“What?” his mother interrupted to ask. “Continue to fill her head with ideas of traveling and living her life the way you do?”
“Not the way I do,” Parker said. God no. He worked 24/7. Hell, he worked even when he was on “vacation.” He lived and breathed the job and didn’t have much of a life outside that job. And he’d made that work for him.
But the fact that he’d run so far and hard away from his workaholic parents and the life they’d chosen, only to also be a workaholic in his own field, didn’t escape him.
The apple, in spite of its best efforts, hadn’t landed all that far from the tree.
But he didn’t want his life for anyone, especially his sister. He sighed. He knew they thought he was being too hard on them, that they were doing the best they could. “All I want for Amory is happiness,” he said. “That’s the bottom line, the most important thing. Thanks to you both, she has a good life. You’ve always been there for her.”
“We’re not the only ones,” his mother admitted. “You’ve given her as much of yourself and your time as you can; we know this. But she’s getting the wrong idea.”
“Mom,” he said as gently as he could. “You’re underestimating her. You’re holding the reins just a little too tight. You’re asking for her to rebel—”
“She was hurt, Parker,” his mom said. “A concussion. A broken arm. She was hurt and devastated, and it nearly killed her spirit to know what the real world is like. Next time it could be worse; next time she . . .” She broke off with a shuddery breath.
“You keep sending her pictures of every place you land,” his dad said. “Son, she looks up to you. You have so much influence over her, I don’t know if you realize how much. She wants to be like you, she wants to do all that you do.”
Which wasn’t mining.
Or staying near the family.
“Please,” his mom said. “She’s impulsive. You have to fix this before something else happens.”
Parker shook his head. “And how do you expect me to fix it?”
“Talk to her,” his father said. “Tell her that you and she aren’t the same, that she can’t live the way you do. That she can’t run off just because she doesn’t like the answers we give her.”
“Please,” his mom said. “Before it’s too late.”
When they ended the call, Parker tried Amory again. She didn’t pick up, so he left her a voice mail and said the only thing that would fix this. “Amory, I’m coming to see you soon as I can. I promised you, remember? But now I need something from you, okay? Now that you’re eighteen, you’re a grown-up. And grown-ups understand that things don’t always happen as fast as they want.”
Yeah, he was ruthlessly manipulating her feelings, but his mom was right on one thing—Amory was incredibly impulsive. “I’m finishing up a job here shortly. I’ll be there right after,” he promised.
One way or another. “You don’t need to go anywhere. I’ll see you soon.”
He disconnected and prowled the house. He was looking for Zoe but told himself he was just making sure the house was all locked up and that the occupants were okay. Zoe’s car was in the driveway but her room was dark. Hand on her doorknob, he stilled, debating with himself for a long, tense moment there in the hallway. But in the end, he didn’t open the door.
If she’d wanted his company, she’d have left it open.
He checked the kittens next, who’d been brought back by Kaylie. They were not only okay, they were wild. He sat on the bathroom floor and played with them for a few minutes, interrupted when his phone pinged a notification.
Once again, the cameras in Cat’s Paw had been activated.
He went to the kitchen to check his laptop.