Brothers of Paradise Series

“Mom.”

“I’m just saying, sweetheart. Everyone in town knows him.”

I grit my teeth. “Yeah, I know.”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

She flips the knife over, attacking the herbs from another angle. “Not to mention he’s Lily’s older brother. You girls could become sister-in-laws.”

“Now you remember who he is.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“All I’m saying,” Mom continues, “is that I’m all for it. You deserve some fun and happiness, sweetheart.”

I look up at the ceiling. The last thing I want is to discuss my love life with my mother, especially when it’s a love life I very much want to keep quiet about.

But she’d seen the quick kiss in the parking lot and she’s brought it up three times since.

“It’s good that you’re making yourself at home here again,” she continues. “This is your home, you know. People care about you here. Did you call Paradise Elementary for a spot for Emma? Summer’s almost over.”

I drum my fingers against the kitchen counter. “Not yet, no.”

Her chopping stops. “Shouldn’t you?”

Yes, I think. I should. There’s a million things I should do. But every time I think of staying here permanently, something stops me. Fear. Guilt, perhaps. The knowledge that I’ll need to rely on my mother for babysitting, for help, for everything until I finally get back on my feet.

“Jamie?”

But I want to stay, and so does Emma. “I’ll call first thing tomorrow.”

Her shoulders relax. “Great. And… maybe I should be out of the house tomorrow night.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” she says, in a tone that makes it clear she does. “You know, just in case you want to have someone over in the evening.”

I put my head in my hands.

“Or maybe you’d rather I watch Emma one evening and you go somewhere else, hmm? Out on a date?”

My first instinct is to say no. To deny it. But then I think of Parker’s open eyes, the steady way he talks. He has no interest in hiding. And I draw strength from that.

“Tomorrow night, you said?”

Mom chuckles. “Yes. I can go over to Betty’s. We’ve been meaning to catch up for ages.”

“Thank you.”

“I was young too, once,” she says, but the way her eyes twinkle, I know she still is, inside. “He’s someone from high school. Isn’t he? You knew him well before?”

“He’s still Lily’s brother, yes,” I say. “And she doesn’t know about it. About… us, I mean.”

“Ooh, intrigue. My lips are shut, if you promise to keep me informed.”

I roll my eyes. Not about everything, I think. “All right, I will.”

She grins at me over the food we’re preparing. “It’s a good thing you came home, honey. Life sure isn’t boring anymore.”

Turns out, Parker is free tomorrow night. He says that over the phone, calling me two minutes after I’d texted with the question. Through the phone I hear the sounds of laughter and something slamming. A door?

I’m at a family dinner, he says. But tomorrow night, at yours? Can’t wait, James.

I spend the entire Friday in anticipation. At work, seeing him briefly in the back room, our eyes meeting. During my lunch break, when Lily and little Jamie come down to the yacht club to eat with me on one of the docks. The boy looks so much like his parents, and is as enamored with his uncle as I am, because he points at the yacht club several times and demands, Parker!

There’s a brief pinch of guilt when I look at Lily’s open face and easy smiles, our relationship healing, and know that I’m keeping another secret.

In the evening, Emma and I wave goodbye to my mom, and she gives me a cheeky wink that I pretend not to see. We eat as quiet of a dinner as is possible with a six-year-old, and I answer a multitude of questions about the TV show she’d watched earlier. Exactly how old are the dinosaurs, and were they alive when Grandma was a child?

No, I tell her, and never repeat that when your grandmother can hear.

Emma is giggly and tired when I finally put her to bed. She has a band of freckles across her nose from her time in the sun this summer and I pretend to count them. She swats my hand away. “Mommy,” she admonishes me.

“Sorry,” I say. “You’re just too precious to me.”

“I know,” she says, “but you’re supposed to read the book.”

I look down at the book in question. It’s her favorite, and I’ve read it twice already, cover to cover. “Right. Okay… So, Cinna woke up, and it was a day like every other day. Except for one little thing. What’s that in the sky, Cinna asks?”

Emma giggles and pulls her stuffed rabbit closer. Try as she might, though, she can’t fight against exhaustion, and I’m soon back downstairs. Waiting for Parker to show up.

Had it only been a week since we were here, doing this exact same thing? When I’d told him about Lee?

There’s a quiet knock on the door, and then he’s there, tall and familiar and strange all at once. Butterflies erupt in my stomach.

“Hello,” I say.

“Hi,” he says, and steps forward. Hands land on my waist and he kisses me hello. It turns into several kisses and the butterflies shift, turn into wanting.

He lifts his head. “It’s been too long.”

“It’s only been a few hours.”

“Yes, but that was at work.”

I pretend to frown at him. “Yes, where you kissed me openly in the parking lot the other day. Guess who saw?”

“Your mother?” he says, smiling crookedly. “Will she ground you? Enforce curfew? Give you extra homework?”