Chapter Forty-Four
“Are you sure I won’t go over baggage allowance?
” I peer into a second tote bag handed to me after I just managed to squeeze the first one, filled with vitamins and over-the-counter medications, into my luggage.
This one contains a random assortment of items: fuzzy socks, snacks from the Asian supermarket, and toothbrushes with the local dentist’s address on them.
C? must’ve done a lap around her house, collecting anything she deemed useful to me.
While this level of care isn’t uncharacteristic, I get the feeling she’s still concerned after watching me cry last night until my congee turned cold.
She scans the luggage on the floor of my bedroom and waves a dismissive hand.
“What if it won’t close?”
“Sit on it. Always works for C?.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I say back, unzipping my luggage to organize the items inside for the third time.
A loud thud from downstairs makes C? yelp and cluck her tongue in grievance.
Dad and Chú have been rearranging furniture all morning, with some of the older pieces getting moved to the curb.
When the realtor dropped by a couple days ago, he made suggestions about how to spruce up the place for photos.
Dad took these to heart, and now every room is getting a makeover to look its best in the listing.
Which means this is really happening. We’re selling the house.
C? moves to the window, drawing the curtains wide as golden sunbeams pour in. It’s a remarkably sunny day for April in Silverpine. As she gazes outside to appreciate the light, her face suddenly twists in bewilderment. “Why is that thing here?”
I stand up to get a look, expecting to find the couch or TV stand discarded outside, but I hear it before I reach the window: the low growl of the engine, the off-road tires that hum like a swarm of bees.
Staring at the driveway, I watch as Parker’s black Jeep Wrangler makes its unmistakable homecoming.
“Is that Parker?” C? asks, but the car is already so far up the driveway that it slips into a blind spot.
We exchange a puzzled look, but I don’t immediately move from the window until C? gives me a gentle push toward the door.
Stumbling out of my room, I reach the stairs, where I see Parker making his way through the foyer, stepping over cardboard boxes.
He glances up at me from the landing, and I freeze, trying to commit this image to memory.
This might be the last time he enters this house looking for me.
“Why is the Jeep here?” I finally manage to ask.
“I took it out of storage,” he says, shoving keys into his jacket pocket. “You said you wanted to take it out for a ride.”
I descend the last steps to get to him. “I’m leaving soon.”
“I know,” he says, and he waits for me to reach him. “Can we talk?”
C? is already behind me, her slippers pattering noisily on her way down. “Why did you bring your old car here?”
“Dani? Have you finished packing yet?” Dad is next to enter from the living room, with Chú in tow. They take turns looking Parker up and down. “We’re supposed to leave in an hour.”
Parker cuts in, “Actually, if it’s all right, I was hoping I could take her to the airport.”
“In your Jeep?” C? scowls. “That thing is safe?”
“I do maintenance on it whenever I’m in town, and if I know I’ll be gone for a while, I have a friend from high school do it for me. Trust me, it’s safe.”
“Really?” Chú scratches his head. “Don’t you drive an Aston Martin in San Francisco?”
“It’s a sentimental thing. You wouldn’t get it.” Parker shakes his head before he regains his focus and pivots to me. “Dani, I really need to talk to you.”
“About what?” I blink up at him, the urgency in his voice prickling my skin.
“Tr?i oi, you want to get dramatic now?” C? groans as she tosses her hands up in exasperation. “Goodbye is not the end of the world. Even if Dani moves, she will still come here and spend every Thanksgiving with us.”
That’s the first I’m hearing of this. “I will?”
“Christmas and Fourth of July too,” she says resolutely. “This is your home.”
She is right. I spent the best years of my life next door. It’s another piece of home, just like this house. Why did I ever doubt that? Her reassurance instantly makes me feel lighter, but I steal a peek at Dad to check with him. He simply nods, a hint of a smile on his face.
“I’m not trying to say goodbye,” Parker inserts, and his eyes sweep over the four of us, gathered around him in a circle. “Look, I just need a minute with Dani. Without an audience.”
His expression wields an impatient intensity, and he shoves a restless hand through his hair.
The longer I watch him, the more my chest tightens painfully.
What’s so urgent that he has to speak to me now, an hour before I leave?
I’m afraid that it’ll leave me crushed, like so many times before when I allowed myself to get my hopes up.
“Parker, if you’ve come to tell me it’s not over, you should know that this—the coming and going, without any promise of something real—it’s not what I want. I want more.” Ignoring the stares around me, I push past my nerves to add, “An actual relationship.”
Dad coughs and then whispers hoarsely, “Relationship? What is she talking about?”
“Oh, so complicated,” C? hisses, making no effort to be discreet. “Dani wants to be with Parker, Parker wants to be with Dani, but they’re too afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“Exactly!”
“Má!” Parker shouts. “Oh my god. This isn’t how I wanted to do this.”
“Fine.” C? places her hands on her hips. “Go on, con. Say what you want to say.”
His jaw unclenches with a slow exhale, and for a brief moment, he seems to be collecting himself. When he gazes down at me, he speaks with a steady calm. “Remember when I said I came back here for you?”
“Starting to sound like a threat, but yes.”
“I love you. That’s what I came back to Silverpine to say.”
The room falls still. It’s so quiet, all I can hear is the roaring of my own pulse. Suddenly, my heart is teetering on a cliff, one breath away from falling over.
“I’ve loved you all my life,” he continues.
“Since we were kids riding bikes for the first time. Since the night I saw you in my jersey. Every time you worked on an article and didn’t realize I was watching you.
The scrunch of your face when you’re focusing, every tweak of your brow.
I have it all saved in my brain. The moment I met you in New York, I fell in love with you all over again. ”
Time pauses around me, like the universe is stalling for this one moment.
I can’t stop the tears welling in my eyes.
How long have I waited to hear him say it?
That wish has always been there, secretly tucked into every game of catch, every ride in the Jeep, and all those nights in New York when my hand would find his under the bedcovers.
Parker clears his throat, and a fierce blush spreads across his face, all the way to his ears.
C? has her hands over her mouth in stunned silence.
Dad and Chú are standing side by side like statues, mouths agape.
No one moves an inch. Twenty-two years I’ve been in love with the boy next door, leading up to this one breathtaking confession, and we can’t even get the room alone.
“Let’s go outside.” Parker takes my hand, and C? lets out a delighted squeal. I can’t seem to catch my breath as he leads me out of the house and onto the front porch. My legs are weak beneath me, but adrenaline is keeping me from falling. That, and the hand that won’t let me go.