“I didn’t sleep with her. Well, yes, we did sleep in the same room, but we didn’t sleep together.”
“You slept with another woman?”
“Margo.” Parker held up his hands. “We didn’t sleep together. Yes, we were in the same bed, but we slept.”
“Oh, my gawd.” Margo put her hand to her forehead. “I knew this was a bad idea to just show up like this. Janice told me to be spontaneous, to do something bold to get you back.”
Mom gasped. “Wait, you broke up?”
“Mom.”
“At least you weren’t sleeping with one girl while being involved with another,” his mother said.
“For the last time, we didn’t sleep together.”
Margo crossed her arms. “Why don’t you tell us what you did do?”
“What happened to the other Margo?” Ted asked.
“Her name is Isla, and she left.”
“Ah.” Ted put his hands in his pockets. “Probably for the best.”
Margo was staring daggers at Parker. “Help me understand.”
“You broke up with me. That is all you need to know.”
“A week later, you find someone else to meet your family. We’ve been dating for over a year, but I wasn’t good enough to meet your family?
“Not true, it was two weeks,” Parker said.
His mother shook her finger at him. “Parker, you had better start talking.”
Ted held up his hands. “Let’s all just take a breath here. Parker and this Margo obviously need a few minutes alone.” He put his arm around his wife. “You and I should go into the kitchen and finish cleaning up. Then we can put on some coffee. Come on, we’ll get the full story eventually.”
Once they were alone, Margo glared at him. “I’d like the full story now.”
Parker met her gaze. “Let’s go out on the porch.” He opened the front door for her. They sat in the ladder-back rockers. “You broke up with me. I’m not sure why you’re even here.”
“I came to get back together.” She took his hand. “We’ve been together for over a year. We shouldn’t throw it all away without fighting for it.”
“Margo.”
“We’ve had our ups and downs, sure. But we’ve always come through, haven’t we? I don’t care if you did bring someone else. And if you say you didn’t have sex with her, I believe you. We can just chalk it up to you being on the rebound. In a way, it’s sort of flattering that you ran into someone else’s arms to forget me.”
“Margo.”
“We’re better together than we are apart. Surely, you can see that.”
He put his hand on hers. “Margo, stop.”
She stared at him. “You’re breaking up with me?”
“No. We are already not together. It has been weeks. I’ve had time to think.” He looked into her wide eyes. “I think it’s best if we stay not together.”
“So, you are breaking up with me,” Margo said, her voice cracking.
He didn’t care to argue the finer points of who broke up with whom. “Sure, if that makes it easier for you.”
Margo shot up from her chair. “Easier for me. Easier for me. What are you talking about? I will not stand here and listen to these insults. I came here to tell you I was wrong to be so quick to leave, and now you’re saying no thank-you?”
“Margo, I’m saying, you were right. This, us, isn’t going anywhere. We are better off this way. I’m trying to agree with you.”
“You are breaking up with me. I’ll tell you what, I take it back. I stand by breaking up with you. You’re a dick. I wouldn’t get back together with you if you begged me. And you will beg me.” She stomped down the steps and marched to her car. Before getting in, she flipped him off. “You were a lousy lover anyway.” She got in the car and floored it, zooming up the road.
He grinned. There it was. The lousy-lover dig. The real end of any break-up argument.
Parker sat for a few minutes, clearing his head. He stood. “Time to face the real music, Park.”
He walked into the kitchen. His mother was looking annoyed, his father still looked amused.
“What just happened?” his mother asked.
Parker told them the broad points of his scheme.
His mother crossed her arms. “But why? I don’t understand why.”
“You have been dogging me for years to get married and settle down. I decided to bring Isla to keep you from asking the same questions every danged holiday.”
“I don’t pressure you.”
“Yeah, Mom, you do.”
Ted sat at the breakfast bar. “Lorna, the man has a point.”
His mother glared at his father. “I do not pressure him.”
“You kinda do.”
“I never.”
“Lorna, when was the last time you didn’t grill Parker about his love life?”
Parker rubbed his hands over his face. “I just wanted one holiday.”
“I won’t stand here and be accused of coercing you to have children.”
“There you go,” Parker said, “You know what I’m talking about.”
“I don’t have to listen to this. I’m going upstairs.” His mother left the kitchen.
Parker cursed again.
Ted was quiet a minute. “You know, son, your mother means well. She just wants you to be happy.”
“I am happy. Why is it that I can’t be happy until I’m married with children?”
“Because that’s how your mother thinks. No one is happy until they have a family of their own.” His father put his forearms on the counter. “Yes, she can be blunt, but you could have been honest about how her nagging made you feel instead of involving Isla.”
“You’re right.” Parker took a deep breath. He told his father the details of the ruse he and Isla had devised, a little about Isla, and the reason she had agreed so quickly.
“Isla was playing Margo for money?”
“Yes. She lost her job as an administrative assistant.”
“You took advantage of her desperation.”
“No. Yes. She could have said no.”
“Could she?” Ted shook his head. “It seems to me that you owe a few people an apology.”
Parker sighed. “Yeah, I do.”
“You can start by talking to your mother.”
