by Kris Bryant
I grabbed chocolate bars and graham crackers from a nearby camping food display and threw them in the cart. “We’re going to have s’mores the next time you come over. So, there will be not only hot tub time but firepit time, too. Remember that square thing in the yard all covered up? That’s the firepit I’ve never actually used, but really want to.”
“This just means I’ll have to work extra hard because of the calories you’re feeding me.”
“I promise we will work off all of the calories I’m feeding you.” I wagged my eyebrows at her. I was rewarded with the sweetest, sexiest smile ever. I melted even more. “Let’s hurry up and get back to your place. Clifford texted me. He wants us to curl up on the bed with him.”
“Huh. Clifford. Strange that he’s never texted me before and I’m his mom.”
“It’s because we bonded on the mats. He is about as limber as I am,” I said.
“Clifford can put his legs behind his ears, too?”
I blushed, recalling our early morning where Piper totally and completely topped me. Her tongue did things to me that had my mind reeling. “Stop.” I nudged her shoulder with mine.
“What?” she whispered innocently. She looked around and kissed me swiftly. The force of her body crashing into mine caused my head to knock over several boxes of cereal, spilling them into the aisle.
I rubbed my head, laughed, and scolded her. I bumped my head again, this time on hers, when we both reached down to pick up the scattered boxes of Frosted Flakes and Honey Smacks.
“Ow. We need to get out of here before I need more stitches.” I cringed once I realized what I said.
“No more stitches, but yes. Let’s get out of here.”
We rounded the corner and narrowly missed smacking into another cart. I apologized to the older lady and moved out of her way.
“Piper. How are you?”
I felt her stiffen beside me.
“Marilyn. I’m doing well. Thank you for asking.”
Marilyn looked down at our interlocked fingers and back up to Piper. “I can see that. You seem to be adjusting well to life.” She pushed her cart away from us without waiting for a response.
I leaned over and whispered to Piper, “She literally just put her nose up in the air at us. Who was that?”
“Marilyn worked with Robin. She is the administrative assistant for the company.”
“Well, she was rude and I don’t like her.” I scowled in Marilyn’s direction. “Don’t listen to her.” I quickly changed the subject to coffee. Piper promised she had coffee, and even if by some utter lack of luck that wasn’t true, there was always Peak Brew across the street. I paid for the groceries and once again followed her back to her loft. We both found parking and I grabbed the one bag of groceries and my overnight bag. Piper led the way upstairs.
“Clifford, I’m here. I brought your mama home just like you asked.”
“Look at him. Still asleep in the bed.” Piper pointed upstairs to the round circle on her bed. “He didn’t text you. Hell, he probably hasn’t even left that spot since Friday night.”
“I’m going to disagree. He’s been out of bed to eat. And hopefully to use the litter box.”
I followed her into the kitchen to drop off the bag of groceries.
“You can hang up your clothes in the closet right there. You might have to squish them in. Or just hang them from the stairs,” Piper said.
I hung them on the stairs. Going into Piper’s closet seemed rather intimate regardless of the last forty-eight hours.
She handed me a water after the groceries were put away and signaled for me to sit down on the couch with her. I sat and leaned against her. I smiled when I felt her arm drape across the back of the couch. I was sad that she didn’t touch me, but I really couldn’t complain.
“You want to watch a movie?” she asked.
I was tired, but nodded. Piper picked a Hallmark Channel romance that had just started. I remember seeing the opening credits and thinking the main character was pretty and then everything faded to black.
* * *
I cracked open my eyes to find a blanket over me and Piper off in the kitchen making food. I heard purring so I knew Clifford was close by. “What time is it?”
“Five fifteen. You were pretty tired and I didn’t want to wake you. I know you need to get caught up on sleep and you have tons of important meetings this week.”
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “I’m so sorry. I wasted our afternoon.”
“Oh, stop. You did not. Come over here and let’s finish making dinner together.”
Piper had changed her clothes. She was wearing jeans and a cream-colored sweater. She wore thick non-slip socks and had her wavy hair pulled back at the nape of her neck. She looked like an ad for a Visit Colorado pamphlet at the visitors’ center on the state line. The only thing missing was a fireplace and snow shoes leaning near the front door. I felt frumpy and rumpled in my wrinkled clothes from this morning. I only had clothes for work tomorrow and a skimpy pajama set that I wasn’t planning on wearing all night.
“What are we having?”
“Pizza. That way we can nibble on it later tonight if we get hungry. The crust is ready to roll out. I’m just slicing some mushrooms.”
“I can grate the cheese,” I said. She handed me the grater and a chunk of mozzarella. We had the pizza built and put into the oven in no time. “What do you want to do now?”
“Maybe we can try a different movie?” Piper asked. “I don’t know that I want to get out any more tonight.”
“I promise I won’t fall asleep again. At least not yet.”
We got comfortable on the couch and picked an action movie. About halfway through, I leaned over and kissed her neck softly. At first, she ignored me, and I thought she was playing a game. I tried harder. When I felt her hand on my chest stopping my progress, I pulled back.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know for sure,” she said. When she looked up at me, I saw pain flash across her eyes. My heart sank. “I feel off.”
“Talk to me.” I held her hands in my lap. “Tell me what’s going on.”
