thoughts about Nolan Brand, or anyone else, I got to work. It was my first day on the job, and damn it, I was going to impress everyone.
11
Parker
It was a lovely day that day, so I curled up in my armchair in front of the large living room windows that overlooked the local park, and enjoyed a good book. Ally was at daycare and Emma was at work, so I had the place to myself for now. I didn’t mind the silence, not all the time. But I was glad that there would be people around later to liven up the space.
The buzzer sounded and I got up, pressing the button that released the door lock down at ground level. Huh. Emma must’ve forgotten her keys. Understandable given that this was her first day in the apartment—and her first day at work.
When I heard footsteps outside—heavier footsteps than I expected, was Emma carrying something?—I got up and went to the front door, opening it for—
“Lucas?”
Lucas stared at me. I stared back.
I hadn’t seen him since I’d left Rehoboth, five years ago. Not since I’d last seen Emma in fact, although my goodbye to Emma had been a lot more amorous than my goodbye to my best friend. The two of us stared at each other, and I was pretty sure that neither of us knew what to do with this situation.
“Ah.” Lucas cleared his throat. “I’m here with Emma’s stuff. It’s all down in my truck.”
“I can help you move it in.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Lucas’s face was carefully neutral. “I wasn’t sure if I should believe it when Emma told me that you were her new roommate but. I guess you are.”
“In the flesh.” I tried for a smile but knew I’d failed.
What had Emma told her brother, exactly? I’d hoped to reset things today, to tease Emma gently and be cheerful with her, to try and go back to the way things had been between us. Not romantically, of course. That was the last thing she needed with a new job and a kid on her hands. But before that—when she’d been the fun sister of my best friend.
My plans to reset everything might be derailed if she’d complained to Lucas about me.
Lucas nodded. “Yup.”
There was definitely tension here. Lucas didn’t seem as bitter as Emma was, but then, I hadn’t dated Lucas. There was still more tension than I’d expected, though. Fuck. How badly had I fucked things up by leaving? I’d thought that everyone would be fine.
Or, you were so busy panicking and grieving that you weren’t really thinking at all.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” I asked. “It’s a little early for alcohol but I’ve got water, coffee, juice…”
“Coffee would be great, actually, I had to get up pretty early.”
I started up the pot. “So how are things? How’re your parents?”
A strange look crossed Lucas’s face. “Not good. They, uh. They died, actually. Pretty soon after you’d left.”
I nearly dropped the mug I’d grabbed from the cupboard. “They—shit. I’m so sorry, Lucas. That’s—I get it, honestly. My mom was dying, that’s why I left.”
Lucas stared at me, his eyes a bit wide. “What?”
“Yeah.” I set the mug down on the counter and leaned back against it. “She had a terminal illness and she was in Europe, back at the family home—Dad insisted on getting it and living there even though she should’ve been at a hospital—and it just fucked me up. Watching her die. I did my best to make her happy and keep her comfortable, all that kind of thing.”
“Shit.” Lucas shook his head. “My parents, it was—a car crash, y’know, it was sudden. I don’t know what’s worse. It all happening in an instant or you having to—watch that happen. Shit.”
“Yeah. I’m so sorry, your parents were great people. Your dad was always letting me hang around with you guys when you were on jobs, remember?”
“He could tell your dad was shit,” Lucas said, teasing me. Lucas was probably one of the only people in the world who could say that my dad was shit and I’d let him get away with it. He’d been there when I’d been yelling and crying, all teenage angst over my dad’s bullshit.
“I’m really sorry about them,” I told him earnestly.
Lucas got up and, to my surprise, walked over and hugged me. I hugged him back. Fuck, I’d missed him. He looked older, a bit world-wearier than when I’d last seen him, but he was still the same Lucas, still the best friend I’d grown up with.
The coffee pot beeped and I grabbed it, pouring it into the mug for him. “You took over the business, then?”
“Yeah. It was always the plan. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon. We were young, man. Do you even realize how young we were?”
“Oh, definitely.” I handed Lucas his coffee. “I thought we were so grown up at twenty. We didn’t know shit. We still don’t know shit, actually, but now I’m aware of it.”
“Yeah. It’s weird, the older you get the younger you feel.”
“Amen to that.”
Lucas took a few sips of coffee, something heavy in his eyes. “Why did you never call? Or email or anything?”
“I was so… so caught up with my mom. I just retreated into that. My world was her. And then when I lost her—I didn’t know what to say or do. I felt lost. I was just… so fuckin’ lost, man. And then by the time I was out of it, I felt like it had been way too long. It had been… I think a year and a half at that point? I wasn’t sure how to call you. It felt like a dick move to sweep back in after I’d run out like that. I figured you guys probably didn’t care all that much.”
“What? We totally cared.” Lucas gave me an incredulous look. “We cared about you. We missed you. You should’ve called.”
He didn’t sound angry, thank God. More just sad.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, and I meant it with everything in me.
Lucas clapped me on the shoulder. “I know. I can tell. I was pissed at you, I have to admit. But I didn’t know. That must’ve been really rough for you.”
