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As he turned away, I reached out to grab his arm. “Wait. Who arranged this? Do you know?”
He shook his head. “I assumed it was you. The Grindr username was JThickAV. That’s not you?”
“No. I’m…” I glanced at Parker before looking back at Rocco. “Not on there much.”
Parker coughed out the word “Liar.”
“Anyway,” I said more firmly. “I’m so sorry your time was wasted. I think maybe a friend of ours arranged it to cheer me up or something. But it’s not necessary. Good luck finding… some… other fun.” I finished that stupidity with a toothy smile that most likely looked deranged.
“Yeah, no worries,” he said, waving over his shoulder as he walked back out to his car. “Take care.”
I closed the door and let out a breath. “Jesus. I’m going to kill Mikey.”
“Awkward,” Parker singsonged as he returned to the kitchen table. “Of all the guys in all the world, Mikey hooked you up with the guy who was asking about you at the bar.”
“What do you mean?”
He swallowed another bite of his sandwich. “He was the one I was telling about you being my best man, remember?”
I remembered him yelling after the guy something about me having nice hair and a law degree. My best friend had a special talent for humiliating me in public with the best of intentions. “That was him?” I asked, only because I was seriously hoping I’d remembered wrong.
He nodded again. “He was staring at you all night. Then when I went to refill the beer pitcher, he asked if you were available. Which is really ballsy, when you stop to think about it, isn’t it? I mean, just out of the blue, ‘Your friend is gorgeous.’ Who does that?”
I pushed the rest of my sandwich away. Something about this conversation was making my stomach uneasy. “If he was so interested, why did he leave without talking to me?”
Parker looked everywhere but at me. “I, ah… I told you, there was some confusion about you being my man versus my best man. I may have misspoken. It’s all a blur.”
I thought of the times Parker had interfered with guys I’d dated or guys who’d been interested in me. Of the way he’d literally shown Nolan the door the night of the rehearsal dinner. Of the way he couldn’t stand to hear about me hooking up with anyone, ever.
“Did you warn him off?”
He stood up and took our plates to the sink even though he hadn’t finished either. “No. I… well, I mean, he might have taken it that way? But it was an accident, I swear. And I tried to undo it, but he left.”
“Whatever,” I muttered, reaching for my buzzing phone. It was a text from my sister asking if I had time for a call. “I’m going to head outside to call Hazel.”
He looked at me funny. His expression held a little bit of hurt that I felt the need to speak to my sister in private.
I didn’t really care. I needed Hazel’s advice, and since it was about my stupid best friend, it needed to happen out of his earshot.
“Yeah, fine.” He reached over to crank up the wireless speaker next to the sink and turned on the faucet.
I put on my coat and scarf, stomped into my boots, and headed outside. The afternoon sun angled through the trees with a warm glow, and snow dripped from icicles along the eaves.
“Hey,” I said when she answered.
“How’s he holding up?” she asked in that hushed voice people used for funerals and cancer diagnoses.
I glanced back toward the house, where I could just make out Parker dancing at the kitchen sink while he did the dishes. “He’s fine.”
“Has he freaked out yet?”
“Not one single bit. But he is finally acting a little weird. After begging to sleep in the bed with me the first night, he insisted on sleeping on the sofa the past two nights.”
“He’s sleeping on that short thing?” she asked in surprise.
“Well, no. He tries to, and then he waits for me to fall asleep before sneaking back into the bed with me. I don’t know why he doesn’t just start off in the bed like a normal person. It’s not like I don’t see him there when we wake up, and I haven’t called him out on it.” Though, unlike the first day, the last two mornings, Parker had leaped out of bed and ran for the bathroom the second he woke up.
“That is weird. He even wants to sleep in your room at Mom and Dad’s house when you guys stay there. He’s never wanted to sleep in the guest room.”
It was true, especially when he was upset about something and wanted to talk.
“Maybe he’s still hurt that I didn’t consult him before buying this house. Or because I told him I didn’t want him sleeping in my bed the first night.”
