Present Day

Parker slowly opened the door to his apartment and stuck his head inside. He could smell her. In the three weeks since she had been living in his apartment, Talia Jane had permeated his entire space. He didn’t know if it was her deodorant, her shampoo, body wash, or body lotion, but there was a distinct ‘otherness’ about the smell in his apartment…and that otherness wasn’t limited just to the smell, either. The very fabric of the atmosphere in his home had changed.

     Parker had grown up in a male household. He and his two brothers were the apples of his parents’ eyes. Fathers’ eyes, as in two...