Miss Parker was back in Blue Cove, Delaware. She dropped her bags at the entrance of her front door, fumbled for her keys and entered the house, kicked off her shoes and walked barefooted into the living room. She grabbed the telephone, counted five rings before the psychiatrist answered his call.
"This is Sydney."
"Sydney, I bumped into him. Jarod. He's in Vermont." Her voice had a melancholy tone to it.
"Is everything alright, Miss Parker?" He asked concerned. "The sound of your voice, has something happened to Jarod?"
"No, he's fine. I'll talk to you later. Maybe."
"You've lost him again, Miss Parker?"
"No." He could barely hear her.
"Miss Parker?"
The only sound the doctor heard was her soft sniffles.
"Miss Parker? Do you want to talk about it?"
"Did you really want Jarod back at The Centre?" Not waiting for an answer, she continued. "He's gone for good."
"Whatever are you talking about? Gone?"
"Yes, gone. He says arrivederci, sayonara, goodbye!"
"It's obvious that you've been been holding your feelings for Jarod for such a long time." He hesitated, then continued. "And I believe he feels the same way, too."
"You're wrong, Sydney. He's with someone else. Not me, he's with Zoe."
"Ah, I see." Sydney let out a sigh, stroking his chin. "Do you need me to come over, Miss Parker?"
"No, I'd like to be alone. Thank you."
Sydney let out a sigh. "Children," he mumbled.
Miss Parker sat in her chair rocking herself back and forth staring out of the window, as if he would appear sudddenly before her eyes. She swore she would never fall in love with him. The problem is, she's been in love with Jarod for so long. The paths in their lives they chose were completely different. He ran away from The Centre. He wanted his freedom. If he had asked her to, she would have been running along side with him.
"You never asked," she cried sorrowfully to herself, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her blouse. "You never asked."
The ice queen felt as if someone had hit her hard on the chest for she felt her heart sink when she saw them together.
"You do what you have to do," Parker said out loud to herself. "I'll hold on, just love me like I love you. And I'll wait for you forever." She laid her arms on the window sill and rested her chin on them, weeping silently looking through the glass pane.
Jarod watched Zoe lay comfortably asleep. Finally. She had a restless night, her illness was getting the better of her. He cared deeply for her, but his heart belonged to Miss Parker.
He looked up at the calendar which hung on its hook on the wall next to the dresser, it's been a week since he's spoken to her. Jarod rubbed his neck to loosen the tension. He walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, poured himself a cup of black coffee. He stared into his mug. Thoughts went through his head.
Jarod apologized silently to Miss Parker for leaving. It's what he had wanted for the longest time now. He could never get through to her. She never allowed herself to get close to him. He felt as if he was just some sort of assignment. He had no choice but to say goodbye.
Miss Parker wasn't living anymore. She was like a zombie going through the motions of everyday life. Each night she would go home to an empty house, sat in the dark, sometimes on her sofa, other times she would flop herself anywhere she felt like crumbling down at that very moment. One time she found herself waking up in the morning on her living room floor curled up in a fetal position, not recalling if she even had a night's sleep. She could not even strike the match to light up her cigarette, nor did she have the energy to pour herself a drink. Even if she had wanted to kill herself, she did not have the strength to pull the trigger. It nearly killed her to just get up each morning to put on her face and a decent outfit and head out to the office. Miss Parker told herself that she indeed deserved all this suffering, for it was pay back for the times she tormented Jarod.
Parker quit growling, hissing, snapping, seething and snarling. She kept to herself and went about her business, whatever the hell it was. A knock on her office door, jolted her head up suddenly from her desk.
"Miss Parker, we took the liberty of buying you lunch."
"No, thank you, Sydney. I'm not hungry at the moment."
"Uh, Miss Parker, it's rigatoni positano. Debbie says it's your favorite. You've got to eat. You've lost so much weight." Broots laid her boxed lunch onto her desk.
"Thank you, Broots, maybe later." She answered sadly, but, politely.
"Something's terribly wrong, Sydney. She's never nice to me." The computer whiz whispered.
"Broots, I've never thank you for everything you've done for me. I never meant to be so cold-hearted towards you. You are a valued employee here at The Centre and I thank you for the many years you've served me."
"Th-thank you, Miss Parker." Stunned by her actions, Broots turned to Sydney with a petrified look on his face.
"And Sydney. Ever since I was a little girl, you've looked after me. Thank you."
Sydney stood alarmed. At this point, he was not going to leave Miss Parker alone."
TBC - Chapter 3