Parrot smiled. “That’s a good way to put it.”
“Excuse me, GiGi?”
I glanced over my shoulder. David, my
boyfriend
, stood across the barn in the doorway backlit by a ray of sun that filtered through the cloudy sky. My stomach fluttered. With my preoccupation with my translation program, I’d barely seen him in the past week. And I certainly hadn’t gotten any more of his yummy kisses.
“Be right back,” I said to Parrot, who smiled and nodded. I jogged across the barn to my
boyfriend
David.
His dark eyes crinkled. “Hey, gorgeous. Long time no see.”
“Hey.”
David took my hand. “TL’s sending me to Egypt to help Piper and Curtis with a few things.”
My joy at seeing him drained away. “What?”
“I’m leaving tomorrow morning. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Do you want to go for a walk or something? Just the two of us?”
But I’d be leaving for South America in a few weeks. What if David didn’t get back before I left? It’d be forever before we saw each other again. “What are you helping them with?”
He squeezed my hand. “I’m not allowed to say. I’m sorry.”
Nodding, I looked down at our joined hands. “It sucks having secrets.”
David moved closer. “Yes, it does. But one day we’ll both have the clearance to talk freely with each other about our work.”
He had more clearance than any of us.
A breeze flowed in, messing my hair. He smoothed the stray strands from my cheek. “So what do you say? Want to go for a walk?”
I glanced back through the barn to the stalls. I didn’t want Parrot to be alone. He needed somebody other than his horse, and I wanted him to know he could count on me as a friend.
With a soft smile, I turned to David. “I would
love
to spend time with you.
Believe
me. But Parrot’s back there all alone, and I think he needs a friend right now. I’m sorry. Please understand.”
Making the right decision, picking Parrot over David, a friend over my boyfriend, brought me peace and a sense of maturity I’d never experienced before.
David kissed my cheek. “Don’t apologize. Your dedication to your friends is one of the many reasons I adore you. We’ll find each other later.”
He slipped something from his back pocket and brought it around. A lollipop! I grinned. He was the greatest guy on the entire planet. He handed it to me and gave me another quick kiss.
“That’s forty-one,” I said as he stepped away.
He looked at me, clearly not understanding, then it dawned on him, and he smiled. “No, it’s thirty-nine.”
I watched him stroll away, scrolling my mind through every kiss. I never miscalculated anything. Surely, he’d made a mistake.
Then it hit me, and I giggled silently to myself. I’d included the kisses in my dreams last night.
I’m such a goof.
I made my way back to the stall and peeked over the door again. With his eyes closed, Parrot sat propped against the wall, his legs outstretched in the hay. His horse stood beside him with her head hung low, resting her muzzle on his shoulder.
The tender scene brought a small smile to my face.
“Thanks for staying,” Parrot whispered, not opening his eyes.
His heartfelt words flowed through me, settling a content warmth in my soul. I was so glad I’d made the decision I’d made. “You’re welcome,” I whispered back.
I unlatched the stall door, stepped inside, and relatched. Shuffling across the hay-covered floor, I slid down beside Parrot, linked fingers with him, and laid my head on his shoulder.
Closing my eyes, I listened to his horse breathing. I inhaled the scent of clean hay and absorbed the slight lifting of his shoulder as he breathed.
Time passed, and the three of us stayed like that—Parrot and I quietly bonding and his horse breathing softly on his shoulder.
A few minutes later, Parrot rested his cheek on my head. “I never met my dad.”
My heart gave a slow thump, realizing Parrot was about to open up a bit. “No?”
“He died before I was born.”
How sad. At least I had
some
memories of mine. “Do you have any pictures of him?”
“Some. I don’t look anything like him.”
“You look like your mom?”
He lifted his cheek from my head. “My grandmother, actually. Or, at least, what she looked like before she got sick.”
“Sick? Is she . . . gone?” Death was never an easy topic to discuss. Most people dodged it altogether. Only someone who had experienced it could truly understand the depth the pain ran.
Parrot nodded. “She was sick a long time. I have no idea what she died of. She refused to go to the doctors.”
“Did she raise you?”
Silence.
“I guess that’s what you could call it,” he cryptically answered.
I imagined if she was sick, Parrot probably raised himself while taking care of her. “And your mom?” I asked.
“I had her until I was seven, and then my grandmother took over, but she was already sick at that point.”
