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I swallowed hard. The showroom was unusually quiet, and my heart raced. I took a deep, shaky breath and scrambled off the mattress. “So, uh, now what?”
Parker sat up and looked around. He was silent for a few seconds before sliding off the mattress and pulling out his phone, shaking his head a little. “We have to go downstairs and ask them to pull it from the warehouse for us.”
A few minutes later, I followed Parker downstairs to the warehouse where employees would pull the mattress for us. While we waited for that, he showed me how to locate the furniture we’d selected from massive shelves before we stacked them onto a flatbed cart. The rest of the day passed quickly, but there was a new tension in the air between us we couldn’t quite seem to shake.
Once the purchases were loaded, we climbed into the truck and I steered us toward home. While I drove, Parker pulled out his phone and cleared his throat.
I tried to keep my tone light. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been thinking. If we’re getting married, we should do some homework on each other. Get to know each other a little better. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, sure, that makes sense.”
“So I’ve got some questions for you.”
I chuckled. “Shoot.”
He looked at his phone and read from the list. “Your first crush?”
A tense knot formed in my stomach. I didn’t want to confess that it was him. “You first.”
He laughed. “That’s an easy one. You.”
Heat flared in my cheeks. “Really?”
“Really. You were my gay awakening.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, trying to deflect some of the pleased embarrassment I felt. “Same, actually.”
Parker nodded and read the next question. “First heartbreak?”
“Also you.” I swallowed hard.
He clutched his chest and gasped. “Me?”
“Yep. You got cool in high school. Ran off with your jock friends. Turned into a player. You dated all the girls and I was sure you were straight after all. I was pretty broken up about it because I’d believed it all when you said we were going to get married one day.” I was startled when Parker reached out and squeezed my knee.
“I’m sorry. I wish I hadn’t done that to you.”
“What’s done is done. How about you? Heartbreak?”
He smiled warmly, the look in his eyes far away. “Oliver James. Damned if I wasn’t in love with him.”
I was relieved to have the focus off me. “Tell me more?”
Parker nodded and shifted in his seat. I keenly felt the loss when he moved his hand from my knee. “Oliver was my first boyfriend. We met in college. He was smoking hot. He was fit and super smart and had a huge…” He glanced up at me, cheeks reddening. “Um, heart. Anyway, he was this theater kid and after a while, he decided he didn’t want to be with me anymore. He was tired of having to come to my intramural games or something. I don’t know. But instead of telling me, like an adult or whatever, he started sleeping with this girl who was in the crew of the play he was working on.”
“Oh, no…”
He grimaced. “Unfortunately, yes. I walked in on them fucking in his dorm room. He’d missed my soccer game because he claimed he had homework and wasn’t feeling well. Apparently, all he needed to feel better and get his homework done was to cheat on me.”
“Yikes. I’m so sorry. That’s way worse than mine.”
Parker shrugged. “It’s not a competition. Besides, we’re here now.”
“Good point. I’m glad you told me that story. I like getting to know you better.”
His voice was soft when he responded. “Me too.”
