Chapter 44: [book 2] chapter seven: we meet the future mrs. parker

CALL ME STUBBORN but I couldn't find it in me to apologize to James. Why was I always the one waving the white flag? He shouldn't have gotten so mad at me over something that trivial. Besides, him getting angry couldn't change what had already happened. I just wanted to enjoy whatever time we had of our limited summer before he had to return to Penbrooke. Speaking of which, if anyone had the right to be upset over secrets, it was me. James promised me a full summer together and now he was leaving to go work? Yes, I was beyond proud of him and didn't want to hold him back, but he kept that secret from me for who knew how long, yet he had the audacity to be upset over something that had happened two days ago.

There was a light tapping on my door and Niko stuck his head into my room. "Dinner's ready."

"Be right down," I replied offhandedly.

"Will you be okay?" His voice was laced with concern.

If anyone needed to be asked that, it was him. My poor big brother had no idea of the storm coming his way.

I gave him a tight-lipped smile. "I'm sure I will be." There was no way James was going to ruin our summer over something this ridiculous, and there was no way I was going to let him. I got up from my desk chair and trailed behind Niko as we went to the dining room.

I couldn't stop the grimace from forming on my face when I saw six sets of cutlery prepared, instead of the usual five. "I'm guessing Officer Shaw is joining us?"

"Please, Daniella, call me Adam," the obnoxious voice belonging to the even more obnoxious cop said from behind me. He walked past me and placed a salad bowl in the centre of the table.

"I prefer Dani," I told him.

He raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Isn't Danny a boy's name?"

"Don't," Niko warned, seeing the fiery look in my eyes.

I exhaled loudly through my nostrils before taking a seat in the chair diagonal from the head chair. Of course, Adam just had to sit across from me, giving me an innocent smile to which I replied with a scowl. Brenton and Alex came into the dining room, my twin sitting beside me, forcing Alex to sit beside Adam. Niko had disappeared into the kitchen just as Mom came out with the main course.

"You cooked?" Alex asked bewilderedly.

She shook her head. "Actually, Adam prepared tonight's dinner." She skimmed the table, lifting her perfectly arched eyebrow. "Where's Nikolas?"

On cue, Niko returned from the kitchen with an extra set of cutlery. Brenton and I turned to look at each other with wide eyes, bracing ourselves for the shit show that was to come. "I've invited Vanessa for dinner," he said.

"This is a family dinner," Mom told him in a matter-of-fact tone.

Niko shrugged his shoulders. "She's about to be family. Besides, you invited that guy, whoever he is."

"The narc's Mom's new boyfriend," Brenton piped in.

"Oh, they still call it boyfriend at your age?" Niko asked in an innocent tone. I accidentally snorted and pretended to cough when Mom shot me a death stare.

Thankfully, the doorbell rang, merely sparing me.

"If you will excuse me." Niko left the dining room before returning with the Vanessa character.

Tall, tanned, and blonde were the first words to come to mind when I saw her. She was beautiful, to say the least, with her olive coloured skin, hazel eyes behind a pair of brown-rimmed eyeglasses, and beach blonde hair that was chocolate brown at the roots. She flashed us a smile, showcasing a set of bleached white teeth.

"It is so lovely to meet you all!" I expected her to have a high-pitched perky voice, but instead her voice was smooth and low.

"I've never been jealous of Niko until now," Brenton murmured to me. I gave him a grossed-out look as he eyed her up and down.

As gorgeous as Vanessa was, I had to admit she looked slightly older than Niko. I wasn't judging, but Niko had never dated anyone older than him.

"Sit down, babe," my brother said as he pulled out a chair for her. Brenton looked like he was on top of the world as Vanessa took a seat beside him.

I took his napkin off the table and placed it on his lap. "In case you get too excited," I whispered. Brenton replied by pinching my bare thigh. Lesson learned, don't wear shorts to dinner.

"Well," Mom spoke from the head of the table. "This is unexpected. I'm afraid there's really only enough coq au vin for six."

"Cocoa what?" Alex murmured.

"That's okay, Mrs. Parker," Vanessa said with a smile, oblivious to my little brother's commentary. "I'm a vegetarian."

I could see my mother's eye twitch. "Mrs. Parker?"

"Who cares?" Brenton intervened. "Niko, don't tell me you're becoming a vegetarian, man."

