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CHAPTER 4

EMBER

That’s the million-dollar question.

Regret barrels into me like a freight train. I shouldn’t have answered the call, but now that I have, I’m stuck. Sure, I could hang up and pretend that my world didn’t just shift on its axis, and that would make me a coward… Which I’m not.

Sure feels like you are.

I glance at the TV where Dean Winchester is frozen with his mouth open on a scream. This is my favorite episode of Supernatural , and I wish I would’ve kept watching instead of pausing it.

“Is… Is this… Parker?”

My voice sounds tiny, and I silently berate myself for it.

The man on the other end of the call swears under his breath. “Em?”

The way my shortened name rolls off his tongue sends shivers down my spine, shivers I thought I lost fifteen years ago.

“You’re the friend Addi wanted a nurse for?” I ask, trying to wrap my head around what’s happening.

“And you’re the nurse,” he replies, resignation in his tone.

I take a deep breath, then another and another. How had I not put two and two together when I ran into Addison? I’ve known for a while now that Parker was back in town, but it never occurred to me that he’d be the potential new client.

Not Parker… his mother.

My stomach twists as realization dawns. Mrs. West was always one of my favorite people growing up, and it makes me physically ill to know she’s sick.

“Em? Are you still there?” Parker asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Uh, yeah. So…” I swallow past the lump in my throat. “How’ve you been?”

“How have I been?” he bellows, his voice rougher than I remember. “That’s all you have to say to me?”

Anger surges in my blood. “You called me, remember?”

“I didn’t know I was calling you!” he shouts. “If I had, I’d have…”

“You’d have what?” I demand when he fails to continue. “Run to another state?”

“That’s not fair. Don’t make this about what happened between us.”

“What else would it be about?”

“Ya know what? Forget it. I’ll find someone else.”

Parker always did have a penchant for shutting down when things got tough. “Parker, wait,” I blurt before I can second-guess myself. “Addison said your mom’s in need of a full-time nurse.”

He sighs as if the weight of the world is on his shoulders, and I can picture him running his fingers through his chestnut hair, tugging on the ends in frustration.

“It’s getting bad, Em,” he admits.

I steel myself against the pain in his voice. I’ve suffered enough because of this man, and I refuse to go down that road again. But…

“Tell me what’s going on,” I say quietly, knowing in my heart of hearts I might regret it.

Again, he sighs.

Fuck, that sigh.

“She’s got Alzheimer’s.”

And if I thought this conversation was hard before, I was wrong. Those three words turned hard into gut-wrenching.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper, trying like hell to keep the tears at bay. Mrs. West was—is, dammit, is—such a sweet woman, and the thought of her losing herself to a merciless disease tears a hole in my already ragged soul.

“Thanks. But it’s not an apology I need,” he says, his tone hardening. “She’s run off five nurses already, and I can’t let there be a sixth.”

“Five?”

“Yeah. And since she needs someone now, I’m back to what I said before… Forget I called. I’ll find someone else.”

Jesus, he’s the most stubborn man I’ve ever met.

“I’ll do it,” I blurt before he can hang up on me.

Damn, Ember, you’re a glutton for punishment.

“What?”

Now it’s my turn to sigh. “You heard me, Parker,” I bite out, needing to get some composure over myself, especially if I’m going to be heading straight into the lion’s den. “I’ll do it.”

“You’ll have to move in with her. She can’t be alone… ever.”

“Okay. I-I can do that.”

“Don’t you have a husband or boyfriend or something who’ll have a problem with this?”

I huff out a laugh. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I don’t. Don’t you have a wife or girlfriend or something who’ll have a problem with your ex living with your mother?” I counter cooly.

“Old lady.”

“What?”

“I’m a biker, so it’s old lady.”

“And that matters because?”

“Oh, it matters,” he says, his tone turning raspy. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I don’t have anyone who will give a shit.”

“Okaaay. Well, now that we’ve established that…” I clear my throat. “When do you want me to start?”

“Seriously? You don’t want to go over the pay or anything like that?”

I’d do it for free, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“Right. Um… Can you meet in the morning for coffee? We can go over the particulars then.”

“You’re really gonna do this?” he asks, disbelief dripping from his words.

“Yeah, I guess I am.”

“Why?”

Ding, ding, ding. That’s the million-dollar question.

“Because Parker. It’s your mom.”