Parker could see Gail through the glass in the door. The broker looked like she had slept in the clothes she had on and there was sweat running down her face. She fell forward when Parker yanked the door open. Parker looked down on her when Gail used her taller body to steady herself. "Yes, can I help you?"
"Where's Emily?" Without the car Gail knew Emily couldn't have gone far without the help of her new friend. The tennis player just crossed her arms and stood just inside the door looking at her. "Look I just want to talk to her. We had a little falling out and I just want the chance to set it right."
"The next time I see her I'll let her know that you want to talk with her. It's her decision to make if she wants to do that so why don't you give her some space to think things out. Or at least for the bruise on her arm to fade." Parker waited to see if Gail was going to say anything else or if she was going to leave quietly. Parker wasn't worried about Emily's safety, only how she was taking this unexpected visit, it was the reason she had left Abby in the gym with her to keep her company.
"I'm not going away without a fight, Parker, just remember that. Emily's mine, and what happens between us is none of your business." Parker just slammed the door in the woman's face. Anyone that felt that way about women didn't deserve to be with one as special as Emily.
"Butt head," Parker muttered to herself. She stood in the kitchen looking out the window to make sure Gail was on her way back to the house next door. Parker had wanted more time with the pilot before she left, but having the girlfriend she had just left right next door didn't make for the best of situations. She walked back into the gym to find Emily on the floor with Abby.
"Gail wants to talk to you." Emily had such a sad look on her face that Parker stopped any other teasing comment she thought of making. "She's gone so don't worry about it, Emily. We'll put Abby out for awhile just in case so smile for me."
"I should have put a stop to this relationship a long time ago. It's my fault really, I didn't love Gail the way she was expecting me to but it just got to be something comfortable. That wasn't fair to her for me to have stayed this long, but I'm just tired of the arguing we're constantly doing." Abby rolled to his other side so Emily could rub him some more. The small blonde found him waiting for her outside her bedroom that morning, and she was coming to like him as much as his owner.
"You don't owe me any explanations. The most important thing for you is to do what's right for you. Do you have a place to stay once you get back into the city?" If Gail was capable of violence, Parker didn't want Emily anywhere near her.
"Yeah I'm staying with a friend until I find a place. Let me go and get breakfast started and you go take that shower. No, Parker, it will help me take my mind off all this stuff." Emily spoke over the objection Parker was about to make. "I don't get many vacations so I think I should get to do what I think is fun, and for me that's cooking."
"You're the boss so have at it. Abby, go outside boy." The dog put his paw over his eyes as if he knew what Parker had asked would put an end to his massage. Both Emily and Parker laughed at the ham's antics getting him to move from his spot next to Emily.
Parker slipped on a robe when she heard Emily calling her to breakfast after she had finished with her shower. Her guest did indeed know her way around the kitchen Parker could see when she sat down to a wonderful omelet, toast and hash browns. To make Parker happy, Emily had made hot chocolate instead of coffee smiling when the blue eyes rolled at how good it was.
"What is it about you and hot chocolate?" Emily held her own mug of the hot brew watching the cloud that marred Parker's face for a moment. Parker looked like she reliving a nightmare and Emily was about to tell her it was all right not to answer, but Parker surprised her by telling her something very personal.
"When I was little it was the happiest memory I have of my father. We would be the first ones up and he would stand at the stove and make us each a cup of the stuff. Not the mix either, my dad shaved chocolate and stirred it in slowly with sugar until it was just right. Over the years it became our ritual every morning, sitting at the table and discussing all kinds of different things. Then at around sixteen or seventeen he found out that I was like Gray and Kimmie and he stopped talking to me all together. I would wait for him before I had to leave for practice, but he wouldn't step out of his bedroom until I had left. Maybe it was all for the best since when we did talk all we could do was scream at each other." Emily reached across the table and put her hand over Parker's. It seemed absurd to her that people who were so rigid and bigoted had children.
"I'm sorry for asking, Parker."
"It's all right. All those cups I had as a kid just make me love the stuff. My parents may not accept me now, but drinking hot chocolate reminds me of a time they did." The big smile Emily had seen on television a million times when she watched Parker play was being aimed at her from across the table. Things could have been better in her life, but Emily was grateful that her parents had accepted her choices without censor. They just wanted her to be happy and find someone that would share her life.
"You're a wonderful person, Parker, and in time your parents will come to realize that. I've only known you a couple of days and I have at least that part figured out." Parker turned her hand over and squeezed Emily's fingers. She was glad that she had offered the pretty blonde a place to stay the night. Emily would leave in little over an hour and she would in all likelihood never see her again, but she was still glad she had done it.
Parker packed all of Emily's bags into the trunk of the car after Emily had gotten dressed. She saluted the pilot when she came out of the room in her uniform getting a slap on the arm for her trouble. When they pulled out, neither of them saw the disheveled woman sitting on one of the dunes that separated the houses. It wasn't noon yet, but Gail held a glass of scotch in one hand and the scrap of paper she had found on the beach the day before in the other. She had just known that Parker was lying about Emily and seeing her girlfriend in the car just proved that.
"You can't say that I didn't warn you, Parker King."
************************************************************************
Emily was in line for take off behind five other jets, so her thoughts turned to the last two days of her life. She had left Gail and met Parker; the latter made her smile. Parker had dropped her off at the airport and insisted on parking and walking her in. It was incredible how many people on the way to her gate recognized the tennis star walking with her.
At her gate Parker had handed over her bag and a card with all her numbers on it. Before their last good bye a woman had come over with her young daughter and asked Parker if she would take a picture with the girl. Parker handed the camera to Emily and posed with both mother and child. Emily almost teased the two that she was going to have to back up to fit their smiles in the frame.