29. Parker #2
She stares at my stomach. Her mouth opens like she’s going to say something, but nothing comes out. And then she turns on her heel and walks away. She doesn’t say goodbye. She doesn’t look back.
The silence that follows is louder than anything else that’s happened today. It takes a full minute after Vivian disappears before any of us move.
The lot feels too bright. Too still. Like we’ve all just been dropped out of one reality and into another, and we’re still blinking against the change.
I lean against the SUV and close my eyes for a second, just breathing.
The adrenaline is wearing off now, replaced by this quiet weight in my chest that feels almost like grief, except cleaner. Final.
Harrison is the first to speak. “She won’t stop.”
Gavin nods beside him, jaw tight. “No. But she’ll hesitate. That’s enough for now.”
Jack opens the back passenger door for me and puts a hand on my lower back to guide me in. His touch is soft. Gentle in a way that says everything he’s thinking. I know this shook him. I know she got under his skin too, even if he didn’t say much at all.
Inside the SUV, the air-conditioning kicks on. The doors shut. And suddenly the world feels like it’s being held at arm’s length again.
I glance around at the three of them, taking in their faces. Jack’s still watching the spot where Vivian stood, his expression unreadable. Gavin has his fingers pressed to the bridge of his nose like he’s trying to force a headache away. Harrison just stares out the window, unreadable.
I break the silence. “So…Mr. Butters?”
All three of them look at me.
“What?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. “That name landed like a pipe bomb and I think I deserve context.”
Jack shakes his head immediately. “Nope. Absolutely not.”
“Out of the question,” Gavin mutters.
Harrison sighs and finally looks at me. “He’s not a friend.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“If you ever see him,” Harrison says, “run.”
“That sounds like something people say before someone dies in a spy movie.”
“Yeah, well.” Harrison shrugs. “There’s a reason for that.”
“Wait—” I sit up straighter. “Who even is he?”
“No one,” Jack says. “No one you’ll ever meet.”
“Hopefully,” Gavin adds.
I squint at them. “You’re telling me this man—Mr. Butters—is real, capable of scaring Vivian Thatcher speechless, and I’m just supposed to pretend I didn’t hear that name?”
“Correct,” Jack says, folding his arms.
Gavin glances in the rearview mirror. “We don’t keep Mr. Butters around. He’s not on retainer. He was…a necessity. Back in Vivian’s days at VT.”
“That is not remotely comforting.”
“Good,” Harrison says. “It’s not supposed to be.”
I blink at them. “I don’t know whether to be more disturbed by the fact that he exists or that you all have such a coordinated trauma response when he’s mentioned.”
Jack sighs and reaches for my hand. “Just forget the name.”
“I won’t.”
“You will,” Gavin mutters. “Please.”
I lean back and exhale, letting the weirdness settle.
There’s something grounding about their discomfort, honestly.
They’re so composed, so used to having power in every room they walk into.
But this rattled them. And it makes me feel, oddly, like I belong even more.
Like the monsters under the bed are real, and I’m not facing them alone.
We can leave Mr. Butters in the past. For now.
“So,” I say after a beat. “You good?”
Gavin glances at me in the mirror. “Yeah.”
Harrison nods. “Better now.”
Jack squeezes my hand. “Let’s never do that again.”
“Agreed.”
We’re halfway to the street when something tugs at the edge of my brain. “Wait,” I say slowly. “Earlier, Gavin—you said something about your mom buying buildings.”
He tenses.
“Like she’s buying buildings. Like that’s a thing. Why did you say it like that?”
He doesn’t answer right away.
I sit forward slightly. “Gavin.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“Tell me what? Is there a Mrs . Butters?”
Jack turns slightly in his seat, watching him now. Harrison raises an eyebrow. Gavin sighs. “Okay, yes. There’s something I didn’t tell you. But it was to protect you.”
I cross my arms. “That excuse never works. Ask literally any pregnant woman.”
“She tried to buy your building,” he says quickly, like if he says it fast it’ll sting less. “The one you and the kids live in. She planned to evict the entire thing and gut it into a parking lot.”
My jaw drops. “What.”
“She was pissed and vengeful and bored. It was a tantrum.”
“You call that a tantrum?”
“She didn’t succeed,” Harrison adds. “It’s over.”
Jack frowns. “We handled it. Quietly. That’s why we didn’t tell you.”
I stare at them, stunned. “You didn’t think I deserved to know someone tried to evict my entire family?”
“We didn’t want you to worry,” Gavin says, his voice gentle.
“And you know we’d stop it,” Jack adds.
“And we did,” Harrison finishes.
I let out a breath. They’re all watching me now, like they’re waiting for a meltdown. I’m not going to give them one. But I am going to savor this moment.
I let the silence stretch just long enough to make them sweat.
Gavin’s gaze flicks to mine in the mirror. Jack’s fingers twitch where they rest near my hand, bracing for whatever comes next. Harrison exhales slowly through his nose like he’s mentally preparing to say, “I told you we should’ve warned her,” before I throw them all out of the car.
But the truth is, I’m not angry. I was—briefly—but underneath that sharp flash of outrage is something deeper. Something steadier. I’m touched. I’m honestly, ridiculously touched.
Because they didn’t keep it from me out of carelessness. They did it out of instinct. Out of protection. And maybe that would’ve driven me crazy in the past, but now? Now I understand the difference.
They weren’t trying to sideline me. They were trying to shoulder the weight with me—quietly, carefully, and without demanding credit.
I look at all three of them, let the corners of my mouth lift slowly. “That’s really condescending,” I say, my voice light, even as my heart swells. “And also, really sweet of you big jerks.”
Jack grins. Gavin glances skyward, as if in prayer. Harrison huffs a breath that could almost be a laugh.
“Thank you,” I finish, shaking my head.
They relax, visibly, like some tension they didn’t even realize they were holding has finally let go. I lean back against the seat, settle in between Harrison’s steady heat and Jack’s restless energy, and let my eyes drift shut for a moment as the SUV cruises toward home.