Chapter Forty-Four
Gina

The sound of the phone ringing at around ten o’clock on a Saturday morning was not a welcome thing. Not after the week I had had, alternately being the victim of my boss’s bad mood at work and worrying about Parker. We hadn’t talked in a while, though Rose had told me that he had called Theresa a few days ago. I smiled a little to myself when I thought of that. Parker was always complaining about mine and Rose’s matchmaking schemes and being one of the victims of them. There was a time he would not have even tolerated Theresa just because he wanted to be adamant about us trying to put them together and now he was calling her on the phone from many states away just to talk with her. Of course, the fact that Theresa had told me that he had given the phone to Zac in the middle of their conversation was a little bit of a damper, but then, Zac lived in Oklahoma. Parker was just staying there for a while. Hopefully.

I rolled over in bed, waiting for the answering machine to pick it up after the set six rings. I decided that from now on, I was going to set it to two rings for Saturday mornings so that it was less likely I would be woken up if some poor soul attempted to make a phone call so early in the morning.

Actually, ten o’clock was by no means early for me. I had been out with Lyle, Rose, and Rose’s husband the night before. We’d seen a late showing of some horrible movie that Rose had been dying to see for some time and then gone out for something to eat afterwards. Of course, Lyle had stayed over. I only vaguely remembered him kissing me good-bye earlier in the morning. I smiled at the thought. He had been staying over much more with Parker gone. He said he felt more comfortable without Parker there, which was something I understood since Parker made no bones about not liking him at all. I pointed out to him that Parker wasn’t a little kid and could handle it if he stayed over every once in a while, but he had just smiled a little and shook his head.

I felt bad. I wished that Parker would treat him a little better and not make his dislike for the man quite as obvious, but as much as I begged and pleaded, he simply refused to do it.

I sighed in frustration and put my pillow over my head as the phone continued to ring. Apparently I hadn’t turned the answering machine on after all, which was unlike me. Either that or Lyle had turned it off. Maybe he was calling to wake me up...

Even still, that wasn’t a very good excuse for interrupting the longest stretch of sleep I had had all week.

Seeing as how the person on the other end wasn’t about to hang up any time soon, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and walked out of my bedroom, across the living room, past Parker’s empty bedroom, into the kitchen, picked up the phone and yawned into it.

“Who the hell is this?” I said in greeting, hoping to scare away any telemarketers who had the nerve to get me out of bed like this.

I heard a low whistle from the other end.

“Good morning to you, too,” Parker’s voice said.

“Parker!” I said in surprise. “Gee, haven’t heard your voice in a while. Where have you been and what excuse do you have for getting me out of bed so early in the morning?”

“What time is it over there?” he asked, his voice noticeably lacking the buoyancy it usually held. “Aren’t you ahead of us in the time zone department?”

I sighed. “It’s ten, but I went out last night.”

“With who?” his voice immediately cautious.

“Rose and her husband, and Lyle,” I said. “We went to some horribly dull movie that Rose has been wanting to see. I don’t think we would have even gone had there been nothing else playing, but...”

“Gina?”

“Yeah?”

A pause.

“What’s wrong, Parker?” I asked, keeping my voice curious though I could already feel my heart dropping. Had she told him already? Was he calling to tell me he was going to stay in Tulsa? What was going on?

“I have something important to tell you,” he said slowly, carefully.

My heart fell through the floor and buried itself six feet under the foundation of the house.

“Oh God,” I said, sitting down in one of the kitchen chairs. This wasn’t happening.

“What?” he said.

“They told you, didn’t they?”

A long pause at the other end. I felt the tears welling in my eyes. I was going to lose him, wasn’t I? Even after his promise to come back, I was going to lose him.

He wasn’t saying anything.

“I’m so sorry, Parker,” I said. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I know I should have told you before...” I was now openly crying over the phone.

“Gina, I can’t understand a word you’re saying,” he said. “What are you talking about? Told me what?”

That immediately brought up the floodgates. I stopped crying and instead felt like knocking my head against the kitchen table.

“Huh?” I said.

“What?” he said back.

“I have to go,” I said quickly.

“What? No! Gina, wait!” he said.

“Yeah, I have to go,” I said, not really listening to what he was saying. “I have things to do and it’s been a bad week. I should go. Bye, Parker.”

“Gina!”

I put the phone back in its cradle, not believing what I had just done. I had hung up on my own son. I had almost told him. I couldn’t believe I had almost told him. What was I thinking? He didn’t even know yet. Was he going to suspect something now? What was he going to think?

I was an idiot. What had I done? What if she wasn’t even going to tell him? Now she might have to. If he even thought that’s what I had been talking about.

Shit shit shit. I was an idiot.

The phone rang again and I was tempted to push it away, but instead I picked it up and asked testily.

“Hello?”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“‘Morning,” Lyle’s voice said.

Oh good. Lyle. I brightened a little.

“Hey,” I said. “You left early this morning.”

“Had to be to work,” he said and I could hear his shrug. “Want to meet somewhere for lunch? I’m off in an hour.”

“Short day, huh?” I said.

“Yep,” he replied. “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Chill and Grill sound good?”

“Sounds great,” he said. “Meet you there at noon?”

“Sure,” I said.

“All right,” he said. “See ya then.”

“See ya.”

And we both hung up.

It was then that it occurred to me that I didn’t know what important thing Parker had been trying to tell me. I shrugged it off, not brave enough to call the Hansons. If I did, he’d ask me all kinds of questions that I wanted Annie to answer. So I turned on the answering machine and went into the abnormally clean bathroom (amazing how much grime and dirt and things teenage boys generate) to take a shower and ready myself for my lunch date with Lyle.

Why do I get the feeling I should go hide from my e-mail after such a scene with Lyle?
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Five