Page 82 of Desired Hearts
“You pay it back. It’s just money.”
“Just money.” I laughed. “That little thing you need to live.”
“You would manage, I’m certain. What else?”
“I’d be out of a job.”
“Do you like your job?”
He knew the answer to that already. “No.”
“So why would you want a job back you didn’t like? This isn’t a trial run, Delaney. We get one chance at it, and then we die.”
The waiter had returned that very second. He looked at Parker strangely for a second before saying anything. “Best make it a good meal then. What’ll you have?”
Parker and I both laughed at his quick comeback and ordered lunch.
“That was funny,” I said of the waiter’s timing and quick thinking.
“It was. But I’m serious. And yeah, Mason may have rubbed off on me. But he’s seen so much shit that the whole ‘memento mori’ thing hits home for him in a real way. Which I get.”
“Memento mori?”
“It literally means, ‘remember you must die.’”
“Charming. I can see how that would be super motivational,” I teased.
Parker smiled. “It’s just a reminder of our mortality. A reminder to live.”
“Sort of a macabre way of saying carpe diem?”
“Sort of, sure.”
Memento mori.
“So are you saying I should go for it?” I asked finally, our po’ boys coming already. The smell of roast beef and gravy reminded me that I was absolutely living life to the fullest at this very moment. Did it get any better than sharing good food with a person you loved?
“I’m saying, the decision is yours. And I support whatever decision you make, 100 percent.”
That was so… Parker. I was about to tease him for not answering completely but also thank him for being so amazing when my phone lit up. Normally I wouldn’t have it on next to me at dinner, but my dad was heading to a pre-surgery appointment today, and I wanted to be sure he was okay.
I’m sorry. For everything. I miss you D.
I stopped chewing mid-bite. My heart thudded as I stared at the text from Makis. It was like being tossed in a time machine, the feeling of waiting for his texts, the hurt and pain, all bubbling to the surface.
What I would have given to get a text like that from him months ago…
“What is it?”
I looked up. Refusing to let myself start crying, I swallowed. Took a deep breath. How could he still have the ability to affect me this way?
“Makis.”
Parker stopped chewing too. Rage, the kind I’d never expect from Parker, certainly had never seen from him before, danced in his eyes. Thank goodness Makis had only texted and hadn’t actually come to Cedar Falls to say this in person. I really think Parker would have made good on his threat to pummel the guy.
He didn’t ask what the text was about. Didn’t chastise me for not blocking him which I totally should have done. At first I didn’t have the heart, and these past few weeks, I hadn’t cared enough to bother, never thinking I’d hear from him again.
“He says he’s sorry. And misses me.”
