Chapter 8

Parker stood on Ruby’s front porch. His hands had suddenly gone clammy, and he wiped them on his pants. What was wrong with him? This was almost as bad as when he had waited at the movie theater, except he shouldn’t be this nervous to help someone prepare for a baby shower. Especially because it wasn’t even his baby!

Parker raised a hand to knock, but the door swung open before he had the chance. Ruby stood in the doorway, her dark hair flowing over her shoulders. She wore an oversized T-shirt and leggings that accentuated her figure.

“Beautiful,” he murmured.

Ruby gave him a crooked smile. “Sorry?”

Parker cleared his throat. “Your house. It’s beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she said with a small laugh. “But it’s the same house you were at last night.”

“Right. But it was dark, and the sunlight accentuates its figure. I mean, structure.” Parker felt heat creep into his cheeks.

Ruby opened the door wider. “Why don’t you come in, then, and see what the sunlight does for the interior.”

Parker walked in, his arm brushing Ruby’s as he walked past. Even after seating himself on the couch in the living room, he was still aware of the spot on his arm that had touched hers. “The shower is in two days, right?”

Ruby nodded and sat in a chair across from him. “Yes. I really appreciate you offering to help. There is still so much that needs to be done, and I don’t think I could have managed on my own.”

“Well, now I feel guilty.”

“Why is that?” Ruby asked.

Parker shifted his weight on the couch, shy under Ruby’s scrutiny. “I made you promise to go out with me in exchange for my help. That wasn’t very gentlemanly of me.”

The corner of Ruby’s mouth shifted up, and her eyes seemed to be laughing at him. “You don’t need to feel bad. In fact, I think I’m getting the better end of the deal.”

“How is that?” Parker asked, intrigued. He had thought Ruby wanted nothing to do with him. Was it possible that she was finally starting to warm up to him?

“Getting out of the house would do me some good,” Ruby said with a shrug.

Or maybe her feelings toward him had just shifted toward indifference.

“Well, I’m glad to help out in any way I can,” Parker said, trying not to let her response get to him. “So, what’s first on the to-do list?”

Ruby stood and grabbed a piece of paper off the dining room table. Parker noticed that the table looked exactly as it had last night, with no diapers put together yet.

“You can choose what we start with,” she said. “Food, games, or decorations.”

“Food should be easy, right?” Parker asked. “We’ll just grab stuff from the store, and it will be ready to go.”

Ruby wrinkled her nose. “Not exactly.”

The way Ruby looked at him threw up warning signals. “What do you mean?”

“We need to make pink candy popcorn as well as fruit and yogurt parfaits with pink ribbon tied around the cups.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Parker said.

Ruby held up a finger, indicating she wasn’t finished. “We will also need to make the rainbow Thai coleslaw, chicken salad sandwiches, seven-layer dip, and a cheeseball.”

No wonder Ruby was stressed out. Just thinking about all that made Parker want to crawl under the table and hide until it was all finished. “Is all that food…necessary?”

Ruby narrowed her eyes. “Of course it is. This is a baby shower for the mayor’s wife. A lot of important people are going to be there.”

“No offense, but your brother is the mayor of a tiny town that no one outside of Amor cares about.”

“All the women on city council will be there,” Ruby said. “It is important that they are impressed and well taken care of.”

Parker stood and faced Ruby. “Who is this shower for, Katie or them?”

“Katie, of course,” Ruby spluttered.

“Does she care about the city council?”

“N-not exactly,” Ruby said. “But we’re having it for the same reasons people have wedding receptions. Gifts and showing off.”

“You have a high opinion of celebrations, I see,” Parker said.

Ruby glared at Parker and folded her arms. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“Yes, I am,” Parker said. He released a long sigh. “I just think you are going above and beyond for something you shouldn’t even be doing.” When he saw Ruby wasn’t going to budge on this, he asked, “Can we at least simplify things a little? You already ordered a cake. Do you really need pink popcorn and parfaits?”

Ruby’s glare softened. “I guess we could get rid of the popcorn. It will probably just end up ground into my carpet anyway.”

It wasn’t huge, but Parker reveled in his small victory. “Do you need both a cheeseball and seven-layer dip?”

Ruby looked at the ceiling in thought. “I guess not. Why don’t we cut the dip? I’m allergic to beans.”

Hearing this, Parker laughed in disbelief. “You were going to make something you are allergic to?”

Ruby offered him a sheepish smile. “Everyone else likes it.”

Parker shook his head, but her selflessness made Ruby more attractive in his eyes. She was willing to go to all this trouble to make food for an event she didn’t want to be at in the first place, and she was even willing to make things she couldn’t eat herself. All because someone else would enjoy it.

“One last thing,” Parker said.

Ruby cut him off with a groan. “We’ve already cut out two things. We won’t have any food left if we cut out much more.”

“Just consider it. I mean, really, rainbow Thai coleslaw? You don’t think that’s a little overboard?”

