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She wrinkles her nose and eyes me as though I just rattled off a monologue in Chinese.
“You can’t behappy, Parker. You’re homeless and unemployed. You’re saying you don’t need help with anything, but that’s not true. All of us can use a little help. So would you quit being stubborn and just let me try to help you? I went to school for this stuff.”
Ah... Ah ha.
‘Homeless and unemployed.’Clearly, she’s been drinking the Manning Family Kool-Aid, lapping up whatever gossip my parents and sister dish out. I don’t mind. They don’t get me or my lifestyle, and they never have.
“Look… whatever my dad cooked up and roped you into—I’m sorry. I don’t want any part of it.”
“I’m not asking you to give up your happiness, Parker, or change your life, like, at all. You do you. Seriously. If this is your happy place, that’s great.” She waves her hand around at the trees dismissively. “But what’s wrong with dating a nice girl whoaddsto your happiness? What’s wrong with finding a person who you want to spend your life with?”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. And when the time is right, it’ll happen. On its own. Organically.”
I can’t believe I’m out here in the woods with Gemma Lafferty—the first girl I ever really fantasized about, and the first person I ever fell in love with—and she’s trying to set me up with someone else.
Talk about bizarre.
But I meant what I said about how I like not knowing what’ll come next. Life’s full of surprises, and that’s what makes it fun.
And the big surprise of today is the fact she’s actually here in Vermont. It’s so good to see her—even if she is trying to find me a wife that’s not her. She’s stillGemma, and I’m lucky to be hanging out with her right now.
So I try to forget about her twisted motive for visiting Pines Peak, and appreciate the fact that at least she’s here.
Chapter6
Gemma
My beeping alarm jolts me out of sleep so abruptly, I literally gasp for breath as though I’ve just surfaced from a deep dive into the ocean.
With one hand over my chest, I gulp in oxygen and take in my very unfamiliar surroundings.
Log cabin.
Pines Peak.
Parker.
That last thought makes me feel lightheaded.
I’m in a house alone with Parker Manning.
We were out until at least one last night, searching for Queenie. We didn’t find her. But somewhere between fixing the hood of my sweatshirt (which was so sweet, I can’t stop thinking about it) and refusing my professional help as a therapist (which was soinfuriating, I can’t stop thinking about it) he promised me that Queenie would be okay. And his voice was so deep, sincere, and certain that I actually believed him. And I still believe him.
Queenie will be okay.
But until I find her, I can’t leave this cabin.
So even if every cell in my body—well, at least, um, the majority of the cells in my body—tell me to get out of this house, I have to stay.
It’s going to be challenging, being under the same roof as him.
Because there are things about Parker I’d be much better off not knowing.
For example, I wish I didn’t know that he sleeps in dark blue sweatpants these days. Nothing but dark blue sweatpants. No shirt. Bare chest.
Bare,rippedchest.
I found that out last night, when we almost bumped into each other on the way to the bathroom.
