Page 47 of The Problem with Playboys

Two EMS workers came barreling into the restaurant mere minutes later, asking Chloe to leave her mom’s side so they could tend to her. Next came a stretcher and calls into a walkie-talkie, and the growing murmurs of everyone in the restaurant, who were all now standing and staring. Chloe watched in horror, feeling so helpless. She’d never felt so horrible. Or responsible. Or more like a terrible daughter.

“We’re taking her in. You can’t ride in the ambulance, but you can meet us in the emergency room at Presbyterian.”

What a day for Chloe to not have Liam there to drive her. “Okay. Got it. I’ll hop in a cab.” Chloe grabbed some cash and tossed it on the table as they wheeled her mom out of the restaurant. When Chloe walked out onto the sidewalk to find a cab, she felt so inept. Like she’d been robbed of all ability to do anything.Keep it together.She stepped to the curb and thrust her hand in the air. Luckily, a taxi was waiting at the far end of the block, and the driver peeled away and picked her up.

Inside the cab, Chloe realized she still hadn’t heard from Parker, so she called him. The explanation of what had happened came out in a blur. A long stream of consciousness that she hoped covered all the bases, including the shock of Little Black Book.

“I’ll come and meet you at the hospital. I’m dropping Blue off at home. She’s fine.”

At least not everything was terrible. “I don’t know if that’s a great idea, Parker. She had the attack after I told her about us. And after those horrible pictures on the Little Black Book account.”

“There’s a lot to unpack here, and I do not want you to be alone, Chloe. I’m coming down there right now. I promise to stay out of the line of sight of your mom. Okay?”

The cab was pulling up to the hospital. She was terrified. And she knew that she needed two things very badly—for her mom to be okay, and for Parker to get there as soon as possible.

This was bad. Really, truly awful. That was all Parker could think as he sat in the back of the car on the way to the hospital. Everything had truly fallen apart, and for the guy who liked to say that it didn’t bother him when things were messy, everything was eating at Parker like crazy right now. Little Black Book apparently had a vendetta against him, one he’d provoked, which he had no means of fixing other than to shrink into a corner and hope they would decide to go after someone else.

More important than that, he’d hurt Chloe. Only she didn’t know it. And he’d possibly played a role in her mom having a heart attack. Things couldn’t get much worse.

There was a part of him that had always suspected a disaster would be the final result of his relationship with Chloe. But there was another part of him that had been willing to ignore the chance of that, apparently. He couldn’t decide whether it was better to be incredibly self-aware or blissfully ignorant of one’s own shortcomings. He’d vacillated between the two for most of his life, recognizing his weaknesses—he didn’t believe in love and thus it was best to use this as a guiding principle in all personal matters—and ignoring his shortcomings—not believing in love—made it blissfully simple to avoid ever being hurt by it. It certainly made things simpler. Less complicated. Less messy.

Dammit.He’d been telling Chloe to not get stressed about life being messy. When in reality, it was easy for Parker to adhere to that philosophy. He’d made his own life incredibly uncomplicated by telling himself that personal relationships didn’t mean much. Now that he was stuck in a situation where he had to accept a whole lot of blame, his heart was in jeopardy and he knew how wrong he had been. The thought of Chloe hating him forever was unthinkable. It turned any thought of the future into a black cloud.

He knew he had to talk to his dad before he faced either of the Burnett women. They would want an explanation for that photo of his dad—the one where he was kissing a woman who wasn’t his wife, on the same day he’d said, “I do.”

He dialed his dad’s number, but was surprised when his family’s longtime housekeeper, JoJo, answered the phone. “Good morning, Parker,” she said.

“Good morning. Did I call the home number? I meant to call Dad’s cell.”

“You must have done it by accident. I’m happy to hear you, though.”

Parker would love to have a leisurely conversation, but there was no time for that. “You, too. I’d love to catch up, but I really need to speak to him.”

“He’s finishing up a workout in the home gym. He should be done soon.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Are you alright, Parker?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You sound so sad. I haven’t heard that in your voice since your mom left us.”

Parker’s dad wasn’t the only tether to his mother. JoJo had known her, too. “A whole bunch of stuff went off the rails. I’m worried I might lose someone who means a lot to me.”

“Is this person sick?”

“No, thank goodness.” He did have some things to be thankful for. His chance with Chloe was still there, even if it felt like it was slipping through his fingers. “And I’m hoping I can keep her. I just have a lot to apologize for.”

“Her. That makes me happy. I’d like to see you fall in love, Parker. You’ve always been so generous of heart. You should share that with someone.”

For a moment, Parker was frozen. His brain was going at remarkable speeds, but his body was stuck. Generous of heart? “Almost no one describes me that way. And if they do, I’m giving them money.” Although it was true that Chloe had told Parker he was generous when she’d learned of his philanthropic work with the hospital. She’d seensomethingin him. Hopefully she would remember that.

“You’ve always had a heart of gold. I think it’s what made you want to make your dad proud. It’s always been your guiding principle.”

Everything she’d said churned in Parker’s mind. Why hadn’t he had a heart-to-heart with JoJo earlier? Like perhaps twenty years ago? “Maybe you’re right. And now I need to confront him about something he won’t like.”

“I’d better batten down the hatches then?”