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“So why’d you come home? Building finished?” she asked. He nodded.
“For the most part, yeah. And you can only handle so much paradise and half naked women. What about you, you planning on staying here?” he returned. She nodded, hugging her knees.
“Yeah. Shockingly, I like it. I like my friends, I like my bosses. I like baking, and Ilovewriting,” she told him.
“Yeah, the writing thing surprised me. You’re very good,” he said and she stilled.
“You’ve read my stuff?” she asked.
“Yeah. Joey would forward me the links. Your first story was about us,” he replied, and she ducked her head.
“Sorry. She asked me to try it out, to write something. It popped into my head first,” she explained. He shook his head.
“Hey, I’m not mad. I think it’s awesome. I printed it out and had it up on my wall for a while. But you never did another one about us. I was surprised. We had some pretty good times,” he said, his voice quiet. She swallowed thickly.
“We certainly did.”
There was a long silence. Paige rested her cheek on her knees. Parker stared down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them. At one point, her cat hopped up on the couch between them. It eyed Parker warily, then rubbed itself against Paige’s legs. Parker smiled when she ran her hand down the cat’s body. It stuck around for several more passes and then hopped down.
“A cat, huh,” he grunted, watching it disappear into her room.
“A cat. So what’s up, Parker?” she asked with a sigh. He glanced at her.
“What do you mean?”
“I moved to your city, but you weren’t here. I tried to call you, but your phone was shut off. Now, after eight months, you show up at my work.Eight months.That’s a long time,” she pointed out.
“I know, I know. Things were so messed up between us towards the end. I needed a long time to think. And it was actually a while before Joey told me you were here in Seattle, I didn’t find out till I saw him last November,” Parker explained.
“Your uncle’s wedding,” she filled in. He glanced at her.
“Yeah. Joey told you about that?” he asked.
“He told me about a busty blonde.”
“Careful, Paige, almost sounds like you’re jealous,” he warned her teasingly.
“I was. When he told me, I wanted to puke all over his designer shoes. But that was a long time ago,” she said. Parker sighed and hung his head.
“Yeah, it was,” he said softly. What did that mean? Had it been too long? Then he clapped his hands and brought his head up. “So what about you? Any busty blondes in your life?”
He braced himself for a "yes” – when he'd decided he was going to see Paige again, he'd mentally prepared himself for the possibility that she could be dating somebody. Joey was completely silent on the matter, claiming he wasn't sure, or that he didn't know – he would only assure Parker that she would be happy to see him again.
She was smoking hot and fun and killer in bed, so it wasn't too hard to fathom someone else snapping her up. He'd been sure the blond guy in the cafe was some sort of love interest – Parker had been about to say hello when the younger guy had grabbed Paige's chair and scooted her right in close, winking at her. Kind of an intimate, flirty act for just a friend.
His first instinct had been to smack the guy across the back of the head and tell him to watch his hands. But Parker decided that might be a little too "Fatal Attraction-y", so he'd tried to leave instead. He certainly hadn't expected her to run after him.
“No. No blonds, redheads, or brunettes. I’ve got a sexy calico lady in my life, but I don’t think she's into me,” Paige joked, glancing at the door her cat had disappeared behind.
“Oh, she totally is. I was gonna put the moves on you, but then I saw the way she rubbed against you, and figured I didn't stand a chance,” Parker joked as well. Paige cleared her throat.
“You came here to put the moves on me?” she asked. He sighed.
“I did, but I got beat to it, by a four-legged Casanova. So, are we cool?” he asked, stretching his arms above his head. Paige nodded.
“Yeah, we’re cool. It’s really good to see you,” she told him. He put a hand on her knee.
“It’s even better to see you. I missed you, Paige. We had a pretty amazing summer together,” he said. She put her hand over his.