“You’re right. Mom first.” He stood. “But first, I need to take a walk on the beach…clear my head a bit.”
On the cab ride home, Isla kept swallowing to keep the tears at bay. She was embarrassed at being a fraud, ashamed about lying to people who had opened their house to her, and treated her with nothing but kindness and generosity. Unfortunately, she also learned what it was like to have a real family holiday. Holidays were going to be harder to stomach after today.
The cab pulled up to her apartment. She paid the driver, gathered her bags, and walked into her apartment. “Well, Sparkle, I’m sure you’re finding this all very amusing.” Isla unzipped her purse. “Sparkle?” She opened the purse wider, scrounged around, removed some things. “Spark?” She pulled out a few more things. “No, no, no.” She upended the purse, shaking out the rest of the contents.
Isla unzipped her luggage. “Come on, come on.” She tossed clothes and shoes onto the floor. “Sparkle. Tell me you’re here. Shit shit shit.” She shook out everything again, fear and dread churning her stomach. “Dammit.” Isla went through everything a third time before flopping onto the couch.
Isla left Sparkle at the beach house.
“I have to go back.” She looked at her phone. Seven-thirty. She could be there in an hour.
The drive was eternal. Sparkle was alone. How could she forget Sparkle? True, they weren’t joined at the hip, but she was supposed to take care of her. It was against fairy rules for her to show herself to anyone, so Sparkle had no choice but to wait. Isla would have to come up with an excuse to get into Parker’s room. Or wait until everyone was asleep and sneak in. Yeah, breaking and entering was a perfect way to end t
his holiday.
She stopped her car a few houses away from the Coles’ cottage. It was dark, but Isla decided it was risky to wait hours to rescue her friend. The direct, quick, in and out, was best. Isla knocked on the door.
The door opened. “Hello, James. May I come in?”
“Uncle Parker—” James yelled.
“No, no no—”
“It’s one of the Margos.”
“It’s Isla, actually.”
“Whatever.”
Sarah appeared behind James, then Parker came a nanosecond later.
“Isla. What are you doing here?” Parker asked.
Sarah smiled, then pressed James away from the door. “It’s almost time for dessert, honey. Go wash your hands.”
“Um, I left something in your room.” Isla stepped into the house. “If I could just run up there and get it. I-if that’s all right.”
“I’ll get it.”
“No. No, that’s okay. I’ll only be a second. I promise.”
Parker stepped in front of her. “My mother is a little pissed that we lied, that I lied, to her. Maybe I should just run up and get it.”
“No.” Isla went from riled to scared. She thought she would be heading back home by now. “Please.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t tell you, but you have to trust me.”
“Trust you. What the hell is going on?”
“Please, just trust me.”
He stared at her, then stepped back. “Fine.”
Isla sprinted up the steps into the room. She closed the door. “Sparkle,” she whispered. “Where are you? Sparkle. Sparkle? Come on, quit playing. I know you’re pissed, but we have to leave.” She began looking, under the pillows, in the drawers, under the bed, her level of anxiety increasing with each empty place. “Windowsill.” She found Sparkle behind the curtain, lying on the sill, motionless, her eyes closed. “Spark. Wake up. We have to go.”
Isla blew on the fairy, said her name a few times, then gently flicked her foot.
Sparkle moaned.
“Hey, wake up. We gotta go.” Isla paused. “Spark.” She lightly touched the fairy’s forehead. She was burning up. Isla’s heart stopped then pounded, her mind blurred then raced.
“Oh no, oh no, oh.” Isla raced out the door and down the stairs. “Parker. Parker.” At the bottom step, she ran into everyone.
She scanned the faces until she found Parker. “Please, please, you have to come.” Isla grabbed his hand.
Others were talking and asking questions, but Isla didn’t stop. She dragged Parker up the steps.
“Isla, what the hell?”
“You have to help me.”
“Help you find what you’re looking for?
“No. I found who I was looking for but—”
“Who?”
Isla started crying. “You’re a doctor. You have to help her. She needs you.”
“Help who?”
Isla pulled back the curtain.
Parker stared. “Is that a dragonfly? I’m not an entomologist.”
“She’s not a bug.”
He bent for a closer look. “What the hell is that?”
Sparkle moaned. Parker cursed, pulling back.
“It’s a fairy, and she’s sick.”
“A fairy.”
“Yes.”
“What the hell is a fairy?”
“Just what you think it is. You’ve read stories.”
“Yeah, fairy tales.”
She glared at him. “I rest my case.”
He looked from Isla to the windowsill a few times. “I’m a people doctor, not a fairy doctor.”
“Please,” Isla sobbed. “Help her.”
He cursed then put his ear close to the fairy. He touched her cheek with his pinky. “She’s hot. Are fairies usually hot?”
“No.”
“Do they get sick?”
“How do I know?”
“Because she’s your pet fairy.”
“Fairies aren’t pets.”
“Get some water.”
Isla ran to the bathroom and came back with a paper cup.
Parker dipped his little finger in the water then touched the drop to the fairy’s lips. He dripped another drop onto the fairy’s forehead.
Sparkle stirred. Parker jumped.
“Holy shit, it’s alive.”
