Page 204 of Untouchable

When he walks out into the reception area, though, his heart plummets as he sees his mother standing there. She looks elegant as usual, sleek and cold with her hair and outfit perfectly pulled together. She flashes a large smile for the sake of the people in the reception area who are watching before ushering him into a corner.

“Parker,” she says coolly. “I’ve been trying to reach you.”

Parker casts a frantic glance at Mindy, who’s wearing her fakest smile. He knows she would have warned him if she could have, but he doesn’t check his phone in between appointments.

“Mom—” Parker stammers. “What—what are you doing here?”

“We need to talk,” she says. “And I figured if you couldn’t be bothered to pick up the phone, I might as well drive the hour and a half to meet you.”

“Mom—I—I told you I’d call you this weekend—”

“We need to talk now,” she clarifies. “Celia wanted to come, too, but the nanny had a fever today and she had to stay home with the kids. Get your coat. I’ll take you out to lunch.” She turns to leave.

“I can’t—” Parker says, and she whips around, fixing him with a sharp stare. “I—I have something—I already have plans for lunch.”

“Well, whatever they are, you can move them around.”

“Mom—” Parker hisses, turning bright red. He hardly cares if Mindy sees this, because she knows what his parents are like—hell, she’s met them before, and she knows how the mask they wear around others is different from the side they show Parker.

“Need I remind you that I drove an hour and a half to be here?” she says.

“Yeah, but I didn’t ask you to—” Parker says, his voice getting a little too loud. A teenage boy sitting nearby playing on his phone gives them a strange look.

* * *

It's startingto feel less strange coming to this part of town. More and more of Mink Creek has begun to feel "safe" to Harp out of the necessity of visiting Parker, visiting the sanctuary, just... existing in life outside of his own home.

And of course, when presented a chance to make Parker's life easier by coming in for an office visit at Rocky Mountain, Harp had no problem agreeing.

When he arrives, he knows the waiting room is going to be full from the look of the parking lot, but he does his best to steel himself. He knows all he has to do is retrieve Parker and they can head to their lunch.

When he steps into the building, however, Parker is already there and speaking to someone else.

Harp assumes at first that she must be one of Parker's clients, but as Parker speaks to her, the woman reaches out and pulls something—a little piece of lint, maybe—off of Parker's scrub top and then straightens the garment.

Oh no, Harp thinks. His mother.

* * *

A movementnear the front door catches his eye, and his heart sinks even further. Harp.

He’s comforted to see Harp, of course—he always is. But his mother is every bit as soul-crushing as Harp is uplifting, and Parker feels like he’s being pulled in ten different directions, stretched thin as taffy.

“Mom—I can—hang on a second, okay?”

He can feel his mother’s eyes burning a hole into his back as he crosses the reception area towards Harp. He can see a dark look in Harp’s eye, and he wonders if Harp has already figured out who Parker has been talking to.

“Hi,” Parker says through the clenched teeth of his very forced smile. “Can I talk to you outside?”

Before Harp has a chance to respond, Parker opens the door and steps into the December chill.

“I—I don’t think I can do lunch?” he squeaks out. “My—uh, my mom showed up? And, um—I need to deal with her? I’m so sorry—I didn’t know—I know you came all this way but—”

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Harp asks.

Parker’s eyes nearly bug out of his head.

“Oh god—no—she’ll rip you apart you—not because of—just because—that’s just what she does—”

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