Chapter Thirty-Four

It was at least two o’clock in the morning, and despite having traveled all day, Polly didn’t even care.

She and Parker had been sitting together in the cabin’s family room for hours, lazing through a dinner and some wine as they traded stories and basically caught up on all the goings on of their lives for the last few months, especially since Parker’s last deployment. He told Polly stories – all vague enough not to violate national security – of missions and failures that made her hair stand on end, and made her even more thankful he was sitting on the couch across from her, and not holed up a cave somewhere, even if it was only for ten days.

Polly told him about the implosion of her marriage, Matthew’s apparent penchant for escorts and a fabu new pair of Jimmy Choo’s she just bought.

In short, they talked, bickered, laughed and lounged as though the two of them hadn’t been apart for more than a few hours, rather than a few months.

And in those few hours, Polly realized how much she had missed Parker as her anchor, and as the one to tell her what would be best for her when it came to her marriage, her career, hell, her life.

“There’s something you aren’t telling me,” Parker said, a bit sloshily from the wine they had shared. “I could always tell when you were evading the truth, or avoiding telling someone something. C’mon, spill. I’ve been patient all night. Tell it, twin.”

Polly swallowed, and knew Parker was watching the tell tale flush of her cheeks. “What?” She asked coyly, and he snickered. 

“You have a secret. Spill it. I know torture techniques, you know,” Parker replied easily.

“Gosh, that’s a great conversation starter. I’m going to have to remember that for my next mixer.”

“Mixer?” Parker snorted. “When? 1978?”

Polly launched a pillow at his head for good measure, but he continued to press her until she finally gave in and confessed. “So, Chase Colton is living up here.”

“Yeah. He bought the land to build a house, remember?” Parker said with a ‘yeah, duh’ tone to his voice.

“And he… stopped by.”

“Once?”

“Kind of a lot,” Polly said, still blushing. “He’s… nice.”

“You still have a crush on Chase Colton,” Parker said, his voice the sing song tone of a third grader on the playground. “You luuuuuuuuuuve Chase Colton.”

“I do not luuuuuuve him,” Polly echoed. “It was just very – helpful.”

“What? In scratching your itch?”

“Parker, ish!” Polly shot back. “He, you know, built fires and stuff.”

Parker studied her for a long moment. “You actually do like him still, don’t you?”

“He’s different than he was in high school. Better. And he’s been really nice to me. And he has a super cute dog,” Polly added as an afterthought, slyly avoiding answering Parker’s real question.

“Now there’s a reason to like someone. Quality dog,” Parker retorted. “You always had a thing for him, didn’t you? In fact, wasn’t he the one that…”

Polly put up a hand to silence him. “There are certain things ladies do not discuss.”

“You’re no lady, hooker,” Parker said, reverting to a childhood teasing name, a word they picked up long before they knew what it meant, and it stuck.

“You’re a jackass, perv,” Polly shot back without missing a beat, using another choice elementary school word.

“You want to know something?” Parker asked as they both stopped laughing. “I kind of always wanted you and Chase to get together. My twin and my best friend – that way I wouldn’t have to split my time between you guys, because we’d be all together.”

“Yeah, that’s a great plan, what with him here and me in California, and more importantly, you stationed in some desert on the other side of the world,” Polly replied tartly.

“I get vacation time,” Parker shot back and Polly laughed.

“You really wanted us to get together?”

“Why do you think I was always trying to put you guys in each other’s paths? It didn’t work, true, but I tried,” Parker said evenly. “And now look – you guys like each other and I didn’t even have to play matchmaker.”

“Speaking of matchmaker…” Polly piped up, sipping from her wine glass. “Tell me about Mae Jacobs.”

At the mention of her name, it was Parker’s turn to blush even as he choked on his mouthful of wine. 

“You know she’s like, a decade younger than you,” Polly said teasingly.

“Matthew is a decade older than you,” Parker replied.

“Yeah,” Polly said sarcastically. “And look how well that turned out.”

“Yeah,” Parker said thoughtfully. “That’s true. I should probably stop using that as an example. And stop changing the subject.”

“What’s the subject?”

“You and Colton hooking up.”

“Well, there’s just one little problem with that,” Polly said softly. “And it has to do with a marriage certificate I have back in California.”

Parker nodded slowly. “I’m a SEAL – I could make it look like an accident,” he said, though Polly knew he was teasing. “You know, if you ask nicely.”

“You,” Polly said, gesturing towards him, “have had way too much wine. No more wine for you.”

“I’m on Afghan time. It’s like, Miller Time for me right now.”

“It’s sleepy time for me right now,” Polly shot back. “I have to dream up some way to get you and Mae into each other’s paths – that’s the expression you used, right?”

Parker flushed, gulped down his wine and slammed his glass down on the coffee table. “G’night, twin.”

Polly giggled all the way to bed at the thought of hooking up hyper but adorable Mae and goofy but accomplished Parker.

It was a perfect plan.

And it would keep her mind off Chase Colton, and the inevitable reunion that would follow once he knew she was back in town.

Assuming, of course, he wanted to see her at all.

Which would be worse, Polly mused, crawling under the covers: to have him avoid her, or to have the awkward reunion.

It was a toss up.

She was still debating the pros and cons when she fell fast asleep.

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