“Sorry I’m late,” she huffs.
“You’re right on time,” my mom tells her.
“Hi Trish.” I wave. She looks from me to Parker and raises an eyebrow.
“Hi Lily…and Parker.”
“Hey, how’s construction going at the salon? It looks like they’re really making progress,” Parker comments while my aunt sits down.
“It’s going well, I’m glad everything was submitted before my niece ran the engineer out of town,” Trish’s tone is teasing, but I gasp.
“Whoa, wait I didn’t do anything, Aaron was?—”
“Asshole Aaron!”
“Exactly, Jerry Lee!” I exclaim and everyone laughs. Parker’s hand tightens on my thigh at the mention of my ex, but I intertwine my fingers with his.
Everything about this feels so natural. So right. It’s like I’ve been living my life in a daze, one that I forced myself to pretend is normal. Until I came back here, the fog is fading and I’m feeling more like myself than I have in awhile.
Having Parker back in my life has cleared it up more. The sun is coming out from behind the clouds, and I’m finally seeing clearly once again.
Now, if Parker could just forget about this whole slow situation that could be great. I don’t know what plans he has for us after dinner. But I sure know what my plans are, and I know he won’t tell me no.
CHAPTER 30
Parker
“Where are we going?You really like to kidnap me and take me to random places, you know that?” Lily rambles.
“Kidnapping would be against your will, and you have always beenverywilling.”
She huffs, dropping back against the seat while I continue to drive us to our destination. We’re staying along the coastline Amity sits on, but I want to make sure we’re far enough out that we won’t be disturbed. There’s a spot near one of the cliffs that we can drive onto the beach and set up a private movie night.
It’s a spot I found while Lily was away when I was searching for new places that weren’t covered in memories of her. I wanted somewhere to be able to sit with my thoughts and not have them be consumed by Lily.
Of course, it didn’t work because whenever it was quiet my mind would always go back to her. I would wonder what it would be like if she was with me. What she would think, what she would say?
Not that I can ever predict what she’s going to say.
“This isn’t our normal spot,” she comments as I turn us off the road and onto the sand.
“Wow, you’re so perceptive, Lil. What else do you see?”
She shoves my shoulder and I laugh, making sure to keep the car straight. I reach over to her, hooking my arm around her middle and pulling her up against my side. Keeping my arm around to hold her close. I expect her to fight me at least a little bit, maybe shove me. But she doesn’t. Instead, she leans into me, resting her head on my shoulder and I relax.
We get to the spot; once I turn off my truck the only sound around us is the waves crashing against the shore. We’re far enough back that even when the tide comes in it won’t come close to us.
“Come on,” I encourage. I’m not wanting to let go of her yet, so I drag her out of the truck with me to get the bed set up.
Grabbing the large blankets from the back of the cab, pillows, and laptop, I start to set up. I’m nothing if not prepared.
It doesn’t take long to get the cab full and comfy enough for us to lay in. Lily climbs up; she arranges the pillows how she likes and curls up in her favorite blanket I have. It’s the same one she favored years ago, and I smirk. She’s curled up with just the top of her head peeking out. She looks totally adorable cuddled up like that. The only thing that would make it better would be her cuddled up in my arms.
I hop up to join her, opening my laptop to pull up the movieI downloaded. As it starts, I settle into the blankets with Lily and do what I wanted by pulling her into my arms. She settles against my chest and I smile. I’ve missed this so much.
“You remembered?” she gasps when the intro credits start.
“Of course. I remember everything there is to know about you.”