I jogged over to the front door, my bare feet slapping against the cool tile floor. I opened the door for Parker.
“Morning,” I said.
His eyebrows rose. “You seem chipper this morning.” He made a point of smelling the air between us. “And you showered. What’s the occasion?”
“You know I could slam this door in your face,” I said with a bright smile.
He chuckled and came inside.
“Can I get you some coffee? I just brewed a pot.”
“Sure,” he said.
I poured him a mug and refilled my own. “Let’s sit out on the porch; there’s a nice breeze this morning.”
Outside, I sat on one of the lounge chairs and Parker plopped down on another.
I sat back and dropped my sunglasses over my eyes. The mid-morning sun was already making me sweat. Thankfully, the breeze from the ocean was strong enough to keep me cool. I could have easily made iced coffee, but I never liked the tast
e of it.
It was one of the main selling points of the house for me. I was close enough to the beach to have an unobstructed view, but it was about a five-minute walk down the path to get to it. During the warmer months, the beaches swarmed with people. I loved the ocean view, but needed my privacy.
I took a deep breath, inhaling the salty scent in the air. “Remember when we were kids and wouldn’t come out of the water for hours?”
Parker laughed. “Yeah.”
“Now I barely want to get my toes wet.”
“Why did you get a place by the ocean, then?”
“I love the view. Just not the sand in every crevice of my body.”
Even though Parker had sunglasses on, his gaze lingered on me a little too long. I would have done anything to know what he was thinking. Those penetrating blue eyes had a way of pulling you right in. And sometimes, even I wasn’t unaffected by them.
He turned his gaze back to the water, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “That was a good way of culling our circle of friends.”
“Hey, if they can’t cut it on a normal day with me and you on the beach, then they weren’t worthy of our friendship.”
“Speaking of school,” he said. “You know we have our fifteenth reunion coming up in a couple of years.”
I groaned. “Don’t remind me.” Even though high school brought me closer to Parker, sealing our friendship, I hated it. Parker grew into his looks senior year while it took me until college to finally feel good about my body. I wasn’t sure of the etiquette on high school reunions, but I hoped that we wouldn’t have one ever, never mind a few years from now. “Well, you’ve made a name for yourself and will probably have children by then,” I said, even though it made me sick to imagine Parker and Rachel’s children. She didn’t seem to have a motherly bone in her body.
“Maybe,” he said. “I bet you’ll have a great guy to take you.”
I snorted. “Yeah right.”
“Speaking of, any new men in your life?” Parker asked.
I took another sip of coffee; the liquid tasted like chalk. I hated talking about my love life or lack thereof. “Not at all.”
“Why is that?”
“Maybe I’ve been too busy helping you plan a wedding.”
“You’ve only been helping me for a little while. You can tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”