Chapter Nineteen
Parker
I came back to the diner a half-hour before it closed, so I could be there to stop Sienna just in case she decided to skip out early. Sienna fled when she was upset; I knew that firsthand. And by the cold greeting she’d given that morning, I knew my hunch was true. Something had happened that night, which was why she hadn’t bothered to text or call me. I was equally to blame, but at least I had confirmation that something did happen. Now I had to figure out what. I knew I wouldn’t get the whole story unless she told me. But I had a glimmer of hope when Tony came out of the diner.
He had his bag slung over one shoulder. He was leaving before Sienna. Maybe I could get some information from him. It was worth a shot.
I got out of the car and yelled over to him “Hey, Tony!”
He turned and waved at me.
I jogged over to him and shook his hand.
“Hey, Parker, you left so quickly before that I didn’t get a chance to say hi.”
So, Sienna hadn’t said anything to him. It couldn’t be as bad as I thought. Could it? “I had a meeting to get to.”
“Are you and Sienna doing something today?” he asked.
“I hope so.”
“More wedding stuff?”
“Yeah,” I lied. He was obviously out of the loop, but I wanted to move on and get to why Sienna was so pissed at me and if it had to do with Saturday night.
“Speaking of wedding stuff, I’m assuming you’re recovered from Saturday? Did you have a good time? I know I did.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I did. At least during the parts I remember.”
“I hear that. I was a little fuzzy when I woke up Sunday morning. Until I found both of the girls in my bed.”
“Both girls?”
“You don’t remember?” Tony asked.
“Not really.”
“Well, I could see how that would happen. You were close to blacking out when Sienna took you home.”
Sienna took me home? What the hell had happened then? Tony would have said if Sienna and I had a falling out at the diner. Something had happened later when Sienna and I were alone, and Tony wouldn’t be able to help me figure out what it was since he hadn’t been there.
“You don’t remember that part, either?” Tony asked.
I shook my head. “No. A lot of the night is locked away. Did she say something to you?”
He adjusted the bag on his shoulder. “She didn’t. But I have a feeling that’s why she’s been acting the way she has today.”
“How do you mean?”
“She came in this morning in a really sour mood. I haven’t seen her like this for a while.”
Fuck.
“I can’t imagine she could be mad at you for long. Unless you tried to hit on her or something.”
Tony laughed, and I chuckled lightly. I really hoped I hadn’t been rude to her.
“Well, I don’t want to keep you,” I said to Tony. There was nothing else he could tell me and I didn’t want Sienna to see us talking about her and make her more upset than she already was.
I watched Tony leave and paced around for a little while before ending up by the stairs. I leaned against the railing. I was too anxious to sit in my car again, and the pacing was amping up my heart-rate. I was alone with my thoughts for almost ten minutes before she came out.
She stopped on the stoop and stared at me.
“Hey, Sienna. Can I help you with that?”
She was holding a garbage bag. “I got it.” She lugged it over to the bin and tossed it inside. She pulled her keys from her pocket and went back up the steps to lock the door.
I watched her. Neither of us spoke. Her eyes darted in my direction as if she thought I was going to disappear at any moment. Even if she wished I would, I was going to get some answers. If I had been the one to do something wrong, I should be the bigger man and apologize. But not here, and not until I figured out what happened. Whatever had happened spurred from a night at her diner. We needed a different place. I glanced at my car. Being in an enclosed space with her in this mood was dangerous.
“How about we walk down to the pier?” I suggested.
“Okay,” she said, clipping her keys onto the belt loop of her shorts.
The pier was only a short walk down the road. I hoped the fresh air and expelling of energy during our walk would help ease the tension in her. But she held firm to the scowl across her face, so I knew I’d have to do a lot of apologizing to bring back her smile.
“I wanted to talk to you about Saturday night,” I said.
“Did you have a good time?” she asked.
“I did.” I tried to gauge her response, but she was making me work for this. “The parts I remember.”
