“I could get twenty from Dad right now and not have to do any work.”
I really consider giving him more, but I don’t have all that much to begin with. The last thing I should be doing is paying my brother to move my bag downstairs for me.
I shrug. “That’s fine, I’ll wait for Dad to do it for me for free.”
“Wait, never mind, I’ll do it for fifty.”
“Nope, now I’m only willing to pay ten.”
“That’s not fair,” he complains.
“Too bad. Get better at negotiating then.” I push my bag next to the basement entrance because I know my dad will be more than happy to move it for me. I’m his little girl.
There’s a knock on the front door, and I look at Ethan. “You expecting someone?”
“Uhm, maybe,” he answers as I’m already walking toward the door.
“How do you not know? You’re practically a teenager, you shouldn’t be having any memory loss yet. Unless you’re doing drugs.” I swing toward him gasping, “Ethan, are you doing drugs?”
He chuckles. “No, you psycho.”
I narrow my gaze at him, reaching toward the door handle. “You better not because if you did then I would?—”
“Lil?” The voice on the other side of the now open door has me freezing.
I don’t want to look and confirm that it’s really him. If I don’t look, then I can think I’m hallucinating. Better yet, I can shut the door without confirming. Which is exactly what I try to do. Until there’s a slap and resistance.
“Parker, hey,” Ethan greets, further confirming the man standing on the other side of the door is my ex.
I lower my voice to talk to my brother. “What’s he doing here?”
“I can still hear you.” Parker’s deep voice has a joking tone to it. The sound brings me back to simpler times, the two of us messing with each other as teenagers. Causing trouble and then falling into something so strong and deep that shouldn’t be possible for how young we were. That’s why I refuse to acknowledge that anything between us was real.
Especially since it was so easy for him to throw away not long after I left for school anyway.
I finally turn to face him. I have to hide my reaction to seeing him. It’s been two years since the last time we’ve seen each other. I would come home during the summers of my undergrad, and we would have some run ins, especially when I would work at Trish’s grooming salon next door to the fire station.
But I haven’t seen him since I graduated college. Nursing school consumed my life for the last two years, so I would onlycome home during the holidays. Even then, I was able to avoid him. I hoped that I could do so indefinitely, though that seems to not be the case.
He’s smiling, that same small smile he always has looking at me. Part mischief, part adoration. All Parker. He’s so tall; I remember when he went through his growth spurt and I had to start tilting my head to look up at him. Much like I’m having to do now.
He’s six feet, which towers over me at my five-foot-one on a good day. His light brown hair is falling over his forehead. The mustache he was growing the last time I saw him has now grown in to look like real facial hair, and not like a boy going through puberty that’s refusing to shave.
He’s filled out more, clearly a side effect of being a firefighter. He’s always been muscular, but his broad shoulders and thick arms are so obvious in the T-shirt he’s wearing that hugs him enough I feel like I can almost see his muscles underneath.
Seeing how attractive he is makes me hate him even more.
I narrow my eyes. “Guess you didn’t get the memo that you’re not welcome here.”
He smirks. “Really? Ethan, am I welcome here?”
“Uh duh, ignore her.”
Parker nods once and starts to step inside, bringing his body even closer to mine, our chests almost grazing as he walks past me. Again, I have to work to hide my reaction to him being so close to me.
“I’m going to call the cops and say there’s an intruder in my home,” I threaten.
“You can try, but I’m here for Ethan whoactuallylives here.”