Mom raised her hand indicating for my twin to shut the hell up as she focused on Vanessa. "Excuse my bluntness, but how old are you?"

Niko scoffed. "Mother, please."

Vanessa shook her head. "It's fine, honestly. I'm thirty, Mrs. Parker."

"They could be sisters,"  Brenton murmured, making me elbow him in reply. Now was not the time.

Ignoring Vanessa, Mom turned to face Niko. "Your girlfriend is thirty years old?"

"Fiancée," he corrected. "Girlfriend is what you are to the narc-chef over there."

"I think I'll check on dessert," Adam said as he awkwardly stood up and left the dining room. No one paid any mind to him, and I almost felt bad for the guy. Actually, not really.

Brenton pumped his fist in the air encouragingly. "Look at my big bro go!" He paused. "Do older women really deliver as good as they say?"

"Brenton Wilhelm Parker!" Mom cried.

"How dare you speak about my fiancée like that!" Niko shouted at Brenton. He glanced at Mom and Vanessa, and once he was sure they weren't looking he mouthed, Hell yeah.

I groaned at my pig brothers. They were absolutely disgusting.

"I will have a talk with you later," Mom scolded Brenton before focusing her attention on Niko. "Darling, you're only twenty-three years old. Why on earth would you get involved with an old woman?"

"Older," Vanessa corrected. "Thirty isn't old."

Mom looked at her with distaste. "First you deceive my son, and now you are trying to chastise his mother in her own house?"

"So how about that chicken?" I said in hopes of alleviating the tension in the room.

"Mmm smells delicious!" Brenton joined in.

I lifted the lid from the pot of the dish Adam made that I could not pronounce to save my life, but Mom slammed it shut before I could help myself. "Daniella, please, let's not be inconsiderate toward our vegetarian guest," she said in a sickly sweet voice.

Niko sighed. "Mom..."

"So what is it that you do?" Mom asked Vanessa.

"I'm a Professor in the culinary arts department at Penbrooke University."

"That's a real program?" Alex asked, genuinely intrigued.

"Quiet, Alexander," Mom snapped. She rubbed her fingers against her temples. "Please don't tell me you were Nikolas' instructor."

"We started dating after I graduated," he offered, but that wasn't helping his case.

Brenton gazed at Vanessa lustfully. "I need to transfer to Penbrooke."

"That's it." Mom abruptly stood up. "You, you, and you, go upstairs." She pointed at Brenton, Alex, and me.

Alex frowned. "What about dinner?"

She let out a sigh. "You have ten seconds to make your plates."

The three of us quickly dumped the mysterious French chicken, bread rolls, and caesar salad on our plates before exiting the dining room and going upstairs. Alex was about to go to his room, but Brenton grabbed his arm to stop him.

"You're a teenager now, you get to eavesdrop."

Alex grinned excitedly and sat on the stairs with us as we ate our dinner and listened to the conversation below.

"You don't know what's good for me!" we heard Niko yell.

"She seduced you," Mom argued. "She abused her position of power as your instructor, and—"

"She's the reason I got the assistant instructor job," he retorted.

I shuddered when I heard Mom's icy laugh. "Oh, and does she compensate you with a paycheque or with what's between her legs?"

"Mrs. Parker, please!" what sounded like Vanessa's voice added to the mix.

"You need to stop talking before I call the university right now and share the happenings of your little affair with them," Mom warned.

"Mom, stop it!" Niko shouted.

"Is she the reason you took a year off after your graduation?" Mom questioned. "You had a year to make foolish mistakes, but you need to shape up if you're going to law school."

"About that..."

"Oh, shit," Brenton whispered with amusement etched on his face.

"Nikolas Germaine Parker, if you dare utter what I think you're about to say, so help me God..."

"I want to go to culinary school."

Alex's jaw dropped and his fork fell out of his mouth, clattering on the staircase. Brenton and I clamped our hands over our little brother's mouth as we held our breath, waiting to hear if we had been caught. The yelling in the dining room was so loud no one heard the metal fork hit the ground. The peaceful second of silence only lasted, well, a second.

"You're so goddamn pretentious!" Niko's voice boomed through the house.

"I don't want my eldest son throwing his life away!" Mom yelled in the same volume. "I paid for your tuition for four years, and this is the thank-you I receive?"

"I don't want to be a lawyer!" Niko fought back. "That's what you want me to be."

"So you'd rather be homeless with a worthless degree?"

