Well, that one stung. But do I have a right to be upset? She can’t exactly throw something in my face to hurt me when she has no idea I’ll be hurt by it in the first place.

Parker moves to a drawer beside me, grabbing a silicone spatula. “Look, I’m sorry about last night⁠—”

“You don’t have to be sorry⁠—”

“Double-checking the doors isn’t an every night kind of thing.”

Parker didn’t just double-check the doors. She infinity checked them every single night for the past three days.

“Does it have to do with your back?”

I watch the way her shoulders tense as she freezes and immediately, I feel sick.

“I just have a little anxiety after a break-in a while ago.”

My arms folded across my chest drop to my sides. “Someone broke into your apartment?”

“I was asleep.” Parker turns. “Nothing bad happened though.”

“We clearly have very different definitions of bad,” I snap because the thought of someone violating her space while she’s vulnerable leads me to fist my hands into tight balls. Her downplaying it makes me more frustrated, just as it did when I rushed home after the event. “Parker⁠—”

“Can we drop this?”

“No. Absolutely not.”

She raises an eyebrow, shocked by my challenge.

“I need you to tell me what’s really going on,” I say softly. “I’ll help you blindly. But I’ll help you better if you show me how to do that.”

Her eyes drift to the side. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

Parker’s attention snaps back to me, her face hardened, stoic.

“I believed you when you told me lightening came from a big camera in the sky.” I watch the softening of her face fight through the tough front she’s forcing.

“I wanted to keep playing hide and seek. I lied so you wouldn’t be scared of the storm. We were kids then,” she reminds me.

I shrug. “Maybe I grew up, just not out of the part where I always believe you.”

Parker hangs her head. But all I get is a bitter taste of her silence and secrets.

“Fine. I’ll be going with you to the campaign events from now on. I refuse to have any more frantic calls from my wife when she feels unsafe in a place I’m not.”

Parker flings her face up. “We’re not married yet,” she reminds me.

“We will be. And I’ll be at your side for every event leading up until I leave for camp in July. After that, we’ll figure something else out. Don’t even try to argue.” I glance at the front door. “Now be honest with me. Is there somewhere else you’d feel safer living?”

Parker snorts. “If I say yes, are you going to move?”

“Yes.”