That finally pulled a laugh out of Ruby. “It looked delicious online—and apparently all the cool people are doing it.” She shook her head. “But I suppose you’re right. That one has been stressing me out the most.”

Parker gave a satisfied nod. “My work here is done, then.” He took a step toward the front door, wondering how far he’d get before Ruby stopped him. He only got halfway through that first step when Ruby cried out.

“What? You can’t leave.” Her smile had morphed into panic. “That wasn’t even the beginning of what has to be done.”

Parker couldn’t help but feel guilty at the anguish he had caused. “I was just kidding. Of course I’m staying,” he said.

Ruby frowned, then marched up to Parker and punched him in the arm, but he barely felt it. “Don’t do that. You know how stressful this is for me, on so many levels.” Ruby held her fist in the other hand and massaged the knuckles. “And apparently you find time to exercise.”

“What do you mean?” Parker asked, pretending not to be aware of how toned his arms were. Of course, if she had punched something else…say…his abs, well, she would have had a different reaction. Flying hot air balloons required a lot of arm strength to get them in the air. Once they were flying, however, not so much.

Ruby shook her head. “Never mind.”

“So, shall we go shopping?” Parker asked, hoping she’d say yes. It wasn’t that he liked shopping, but it sounded better than making tiny diapers.

Ruby stopped, a flicker of panic in her eyes. “Um…I just realized it might be better to do the food tomorrow, that way it will be fresher,” she said. “Not only that, but if we plan out the games and find out we need some supplies, you can grab them while you’re out.”

Parker studied Ruby. “You changed my ‘we’ to ‘you.’”

“Sorry?”

“I asked if we should go shopping, and then you made a point to tell me when I should buy the food,” Parker said. Good thing he’d made going out with him part of the deal, because if he didn’t know better, he’d say Ruby was trying to avoid him. Scratch that. He didn’t know better, and it made him uncomfortable helping Ruby if she didn’t want him around in the first place.

“It just seems like we’d cover more ground if I work on the decorations tomorrow while you do the shopping,” Ruby said with a shrug, though her gaze stayed on the floor.

Parker stepped closer to Ruby. “Do you want me here?”

Her gaze flickered up, then back down again. “I’m not sure,” she finally said.

Well, that solved that. “Then I’m not going to stay where I’m not wanted,” he said, turning to leave.

Ruby’s hand shot out and rested on his arm. “That’s not what I meant.” Parker turned back, surprised by the intensity in her eyes. “I do want your help.”

“You just wish it wasn’t me that was doing the helping?” Parker asked, shrugging Ruby’s hand off.

“No, it has nothing to do with you,” she said. “I just—it’s hard to explain. I’d rather not be doing this here…in my house…alone with you.”

Parker brightened at that. “Find me too irresistible?” he asked with a grin. He raised his eyebrows several times until Ruby laughed.

“Anyway, I’m having a hard time with it, but I can’t see a way around it. If we’re going to decorate or cook up the food tomorrow, we have to be here.”

Parker stepped back, wanting to give Ruby space. He enjoyed teasing her, but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. “Was last night okay? I hope I didn’t overstep my bounds by showing up here.”

Ruby nodded. “Yes,” she said, her voice suddenly quiet. “Last night was nice. You know, apart from me having a meltdown and blubbering all over you. Sorry about that, by the way.”

“Blubber anytime you feel the need,” Parker said. “And in case you’re wondering, I packed an extra shirt in my car. Just in case.”

“Just in case what?” Ruby asked, an eyebrow arched.

Parker shrugged. “You cry on my shoulder and it’s too wet for me to wear.”

“It’s not like I go around bawling my eyes out all the time,” Ruby protested.

“It would also be useful if I accidentally wear too much cologne,” Parker said, giving Ruby a quick wink.

Ruby groaned. “About that—”

“No need to explain,” Parker said, holding his hand up. “You think I smell gross. I get it.”

“No, you don’t. Not at all,” Ruby said. The way she said it made Parker pause. “I love that smell, but it was the same cologne my husband wore.”

Parker’s stomach plummeted. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t have reacted the way I did if I had known.”

Ruby offered him a small smile. “I know. I’ve never met anyone who wears the same cologne and I hadn’t smelled it except on Clark’s old shirts. The scent has faded now, of course, but I’ve held on to them just the same.” She paused. “When the smell hit me, freshly sprayed—I guess I didn’t know what to do.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Parker said, though he was completely mortified by how he had reacted, now that he knew the truth.

“I figured I owed you an explanation, considering you came over for a nice dinner, and I wasn’t exactly a gracious hostess.”

Parker smiled and sat down at the dining room table. “You’ve been lovely.” He surveyed the cloth diapers with dread, but didn’t let his smile drop. Those things weren’t going to assemble themselves, and even though he thought no one would care if they didn’t receive a poopy diaper—and in fact, they’d be grateful for it—Parker decided it didn’t matter. Sure, he thought Ruby was going over the top with everything, but he would put in the work to make sure she was happy with how the baby shower turned out. If Ruby couldn’t have one for herself, she deserved to plan the one she wished she’d had.