Page 52 of Love Like Ours

“There, now we’ve made it official,” he joked as he sat next to her.

“Wasn’t it official before?” She enjoyed the smell and look of him. Her eyes quickly scanned the spot on his head and noted that the bump had gone down by half.

“Oh, for us, but not for all of…” He motioned around the room. “Rumors can go wild. In one move, I confirmed them all.” He winked at her.

“Good job.” She laughed. “Beer?”

He nodded and Lisa, the bartender on duty, took his order. While they sipped their drinks, she showed him all of the pictures of Luke that she’d taken.

“It’s strange to love someone so much when they’re so little.” She sighed and pushed her empty glass away.

“No it’s not. Not when he’s got fiery red hair and cheeks like that.” He motioned to the photo she’d put on her phone’s lock screen.

She laughed and then stilled when Palmer frowned at something behind her.

“What?” She glanced over and saw a woman standing across the street, looking at the building. When she turned back to Palmer, the look on his face had changed to anger. Instantly, she understood and glanced back at the woman. It was obvious now, this was his mother.

“I’ll be back.” He touched her arm and turned to head out the front door.

She jumped up to stop him. “What are you going to say to her?”

His eyes never left the woman. “That she and my father are not supposed to get within a hundred feet of me or my brother’s family, or step foot inside Pride ever again,” he said in a low tone.

“Why don’t we call⁠—”

“I’ll handle it this time.” He touched her shoulder. “Stay put.”

She leaned against the bar as Palmer strolled across the street and talked to his mother. She could see his frustration in the way he waved his hands around in the air. It looked like the woman was using crying as a tool, since she kept glancing around, as if making sure she had an audience.

She moved to grab her phone to call Parker, but a strong hand covered her phone on the bar.

“You wouldn’t want to spoil their special reunion,” the man said, picking up her phone and looking at the image of her new nephew when the phone came alive.

She moved to grab her phone from him, but the man held it out of reach.

He was six-two, around fifty or sixty years old. His hair was an unnatural jet black, obviously from a box of coloring. His skin was tan, too tan for someone living in Oregon and just coming out of a long winter.

She glanced back towards the windows and it hit her. This was Parker and Palmer’s father, Jack.

She took a step closer and lowered her voice. “If you don’t give me my phone right now, I’ll scream.”

The man tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “Do that, and I guarantee your new boy-toy out there will regret it.”

“You can’t hurt Palmer anymore,” she said between clenched teeth.

The man smiled slowly and ran his eyes over her, then glanced towards the windows. “Oh yeah? By the look of that knot on his head, it looks like we did a good job the other day.”