“Thank you, Wallace. That would be perfect. Since it’s across from Harrison’s room, we won’t disturb you for the puppy’s night training.”

“Then it’s done.” Wallace clapped. “The room is yours.”

“Wait—what?” Harrison glanced back and forth between them. Sophie had thought he’d be pleased to find his father such a willing convert to their cause, but he looked more hurt than anything else. “Are you serious? You’re giving her your old room? Mom’s old room? Just like that?”

A sinking feeling took over Sophie’s gut. She’d known that bedroom was weirdly shrine-like, untouched by cleaning products or time, but she’d assumed it had occasionally been used by the beloved Aunt Caroline.

Not a mother and father. Not a husband and wife.

“It doesn’t have to be that one,” she said quickly, eager to keep the peace. “I’ll be just as happy on the couch, I promise. Besides, it’ll only be for a few nights, so it doesn’t really matter where I stay.”

She might as well have not been there for all the attention the two Parks men paid her.

“Why not?” Wallace asked as he crossed his arms and squared to meet his son. “It’s been sitting there empty for twenty goddamn years.”

“Twenty-two goddamn years, you mean,” Harrison replied. “But who’s counting?”

“You, apparently.”

“Oh, right. Because I’m the weird one here. I’m the one who forbade anyone to touch anything in that room after she left.”

“I never said that.”

“Yes, you did. You said it all the time.” Harrison lifted the puppy in a protective curl against his chest. He didn’t even seem to notice that Bubbles took an equally protective pose, her eyes appraising Wallace as if trying to decide whether or not he was about to disturb her beloved master. “You said it on birthdays. You said it on holidays. You said it when I graduated. In fact, you said it anytime I showed the least desire to move on with my life.”

“I don’t remember—”

“Leave it, you said. Leave it all. I like it this way.”

The older man looked uncomfortably away. “Well, you should have known better than to listen to me.”

“I was a kid! Listening to you wasn’t really optional.”

It seemed prudent for Sophie to intervene. Whatever her family’s problems, they paled in comparison to the emotion pulsing between these two hard, stubborn men. “I didn’t mean to start anything, you two. Honestly. Why don’t I head home, and we’ll revisit this plan later? You guys can probably use the space.”

“You’re staying here,” Harrison said, turning his attention to her. His eyes were hard, but they softened as they landed on her. “You can’t abandon me yet, Sophie. Please.”