When Life Happened by Jewel E. Ann
Chapter Five
Gus. He seemed to be a major part of Parker figuring out how to accomplish the day’s tasks. She needed to get going, which meant she needed to find him. Creeping up the stairs, she listened for any sign of him.
“Gus?” She flinched, startled by how loud her voice sounded in a house with such tall ceilings.
“Parker.”
She tiptoed down the hallway toward the sound of his voice. Why was she creeping? She didn’t know.
“Gus?” Her tone escalated to a warning. Shirtless Gus wrecked her composure. An accidental glimpse of naked Gus would have obliterated her fragile world.
“Parker.”
She laughed as fully-clothed Gus stepped into view, taking a seat on the bench at the end of a mammoth bed adorned with a gazillion pillows in every shade of pink imaginable.
“Don’t say my name like that. It’s … weird.”
He pulled on one white sock and then the other. “You said my name.”
Maybe Gus abused Sabrina or drank too much or … something unimaginable that explained why his wife showed so little affection. Parker liked him and that sentiment held merit given their brief acquaintanceship and her distrust of men.
She clamped her mouth shut and swallowed hard when he looked up, catching her shameless visual assessment.
“That’s…” she cleared her throat “…different. I was looking for you.”
“You were looking at my legs.” He stood.
Parker forbid her eyes from looking anywhere but straight into his eyes. But after a few seconds, she failed the stare-off.
“Pfft … you’re wearing old man jeans. Not the same. And I wasn’t looking at them.”
“You were. And how old do you think I am?”
She wasn’t dangerous. He was the dangerous one.
“Your wife is twelve years older than I am, so I assume you’re probably…” her lips twisted “…forty?”
Gus barked out a laugh. “Fucking little ballbuster. I’m six years younger than my wife.”
Younger. Parker didn’t see that coming, but it explained his lack of gray hair or flaccid skin.
“Still six years older than I am, so … old.”
Gus grinned, not at all phased by her attempts to appear uninterested in him. “Well, you found me. Whatcha need?”
After a long blink, she held up the note Sabrina left. “I need to ask you a few questions.”
He cracked another killer smile and slipped on his Cubs cap. “I’m all ears.”
The note became the new safe zone for her eyes. “Are you going to walk Rags?”
“Why would I?”
She risked a quick glance up with a squinted eye. “Um … I don’t know. I’ll do it.”
“Why?”
“Because she told me to ask you and if you aren’t going to walk him, then I need to do it.”
Amusement grew along Gus’s face. “There’s a half-acre-enclosed area for him. I never walk him. He chases birds and critters, then he passes out for the rest of the day.”
“So …”
“So, tell her I walked him if she asks.”
“But you’re not?”
He crossed his arms over his white T-shirt-clad chest. “No.”
“And … I don’t need to?”
“No.”
“Alrighty then. Next. I need Rae’s address.”
“Why?”
She sighed. “Are you going to ask me ‘why’ about everything I ask you?”
“Probably.” He returned a half smile.
Pressing her lips together, Parker shook her head and returned her focus to the note. “I’m supposed to pick up flowers and then chicken and rice soup from a local deli and deliver them to Rae today.”
“Unbelievable.” He rolled his eyes to the ceiling and rested his hands on his hips. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Of which?”
“Everything.”
“The whole list?”
“No.” He started down the hall, leaving a trail of invisible aftershave. She chased after him and his scent.
“The flowers?”
“Rae.” He rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs.
“So you’re going to pick up the flowers and get the soup?”
As soon as he reached the kitchen, he grabbed a cola from the Sub-Zero refrigerator next to dark-stained custom cabinetry hanging above white granite countertops. After gulping half of it down, Gus returned his attention to Parker. “Rae is my grandmother. It’s her birthday. She lives in assisted living. I’m not going to have some stranger deliver her flowers and soup.”
Parker tried not to be offended by his words. After all, she was a stranger to his grandmother.
“I’m sorry.” He sighed.
“No.” She shook her head. “No reason to apologize. So, you’ll take care of Rae. Great. What dry cleaner do you use?”
Gus quirked an eyebrow. “Do I look like a guy who sends shit to a dry cleaner?”
“I …” Her nose wrinkled. “I feel like that’s a trick question, so I’m not going to answer it. Let me rephrase my question. Do you know what dry cleaner Sabrina uses?”
He pursed his lips and jerked his head to the right and then to the left.
No. Fabulous.
“No problem. I’ll map out all the dry cleaners in a five-mile radius.”
She ignored his snickering.
“Who treats your lawn?”
“I treat the lawn.”
Her head snapped up. “You don’t hire a lawn care company?”
“Nope.”
How Parker managed to get herself into awkward situations remained a mystery. She drew in a deep breath. “Well, in that case, I need to know the last time you treated the lawn, and I’ll need you to take care of the dandelion overgrowth before Mrs. Westman returns in five days.”
Gus wet his lips and rubbed them together to hide his grin.
“Anything else, Parker?” Her name from his lips evoked mixed feelings. Everything about him evoked mixed feelings.
“Who do you know who’s getting married in the next few months?”
“No one.”
“Babies on the way?”
“Nope.”