"Actually, I have a degree in culinary arts, and I'm doing—"

"I'm not speaking to you," Mom said to Vanessa.

"Mom!"

"Out," Mom suddenly said. "Both of you, get out. I don't want you coming back until your head is clear."

"If I leave, I'm not coming back," Niko warned.

"You think this cougar will stay with you once she sees you have nothing to offer?"

When we heard the sound of footsteps approaching, my brothers and I ran up the stairs to stay hidden. Niko must have been furious because he didn't even bother to say goodbye to us. Brenton softly nudged me after Niko and Vanessa stormed out of the house. I was half-expecting him to make a remark about too many people leaving the house angry today, referring to my fight with James.

"Think we made the right call telling Mom?"

Hell to the no!

"She was bound to find out regardless, right?"

"I guess." He paused. "I feel like a shitty person."

"Me too," I agreed glumly.

Today wasn't supposed to go like this. Mom was supposed to nicely help Niko reconsider if he was making the right decision or if he was being too hasty. This wasn't supposed to turn into a huge fight resulting in a whole-ass career change and Niko leaving. This summer was getting messier by the minute and it had only just started.

~*~

"It's me...again," I said into my phone for the third time. "Please call me back, or just come home. You know how Mom gets. Please, Niko..."

Holden snatched my phone out of my hands and hung up.

"What the hell, Rollins?" I grabbed it back from him.

"Let him blow off some steam and he'll come back to his senses," he promised.

I folded my arms across my chest and slumped in my seat. "I guess you're right." It had been almost an entire day since the dinner fiasco, but Niko was nowhere to be found. He must have been livid to avoid my calls for this long, not that I could blame him.

"Here." Brenton brought over three sodas, placing a can of root beer in front of me as he slid into the booth next to me.

"Brent, I don't really like root—"

"Suck it up," he grumbled. "I'm not going back to the counter again."

I was about to tell him off but when I peered over my shoulder at the front counter and saw Amber waiting for a takeout order, I decided to cut my brother some slack.

"Want me to go?" I offered.

"And interact with the enemy? Hell no, your ass is staying right here." He swapped my root beer with his orange soda, and I smiled in content. One brother was already ignoring me, and I didn't want to make it two. Sorry, Amber.

"Want me to tell the cook to spit in her food?" Holden suggested in an attempt to cheer Brenton up.

Brenton's eyes lit up. "Can you?"

"Of course..." Holden froze when he saw my glare. "...not! Sorry, just remembered my dad's supervising the kitchen today."

"Bummer," Brenton grumbled.

"I should call him again," I said as I turned on my cell phone and searched for Niko's contact.

Brenton swiped my cell phone and placed it on the table. "What you should do is make-up with your boyfriend before he leaves and another one of your depressive episodes begin."

"You two still haven't seen each other?" Holden asked in disbelief.

I shook my head. "This is a new fight."

"That's rough," he said awkwardly. I couldn't blame him, clearly, James and I couldn't go a day without fighting, but Brenton was right. Even if I didn't want to apologize, which I really didn't, I also didn't want James to return to Penbrooke early. It was time for me to be the bigger person.

~*~

"What was so important that you had to see me at a park?" was how my boyfriend greeted me.

"You forgot your shirt." I raised the v-neck t-shirt in my hand.

He did not look amused. "Is that why you called me here?"

"And to say I'm sorry." When I saw the curious expression on his face, I continued with my apology. "What I said was totally out of line, and I should've told you about the police situation sooner. I promise I'll try to be more responsible, but I don't want to fight anymore."

James had a straight face but when the edges of his mouth twitched I knew he was bluffing. "No more secrets?"

I nodded. "No more secrets. Now kiss me."

He laughed but obliged, lowering his head to capture my lips with his. When we heard the sound of a throat clearing, we pulled apart to see a disappointed mother with her two young children. I muttered an apology and we swiftly walked away, both of us trying not to laugh.

"Why'd you call me here?" James asked once we were far enough away from the mother and her impressionable children.

I dug into my bag and pulled out a rollerskate. "I thought we could have a fun little evening."

I had fully prepared myself to dedicate at least five minutes of whining to convince James, but somehow he agreed without any pressure. "Be warned, my team won the local amateur roller derby when I was ten."

Great. The one time I thought I had the upper hand, and once again I was disproved. He really was the jack of all trades.