Chapter 17
The man-on-the-street interviews had done the trick. Parker was, once again, beloved by his fans. They called in to his morning
show not only to talk about the Seahawks’ and the Mariners’ upcoming season and spring training but also to comment on his
street interviews, which were already getting a great response. Lots of thumbs-up.
But he was ready to take a break from keeping his listeners as pissed as he was. He’d written a book, he’d ranted. Now he
needed to keep to his resolve to just talk sports. There’d be a time and a place to be Coach Parker and encourage men to stand
up for themselves once he had a book to promote. But that time and place was no longer at KWOW.
Somewhere at the back of his mind a psychic mouse set loose by his time trapped in the bookstore was nibbling at his convictions,
asking if there should be a time and place. Of course, there should, but it was never going to be anywhere near that bookstore ever again.
Seeing Alice Willoughby once more had been unsettling. The whole experience had been unsettling. She may have gotten flustered during their debate, but she hadn’t been flustered in front of her store. She’d been a warrior princess, defending her castle. Defending his mom!
And he’d been the black knight. Ugh.
He didn’t want to be anyone’s black knight. He especially didn’t want to be Alice Willoughby’s. If they weren’t at war he’d
have wanted to hang out with her, get to know her. Count the freckles on her face. See her in that red dress again.
Oh, no. He shook off the dangerous thoughts. He wanted nothing to do with Alice Willoughby. She had the potential to tip his
world upside down and no way was he letting that happen. He’d barely gotten it right side up.
“Harlan’s happy. We need to keep him that way,” Jay said before Parker went on the air.
“Harlan will be happy as long as our ratings don’t slip.”
“Stuff like what we just did is how we keep them from slipping,” Jay argued.
“This is how we get stale,” Parker argued back. “It’s time to move on. I mean it this time.”
“We can talk more about that later but stick with the plan for today and give the guys with woman troubles some Coach Parker,”
Jay advised. “You can’t ditch the Let It Out segment, especially after how well the man-on-the-street interviews are doing.”
Parker did his usual Let It Out segment, but kept it sports focused, polling his listeners on what they thought about Seattle’s
hockey team losing their last game. “It’s just one game. They’ve got a lot of season left still. Let’s keep supporting our
Kraken. There are still some tickets left for their game this weekend.” Jay had begun to look antsy, waiting for Parker to
switch to the topic of women. Okay, fine. He could do that. “Speaking of the weekend, Barker, my man, how’s yours shaping
up? Got big plans?”
Jay regarded him suspiciously. “Don’t know yet.”
“Still haven’t found a replacement for Miss Not Perfect?” Parker jabbed.
Shining the spotlight on his nonexistent love life hadn’t been part of Jay’s game plan. Well, too bad. Let him take a kick
in the shins for a change. Parker taunted him with a grin.
Jay was not smiling. “Not yet,” he said, putting himself on air also.
“Who’s got some advice for my man Jay?” Parker asked. “Should he go back to his girlfriend and start jumping through hoops
again or should he stay strong?”
That lit up the lines, which would make Harlan and Ben happy. Sticking to the plan. Parker smirked.
“You gonna make a habit of turning me into your punching bag?” Jay demanded after the show.
“Hey, just sticking with the plan like you wanted. Thanks for taking one for the team,” Parker said. “And we made everybody
happy.”
“Not me,” Jay grumbled.
“You need to sweat a little, too,” Parker informed him. It had been a good show, and it was shaping up to be a good day.
He’d left the station and was getting into his car when his uncle called. “I need you to do one more thing.”
Parker had already done enough entering that bookstore. Talk about going into enemy territory. “For Mom?” If so, the answer
would have to be yes. He owed her big-time.
“No, for me. And maybe for yourself, too.”
“What?” Parker asked suspiciously. Whatever his uncle was about to say next, Parker suspected he wouldn’t like it.
“I want you to apologize to Alice Willoughby.”
“For what? For her making people think I’m dating my own mother?”
“I don’t know about that,” said Uncle Jerome. “But I do know from her mom that you created a meme which made her look ridiculous.”
“I didn’t do that. That was all Jay,” Parker said, irritated. Good old Jay, feeding the publicity fire and burning his friend
in the process. “And I already told her that.”
“Yeah, but your prints were all over that stunt. And you need to apologize for your shitty behavior outside the bookstore.”
“How was I supposed to know they were having a party there with Mom?” Parker protested.
“By doing your research. Or making Jay do his.”
