Page 26 of The Proximity Factor

I needed to move on. I was tired of rehashing my time with Maren in my head. It never led to good places, and it always left me with more questions than answers. Mainly wondering if what we had was real.

“Question six: If you answered yes above, did Lanie play any role?” My temples started throbbing for how livid the question made me. “No,” I spewed. But was I afraid she might? Yes. Not that she would have me. I was too old and grumpy for her. Hopefully she remembered that for her own sake.

“Question seven: How would you rate your experience so far? I guess you’re sticking with this one.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to answer it this go-around. It was easy the weeks before when I detested everything about it. But something had changed this week—me. I wasn’t sure where it was going to lead. “It’s not horrible” was all I could offer. But there was always next week.

I MET PARKER IN THE living room, snacks and playlist ready. I’d messaged Daphne the night before to ask her what bands Parker liked. She’d given me the 411. Apparently, Parker was a huge Linkin Park and Evanescence fan. She said he had a playlist called Powerfully Somber. I giggled about that info for a few minutes. He was such a nerd. A hot nerd. Like, oh, baby, did I want to touch his chest last night and get lost in his gray eyes. It kind of freaked me out how much I wanted to do those things. Not thinking about it. Like, at all.

“Are you ready?” I held up my day bag full of jerky, trail mix, and dried fruit. I knew it was just over an hour’s drive, but anything over thirty minutes constituted a road trip to me.

Parker rubbed the back of his neck, looking nice in dress shorts and a polo shirt. “I guess,” he grumbled.

“Oh, come on. It’s going to be fun. Just think potato salad, and I brought a bunch of getting-to-know-you questions.”

He dipped his chin to his chest. “Really?” He didn’t sound all that happy about it.

“I know you’re just dying to get to know me better,” I teased.

He rewarded me with a half-smile. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Perk up, buttercup.” I swung open the front door, detecting a little chuckle from him. “Count yourself lucky. You get to ride in Gus today.” Gus was the name of Daddy’s old truck.

“Would you mind if I drove?”

I turned as I walked out the door. “What? You don’t trust me to drive?”

His cheeks flushed. “That’s not it. It’s just I don’t get to drive all that often and I might have to sell my car soon,” he seemed embarrassed to admit. “I’d just like to enjoy her while I can.”

Daphne had mentioned how much his car meant to him. It was probably a good time to mention: “I promised Daphne I wouldn’t let you sell it.” Although I wasn’t sure how I could stop him.

Parker closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m really trying not to swear here.”

I giggled. “Hey, let it rip. Don’t be all gentlemanly on my behalf.”

He opened his eyes and zeroed in on me. “I’m not comfortable with you being friends with my sister.”

That didn’t surprise me. I patted his arm, noting how toned his bicep was. “You’ll get used to it. Now let’s go drive your baby.”

“You’re a piece of work—you know that, right?”

“You mean like a piece of artwork, right?” I goaded him before prancing out the door and into the hot Georgia sun. Goodness gracious, it was blazing outside.

Parker shook his head, not sure what to make of me, before he closed the door behind us and locked it. We’d gotten word that the university was going to add a security system to the house. I guess they had watched my video from the night before. All I knew was I was glad for it. I was even more glad Greg hadn’t come back around. Val had seen a U-Haul truck outside his place. I guess he was in a hurry to skip town. Mama and Miss Allison were a force to be reckoned with.

We walked around the side of the house together to where the detached garage was. We both paused before we entered, knowing this was kind of a big moment. It was one thing to live in the same house where you could easily ignore the other person. It was a whole new ball game to be stuck in the same car with nowhere to hide. I was looking forward to it, but the way Parker’s Adam’s apple was bobbing up and down from swallowing hard said he wasn’t all that thrilled. Or maybe he really did fear me, like Daphne mentioned this morning on the phone. Hopefully someday I would get to meet her in real life.

I nudged him with my hip. “I promise not to bite.”

“Why don’t I believe that?” He smirked.

“So maybe I nip.” I smiled.

“That’s what I thought,” he quipped bravely, punching in the code on the keypad to raise the door.

His Porsche appeared in all its sleek black glory. It really was a beautiful vehicle, way fancier than anything I could ever hope to own. Per Daphne, Parker had wrapped his pride and masculinity up in the car. Yet, he was also willing to sell it to pay for Daphne’s schooling. That was a good man in my book. Daphne hoped it didn’t come to that.

Parker wistfully ran his hand across the roof of the shiny car, as if it might be one of the last times he would be able to, before he opened the door.

Something about the solemnity of it tugged on my heart. I wondered if there was anything I could do to help him keep the car. Nothing was coming to mind, so I sashayed toward the passenger side.

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