“I like it,” I say decisively, so my mind will fall in line.
This is our opinion. We like it.
Parker nods, but she doesn’t say anything for a minute. “Should we go in?” she finally asks.
“I don’t think so. Let’s wait and see if he comes out.”
We only have to wait a moment more before Hayden walks out the front door, looking incredible in a black suit with gleaming loafers. Parker and I get out of our car and I push the lock button on my key fob, then we climb into Hayden’s Maserati.
He starts up the car without mentioning Landon, so I assume that means he’s not coming.
Parker doesn’t assume; she asks.
“Is Landon coming with us?”
“Uh, no,” Hayden says. “I think he needs a little more time.”
She sighs and looks at the house. “He should come. If we’re going to do this, we should do it right.”
“Well, I would have liked that as well, but it was his choice, and he’d rather stay home.”
“Do you want me to try?” she asks.
I open my mouth to say no, but Hayden shrugs. “If you want to. He’s in the living room.”
“Why don’t I go with you?” I say, putting my hand on the door latch.
“No,” Parker says before I can open the door. “I’ll just be a minute.”
Tension gathers in my shoulders as I watch Parker walk up the staircase to the front door. Hayden reaches over and rubs them a bit, like he can tell the tension is gathering there.
“I don’t like her being in there alone with him,” I state.
“We’ve gotta let them work it out on their own. They’re going to live together, Gemma. They’ll be together in the same vicinity from time to time.”
Not alone, not like this.
It’s too soon. It stirs too many memories of that night and her frantic calls for help.
“Maybe this is a bad idea,” I say quietly. “Not the engagement, but the moving in. I’m down to be engaged, but… maybe since we’re taking the engagement slow anyway, we should pump the brakes a little. My house isn’t the mansion yours is, obviously, but it’s perfectly fine. You could stay there with us as often as you like if your goal is to spend time together.”
I’m crawling out of my skin waiting for her to walk back out that front door.
“It will be fine,” Hayden says with a calm I don’t understand.
“She said she’d only be a minute. This feels like longer. I think I should go in there.”
He squeezes my shoulder, partially to knead out tension, partially to keep me from getting out of the car. “Don’t. Just let her handle it.”
“He broke into our house to get to her, Hayden.”
“He was drunk. He wasn’t in his right mind. I assure you, he’s completely sober right now.”
I give it another minute, but when Parker still hasn’t returned, I shrug his hand off. “I’m going in there.”
I get the car door open, but as soon as I do, Parker comes back out.
Relief envelops me as I sink back into the seat. Her long hair blows in the wind as she makes her way down the steps.