“I didn’t know how to handle it. I’m sorry. I’ve actually spent most of the last few years traveling, it just really… took everything out of me. I had to get away.”
“So you literally ran away? What about your dad?”
“Good riddance, if you ask me.”
“Fair enough.”
The tension that I’d felt when Lucas had first stepped into the apartment was gone, replaced by the warm camaraderie I remembered from when we were teens.
Lucas sat down at the table, and I joined him. “Friendship is for life, man. We could’ve commiserated together.”
“I know. I do want to be friends again. I’ve wondered, lately, if I should reach out to you—before this whole thing with Emma, I mean—and I kept chickening out. I guess I was a coward.”
“No, it’s hard, I get it.” Lucas smiled at me. “But we’re friends again now, right?”
“Yes. Fuck yes, man, if you want it.”
“Definitely.”
There was the sound of the key in the lock and Emma entered, quickly followed by Ally. “Uncle Lucas!” the kid shrieked, barreling for him.
“Hey, how’s my favorite niece?” Lucas scooped her up into a hug.
“I’m your only niece!” Ally protested, but she was giggling.
I smiled at her. Alley Cat was really too fuckin’ adorable. Maybe living with her and Emma, especially now that I’d made up with Lucas, was going to be a lot easier than I’d thought.
12
Emma
Lucas was already here? Wow, that was fast. “How’d you get here so quickly?”
“I made good time.” Lucas released Ally, then walked over and hugged me. “I’ve got a truck full of boxes for you to unload.”
“Stay up here in the apartment while we unload the boxes, okay honey?” I asked Ally.
She immediately pouted. “But I wanna have fun with Uncle Lucas!”
“Uncle Lucas has to help lift the boxes,” I explained. “But you can play with your animals while we take c
are of this.”
“I’ll help Lucas unload,” Parker offered, standing up. “You play with Ally. You’ve just got off work, you can put your feet up.”
I stared at him. “Are you—are you sure?”
“Of course.” He smiled warmly at me. “It’s no problem, Em.”
My heart gave a little flutter in spite of myself. He’d always been the only person to call me Em, besides Van. But when Van said it, it felt entirely different. She was my best friend, and this was… well.
“Thank you,” I told Parker honestly. Despite our rocky start, maybe living with him wouldn’t be such a problem after all. Just looking at him look at Ally… it was doing bad things to my heart. That is, it was doing good things to my heart, and that was bad.
“You can watch us unloading things,” Parker added. “You could watch us like a cat, huh, Alley Cat?”
Ally grinned up at him. She liked him immensely already, and I couldn’t blame her. I just didn’t know what this would mean for the… the truth that the others didn’t know about.
I led Ally over to the window so that she could watch the men at work, while Parker and Lucas went downstairs. She’d have her own bed now and everything, and seemed excited to have the rest of her stuff here. Ah, to be four years old again and not have to do any of the work, just reap the rewards.
Ah, crap. The time. I had to get dinner ready.
I’d never been much of a cook before Ally was born, but I hadn’t wanted to be someone who just threw mac n’ cheese into the microwave. I’d wanted to make food for her, to show her how much I loved her through this gesture. And I’d had the time, back at home. I had helped Lucas out with the family business so I’d been able to largely make my own hours and had plenty of time to spent just being Ally’s mom.
Now all that was going to change, with my job. I should take advantage of being able to do stuff like this for her while I could.
The men brought in all the boxes, a lot more than I remembered. It was like while I wasn’t looking the entire contents of my home had expanded, tripled, and I now had three times as many boxes now as I had when I’d packed everything up. Both Parker and Lucas kept pretending to stumble under the weight of the boxes, making Ally giggle. I could hear the two of them chatting as they worked, catching up on things. Parker was telling Lucas about his travels and Lucas was telling Parker about the family business and some of the more humorous arguments that he and Van had gotten into.
It looked like the two of them had gotten right back into their friendship, falling back together like nothing had changed. It was heartwarming, in a way. I knew that Lucas had been hurt when Parker had left without a word and had never called or written. He’d been really cut up. But it also… well it was selfish of me, but it also made me worry.
With these two being close friends again, would the truth come out? And if so, how would Parker handle it?
“That’s the last of ‘em,” Lucas said, entering the apartment with Parker behind him, carrying a final box. “Is my car good to be parked there?”
“Oh, yeah, you’re fine,” Parker assured him. “I have a parking permit I can give you for street parking. I never use it since I never use my car, I keep that in the garage below. I was going to give it to my roommate but she doesn’t even have a car.”
“Why would I when I live in New York City?” I pointed out archly.
Parker grinned at me. “You never know, you might need it for all the fancy trips to the Hamptons you’re going to be taking now that you’re a high-powered career woman.”
“Don’t forget about us little people when you’re rich,” Lucas added, joining in on the teasing.
“If you two don’t cut it out, you won’t get dinner,” I warned. “It’s just about ready.”
“You can cook!?” Parker looked like his mind had been blown.
“Yup. I learned so that I could cook for Ally.”
