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Within moments, the door swings open, and my stomach instantly drops.
It’s not Chloe. It’s Lauren.
Shit.
Chapter five
Chloe
It’s been three days. Three excruciating days since I made my proposition to him. Three days of waiting and wondering. I’ve done my best to resume my normal routine and tried hard—really hard—to push thoughts of him out of my mind, but it seems like the universe is against me. At every corner, I bump into something that reminds me of him.
The whiskey in the grocery store aisle, the scent of his cologne in a passing crowd, even the faint sound of a song playing somewhere in the distance that he once hummed along to. It’s all him. Always him.
I can’t face him right now. I can’t bear to see the confusion, the wariness, or worse, the rejection in his eyes. So, I’ve been avoiding him.
The afternoon sun shines bright as usual as I help Lauren set up her art supplies in the backyard. The weather has been so good, and she’s been inspired to paint in the sunshine. We’re midway through setting up her easel when the doorbell rings.
“I’ll get it,” she says as she walks into the house.
Something inside me tightens. Could it be Parker? It wouldn’t be strange for him to come see his sister. I’m sure he visited the house all the time before I moved in. My hands shake slightly, and I start chewing on my lower lip as I fight an internal battle whether to peek through the kitchen window or not.
Just when I’ve decided against it, a familiar laugh echoes through the house, and my heart squeezes.
It’s him.
I should’ve known it would happen. I should’ve seen it coming. I couldn’t have avoided him forever.
Knowing that it would be weird for me to hide from him, I decide it’s time to face the music. Maybe he’ll just pretend nothing ever happened, and then, I can pretend I never made that stupid proposal. I’ll have to be around him eventually, whether it be at Lauren’s house or at work. Better to rip that Band-Aid off now.
Gathering my courage, I make my way through the house to the front door, where Lauren is teasing him about his sudden visit.
“You don’t stop over for weeks, and all of the sudden, you show up now?” She chuckles. “What do you want? My special chocolate sundae brownies?”
Parker grins and smiles. “I mean, if you’ve got some, I won’t turn them down.”
Suddenly, his gaze catches mine over Lauren’s head, and his eyes go wide.
Lauren turns and beckons me over with an enthusiastic wave.
“Chloe! Look who’s here!” she exclaims happily, unaware of the tension brewing between her brother and me.
My eyes meet his as I step up next to Lauren. The same pair of hazel eyes that looked at me curiously three nights ago at the bar when I made my proposition meets mine now.
“Hey, Parker,” I say, forcing my voice to stay steady and calm. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” he replies as his gaze bores into me. “Really good.”
“So, what did you need, Parker?” Lauren asks. I actually feel thankful for her interruption. If we had stared at each other any longer, she definitely would have picked up on the awkwardness.
He blinks, as if snapping out of a daze, and clears his throat before answering, “Actually, I came by to talk to Chloe. It’s about, um, Holt’s strategy for selling the Victorian.”
I furrow my brow in confusion. Holt hasn’t given me the Victorian. He hasn’t even mentioned it to me.
“Oh,” Lauren says. “Gotcha. I’ll let you two talk, then.”
She turns and pats my shoulder as she heads to the backyard again. Once she’s out of earshot, I turn back to Parker and frown up at him.
“You’re not really here to talk about the house, are you?”
