Chapter Fourteen
Sienna
I was in the middle of a very good dream with a mystery dream man taking me into his lavish home when I jolted awake. Why had I woken up so quickly? I squeezed my eyelids together and willed myself to get back into that dreamland.
A loud knock on my door made me growl in frustration. That must have been what woke me.
I shoved the covers aside and threw on a pair of shorts before heading out to the door. I had a feeling it was Parker; this was his M.O. lately, waking me up every chance he could. I didn’t mind it as much as I pretended to. Especially not lately. I wanted to be with him as much as I could before his wedding, when everything would change. As much as he tried to tell me it wouldn’t, I knew it would. It was the natural progression of life and marriage. And a husband with a girl for a best friend would be the first to go.
I opened the door. “Come on in.”
He rushed into my house and handed me a cup of coffee. “I know you told me to call or text you before doing this again, but I had to come see you.” His hands were shaking as if he just drank five cups of coffee.
I was intrigued. “What’s up?”
“So, I got a call this morning from some suit in New York.”
I thought it was hilarious when Parker called other businessmen “suits” because he didn’t believe he was in the same category as them.
“And they offered me an insane amount of money to buy my company.”
“Were you in the market to sell your company?” I asked.
“I’ve thought about it before,” he said. “But only when the right offer came along. I expected this since that’s what seems to be happening lately. You start a social media business and become mildly successful—”
“Mildly?” I said incredulously.
He waved me off. “You know what I mean.”
“Are they a reputable company?”
“Oh, yeah. And they offered me enough money that my grandchildren won’t have to work a day in their lives and everyone will be able to live comfortably.”
With his billions in the bank, I didn’t think that would be an issue, but they must have really wanted his company to offer him that much. “Wow, that’s amazing, Parker. Do you know what you’re going to do?”
He took a long swig of his coffee. I didn’t think he needed any more caffeine, but I wasn’t going to interrupt him processing this news. It was a big decision and not to be taken lightly. “I’m not sure yet.”
“Do you think a better offer will come along?” I asked.
He shook his head. “It’s not about the money. This company has been my baby for so long. I can’t imagine just selling it off.”
“What would make you happy? In the end, that’s all that matters.”
“It would be foolish of me to make a decision so quickly,” he said, smiling, “but I just wanted to share the news with someone.”
“Have you told Rachel?” I asked.
“Not yet.”
His eyes darkened momentarily, and I wondered what that was about. Over the past few days, I had to pull information about Rachel out of him. I wondered if something had happened between them. He still carried on with the wedding plans, so I couldn’t imagine they’d had that big of a fight. I hated that I still wished they would end this thing before it started, but with each passing day, I started to lose hope.
Though it felt really good to have him come to me first instead of her.
“Well, it looks like you need a distraction while you go through all of your options. And I think we need to get some of that nervous energy out.”
“What did you have in mind?”
When we got to Sunny’s, I tossed Parker an apron. “You’re serious?”
“I think it's time you worked a day in your life like normal people and not on your phone.”
“Hey, I made a lot of money by working on my phone,” he said.
“Yes, but you’ve lost touch with the people you offer your services to. And we have a busy afternoon, and I need the help.” The day before, I got a call from a school about their field trip coming through the area, asking if I could accommodate thirty kids. The woman mentioned my website. Something I didn’t know I even had. I planned on asking Parker for that information, but it appeared he’d be out of a job soon. Maybe he could continue to work on getting the word out about the diner in his free time. At least it would give him something to do while he sat on a very fat bank account. Plus, I never turned down the opportunity for money, so I agreed to have them in the diner. But that also left me short-handed. Parker had been my guardian angel when it came to helping with my business. And to show him how grateful I was, he was about to work his butt off.
He tied the apron around his waist. “Okay, what do you need me to do?”
“To make it easier on everyone, the group already sent in their order. Since they are all middle-school kids, it's a bunch of hamburgers and chicken tenders and the like. Easy stuff.”
He shook his head. “You want me to prepare these kids food? I don’t want to poison them.”
“No, you’re going to serve them. But I will need help plating.”
“What’s Tony doing while I’m playing busboy?”
“He’s taking care of the rest of the clientele.”
Parker’s hands carved through his hair and he held it back for a moment before releasing it. “Okay, I think I can handle this.”
“First, go wash your hands.” I didn’t need hair gel in my prepared food.
When the group arrived, Parker’s face paled. I had to reassure him numerous times that he would be fine. We both went out there together and I introduced myself to the group.
“All right, I’m going to work around the table and you let me know what you want to drink,” I said to the kids.
“I could use a whiskey,” Parker said more to himself.