She looked over at me; the skin around her eyes was tight and I wasn’t sure if it was the sun or because she didn’t believe me.
I scratched the back of my neck. “I start to get a little fuzzy around the time I ate dinner.”
“What do you remember?”
“The strippers,” I said, chuckling. “The delicious food, and the good conversation.” I hoped the use of flattery might get me somewhere.
“Well, after that, I took you home.”
The way she said it made it sound like there was an “and” at the end of the sentence. But she didn’t expand on what happened. Was she going to make me beg for it? I probably deserved it, but this game was starting to grate on my nerves. Sienna had a knack for pushing my buttons, and this situation wasn’t any different.
“And that’s it?” I pushed.
We’d made it to the end of the pier before she whirled around on me. “What do you want me to say, Parker?”
I shoved my hands into my jeans pockets. “I want to know why you’re so mad at me.”
She rolled her eyes and dropped her head into her hands.
I reached for her and moved her hands away from her face. She stared up at me. Without her sunglasses, the light from the sun made her irises appear lighter, and the green shone through.
“Did we sleep together?” I asked. It was what I’d worried about for almost two days.
“Sleep together? No.” She let out a sardonic laugh that made me wince. Neither of the two women in my life could imagine sleeping with me. That really helped my ego.
“Then what? What happened that made you not contact me for an entire day?”
Her lips flattened. “You have a phone too, Parker.”
“Are you mad because I didn’t call you?”
“Stop saying I’m mad. I’m not. Nothing happened. It’s better that you forgot, anyway.” She brushed passed me and I lunged for her. She wasn’t getting away that easily. Her tendency to run wasn’t going to win this argument.
I took her arm. “Sienna, please.”
“Let go of me, Parker.”
I did as she asked.
“I want you to tell me what happened.”
“And I said to forget it. It’s honestly better that way, trust me.”
“I just—”
“Parker, I’m not going to change my mind. I want to move on. I have to go.” She stormed away from me. Her sneakers banged against the wooden pier.
Move on from what?
My chest tightened as I hoped that I hadn’t ruined our friendship for good. Sienna liked to play and laugh and banter. When she fell into a dark mood, it was only because of serious circumstances. What had I done that was so terrible to turn her against me like that? It had to be bad.
I waited a little while before I went back to the diner to get my car. I wanted to give Sienna the space she needed at the moment. Maybe she would come to her senses and talk to me after she cooled off. I had to give her that time. Especially since I’d apparently done something to make her furious with me.
Instead, I leaned over the edge of the railing and watched the movement of the water beneath me. The lapping of water against the pier calmed me down and opened my mind. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead into my folded arms. I willed myself to remember, but of course, nothing new came to mind.
I couldn’t believe I had changed the course of everything with one night. And it had been a good night. A really good one.
I knew our friendship was strong, but I’d never been on the receiving end of one of these reactions from Sienna. They usually involved her ex-boyfriends.
It was a relief that we didn’t have sex. Had I come on to her? I thought she would have told me if I had. If anything, she’d at least make fun of me for being a drunken slob. She had a high tolerance for my bullshit, so I must have done something completely out of character. Her cold-shoulder treatment was scarier than any insult she could have thrown at me.
My mind whirred with the possibilities, but I couldn’t come up with anything that would turn her against me like that.
My phone blared from my pocket and I quickly grabbed it. I wanted it to be Sienna. It wasn’t. Rachel’s face appeared on the screen. I pressed the IGNORE button and shoved the phone back into my pocket. I couldn’t deal with her right now. With Sienna mad at me, my world felt like it was crumbling. And with Rachel’s added pressure about the wedding, I was in way over my head with these two women.
I inhaled the salty scent of the sea and pushed off the railing. I’d given Sienna enough time to get into her car and go home. I started for the diner. It wasn’t in my nature to give up, especially where Sienna was concerned. Knowing her as I did, I would give her the space she needed. One day was my limit. Then I would try again to win her back. I had to. She was my best friend, and I was lost without her.