Nobody knew what to expect from Addy Parker. Although their father knew they were coming, not even Wade knew what mood his wife would be in at any given time.
* * *
“My girls!” Wade Parker hugged Kendall and Lexie in turn and in no particular order.
“It’s so good to be home,” Kendall said, letting Waffles out of his carrier. The dog immediately ran to Wade, jumping up and down for attention, which their father immediately gave. They’d already walked the dog after getting off the train, so Waffles was good to tag along with Kendall toward the kitchen.
Lexie glanced toward the curved staircase in the center hall colonial leading up to the master bedroom suite. No sounds came from above, and she wondered if her mother was in a darkened room or downstairs somewhere. Her father’s silence on the subject didn’t bode well.
She picked up her pace, joining her sister and dad as they reached the kitchen. The room had been remodeled since she’d grown up here, but more so her father could keep the house current and up to date than because her mother needed a place to cook. Tonight her father had dinner waiting. He’d brought in from a local restaurant that they’d favored growing up. Which meant her mother was definitely incapacitated.
With a sigh, she pasted a smile on her face and talked with her father about his work as an investment banker, which eventually turned to him questioning Lexie about her new job.
“So how’s the working world?” he asked as they sat around the table, eating chicken Marsala.
Lexie smiled. “I’m enjoying it.”
“Barnes isn’t making you crazy? I admit when Derek said he was the one who needed an assistant, I was worried. The boy’s got his quirks.”
“Really, Dad? Glass houses and all that. Who are we to judge anyone else?” she asked, immediately jumping to Kade’s defense.
“Whoa. I didn’t mean anything except facts. He’s difficult…”
“Demanding with good reason.”
“Obstinate—”
“Stubborn.”
“Peculiar.”
“He has idiosyncrasies.” Like anxiety and ADHD he tried to keep hidden.
From how he aligned the pens on his desk any time they got out of order to his fresh coffee, to the precise way his shirts were lined up in his closet—this she knew because she’d brought his dry cleaning to his apartment and had to hang them up. She’d taken the time to undo the plastic and put the clean shirts at exactly the same width apart like the others before leaving things just as she’d found them.
“Quirks,” she added. Adorable quirks, Lexie thought.
“Protective much?” Kendall asked, putting down her fork and staring at her sister. “Someone has a thing for her boss!”
Her father’s fork clattered to the table. “You do?”
“Would you both cool it?” Lexie said, her face flaming.
“She needs to pick up a dress for a formal event Saturday night. With her boss.” Kendall waggled her eyebrows.
Lexie shot her sister an annoyed glare. “It’s a business affair.”
“At least she admits it’s an affair.” Kendall laughed, the sound musical to Lexie’s ears. Especially when they were in this house, where laughter and true happiness were rare.
Ignoring the innuendo, Lexie decided to address the elephant in the room. “Where’s Mom?”
“She’s under the weather,” Wade said, using his old fallback excuse.
“You mean she’s upstairs in your bedroom, shades drawn, hiding under the covers,” Kendall muttered.
“Actually she’s sitting in the rocker,” he said, picking up his plate and heading for the sink.
The rocker was worse than the bed. If Lexie closed her eyes, she could hear the creak of the old chair as her mother pushed back and forth in an endless cycle.
“God, why can’t the doctors do something for her?” Kendall asked. Frustrated, she shoved back her chair and began cleaning the table with her father.
Although Lexie knew she should help, she quietly left the room and made her way upstairs, her stomach in knots. She walked slowly down the hall and pushed open the double doors to her parents’ bedroom, hearing the creak of the chair before she set foot inside.
“Mom?” Lexie asked into the dark room.
No reply.
She walked farther in and sat on the edge of the bed, on her father’s side, while her mother rocked in the chair. “Mom, it’s Lexie.”
More creaking noises from the chair.
Lexie curled her legs beneath her and sighed, as frustrated as Kendall that they no longer had their mother around. Over the years, they’d had less and less of Addy and more of … this.
She wanted to be able to tell her mom about Kade, just like she’d wanted to talk to her when she’d lost her virginity after her prom and decided she was really in love with John. But her mom had been under the weather, and her father hadn’t wanted her disturbed.
“I’m falling for my boss,” Lexie said out loud, just to see if she could get a rise from her mother.
Nothing.
With a lump in her throat and the same old lead weight on her chest, she rose to her feet and walked out of the room.
With Kendall, no matter how bad things got, there was a flicker, a spark of personality, someone and something to fight for. Her mother was long gone, and Lexie feared her father hadn’t faced that fact yet. When he did, he’d have to consider putting her in a home where she could get more specialized care—and he could go on with his life. If such a thing were possible.