“We stopped the interviews, and I bought a book.” And went into the enemy camp and risked death by a million glares.
“Would you have done that if I hadn’t showed up?”
He’d at least stopped the interviews. Or been trying to when his uncle had showed up.
“I did my time. Give me one good reason I should do this,” he said.
“I like the store owner. I want to take her out and she won’t go unless you grovel to her girl. Come on, Parks, you’ve been
creating enough trouble. A simple sorry I was a jerk will do it. You’ll feel better, she’ll feel better, her mom will feel better.”
“And you’ll feel better,” Parker added cynically.
“Yeah, I will.”
Okay, Parker could manage an I’m sorry for Alice Willoughby. Because, in a way, he was. It was one thing to stand up for men. It was another to do it while stomping
directly on someone’s business. He should never have allowed Jay to lead him into that mess and this was the price he was
paying for it.
“All right, I’ll do it,” he said.
It would be a short apology though, just for camping out in front of the store and scaring away the customers.
Not that he’d scared very many. Most of them had marched right past him or let him have it.
He supposed the women of HEA Books would be more than happy to light into him again when he showed up.
Maybe he’d luck out and Alice wouldn’t be there.
Right. Of course, she’d be there. It was her kingdom.
Man up, he told himself. You can do this.
But he sure didn’t want to.
“I’ve got to kick these post-menopause blues,” Roxy Jones, a member of the Back in Time book club, announced to Nola and Alice
as Nola rang up her latest purchase. “What I really need is something to inspire me in the bedroom. The thrill has chilled.
Nothing too racy,” she added. “Just something to warm me up. Julia said you might be able to help me, Alice.”
Alice had unpacked a new release she was sure would be perfect. It was a second-chance romance, and she’d read the ARC for
it. It was happy and fun, and the love scenes were emotional rather than graphic. Maybe they would inspire Roxy.
“I think I’ve got something,” she said, and hurried to fetch it from the shelf.
“Alice has a gift. She’ll find exactly what you need,” she heard her mother say.
Yes, when it came to pulling love off the shelf, Alice was a pro. If only she knew how to find it in real life.
She’d just handed over the book to her mother to ring up when the little bell over the door jingled. She looked up with a
smile, expecting to see another of their regulars. Instead, her smile melted away as her face heated at the sight of Parker
Black. The last of the slush had left the sidewalk and he wore stylish shoes under his jeans and a jacket over a bluish-gray
sweater that went beautifully with his gray eyes and dark hair.
She felt frumpy in her baggy slacks and flats and her bulky cream-colored cable-knit sweater. She wished she’d worn makeup. No, she wished she was in the back room so she wouldn’t have to face Parker Black.
Yet again. There he stood, jangling her nerves by his very presence. Why, oh, why, did the man have to be so sexy?
Julia looked the invader up and down in disgust, then said a warm farewell to Nola and Alice before sailing past him and out
the door. Bettina came in right behind him, bringing the sandwiches from Husky Deli that Nola had sent her out for.
She kept silent, although Alice was sure she had all manner of things she wanted to say to him. Instead, she settled for glaring
at him, then made her way to the back room to deposit their lunch.
“Mr. Black,” Nola greeted him, polite and frosty. “What brings you to our store? I’m afraid if you’re looking for books to
read on your radio program we can’t help you.”
“I came to apologize,” he said, making Alice gape in surprise. “I’m sorry I disrupted your signing.”
“Your mother’s signing,” Nola corrected him.
His cheeks took on a ruddy flush and he nodded. “My mother’s signing. It was my producer’s idea to conduct our man-on-the-street
interviews in front of your store. I didn’t think you’d be open, and I sure didn’t know my mom was going to be there.”
Blame shifting, how ignoble, thought Alice.
“You might want to apologize to my daughter, too,” said Nola, deepening the flush on his cheeks.
He stepped further into the store, a man venturing into the tiger’s cage.
“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Nola said, and started for the back room.
Alice wanted to plead, “Don’t leave me,” but that would have sounded cowardly. Instead, she tried to mask her cowardice. “You can stay, Mom.”
“I think you two have some issues to discuss,” Nola said, and kept moving.
Fine. Alice could do this. She took in a breath, forced herself to look Parker in the eye. And waited.
“I was a jerk last night,” he said. “Outside the store.”
You’re probably a jerk all the time. She kept the words inside her mouth.
“And I was a jerk to cut you off in our debate. But honest, I really wasn’t the one who made that meme. You can’t hold that