I let out a breath, leaving my bag with Savannah before pushing my way into the room. I draw the curtain back and the room goes silent as all three sets of eyes fall on me, a nurse, Parker’s mother and Parker. His brown eyes soften a little when he sees me and I see a smile pull at his lips but he isn’t the first to speak which is surprising given that he’s not intubated.

“Finally! Didn’t your plane land an hour ago?” Laura asks from where she stands. Firmly planted right next to Parker’s bed, his hand in hers. Her red hair by box, not nature though she swears it is, is pulled back into a low ponytail and her brown eyes are cold and icy like they always are when they’re directed at me.

“Umm traffic,” I whisper, before letting my eyes fall to Parker.

I don’t know why I’m suddenly overcome with emotion. He’s fine, he is expected to make a full recovery and yet I feel like the dam is about to burst. Maybe it’s guilt over cheating on him. Cheating on him at probably the exact moment he was getting in an accident. Everything going up in flames both physically and metaphorically. Only he didn’t know that I’d struck a match and decided to set fire to our relationship.

Fuck, I am a terrible person.

It was easy to avoid this thought when I was around Jacob. I wasn’t terrible. I was a woman in love and he was back in my life. I can’t be faulted for being in love, right? Things happen.

But you cheated. You’re a cheater and that you can be faulted for.

Now that he’s across the country and Parker is staring at me with those brown eyes that usually shine nothing but love for me, I feel like absolute shit.

And now I have to break up with him?

Well not now. Fuck no, not right now.

Laura sighs and casts a glance toward Parker. “Honestly, Audrey would have never,” she mutters under her breath but I hear it and I narrow my eyes at her. The narrative that I was simply Parker’s rebound after he broke up with his long-term girlfriend is one I’ve heard before and while it stings slightly less now, it’s still a bitter pill that she believes that he is only with me out of convenience or to fill the void of loneliness. I mean I guess you could say Parker was my rebound as well but he didn’t know that and even if he had knowledge of Jacob at all, I would never allow anyone in my life to infer that to him.

I am so glad I no longer have to worry about her as my mother-in-law.