I bumped him in the arm. “Take a breath. You’ll be fine.”
Parker had a rough start. After spilling two sodas on the way to the table, the kids booed him. I couldn’t help but laugh at his misfortune. I knew he wanted to give up, so I offered to clean the spill while he tried again. It wasn’t until two of the little girls started giving him goo-goo eyes and said he looked like Chris Hemsworth that he began to feel comfortable. Parker had a way with females of all ages, it seemed, and nothing could bring up his ego like a compliment on his looks.
His confidence grew, and by the time we were serving ice cream sundaes to the kids, Parker was a pro. He even handled four sundae cups at the same time without spilling so much as a drop.
When the kids left, Parker actually looked a little bummed.
While Tony took his break, I showed Parker how to form hamburger patties. Since he wasn’t mixing ingredients, I didn’t worry too much about his lack of skills in the kitchen. It was pretty hard to mess up a patty.
Watching Parker have a good time while helping me out made me really want to delve deeper into this whole Rachel thing. What was their deal lately, anyhow? I felt awful that we couldn’t talk about everything like we used to. Since there was a defined future for them, I didn’t want to say anything that would cause a rift, but I really wanted him to open up to me.
When Parker was serving a customer, I pulled Tony aside. “Ask Parker about him and Rachel.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you ask him?”
“Because I can’t,” I said. “Please do this for me. I’ll talk to you about it later.”
“If you let me off early tonight, I’ll ask.”
“Seriously? You’re bartering with me?”
He shrugged. “I have a date tonight.”
Parker was already on his way back from the table. He’d be in the kitchen any second.
“Fine, fine,” I said to Tony.
Parker came into the kitchen. “All right, what’s next?”
“Take a load off; you have a few minutes,” Tony said and handed him an empty cup.
Parker thanked him and poured himself a glass of water. “This is a hell of a workout. No wonder you stay so thin, Sienna.”
“Speaking of thin girls,” Tony said, “how are you and Rachel doing?”
I glared at Tony. That was an odd segue, but I suspected with his little interest in Parker’s personal life, he didn’t care how he got his part of the deal handled.
Parker sat down at one of the stools we had stashed in the corner. “We’re fine. Why?”
“Just being friendly,” Tony said. “All right, boss. I’m off for the day. See you tomorrow.”
I gaped at him as he picked up his keys and left. I couldn’t argue about him leaving in front of Parker.
“Wow, you’re a good boss for letting him off this early in the day.”
I gritted my teeth. “Parker, I’m going to need you to take some orders for me.”
There hadn’t been any more large clusters of patrons, but I was still going to slap Tony for leaving me alone for the rest of the day. Parker’s charm managed to get him through a few mishaps, and I seriously needed to work on his handwriting, but overall the rest of the day went off without a hitch.
I locked the front door and looked around at the mess in the dining room. Tony was always good at picking up after each customer left, but Parker hadn’t been. It wasn’t his fault, but this was going to take some time to clean up.
“You can head out,” I said to Parker, “I think you’ve been normal long enough.”
“Did you think I was going to let you do this by yourself? What kind of friend would I be?”
I smiled and tossed him a rag.
“Are you still happy with your business?” he asked.
“Of course I am. Even though the hours are hard and it's quite thankless. I enjoy being my own boss. You can understand that.”
“Oh, yes. I do.”
“And I love the people I meet. Especially the Lamontes. I look forward to seeing them each day.”
“Harriet mentioned she and Kenneth were good friends growing up.”
“I know. It’s like a love story from a movie.”
We met in the middle of the room and rinsed our rags in the bucket I’d placed on the center-most table.
“Do you ever wonder why we didn’t get together at any point?” he asked.
My entire body turned to ice. I had thought about it many times in my past. Had he? Why was he bringing this up now? Were things that bad with Rachel? Was he making sure he’d have someone to fall back on if they didn’t work out? That wouldn’t be fair to me and my feelings. I wasn’t going to be a rebound for anyone.
I glanced up at him. “Our friendship is too good to risk. And it doesn’t matter anyway; you have Rachel now and you’re getting married.”
“Right,” he said and dipped his rag in the water.
I sighed. Why did I come off so snippy? He was obviously asking me for a reason. If I was a good friend, I would try to help him. But when matters of the heart involved me, I tended to run away. This was for the best, though. It had to be. I hated how my feelings were all jumbled about him. The wedding couldn’t come fast enough. Once everything was all said and done, I’d have a reason to let all of those feelings for him go.
I slapped him in the arm, needing to lighten the mood. “Remember, tomorrow is your bachelor party.”
His brow wrinkled.
“Don’t be like that. This will be one night that you’ll never forget.”