But he was alone in this. Their parents, Lowell and Tess James, had always been severely overprotective with their younger child, sheltering Amory from everything. Including him.
“These kittens are a long way from Arizona,” Parker told her. “How’s it going? What are you up to?” he asked, trying to get her off the subject of the kittens. The last thing he needed was to further alienate his parents by giving his sister a pet. “How’s school?”
She was in a year-round school. The current plan was to keep Amory enrolled until she could get her GED. After that, she hoped to graduate from cleanup girl at the florist shop to actually making floral arrangements.
“School is stupid,” Amory said. “But work’s good. They let me make an arrangement last week!”
“Yeah?” he asked, smiling at her excitement. In his world, he often operated from a place where he was knee deep in the garbage of the world. Amory had always been his happy spot. This past week he’d added Zoe and Oreo, and now a pack of two kittens to that happy spot. Look at him, expanding his world without getting on a plane to do it . . .
“I made it for Tiffany,” Amory said. “She works at the rec center. It was her birthday and I got to put it together all by myself!”
Parker could practically hear her beaming. “That’s great, Am. Did you go on that rec-center-sponsored camping trip last weekend?”
“No,” she said. “I had a cold. Mom thought I should stay home.”
Parker rubbed the tension between his eyes. “I’m sorry to hear that. I know how you wanted to sleep under the stars and stay up late, and go on that full moon hike.”
“It’s okay. I mean, I’m sorry I didn’t get to go. I know you paid for the trip, but me and Henry got to sit in the backyard. Mom made us hot chocolate.”
“How’s Henry?”
“Great! He got moved from the gardening department to inside! He gets to sweep the store every night before it closes! The whole store! He’s got the best job ever. So when will you bring me a kitty?”
Parker wanted her to get everything her heart desired. She deserved it, but he wasn’t going home again anytime soon, and when he did, he wouldn’t bring her a kitten unless it was parent-approved, which it wouldn’t be.
“Please, Parker?” she asked. “Please come to see me. It’s been like a year.”
“It’s been two weeks,” he said with a laugh. He’d slipped into town and visited her at work, and then vanished again like smoke just before coming to Idaho. Although, granted, it had been six months before that since his last visit.
The truth was, his parents made visiting difficult and uncomfortable, and selfishly he let that keep him away from Amory. He’d have loved to show her the world in person instead of through pictures, but that wasn’t going to happen. For years their parents had said she was too young, but more recently, after he’d brought danger to their front door, the subject had been dropped completely.
And he got it. He got it all too well. It had been a year since someone—Parker suspected Carver—had shown up on his parents’ doorstep asking for Parker.
With a gun.
The police had never figured out who it was, and it hadn’t happened again, but it was yet another reason to stay away. Zoe might call him Mr. Mysterious, but the truth was he was just extremely cautious. Borderline OCD cautious. He had to be.
He got that it kept people from getting too close to him, that it was a big turnoff to Zoe and just one more reason not to get involved.
But he’d already opened up to her much more than he should have, certainly more than he’d ever intended. More than he’d ever done with another woman.
“I’ve texted you every day, Amory,” he reminded her.