“What happened to your mom?”
Seconds ticked by quietly, and, from his silence, I knew the subject of his mom was closest to his heart and most likely off limits.
He laid his cheek back on my head. “I don’t know,” he said so quietly I almost didn’t hear him. “I don’t know where she is.”
“Is TL trying to find her?”
“Yes.”
I squeezed his hand. “Then he will.”
With a quiet sigh, Parrot got to his feet. He paced the stall, not looking at me, obviously in deep thought. With each turn of his pace, I detected agitation growing in him. Finally, he shook his head. “I don’t know, GiGi, I don’t know. He should have found her by now.”
“Parrot . . .” Even I knew the difficulties in finding someone.
“With all the technology and the resources around this place. With all the people he knows. He should have found her.”
“Parrot . . .” He was getting agitated, a side of him I’d never seen before.
He pointed his finger at me. “And you know what just occurred to me? TL’s manipulating me just like Talon did. All everybody wants from me is my language ability, and no one gives me anything in return.”
I got to my feet. “That’s not true.”
“TL’s used me for exactly what he wanted, and he hasn’t come through with his end of the bargain yet in finding my mother.”
“Parrot . . .” I didn’t know what to say. I knew exactly how he felt. I’d felt the same way a couple of times.
Parrot kicked some hay across the stall. “I should give him an ultimatum, just like you did. Find my mother or I’m leaving the Specialists.”
“You don’t want to do that. I made a
huge
mistake when I did that. There are other ways to handle your frustration. And I realize that now because of all the mess I got in with bulldogging my way to Barracuda Key and getting Eduardo.” I took a step toward him. “Please listen to me—”
Parrot spun toward me. “I’m
tired
of listening. I’m
tired
of doing what people want. I’m
tired
of not getting what I want.”
I put my hand over my heart, feeling his frustration all the way to the core of my soul. “I know what it’s like to lose a parent and to do anything for retribution or to get that parent back. Not many people can say they understand what you’re feeling, but you
know
I do. All of us here are like you in one way or another. None of us have homes, have families. You don’t want to leave. Please, please,
please,
listen to me and believe what TL has told you. He
will
find your mother.”
Parrot closed his eyes and dropped his head back. “I just want my life to make sense. I want things, for once, to come together for me.”
I closed the small distance between us. “I want the same thing. I want my life to make sense, too. I want to feel settled. I want to feel completed. Being here with all of you is the first time I’ve felt a smidgen of wholeness.” I grabbed his arm. “And I know you feel the same way. Trust that feeling. It’s a good thing. It’s right. You’re meant to be here.”
He opened his eyes and looked straight into mine.
“Don’t let personal emotions cloud your judgment. It’s okay to trust us, your team. We love you.” I smiled. “
I
love you. I won’t let anything happen to you. Just like I know you won’t let anything happen to me.”
Parrot stared deep into my eyes, then reached out and pulled me into his arms.
I hugged him hard, hoping he felt my raw honesty. Hoping he made the right decision.
He pulled out of our hug a good solid minute later. “Who knew you’d turn out to be the resident psychologist?” he said, smiling.
We both chuckled at that.
Parrot nodded. “I’m going to do this mission. And afterward, if TL still hasn’t found my mother, well, we’ll see.”
It wasn’t exactly what I had hoped to hear, but it was something. And I understood where Parrot was coming from. Now all I could do was hope that he decided to stay, and I wondered if I could somehow help find his mom.
later that night, I went for a walk. With all the talk about Parrot’s family, I was missing my parents a lot. I needed to clear my head. As I made my way out of the ranch into the yard, I found David near the pool. With a three-quarters moon and a clear sky full of stars, it cast a romantic aura over the quiet night.
He lay on a lounge chair staring up at the stars, and as I approached, he lifted his head and smiled.
Holding out his hand, David nodded me toward him, and I crawled onto his lounge chair. Neither one of us spoke a word as we lay side by side, holding hands, staring up at the sky.
Some time later, he pulled me close, and I rested my cheek on his chest.
He let out a long sigh. “I’ll miss you,” he whispered, and minutes later began breathing heavy.
I listened to him sleep, smiling. I’d miss him, too.
One week later, I met TL and Parrot at the elevator hidden behind the mural. We were scheduled to begin our inoculations.
Nothing like a good needle to start your day out right.
Jonathan walked up. “Everybody ready to get stuck?”