though she hadn’t seen Parker again since that night, maybe now was not such a good time to get in touch with him. Or maybe it could be the best time, she couldn’t help thinking. Planning her son’s birthday party would help take Kate’s mind off that grisly discovery, at least. But what about Parker? Could he use a distraction, too? It just might work.
If she used her manners, of course.
“Tell you what,” she said as she placed Brandon on his feet. “You finish getting ready for school and I’ll see what I can do. I’ll try to find a special place for your party, I promise.”
“At Mr. Parker’s?”
“I didn’t say that. But we’ll have to see. Don’t get your hopes up, okay?”
Brandon nodded. “’Kay. But I’m gonna pray about it.”
Another of her mother’s phrases Brandon had picked up. Praying about things was a good idea, if you didn’t pray for the wrong things, of course.
“Dear God,” she said as she picked up Brandon’s empty cereal bowl, “if You can see fit to help me make my son’s ninth birthday special, I would so appreciate it.”
And in the meantime, Kate would give Parker a call. After all, another one of her mother’s phrases was “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, but I have to make the effort to be strong in Christ.” Kate certainly knew that particular piece of wisdom firsthand. She could only depend on God’s grace and her own strength to take care of her son.
Now, if only Parker Buchanan would see fit to make Brandon’s wish come true.
Parker stopped drawing to listen to the phone message once again. Just to torture himself a little bit more, he reasoned.
“Hi, uh…Parker, it’s Kate. Kate Brooks. You are one tough man to track down. I had to go through an agent and a publicist to get this number.”
Only because Parker had given his publicist permission to give it to her, he thought. Just out of curiosity, and not because of a keen need to see Kate again, he reasoned. He had no idea what she wanted, but he wasn’t ready to face her again. Not right now, just after he’d been hounded by the press and questioned briefly by the police about the latest developments in the murder case. He expected the police to question him again any day now, too.
“Anyway, I need to ask you a huge favor. Can you call me, please?”
Parker listened as Kate gave him her home number. He’d had it memorized since the message had come in yesterday, but he had yet to return her call. Or delete her message. His publicist didn’t know what it was about. Kate wouldn’t say. She just needed to talk to Parker.
A favor?
What kind of favor could she want?
Getting up to pour himself another cup of black coffee, Parker stared out into the night, his two loyal German shepherds, Patch and Daisy, following him across the spacious room. On the other side of his desk in the cozy sitting area, a fire crackled in the massive stone fireplace, warding off the last of the winter chill. His office was downstairs on the back of the house, overlooking the pool he’d had renovated this winter. The row of paned windows and doors across one entire wall gave him a stunning view of the sparkling water and the moonlit gardens. He could see the dazzling white of the dogwood blossoms just on the edge of the estate. Soon the magnolias and the moon vines would be blooming. The landscapers called it a moon garden, one where all the white-flowering blossoms shone luminous and ethereal in the moonlight.
The way Kate’s pretty dress had shimmered the night of the reunion last summer.
And why was he thinking of that instead of calling Kate back? The very thing he’d so often thought of—having a conversation with Kate Brooks—now stood as a symbol of all that had kept them apart. And how many times had he thought about her over the last few months since their brief encounter at the class reunion? Just about every day, almost every waking minute.
But, as he usually did when he didn’t want to face a problem, Parker poured his heart into his work. When he needed a break, he could take the dogs on a walk over his twenty-five acres, or go fishing down at the pond or just sit out by the pool, staring at nothing. Thinking of nothing.
Thinking of her.
“Okay,” he said out loud as he turned back to his storyboard. “Get her out of your mind, man.”
Kate Brooks came from a fine, hardworking middleclass family. Although she hadn’t been as wealthy as some of their classmates in college, she’d certainly been popular. And since she’d grown up here in Magnolia Falls, she’d been on the inside track with the uppity society crowd.
Parker, on the other hand, had moved here in his senior year of high school and had never managed to fit in. His family wasn’t rich. In fact, he’d lived in a house with his widowed mother and older sister on the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. His mother had worked hard in the college cafeteria, but she’d insisted on Parker getting an education. So with money left over from his father’s insurance policy, she’d sent Parker to college. She’d died a year later.
Now his only sister was married with her own family in Atlanta, but Parker made sure she didn’t want for anything. He sent money to her regularly to help with her children’s education. He was glad to be able to do that, since it looked as though he might not ever have children of his own.
Then he thought of Kate’s son. Brandon. He’d told her he’d like to meet the little boy, though he certainly hadn’t made any effort to do so since the reunion. But then, a lot had happened since that night.
Beginning with Trevor Whittaker finding a skeleton buried on the college campus. That kind of scandal sure put a damper on any type of reunion or party. Maybe that’s why Parker hadn’t bothered pursuing Kate. He knew she was here; knew she worked hard at her job. He didn’t think she had time to date anyone, or at least he’d heard nothing to give him reason to believe that she did. He’d thought about calling her, but maybe he just liked the idea of Kate Brooks better than getting to know the real woman. Maybe he didn’t want to risk that. Because that would mean she’d have to get to know the real Parker Buchanan.
Parker looked down at Patch. The black dog with the brown spotted nose stared up at him with big eyes. “She needs a favor,” Parker said, shrugging. “What’s up with that, old boy?”
Patch made a grunt deep in his throat. Daisy looked from her master to her mate and back, then whimpered low.
“Oh, of course you’d side with Kate,” Parker said to the female dog. “You’re a woman, after all. I know y’all conspire together, right?”
Daisy gave him a quizzical look, then slid down onto the braided rug next to Patch.
Parker wondered why humans couldn’t be as loyal as animals.
The two dogs looked at each other, then back to Parker as if to say “It’s not that hard. We love each other.”
“Right,” Parker said. “Love. That has to be in there somewhere, doesn’t it?”
He stared at the phone, but he refused to listen to the message again. He didn’t believe in love. And he didn’t grant favors, even to an old friend.
