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“What is it?” I hopped on the bed next to him, bouncing him slightly.
“I want it to be a surprise, but it’s about an hour away. All you need are comfortable clothes you’re not afraid of getting wet and walking shoes. So, how much do you trust me, princess?”
“Apparently enough to go out to a wet and unknown location an hour away with you,” I laughed. “Give me ten minutes, and I’ll be ready.”
He nodded and laid back on my bed, eyes fixed on his phone. I changed in the bathroom and pulled my hair into a high ponytail instead, the loose part wavy from the braids. His feet hung off the edge, and he dangled them with excitement. Whatever he had planned had him giddy. He looked adorable.
Parker disappeared to the restroom before we left, and I waited in the living room. Richard’s face came up on my screen.
“Hey,” I picked up. “What’s up?”
“I was just calling to see if you wanted to grab some breakfast,” he suggested. I applauded him for his spontaneity.
“Uhm…I can’t,” I tried to come up with an excuse. “I have plans with Gabby today, but I appreciate the offer.”
“How about dinner?”
Parker came out of the bathroom and called my name, asking if I was ready. I held my finger on my lips for him to be quiet. I hoped Richard didn’t recognize his voice in the background.
“How about dinner on Friday night?”
“That works for me. Flemings?”
“Isn’t that place expensive?”
He ignored my question. His lack of answer indicated yes. “I’ll pick you up at seven. Looking forward to it, Blake!”
“Me too. I’ll talk to you later, Richard.”
“Was that work Richard?” Parker asked, clutching his keys in his hand. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. He wanted to have breakfast, but I told him I had plans with Gabby.”
“Everything okay with you guys?” Parker caught my hesitation.
“I’m still trying to figure it out. Sometimes, it seems like all he wants to do is go out to eat, which is fun, but I would like to do other stuff. Sometimes he’s fun, and sometimes it’s like I’m talking to a wall or listening to one of those self-help podcasts…I don’t know. It feels weird talking to you about this, though…”
He was asking to be a friend, which was technically what we were. Yet that wasn’t entirely true either. I didn’t know where we sat. We were friends that kissed sometimes?
“You can talk to me about anything, princess. But I agree…maybe Richard is not the best subject to the start of a great day.”
Parker pulled my shirt and me toward him and kissed me. I felt his shoulders relax, and a smile spread across his lips.
He led the way out the door. The speakers blasted his favorite country music as we drove out of the city. He sang along, and I caught a few songs I knew. We quickly realized that we were both terrible singers.
An hour later, he pulled into a run-down parking lot. In front of us, there was a trail heading into the mountain. Other cars were parked, but it was silent, almost like no one was around.
“Gabby has my location, and Nathaniel will murder you if anything happens to me,” I joked.
He laughed as we hopped out of the car.
Parker led our conversation and was curious about Gabby, Nathaniel, and me. He asked me a million questions as to how we were all connected. We had been spending a lot of time together, so he had seen Nathaniel and Gabby and how they acted toward each other. He was confused about why they weren’t technically together, and I couldn’t blame him.
Gabby and I had met in college during a Pilates class. We bonded over our love for trash romance movies and quickly became friends. She was originally from Virginia and had kindly let me rent her spare room when I moved. I loved the sunshine she brought everywhere, and it always lifted my spirits to be around her. My transition to Virginia would have been exponentially more difficult without her. She was my best friend.
Nathaniel and I had met in California, working. He was a handful of years older than me, and Connor had poached him from a local roofing company after Nathaniel almost convinced him to buy a brand-new roof for a house that was only five years old. He and I traveled a lot together to win more business, which helped us get close. I considered him to be the brother I never had.
One day, I invited Nathaniel to the apartment while we worked on a project. We had been working in the conference room for six hours and desperately needed a change of scenery but needed to finish our presentation. When he met Gabby, I swear it was the closest I had ever come to seeing love at first sight.