“Very helpful.” She shot him a challenging look.
He shrugged and chugged the rest of his cola, tossed it in the pullout recycling bin under the counter, and headed to the back door. “Later.”
“Wait!”
Bent over, tying his brown leather work boots, he glanced back at her. “Yes?”
“What do you want for your birthday?”
He finished tying them, stood erect again, and opened the door. “I want a pony.”
A grown man wanting a pony. What the hell?
“When’s your birthday?”
“Today.”
The door slammed shut.
*
Des Moines hadmore dry cleaners than one might have thought. As unhelpful as Gus’s lack of knowledge had been to her, Parker couldn’t deny that she wasn’t someone who sent “shit” to the dry cleaner either. However, she found the right one, made the exchange, swapped hangers, and arranged them in order. The right order? Time would tell.
Like a bittersweet and unexpected gift, Assistant Brock messaged her with a list of tedious crap to accomplish before Sabrina returned from China. Having his number, Parker messaged him back hoping he would have some insight to the upcoming nuptials and tiny people entering the world. Earning his coveted number one assistant position, he sent her names, dates, and links to registries. She was grateful and intimidated at the same time.
Since Gus promised to take care of the flowers and soup for Rae, that left her with some extra time to take Rags for a walk and deal with the dandelion situation that she felt confident the lawn care guy would choose to ignore.
Feeling good about her accomplishments for the day, she clocked out and walked home.
“Coming!” Parker called to the unexpected guest knocking at her door.
“Parker.” Gus held up the birthday card she’d left for him on the counter. “‘Happy Birthday. Enjoy. He’s yours for twenty-four hours,’” he read her words.
“I was supposed to wrap him, but … well, you can plainly see the dilemma I had.” She tugged at her lip and shrugged.
“There’s a pony in my backyard—my backyard that no longer has a single dandelion in it.” Wide, whiskey eyes peered at her as his head jutted forward. “Explain.”
“Come in.” She stepped out of the way.
“I can’t come in. I have a pony to attend to in my backyard.”
“I fixed the gate, so neither Rags or Romeo should get out.”
“Romeo?”
“The pony. Supposedly, he’s good with the mares.”
“Whose pony is he?”
“A friend of a friend situation. A kid who graduated high school with me works at Prairie Meadows. He knows a lot of people who have horses. He found me a pony on short notice. Just a loaner. Don’t get too attached. They’re picking Romeo up by the end of the day tomorrow.”
Gus blinked over and over, lips parted, hands limp at his sides.
“He had surgery on his leg last year, so you can’t ride him. I hope that’s not going to ruin your birthday.”
“Sabrina told you to get me a pony for my birthday?”
“No. She told me to ask you what you wanted. Buy it. Wrap it. And message her what I bought you. I asked, and you said—”
“A pony.” He chuckled and shook his head. “I was—”
“Joking. Being an ass. Whatever. I get it. I’m not an idiot.”
“But you did, in fact, get me a pony.”
“Yes, because your wife hired me under false pretenses then left me with a ridiculously vague to-do list this morning, and then you…” Parker clenched her fists and stepped out the door, toe-to-toe with August Westman; he swallowed hard as she tilted her chin up to him. “…you were no help whatsoever. How can two people be so oblivious to what the other one is doing in their life?”
Score one for Parker. She grimaced the minute the words fell from her lips—a brilliant reflection of self-assessment.
“Oh shit.” Her eyes pinched shut while her head shook side to side.
“You don’t have to feel bad. It’s true. Sabrina and I should—”
“No. It-it’s not you. It’s me. The ‘oh shit’ was me.” Laughter and tears warred in her head. Parker’s sister and boyfriend had been sleeping together, and she had no clue until she saw it—up close and way too personal. She knew exactly how two people could be so oblivious to what the other one was doing in their life. Parker’s smile wilted as she whispered, “Thank you for inspiring a very humbling moment.”
Gus took a step back and shoved his hands into his jeans’ pockets. “Now I’m really lost.”
“Forget it.” She shook it off. “You share your birthday with your grandmother. That’s cool. Did she enjoy the soup and flowers?”
Gus nodded slowly but his expression was still the confused look from seconds earlier. The crackling of a car pulling into the gravel drive stole his focus. He glanced back over his shoulder as a black Chevy Cruz came to a stop.
“That’s my ride.”
“Is something wrong with your truck.”
She waved at her friend Mindy. “There’s a lot wrong with Old Blue, but that’s not why I have a ride for the night. I had a long first day at my new job, and I haven’t been drunk in months. Thought I’d rectify that tonight. Mindy is four months pregnant which makes her the perfect designated driver, and she’s dying to get out of the house since she spent three months at home hugging the toilet.”
Gus gave Mindy a friendly wave. Parker grabbed her purse from the floor by the door then locked it behind her.
“You named your truck?”
“Nope. My grandfather did. I just inherited it. Thought changing the name would be weird. It’s been called that forever.”
“O-kay.” He lifted his cap and scratched his head before pulling it back on. “Have a good time.”
“Thanks. Happy Birthday, Gus. Enjoy your evening with Romeo and Rags.”
“Uh-huh,” he hummed as he walked down the porch steps.
