Disclaimer:
These characters aren't mine. Well, some of them are. But the important ones
are all property of MTM and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm
not making any money out of this . . . . Blah, blah, blah. You know the drill.
Miss Parker chews unsatisfactorily on a baby carrot,
steering the car with one hand and reaching for another carrot with the
other. She was so hungry, but not sure
what she wanted exactly. All she knew
was that a baby carrot wasn't hitting the spot.
" . . Miami on Thursday and then onto Boise
from there. I should be home by the
weekend," Jarod says over the car phone.
"Tori. Tori, are you even
listening?"
"Yeah, Honey.
Miami Tuesday. Boise this
weekend," she says absent-mindedly, paying more attention to the road
ahead of her than to her husband's itinerary.
But, her mixed up answers seems to amuse Imani and she lets out a little
giggle.
"No, I said . . . never mind. I can tell that your mind is
elsewhere," he sighs.
"I'm sorry," she says when she realizes
she offended him. "I was starving,
Jarod. So Imani and I are making a
quick trip to the store for some food.
I'm craving something, but I'm not sure what."
"It's too soon for cravings," he says
matter of factly, slipping slightly into doctor mode. "That doesn't usually start until a little later in the
pregnancy."
"Whatever," she dismisses him. "This baby is hungry. And who am I to deny him or her?"
"Okay, okay.
You win," he says with a laugh.
"Just make sure you don't eat all the Chocolate Chunky Peanut
Butter Binge ice cream."
"Too late," she giggles. "The little guy was craving that
earlier and we ate it for breakfast this morning. I'll make sure to get you some more, though. You just have to get back soon. We miss you."
"I will," he promises. "As soon as I finish setting up these
false leads, I'll head home. That
should keep Lyle busy for a few weeks and give us a little time to find the information
we need in the Centre's mainframe while he's away. You and Imani just be careful out there this late. I love you," he says before the phone
clicks off.
Miss Parker looks down for a second to hit the end
button on her phone. She looks back at
the road just in time to swerve and barely miss a hitchhiker leaning into the
road. In her rearview mirror, she sees
the stranded man's stalled car.
"Mommy, someone needs help," Imani chirps
from the back seat. She turns around in
her car seat to look out the back window.
"We can't stop, Baby Girl. It's a big risk. We don't know how dangerous that man is. He might try to hurt us," she explains to
the little girl.
They finally arrive to the grocery store and start
roaming the aisles. Miss Parker's buggy
is soon full after everything in the store begins to look enticing. When there's no more room left in the cart,
she decides it's probably best she just check out before she ends up with
another buggy full of food. She's
unloading the groceries at the checkout when Imani catches a glimpse of someone
familiar.
"Look who it is, Mommy," she screams,
running towards the figure.
"Imani, no!" Miss Parker says just as her
twin bends down to greet the little girl running towards him. His face was smudged with a black substance
and his hair and clothes were disheveled.
He looked a bit crazed to the casual observer, but Miss Parker caught a
bit of helplessness in his eyes for a quick moment.
"What are you doing here, Lyle?" she asks,
slightly annoyed at running into him outside of the Centre. But she also has a brief moment of maternal
instinct nag at her and she feels the need to take care of him for some
reason. "I'm just shocked to see
you in here, that's all," she says in a nicer tone. "Are you okay?"
"My car broke down a little ways back," he
explains. "And my cell phone
battery was dead. So, I had to walk to
the nearest place to try to call and get it towed."
"That's going to take hours, Lyle," she
says, feeling a little sorry for him.
She realizes that he was the stranded motorist she passed earlier and
starts to feel kind of guilty. "I
can't let you stay out here all night.
Why don't you just come home with me tonight," she offers.
"The tow truck should be here soon," he
starts.
"Not out here," she explains. "These back roads look so much alike in
the daytime. That tow truck would
probably get lost tonight in the dark.
And then if they show up, you still live almost another hour away from
here. It's already so late. You can just come home with me, and ride to
work with me in the morning. Then you
could get one of the cars from the Centre garage to use until your car gets
fixed."
"Are you sure it won't be any trouble?" he
asks, feeling a bit surprised that she's being nice to him. Maybe nice is too
strong a word. She's probably just
taking pity on him. And doing what any
person would do for another person in need.
"No trouble," she says, flashing a genuine
smile.
"Then alright," he agrees. "Let me get all this for
you." He takes out his wallet and
pulls out some bills to pay the cashier for the groceries.
"We'll meet you at the car," she tells
him, grabbing Imani's hand to take her out the store. She gets to the car and pauses briefly, trying to push down the
second and third thoughts she was having.
"What have I done? I really hope this is the right thing," they both wonder
silently as they get into the car and head towards the house.
"Bed time, young lady," Miss Parker tells
Imani the minute they walk through the door.
"I'm not sleepy," she claims, but can
barely keep her little eyes open.
"That's what you always say, Baby Girl. But then you're asleep as soon as your head
hits the pillow."
"But I want to stay up and talk to Mr. Lyle,"
she whines.
"Listen, Imani. Please don't give Mommy a hard time tonight," Miss Parker
begs. "How about I let you say
goodnight to Mr. Lyle. Will that be good enough?"
"Okay," she relents, realizing that she
better no push her luck. She runs over
to where Lyle's standing and tugs at his pants leg until he bends down eye
level with her. She surprises him with
a kiss on the cheek before she whispers "Good night" in his ear.
"Good night, kid," he says after standing
back upright and trying to get his edge back.
But it was too late. She's
already gotten to his heart.
Miss Parker and Lyle watch the little girl scurry up
the stairs and into her room.
"It looks like you've made a big impression on
her, Lyle," Miss Parker laughs, plopping down on the sofa. "I think she likes you. What kind of spell do you have her
under?"
"I think it's actually the other way around,
Parker," he confesses. "It's
just something about her that's just so . . . . I don't know. I can't really explain it."
"I know what you mean," she tells him with
a smile. "I fell in love with her
the first minute I saw her. I don't
know if it's her bright smile. Or those
gorgeous eyes. Or just the fact that
she was helpless and motherless and needed me about as much as I needed
her."
An awkward silence ensues as the two don't really
know what to talk about. For some reason, talking about work seemed out of
place. It would only remind them of the
rivalry between them.
"Imani gets up really early," she finally
says, breaking the silence. "I
should go to bed. I'll show you out to
the guest house."
"Thanks," he whispers back, not really
having any other words that seemed fitting for the moment. He wasn't used to having to deal with
feelings other than bitterness and hate where his sister was concerned. But at that moment, he was feeling more for
her than he'd ever felt about anything or anyone in his whole life.
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