“You lucky creature, you,” Parker teased my daughter. Ally beamed up at him. She’d taken quite a shine to him. And I couldn’t blame her. Parker had always been charming, as I well knew, although the way he was charming for me was far different from the way he was charming for Ally.
“What do we do before dinner?” I said, reminding Ally.
“Wash our hands!” Ally crowed, running to the bathroom.
Lucas already knew the drill and was heading for the bathroom as well. I gave Parker a stern look. He chuckled at me, his eyes lighting up—I’d forgotten how much I liked it when his eyes did that—and going to wash his hands as well.
“You want a beer?” Parker asked as they all emerged again, looking at Lucas.
“Ah, no, I can’t, I have to drive.”
“Drive?” Parker shook his head. “No way, just stay the night. It’s hours back to Rehoboth, you can do it tomorrow morning.”
“Are you sure?” Lucas looked from Parker to me and back again.
“You’re my brother, Lucas,” I pointed out. “Wherever I’m living, you’re always welcome.”
“And you’re still the closest friend I’ve ever had,” Parker added. “You’re always welcome wherever I am, too.”
Lucas smiled, pleased, and I knew that even if he didn’t say it out loud, it meant a lot to him that Parker was being so welcoming and so clearly wanted Lucas back in his life.
I wondered, for the first time, if Parker was lonely. He hadn’t seemed to be fully telling the truth when he’d talked about wanting a roommate just so the place wasn’t empty while he was gone. Did he not have any other friends?
There was silence for a bit as everyone ate. I couldn’t stop the warm feeling in my chest from growing as I saw Parker practically devouring the food. “Haven’t had a home-cooked meal in a while?” I teased him.
“No, actually,” he replied, one hundred percent serious. “Ash and I are both shit at cooking so we’d just order takeout all the time.”
“Ash?”
“My old roommate. Only other friend I’ve ever really had. You two would like him, he was really chill, great guy. He moved to a new job in Vietnam.”
“Good for him.” And lucky for me, scoring this place. Although I still wasn’t sure if moving in with Parker was a great idea, I couldn’t give up this perfect apartment situation.
Parker smiled at me a little sheepishly. It was just like how he would always smile when he was a teenager and he had just done some prank with Lucas, or when we were secretly dating and he had teased me and he knew that he was about to get ‘punished’ for it. “This food really is delicious, Em. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” I wouldn’t be able to make dinner every night, thanks to my work, but I wanted to try and do it while I could. To keep that feeling of family, that feeling of being centered and being together, enjoying time with one another, disconnecting from the crazy list of obligations and to-do lists.
“Can we play a game, Uncle Lucas?” Ally asked.
“I think we can manage that,” Lucas replied. “If we can find your board games underneath all the clothes your mom packed.”
“Hold on, you want to talk about someone having a lot of stuff,” I pointed out, “how about we talk about Ally’s stuffed animals that you and Van have been showering her with? There were five boxes of those!”
“Those were stuffed animals?” Parker joked. “I thought they were bricks from how heavy all those boxes were.”
“No, that would be Mom’s china, which she cruelly stole for herself and didn’t leave me any,” Lucas said.
“You didn’t want it! You never have people over so why would you use the china anyway?”
Parker laughed. “I missed you guys,” he admitted.
I missed you, I wanted to reply, but that felt like… like I would be admitting too much. Revealing more than just friendship. The bitterness that I’d been feeling towards him was fading away, replaced with that old, familiar warmth, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it but I knew that I wanted to hold onto it. But it was too close to the wa
y that I’d used to feel about him and that was dangerous. I couldn’t let myself slip into that.
“When we finish eating you can go find your games,” I promised Ally, and sure enough the moment she’d finished her meal she was scampering off among the boxes to go and find them.
Lucas helped her while Parker cleaned up dinner. I tried to get up to help, but Parker shook his head and shooed me away. “No, no, you made dinner, so I’ll clean it up. Fair’s fair. That’s how we do it around here. You went to work today too, I’m not letting you do everything and exhaust yourself.”
I sat back down, working hard to keep the smile off my face as I watched him do the dishes and load them into the dishwasher. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Gotta pull my weight around here, right?” Parker winked at me. “Can’t have you thinking I’m a crappy roommate.”
I could read between the lines—this was Parker’s way of apologizing for how badly things had gone initially. See, I’m a good roommate, he seemed to be saying, like a dog that wanted to prove what a good boy he was. It was endearing.
“Slight problem,” Lucas said, returning to the kitchen with Ally hot on his heels. “I know they’re in here somewhere but I can’t find the board games. Think Ally and I could run out real quick and get one? A game that we don’t already have, might be fun to learn something new.”
“You really don’t have to,” I protested.
“No, no, consider it my housewarming gift,” Lucas insisted. “And it’ll feel good for me to stretch my legs after all that lifting, and then dinner, no offense.”
I laughed. “Fair enough, none taken.”
“Can I go?” Ally begged.
“Sure, if Uncle Lucas doesn’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all.” Lucas ruffled her hair. “Grab your jacket!”
Roomies with Brother's Best Friend Page 7
