“Lucian didn’t steal your stuff, Momma. Whatever was salvageable is here.”
She shook her head and mumbled, “There ain’t shit here that belongs to me.”
Parker sat beside her. Scout picked up a brochure resting on the bed tray. There was a picture of flowers and writing on it. “What’s this?”
Pearl shrugged unknowingly. Parker took the pamphlet.
“It’s an activity schedule. Pearl, do you do these things? They have art classes and pottery. That sounds like fun.”
“What am I gonna do with art classes, Parker? I don’t want to hang out with those people. The nurses all talk to me like I’m four.”
He put the pamphlet down. He might as well throw it away. Pearl would rather stew in her room than socialize with people she thought were better than her. She would never ask someone to read it to her, and Pearl could only read street signs with pictures.
“How are you feeling, Momma?”
Her mother’s gaze drilled into hers. “Achy. Hungry.”
“Did you eat?”
“They’ll be bringing me lunch soon. Made me go see a dentist. I got teeth pulled and thems is sending me out to get some new teeth.”
Scout knew immediately this was not a perk offered by the center, but something Lucian had arranged. Dental work cost a fortune. She had gone to the dentist for the first time that winter and had a cavity filled. Pearl’s teeth—the few she had left—were in bad shape from doing so many drugs.
“You’ll look beautiful with a new smile, Momma.”
“What’s I got to smile for, Scout? Use your head.”
Parker looked uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. “Scout got a new job, Pearl. She’s working at Clemons Market now.”
“That man finally stop paying you?”
Scout’s cheeks flushed. Anger surfaced hot and tense under her skin. “He wasn’t paying me. I just worked for his company for a time.”
She laughed coldly. “You giving him some and he buying you stuff . . . it’s all the same.”
She couldn’t bear to look at Parker. Her eyes prickled. How was she supposed to convince herself that she’d been more that Lucian’s glorified whore if her own mother didn’t believe her?
“Lucian and I broke up.”
“He find someone else?”
Scout’s jaw trembled. “Maybe,” she rasped.
The weight of Parker’s hand on her arm was a comforting presence. He squeezed and she met his gaze. She found sympathy swirling in his green eyes. “He’ll never find anyone as good as you,” he softly whispered, surprising her. She smiled back, sadly.
“Now that you ain’t with that rich man no more I suppose I’ll be leaving here.”
Scout turned back to her mother. “No, Momma. You can stay as long as you’d like.”
“I’d like to have left yesterday.”
Again, she bit her tongue, not wanting Pearl to know the choice to stay or go was hers. She quickly changed the subject. “I’m living with Parker for a while.”
Pearl smiled at that. “You two finally saw some sense.”
He lowered his head and Scout saw color chase up his neck. “No, Momma, it’s not like that. Parker and I are just friends.”
“So says you. Parker looks like he might disagree.”
“Momma!”
“It’s okay, Scout,” Parker quickly said.
Her gaze jerked to his. Her expression tightened as she gave him a pointed look, waiting for him to correct Pearl’s assumption. When he didn’t, she frowned.
Scout stared at him, a world of questions swirling through her mind, Lucian’s accusations about Parker’s feelings front and center. No. They were friends.
“Parker . . .” She shook her head.
He smiled softly and squeezed her hand. The motion carried more affection than she was comfortable with. All of his casual touches over the past few days seemed to have accumulated into a heap of confusion she kept sweeping to the back of her mind.
She withdrew her hand and stood, moving to the window so she could look anywhere but at him. Pearl said something and she vaguely heard Parker’s voice as he replied. Scout frowned as she stared through the glass. They were friends. Only friends.
They stayed with Pearl for about an hour. Scout’s head was a mess with questions. He couldn’t like her like that. Their history was too long, too comfortable, and intimacy only spoiled simple affection. And she loved Lucian.
Although Lucian left her. She needed to stop thinking about him in terms of still being a part of her life. She was better off going back to her old way of thinking, when she didn’t love anybody. But no matter how she tried to turn off her emotions for Lucian, she couldn’t.
As they took a cab back to the apartment, she thought about last night. Had she really called him? She dug through her bag in search for her phone. It was so painfully telling that he hadn’t called her back.
“What are you looking for?” Parker asked from beside her.
“My phone.”
His expression blanked and he turned away as she pulled it out. Her finger ran over the screen, but nothing happened. “That’s weird.” She tried to turn it on again. When it didn’t work, she grew frustrated. It had been on the charger all night.