Finding Out After Eight Years

Chapter Four

Scarlet sat restlessly in the corner of the coffee shop, waiting for Jamie, her latte sitting in front of her getting cold, unraveling with anxiety from the last two days.

She thought of Parker and the conversation they'd shared the night before. She never expected him to show up like he did, in the pouring rain. Scarlet had dreamed of it so many times over the years about him knocking on her apartment door and forgiving her, wanting to be apart of  Andrew life, and last night something that resembled that happened.

Scarlet had insisted they speak outside in trying not to wake a sleeping Andrew. The two of them walked out the balcony.

"I didn't think you'd answer the door" Parker stated rinsing his hair dry with the towel Scarlet had given him when he'd got there.

"I didn't think you'd want to see me" Scarlet said softly hugging herself tightly with her grey knitted cardigan. Parker gave her a sad smile before speaking;

"I had to see you Scar" He looked into her green eyes, she looked tried and raw from the day she's had, it seems she had more than just the fight with him and it has obliviously taken a toll on her.

"Look about today, I shouldn't have spoken to you like that, I should have just kept my mouth shut and just listened to you" He added nervously. " I was in shock, I mean I haven't seen you in nine years"

After a few awkward moments of silence, Parker went on to explain.

"I didn't know, Scar I swear I didn't. My dad kept your letters from me, I've been overseas a lot the last couple of years and didn't receive them myself and since you didn't know where I was I didn't get them"

"Who told you I was here?" Scarlet asked realizing she should have asked sooner.

"I called Kyle," Parker told her.

Scarlet bit her lip trying to hold her tongue and not curse out her brother; she knew she'd had to see Parker again before she left but was hoping not until later in the week when she felt ready and in her own time. At that moment she felt raw and in desperate need of a shower to wash away the day and some sleep, she knew she must have looked as crap as she felt but she didn't even care, she couldn't count the times Parker had seen her at the worse over the years and when she had seen him at his worse too; especially when it came to her family and his.

"Where have you been?" Scarlet asked softly looking him in the eyes, referring to what he had mentioned before not minding if he didn't answer, she really didn't have a right to know not after what she'd done and put him through.

"It's a long story" Parker answered sharply, not wanting to get into it. Scarlet pulled out a pack of smokes from her back pocket along with a lighter, offering Parker but he declined, one before dropping the pack on the table.

Scarlet walked over to the edge of the railing lighting her cigarette, taking a long drag before speaking. "I haven't smoked in years, not since I was a teenager before I had Andrew, But I had to deal with mum today I always used to chain smoke around her, and I just had to buy a pack"

"I remember, we all used to you, me, Kyle, Maddison; she used to buy them for the lot of us" Parker said with a light laugh at the memory.

"Look, Parker, I've had a hell of a day and really just need a shower and to get to bed. So why are you here exactly? Other than to see me?"

Scarlet managed to finish her cigarette before Parker could get his mind together enough to answer, he really had no clue why he'd raced over here at ten O'clock at night just to talk to her.

"I don't know Scar. What does he think about me? Does he think that I abandoned him?" Parker asked Scarlet could tell how scared he looked "I wouldn't blame him if that's what he thinks I haven't been there, I did abandon him" Parker stated before Scarlet could answer his last question.