Page 31 of When We Dare

As I looked over at Parker, I realized he had my eyes. I’d seen pictures of my father, but he’d been gone since before I could remember him. I knew I had his eyes because my mom had told me. While Parker shared my brown eye color and honey blond hair, otherwise, we didn’t look all that much alike.

Parker smiled over at Tiffany as he sat down. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Yeah?” she prompted.

He ran a hand through his rumpled curls. “This is a first for me. Never met a sister I didn’t know I had. It doesn’t surprise me that my dad fathered more than one child, but it’s still awkward. Chase explained to me how he met his other siblings.”

Tiffany nodded along. “Yeah, we did DNA testing and found out Chase had a whole passel of siblings.” Her gaze flicked to me. “You’ve met my brother, right?” At my nod, she continued. “It was awkward, and I’m pretty sure Chase was way more stressed out about it than me, but it was good.” Tiffany looked between us expectantly.

I took a breath. “It’s good to meet you. I’m really glad you reached out to my mom. I understand from her that you’re a hotshot firefighter. There’s a lot of those around here.” My words felt stilted, but the anxiety was starting to fade.

Parker’s grin was a little crooked, and I liked the warmth in his eyes. “There are definitely plenty of hotshots here.”

A waiter came to take our orders. Even though my anxiety and the awkwardness remained, it started to ease as we talked. Tiffany smoothed things along a lot.

“Tell me about your mom,” Parker said at one point.

“My mom is—” I paused as I considered how to describe my mom. “She’s awesome, really. Heart on her sleeve, loveseveryone, but money was always tight and her childhood wasn’t easy. She tried to find any man to love her as much as she loved the whole world. She didn’t have the greatest judgment about it. That’s not to say that your dad was a bad guy, but she kinda had a knack for finding people who, well, I guess struggled like she did. I love her to pieces.” I swallowed through the rush of emotion tightening in my chest. “What’s your dad like?”

“Well, he’s our dad,” Parker said with a hesitant smile. “But he’s—” He let out asigh, the air reverberating through his lips as he shook his head. “He’s a good guy who hasn’t made the best choices in life. He means well, but he’s always looking for the shortcuts. He also had a rough childhood and his parents scraped by doing sketchy things. That’s pretty much what he’s done as an adult. It’s only been the last few years that he’s stopped getting in trouble. It’s probably for the best that your mom and him didn’t stay together because he spent a lot of my childhood bouncing in and out of jail. Whenever he was in jail, I stayed with my aunt, who was also struggling, but not in jail.” Parker’s laugh was dry and a little sad. “I love my dad. He’s always tried to be there for me. I hope you can love him too. He has no idea that I found you because I figured you might want to make that call yourself.”

“Did he ever talk about me? My mom said he was in town when I was a toddler, but not really around. She said she knew I was his, but he was in trouble, so she steered clear. She didn’t give me his last name or anything.”

Parker shrugged. “From what I understood from your mom, he didn’t know about me when he was in contact with your mom. My mom bolted when I was in kindergarten and left me with him. He became an instant dad.” He paused, studying me for a beat. “We match,” he said with a grin, gesturing to our matching blond hair.

Tiffany glanced between us, her smile kind. “I love this.”

“If you want to let him know we found each other, that’s fine with me. I’m not sure I’m ready to meet him, but it’s okay if you tell him.”

The waiter interrupted us to drop off the check, which Parker insisted on covering.

When we were walking out a few minutes later, he stopped and studied me. “By the way, I’ll let my dad know, but I won’t pass on your contact info until you tell me to. Is that okay?” At my nod, he continued, “What do you think about trying to get to know each other? I’ve never had a sibling. It was always just me, my dad, and my aunt. Any new family is great for me.”

I didn’t even hesitate. “I’d like that.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

STELLA

I tilted my head to the side as I studied the picture on Tiffany’s phone. “It looks like another Butter.” She tapped the screen to zoom in. “I’m sure they’ll love each other to pieces.”

I laughed as I glanced over at Tiffany. “They might. Let me just ask Paisley. She’s coming this way,” I commented. Paisley was the friend who rented the apartment to me.

We were having a night out at Wildlands. So far, it was Tiffany, Tish, me, Paisley, Maisie, Phoebe, Alice, and Piper.

“Ask Paisley, what?” Paisley asked as she shrugged out of her jacket.

“About a cat. Tiffany is trying to convince me I should adopt a cat. I’m all for a cat, but I need to check with you because you’re my landlord. I also need to make sure any cat gets along with Butter,” I explained.

Paisley rolled her eyes. “Please don’t call me a landlord. It sounds like I might be controlling.”

“Um, theperson who rents me a duplex? That seems like a lot of words,” I pointed out.

Piper giggled from across the table where she sat beside Alice. “It does seem like a lot of words. You’re a landlord. I’m a veterinarian, and I support this plan.”

“Which plan?” Paisley prompted.

“The adopt-a-cat plan,” Piper replied.

---