Jefferson Lake (MBBF Spin-Off)

Chap. 17

I readjusted my tie, trying to loosen it up again.

"It looks fine," Parker said, for the thousandth time.

"It's choking me."

"Well then let it choke you for the next few minutes so you can look at least a little professional."

I just rolled my eyes.

We sat in silence for a few more moments, and I finished off my Vanilla Mocha from Starbucks, my left leg bouncing.

I just wanted this to be over with.

"Parker and Lee Adams?" a lady called.

"Thank God," I muttered, following Parker back to her office.

He flashed me a warning look, basically telling me to be on my best behavior.

This wasn't my first meeting with Social Services. I knew that I was supposed to pretend like Parker was a Godsend.

As though I didn't want to strangle him half of my life.

I tossed my empty Starbucks cup in the trash as we rounded the corner towards her office, Parker shaking his head at me as he still sipped on his.

"Please, take a seat," the lady instructed. "My name is Mary Reeves."

I nodded, Parker taking his seat and I sat on his right.

This office was way too cramped for me.

I looked over at Parker, who seemed to be much more interested in adjusting his sling than trying to get me out of his damn thing.

"So Parker, I see that you were in a pretty bad accident," Mary stated.

"Can we open the door?" I blurted.

Parker's head immediately snapped over to me, and I thought for sure he was going to murder me. But instead it was a look of concern.

"I'm afraid not. Privacy reasons," Mary said, giving me a onceover.

"You can step out when you need to," Parker said to me.

Yeah, that was going to be in about a minute.

But I just tried loosening my tie again, refocusing on Mary.

"And yeah, I was in an accident," Parker said, answering Mary's question. "A car ran through an intersection and t-boned me."

I didn't like hearing about Parker's accident. And I didn't like being in this tiny office.

This really wasn't going well for me.

"Do you think you'll still be able to be an active part of Lee's life?" Mary asked him.

Parker nodded. "I've been cleared all except for my arm stuck in this sling and then some baseline concussion testing I still have to undergo, but Lee and I are still communicating on all the same bases."

Parker looked over at me again, as I was wiggling around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"Is there anything specific you needed from me?" I asked, gripping the sides of my chair as tight as humanly possible.

"Just to talk to us a little bit about Parker," she said, flipping through the file. "The last time we heard from you, you were finishing up at the Peace River Rehabilitation Center."

Great. I'm stuck in a cramped office talking about rehab.

"Parker and I have really had some breakthroughs since then," I said, my voice tight. "I think we've reached a deeper level of communication, one that we've never had had before."