Bonus Kisses - Freya Barker Page 0,65

after her, but decide instead to get those burgers on the grill. Maybe it’s better to let her do what she thinks she needs to do without interfering.

I get it. Things have changed from when the kids left for Kentucky in a major way. It’s been good to have this time alone to find our footing, but that’s about to change.

I suspect a good part of her panic has less to do with the kids, and more with her parents, though, and if I’m honest, I’m not exactly looking forward to that confrontation either.

“I can’t eat,” she announces half an hour later, after having taken one bite of her burger.

She came down a few minutes ago, her face washed and dressed in a navy pair of shorts and some flowery top I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Nicky wear before. Her hair is tied back at the nape of her neck and she doesn’t look like herself, but I wisely keep my mouth shut.

“Eat a little more,” I urge her, but her eyes shoot fire in response. I ignore it and take another bite, both dogs sitting in the grass, eyes glued to the food.

“I don’t get how you can eat at all,” she snaps. “They could be here any minute.”

“You’re getting worked up over nothing, Taz.” I try to be reasonable, but I can tell right away that doesn’t exactly go over well.

“Nothing?” She jumps up from the steps where we were sitting. “You won’t call it nothing when Mom sniffs out what we’ve been up to while they were gone.” She leans close and hisses, “And trust me she will.”

Right. Time to get this under control.

I get up, set my plate next to Taz’s on the railing—to the great disappointment of the pups— and put my hands on her shoulders, backing her against the brick.

“If she does, we deal. The state you’re in, I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t cotton on. You need to settle down.”

“Don’t tell me to settle down!”

I slide my hands up her neck and rest them on either side of her face, leaning in close. “It’ll be fine. Whatever happens, we handle it together. You’re not alone in this, Sweets. I’m right beside you.”

Her face softens a fraction, but she’s not quite done yet. “But—”

I don’t let her finish and head straight for the last resort, shutting her up with my mouth on hers. Her body immediately goes rigid, but with a little coaxing her lips part, letting me in, and her hands fist in my shirt.

Then the dogs start barking as a voice sounds from inside.

“Daddy! We’re home!”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Taz

I feel my mother’s eyes scrutinizing me as she joins me in the kitchen.

Rafe is upstairs, putting the kids to bed. They’ve been glued to him ever since they walked in half an hour ago. Spencer announced within minutes of getting home that he was ’starving’ so I pulled out some cheese and crackers, which both he and Sofie devoured in no time, regaling us with excited stories all the while. It didn’t take long for them to burn off their energy and were half asleep when their dad announced bedtime.

I left Mom and Dad to finish the drinks Rafe poured them, to tidy the kitchen. Hiding out, more accurately. Not just to avoid them, but to come to terms with my father’s appearance.

He’s not doing well.

I’m a nurse, I understand the stages of Parkinson’s, and it’s clear to me sometime over the past week and a bit, Dad has deteriorated. He’s been pretty lucky so far, the first stages of the disease having been slow in progressing, but it’s obvious things are changing.

His face is almost expressionless. That wasn’t the case before. Sure, he had a few tics and twitches, which is common, but those muscular spasms have been replaced with lack of muscle movement altogether. I also noticed his hand missing his glass several times because of the increased tremors. When Mom finally picked it up and put it to his lips, I had to look away.

It’s clear this last adjustment in his medication is not working effectively.

Parkinson’s may be incurable, but in and of itself it’s not necessarily fatal. It’s the complications in the more progressed stages of the disease that can be lethal.

“You noticed.”

I turn to face Mom as she glances over her shoulder into the living room before stepping closer.

“Hard not to,” I admit. “Does he?”

She nods. “I wanted to come home right away, but he insisted on staying until today