Chapter 3 Lily
Lily
“Family!” I call out as soon as I’m through the door of my parent’s house, lugging my suitcase behind me. I grunt trying to lift the heavy bastard over the threshold.
“Lily!” my twelve-year-old brother, Ethan, greets.
“Hey, little bro. Want to help?” I smile.
“No, you look like you have it.”
I scoff, “Wow thanks.” I turn to work on lifting the bag once again; this time I’m able to get it up over the edge and I gasp for breath dramatically.
“You’re the grown up.” He shrugs.
“How dare you call me that,” I scold. “Where are the parentals?”
“Dad’s at work, and Mom is out with the horses. Where’s the boyfriend?”
“He has some stuff to wrap up back in California. He’ll be here in a few days.”
“Shut up, Vern!” The familiar squawk followed by a bark comes from another room.
“What’s Jerry Lee doing here?” I ask, pushing my bag further into the house, and just now wondering how I’m going to bring it down to my room in the basement.
“Aunt Trish can’t have him at home because her dog tries to kill him.”
I nod, remembering the very short-lived stint of Jerry Lee living at our aunt’s house before she had to move him into the grooming salon.
The one I purposely didn’t drive by on my way into town.
My avoidance has nothing to do with the fire station being right next door and me not wanting to see someone that works there.
I look at my suitcase, toward the stairs that lead to the basement, then over to Ethan. “How much do I have to pay you to move this for me?”
“How much do you got?” He folds his arms across his chest.
“Enough. Name your price.”
“A hundred.”
“To carry this down like twenty steps?” I gasp.
He shrugs. “You don’t want to do it.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Twenty.”
“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 only come 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 who actually lives here.”
“So do I, kinda,” I add weakly.
“Stopping by for a visit doesn’t count, Lil.”
“I’m here for the foreseeable future. Going to get a job at the hospital.”
“Doing what? Cleaning shit pans?”
“Nurse in the ER.” I stand taller, trying to hide how being around him is affecting me.
“That so?”
I nod proudly.
“Guess we’ll see each other then. I tend to bring a lot of people to the ER when I’m on shift.”
“Great. I’m sure you’re really popular with all the nurses.” I grimace. “Guess that means I’ll have to deal with seeing all your fuck buddies there too, won’t I?”
“Make sure to put in a good word for me.” He winks.
“Are you guys done? I want to hang out with my friend,” Ethan complains, and I almost forgot he was even here. My focus is purely on Parker.
“Sorry, man, you didn’t say your sister would be back.”
Ethan shrugs like it’s not a big deal, when to me it’s a huge deal.
“Why are you hanging out with a kid anyway? Other than you guys being about the same maturity wise.”
“Hey!” they both exclaim at the same time.
“My point exactly.” I laugh. “Enjoy whatever you’re doing, I’m going to see Mom.”
Without a glance back, I head outside to find my mom and see the horses. As soon as I step outside the fresh breeze smacks me in the face and I feel like I can let out a heavy breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
I knew I’d have to see Parker; I didn’t expect it to be so soon, and I didn’t know how it would feel. The good news is that the first time is now over.
The bad news is, I feel like it’ll only get worse from here.