The dinner lasted three hours by the time they had made it through the various courses, dessert and after dinner drinks. They kept the conversation light and the other patrons looked their way often as they laughed at a variety of things. It was just the type of evening Emily had looked forward to on her vacation, only she never imagined it would be shared with Parker King. Her idea of the perfect ending would have been a walk on the beach but a walk through Parker's vast collection of rare books was good enough.
Slipping out of her shoes Emily made one request. "Read me your favorite thing in here."
Parker walked to the other side of the room climbed the rolling latter to the top shelf and pulled down a book. She put it on the coffee table as she sat back to take her own shoes off loving the sound of Emily's laughter when she saw the title. " War and Peace? You do realize I'm leaving tomorrow don't you?"
"I just wanted to see if you were still awake after those two and a half desserts you ate." She ducked the small pillow Emily tossed at her in mock anger then got up to pull down another book.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Parker read all of the verses of the Robert Frost poem she had quoted at dinner. When she was finished, Parker looked up to see Emily relaxed back into the chair with her eyes closed.
"Thank you for today. It was the most fun I've had in forever, and I'm just sorry that it has to end so soon." Emily said her peace without opening her eyes just enjoying the space Barnaby had talked so fondly of. When she opened them Emily accepted both Parker's hand to help her up and her invitation to walk her to the door of the room she was staying in.
Parker handed Emily her sandals and smiled, "Good night, Emily, I hope you have good dreams." Parker kissed her softly on the lips then turned and headed toward the master suite. Emily closed her door and leaned against it bringing her fingertips up to her lips. It wasn't the type of kiss you get from your lover or even a date, but it had left her tingling just the same.
"Good night, Parker, and I think that's going to be impossible now."
Chapter 4
Emily wandered around the house with Abby looking for Parker the next morning, hoping to have breakfast with her before they had to head out to the airport. Her plane wasn't scheduled to leave for another three hours so they had plenty of time to eat and talk. The music coming from room beyond the kitchen led her to Parker. The dog stood in the doorway and waved a paw at her to get Emily moving.
Lying on a padded bench, the tennis player was doing bench presses. Emily admired the practiced fluidity of her movements, surprised that it took so much to play the game well. Parker was dedicated to keeping as fit as she could to prevent injuries.
"Good morning." Emily waited until the weight had put back before she spoke. It wasn't even seven in the morning and Parker was already sweating.
Parker looked up from the towel she had her face pressed into to see Emily standing in the gym in her pajamas. "Hey, did you have a good sleep?"
"Yes I did, thanks. You have a great house here, Parker, very conducive to peaceful sleeping. Are you almost done?"
"That was the last reps I'm doing today. Let me take a shower and I'll take you out for breakfast." Parker threw the towel in the hamper sitting in the corner before downing the rest of the juice she had been drinking throughout her workout.
"I want to cook for you if you don't mind me using your kitchen. Think of it as my thank you for all that you've done for me in the past couple of days. It's not much, but I would enjoy doing it for you."
"You don't mind?"
"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't want to. Go take that shower and meet me in the kitchen." Emily smiled and had a desire to hug Parker good morning, but her tall hostess hadn't made a move toward her as she headed out the door. Her thoughts stopped cold when she heard the banging on the back door. Parker stopped at the door and smiled in an effort to relax Emily. It surprised Parker that the idiot staying next door had taken this long to come over and bitch about what had happened.
"Why don't you sit and enjoy the view for a minute and let me take care of this." The wall of windows only went along the back of the gym and it faced the beach. Whoever was on the deck couldn't see in.
"You don't mind." The lost look on Emily's face was so far removed from the confident woman that had stood up to her on the plane that Parker was having time making the comparison.
"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't want to." Emily laughed at having her own words tossed back at her. "You forget I'm an expert when it comes to volley. Seriously though, I'm used to dealing with difficult women, Emily, trust me on that one. Gail is just a sore loser that needs time to cool down." Parker was trying to make Emily laugh but the opposite happened and tears sprung to the green eyes.
"I'm sorry, it's just that the last time we spoke it wasn't pretty, and I'm not ready to see Gail again so soon." Emily brought her arms up in an effort to comfort herself making the short sleeve of her top ride up enough for Parker to see her bicep.
"What happened?"
"She didn't like the answer I gave to a question she asked," was all Emily could think to say. More tears fell down her face as she wondered how she had ended up in this situation.
"She won't hurt you, I promise." Parker moved closer and gathered the scared woman into a hug and tried her best to comfort her and make her feel better about the persistent knocker. When Emily relaxed against her, Parker whispered, "I'll be right back."