"Thanks. God, I feel a little sick. You could wish me a whole shitload of luck."
"A whole shitload of luck, Jack."
"I think I'll need it." He shoved out, strode quickly to the door.
Jack arrived at the main house at exactly the time Parker specified. He didn't want to piss her off. Twilight fell softly, sweet with the perfume of flowers. His palms were sweaty.
For the second time in more years than he could count, he rang the bell.
She answered. The gray suit, and the smooth roll of hair at the nape of her neck told him she hadn't changed from work mode. One look at her-so neat, so fresh, so lovely, made him realize how much he'd missed her.
"Hello, Parker."
"Come in, Jack."
"I wondered if I'd ever hear you say that again."
"She's ready to talk to you, so I'm ready to let you talk to her."
"Are you and I never going to be friends again?"
She looked at him, then cupped his face, kissed him lightly. "You look terrible. That goes in your favor."
"Before I talk to Emma, I want to tell you, it would've killed me to lose you. You, Laurel, Mac. It would've killed me."
This time she put her arms around him, let him hold on. "Family forgives." She gave him a squeeze before stepping back.
"What choice do we have? I'm going to give you two options, Jack, and you'll pick when you go to Emma. The first. If you don't love her-"
"Parker, I-"
"No, you don't tell me. If you don't love her, if you can't give her what she needs and wants-not just for her, but for yourself-make it a clean break. She's already forgiven you, and she'll accept it. Don't promise her what you can't give or don't want. She'd never get over that, and you'll never be happy. Second option. If you love her, if you can give her what she needs and wants-not just for her, but for yourself-I can tell you what to do, what will make the difference."
"Then tell me."
SHE WORKED LATE AND ALONE, AS SHE DID MOST NIGHTS NOW. That would have to stop soon, Emma thought. She missed people, conversations, movement. She was nearly ready to step outside the safety zone again. Clear the air, she decided, say what she had to say, then get back to being Emma.
She missed Emma, too, she realized.
She took the finished work to the cooler, then came back to clean her station.
The knock stopped her. She knew before she walked out it would be Jack. No one was more efficient than Parker.
He held an armload of bold red dahlias-and her heart twisted.
"Hello, Jack."
"Emma." He let out a breath. "Emma," he said again. "I realize it's shallow. Bringing flowers to clear the way, but-"
"They're beautiful. Thank you. Come on in."
"There's so much I want to say."
"I need to put these in water." She turned, went into the kitchen for a vase, a jug of the food she kept mixed, her snips. "I understand there are things you want to say, but there are things I need to say first."
"All right."
She began to clip the stems under water. "First, I want to apologize."
"Don't." Temper licked around the edges of his tone. "Don't do that."
"I'm going to apologize for the way I acted, for what I said. First, because when I got over myself I realized you were exhausted, upset, not feeling well, and I had-very deliberately-crossed a line."
"I don't want a damn apology."
"You're getting one, so deal with it. I was angry because you didn't give me what I wanted." She arranged the flowers, stem by stem. "I should've respected your boundaries; I didn't. You were unkind, so that's on you, but I pushed. That's on me. But the biggest issue here is we promised each other we'd stay friends, and I didn't keep that promise. I broke my word, and I'm sorry."
She looked at him now. "I'm so sorry for that, Jack."
"Fine. Are you done?"
"Not quite. I'm still your friend. I just needed some time to get back to that. It's important to me that we're still friends."
"Emma." He started to lay his hand on hers on the counter, but she slid it away, fussed with the flowers.
"These really are beautiful. Where'd you get them?"
"Your wholesaler. I called and begged, and told them they were for you."
She smiled, but kept her hand out of reach. "There. How can we not be friends when you'd think to do something like that? I don't want any hard feelings between us. We still care about each other. We'll just put the rest behind us."