“Yes, she’s alive.”
“What the hell is it?”
“I already told you.”
Parker put another drop of water on Sparkle’s lips. “I don’t know what to do. You should take her to a fairy hospital or something.”
“Like I know where there is a fairy hospital.”
“You sure as hell know more than I do.”
There was a knock on the door. “Parker,” Lorna called out, “what is going on?”
“Oh crap.” Parker ran to the door. “Just a minute.” He looked over his shoulder at Isla. “Wrap her up, put her in your pocket. Get her out of sight.”
Isla picked up Sparkle and slipped her into her coat pocket. “I have to go.” She walked up to Parker.
“What am I going to tell my family?”
“I don’t know. I have to go.”
She pushed past him and yanked on the door. “Hi, Lorna. I didn’t get to thank you before. Or apologize. Thank you for a wonderful day. I’m sorry about how it turned out.” Isla kept going, down the stairs, through the house, and out the door. Once in her car, she placed Sparkle on her sweater and tucked the sleeve around the fairy. “Hang in there. I’ll get us home as soon as I can.”
The drive home felt longer than the ride there. Sparkle moaned a few times. At least she was alive.
Once home and with Sparkle resting on a pillow on the couch, Isla called out, “Hello? Fairies? I need your help. Sparkle needs your help. Can anyone hear me?” She listened for a moment. “Hello?”
Tears gathered, and Isla slumped onto the couch. “I’m sorry, Spark. I’m so sorry.” She cried a moment.
“What is the problem?”
Isla looked up from her hands to see three fairies. “You’re here.”
“Yes,” one said. “It is highly unusual for a human to summon the council directly.”
“It’s an emergency.” Isla sidestepped to show them Sparkle lying on the pillow.
“What happened?”
Isla explained what happened as the fairies landed beside Sparkle.
“You left Sparkle alone?”
“It was an accident. She is sick. She needs your help. Please.”
The three fairies picked up Sparkle and took off.
“Will she be okay?”
“We’ll take her to the realm. The medicine fairies will know what to do.”
Isla watched them fly to the ceiling and disappear in a shower of glitter. When the glitter faded, they were gone.
“Parker Coles, I demand to know what is going on this instant.”
Parker rubbed his face. “Mom, I’m not sure. Isla left something important here and needed to get it.”
“What did she leave here?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
“Are you sure she didn’t steal anything?”
“Mom. Really? From what you learned about Isla over the last twenty-four hours, did you really think that she would come back here to pull a heist?”
“Most of the time she was here, I didn’t even know her name.” Her irritation was evident.
Behind her, his father looked sad. And disappointed. “Mom, it’s fine. Isla came here, she got what she left behind, and didn’t steal anything. About bringing her here. I roped Isla into helping me allay your fears that I’m not happy because I’m not married.” Parker scoffed. “I’m happy, Mom. I like my life just the way it is. Your nagging me to find someone is not going to make it happen any faster.”
His mother opened her mouth, but when his father put a hand on her shoulder, she just closed her mouth again.
“Fine.” His mother crossed
her arms. “But you should look back over everything that has happened today, especially between you and Isla. I saw how you two were together. I could see the feelings. The question is, did you?”
Four hours later, Parker turned over in bed for the thousandth time. His mother was right. Remembering every conversation, reliving every minute, he kept coming back to the same thing. Parker felt different every time he was around Isla. Right from the moment he lifted her off the parking lot blacktop, things were different. He was different. Kissing her was everything he thought should happen with a kiss. Holding her was serenity and excitement at the same time. But there was that fairy bug or whatever the hell that was. Maybe it was a trick of the light. No, it was dark. It had to be a hallucination. Geez, that’s just what he needed, to be a doctor who couldn’t trust his own eyes.
Isla turned over in bed for the thousandth time. Memories of the last few weeks, especially the last twenty-four hours, played like a movie on repeat. Her mind reeled, and her emotions were full spectrum. She was scared to death for Sparkle. After the fairies left with her, Isla cried for an hour. They hadn’t returned, so Isla was going with no news is good news. Then there was the lack of a job and impending rent hike. But the most turmoil was remembering Parker’s lips against hers, his fingers stirring her nipples to hardness, his hands on her bottom pressing them together and igniting craving like she had never known.
She moved to her side.
“Prioritize, Isla. Less than five weeks until Christmas.” She sat up. “Christmas. That’s it. I’ll get some seasonal work at a store. That should buy me some time.”
She flopped to her back. But first, she needed sleep.
# # #
Isla handed the wrapped package to the customer. “Thank you for shopping at Sayer’s and Merry Christmas.”
The woman left with her package.
“Next, please.” Isla took the packages from the customer and asked her which paper she wanted. As Isla began wrapping the first package, the woman prattled on about crowds and how behind she was on her shopping.
The job was working out. Isla gave people a little bit of happiness every minute and a half for fifty hours a week, turning their purchases into wrapped and bowed gifts. If the work kept up, she would be able to pay January’s rent. The job ended Christmas Eve, but she hoped she would have something else by then. She had her resume out in several places, though she had yet to hear back from anyone.
A Fairy Crazy Thanksgiving Page 6
