“You would do that? Really?” Amory shrieked. She was much shorter than Parker and also a little bit wider, but they had the same irresistible smile.
Zoe hugged her back. “Yes. And hi.”
“Hi!” Amory grinned. “I’m Amory, nice to meet you, you’re the best girlfriend Parker’s ever had!”
“Uh . . .” Zoe looked over Amory’s head at Parker. “I’m not Parker’s girlfriend.”
Amory’s head came up. “But you’re a girl and you’re his friend.”
Well, when she put it like that . . .
Amory skipped over to Henry. “Guess what?”
He smiled helplessly at her, like she was the best thing he’d ever seen. “What?”
“We’re going to Glacier Park!” Amory yelled. “Where there’s snow! Parker’s girlfriend’s going to fly us! In an airplane! She’s a pilot!”
Henry slid a look at Zoe before looking back to Amory. “So we’re not getting married today?”
“Let’s do this instead!” Amory jumped up and down in excitement. “Does that work for you?”
Henry smiled sweetly at her. “Whatever works for you works for me.”
Zoe felt her heart melt.
“Can we leave now?” Amory asked. “Can we? Can we?”
“Yes,” Zoe said. “Well, as soon as I can get a flight plan filed and arrange for a rental car in Glacier Park. In under an hour, certainly.”
Parker slid an arm around Amory’s shoulders. “Yes, but—”
“Uh-oh,” Amory said, smile fading fast. “You didn’t mean it?”
“You know I always mean what I say, Am. Always.”
Amory stared at him and then slowly nodded.
“Just like when I tell you I’m going to do something, I do it,” he said.
Again she just looked at him and then nodded.
“So now I want the same from you. I want you to tell me you’re going to do something—actually two somethings—and then follow through so that I can trust you as much as you trust me.”
Again Amory gave this some thought and then nodded. “What things?”
“Call Mom and Dad,” he said. “Tell them where you are and where we’re going. That’s what a grown-up does, Amory; they act responsibly.”
“Did your girlfriend have to call her mom and dad first?” Amory looked at Zoe. “Did you?”
“No,” Parker said, answering for her. “Because we’re already grown-ups.”
“And I’m not his girlfriend,” Zoe said again.
Amory looked at Parker. “Did you forget to ask her to be your girlfriend? You know you have to ask, right? Henry asked me a long time ago.”
“We’re talking about you,” Parker said firmly.
“It’d be more fun to talk about you,” Amory muttered.
“Be a grown-up,” Parker said, ignoring her pout. “And when you start doing that, you’ll find people much more willing to trust you to live your life the way you want to.”She blinked. “What’s the other thing I have to do?”
“Promise me that you and Henry will just enjoy being eighteen for a while. There’s no reason to rush anything. I promise to come see you more often. And when the time is right, I’ll help you guys get married, if that’s still what you want.”
Amory was still staring at him, her mouth open a little as she took it all in.
“Anything you don’t understand?” Parker asked.
“I understand,” Amory said. “But I don’t like some of it.”
Parker smiled. “Welcome to grown-up land.”
Amory executed an impressive eye roll that would’ve made Zoe laugh in a normal situation. She really loved watching brother and sister, loved the easy rapport, the obvious love and affection between them.
Loved him . . .
Twenty-eight
It was difficult for Parker to play travel guide for his sister with so much on his mind, not the least of which was Zoe and how for every minute he spent with her he wanted more minutes.
Hours.
Days.
Weeks . . .
For most of his grown-up life he’d gotten through the demands of his job by living one minute to the next, not looking back and not looking ahead either, at least not past the current case.
And now he couldn’t see any cases in his future, which brought on a whole new level of what-the-fuckery because his job had been his life so long he wasn’t sure he knew how to live without it.
But once Zoe flew them to Glacier Park and Amory and Henry got their first sight of snow, everything else sort of faded away. He knew he would never forget the sheer jubilation in Amory’s face as she scooped up a handful and threw it at Henry.
Henry, much gentler than she, simply pulled her in for a cold, icy hug that had Amory laughing out loud and tackling them both to the snow.
“Make snow angels!” Amory yelled, commanding everyone around her. “Henry, make one for your nana who’s sitting on a cloud watching us!”
“Henry’s aunt died a few months back,” Parker explained to Zoe. “She was his caregiver.”
“Who watches after him now?” Zoe asked.
“He has no other family.”
“No one? He’s got no one?” Zoe asked, clearly dismayed by this. “Who helps him if he needs it?”
“He’s hanging in there,” Parker said. “He got his GED and is thinking about taking some night classes at the local community college.”
Zoe turned from the sight of Henry and Amory making snow angels and laughing like children and stared up at Parker. “It’s you,” she said softly. “He has you. You’ve been looking after him, haven’t you?”
Parker lifted a shoulder. So he had a soft spot for the kid and helped out monetarily, making sure he was okay in the home he shared with other disabled adults and that he had food and everything he needed. “He’s a good guy. And he’s good to Amory. He makes sure she’s got what she needs and I do the same for him. It’s no big deal.”
“It’s a very big deal,” Zoe said softly. “You love someone, you take care of them. You don’t walk away and move on. You keep in touch. You let them know that even though maybe you can’t be with them, they’re on your mind. It’s called caring, Parker, and whether you want to admit it or not, you know how to do it, and in fact you do it better than most.”
He inhaled a deep breath. “Zoe—”
“No,” she said. “I know what you’re going to say, and I don’t need to hear it again.” She looked at him for a long time, her eyes shining with emotion that wasn’t all that hard to read and made his heart squeeze painfully.
She had no idea what he was going to say; she couldn’t. Because he didn’t know, either. Still, intending to try, he opened his mouth—
And a snowball hit him right in the face.
Amory grinned wide. “Parker and Zoe standing in the snow,” she said in a singsong voice. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G . . .”
Parker crouched down to make his own arsenal while above him he heard Zoe say, “I’m not his girlfriend.”