She sighed and leaned her forehead against mine. “Being at your house, away from my life, I felt like things could be normal for me. I felt special and treasured. But being here with you is really hard. Everything reminds me of Robin. I know that sounds stupid. And then running into Marilyn and the cruel things she said.” She teared up.
My throat burned and I blinked back tears of my own. “I know it can’t be easy for you.” I had no idea what to say. I hated that we ran into Marilyn, but I knew something like that would happen.
“I wasn’t expecting to have so many feelings. Good and bad. Being with you makes me feel happy and hopeful for the first time in months. But part of me feels overwhelmingly guilty. I thought I was going to be okay. I really did. Marilyn pushed me over the edge.” She brushed the tears off her cheeks and smiled weakly at me. “Wow. I have no idea what’s happening to me right now.” She stood and walked to the kitchen island. She put both palms flat on the surface and lowered her head.
I was frozen. I didn’t know how to console her. I didn’t know what was happening, but the hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach warned me that it wasn’t good. “I don’t know either, but you’re scaring me.” I walked to her hesitantly and put my hand on her back. “Piper, I truly can’t imagine what you went through or are going through, but please don’t give up on us. We can take several steps back. I won’t stay over tonight.” Desperation was filling in the cracks of my heart, a defense mechanism as my brain tried to grasp what Piper was really saying.
“This weekend shouldn’t have happened. It was too soon. I got caught up in how you made me feel and how much I enjoyed being with you, but I feel Robin here, squeezing my heart, and the guilt…” She stopped to take a breath and to look into my eyes. “The guilt is everywhere.”
“Don’t say that. Please don’t say that.”
She cried harder.
I pulled her into my arms and whispered against her hair, “Please, Piper. Please just give us time. I don’t want to lose you. We can work something out. Have faith in us.” I held her until her sobs subsided.
“It’s not fair to you if I ask you to wait for me. You’re such a wonderful person, Shay. I’m still a hot mess. We’re just at different places in our lives right now. I’m so sorry, but I need to just focus on me and getting stronger.” She paused to touch me. “You have been so wonderful and supportive and this just breaks my heart.”
I could tell by the defeated look on her face and her slumped shoulders that she was serious. I gathered up my things with as much dignity as I could and quietly slipped out of her life.
Chapter Twenty-one
“So, what happened exactly? Start from the beginning and leave out only what you need to.” Marisa busted out of the sliding glass door and scared the shit out of me. I was outside sitting next to the firepit, a blanket wrapped around my knees. I’d been wallowing in self-pity for hours, unsure how to handle Piper’s confession.
“First of all, you suck for scaring me,” I said.
“Sorry about that, but jeez. You sent me a 9-1-1 emergency text and I panicked. Plus, I called you. Where’s your phone?”
I looked in the folds of my blanket before remembering I’d left it on the kitchen counter next to what was now an almost empty bottle of wine. “I think it’s in the kitchen somewhere. It’s not as if anybody is going to text or call me, and you’re here already.” I was depressed. I’d handled rejection before, but this was different. I really thought Piper and I had a shot.
Marisa went back inside for a blanket and a glass of wine. After she got comfortable, she turned to me. “Spill it.”
“We had this great date on Friday. The date lasted the entire weekend. Here at my place, Piper was sweet and attentive. And the sex? Oh, don’t even get me started on that.”
“Who made the first move?” Marisa hung on my every word.
“Well, that’s not really what I want to talk about.”
“I’m sorry. We don’t have to talk about that right now.” Marisa squeezed my hand.
“Anyway, so we decided to spend Sunday at her place. She had to check on Clifford and just get back into the routine,” I said.
“Did she have any classes on Saturday?” Marisa asked.
“She must have traded because she didn’t leave my side. That’s what’s so weird about all of this. One minute we’re happy-go-lucky lovers, the next minute she’s freaking out and saying it’s too soon and she can’t do this.” I stood and added a few logs to the fire. “We ran into this horrible woman who saw us holding hands at the grocery store. Apparently, she knew Robin. She said something snotty to Piper. How am I supposed to combat the memories of a dead fiancée?”
“Did you ever tell her what you saw on the plane?” Marisa’s voice was low and cautious.
“Absolutely not. That’s the worst thing anybody could hear about their significant other. Or their best friend.” I repositioned the blanket over my legs. It was too cold to be outside, but I felt numb and the cold air was the only thing I felt.
“Shaylie, you have to tell her. Maybe she won’t listen, but she needs to know. Maybe the truth will set her free and give you the opportunity you both deserve. It’s not fair to let her mourn people who kept such a terrible secret from her.”
“So, I’ll just blurt out ‘by the way, Piper, I sat next to your fiancée and best friend, who made out the entire trip. I thought they were together and then I thought maybe you knew and were okay with it.’ How do you tell somebody you love that their life for the past year was a lie?”
“I don’t know that I would say it like that, but maybe—”
“What did you just say?” a voice behind us asked.
I turned to find Piper standing inside the privacy gate looking shocked. She slammed the gate shut and marched over to me. Her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed with anger.
“Seriously, what did you just fucking say?” Her voice was shaky and several octaves higher than normal. Her chin jutted out in defiance, but her body language was that of a frightened, trapped animal.
“Oh, shit,” Marisa said. She stood so she was almost between us, a referee of sorts. “Piper, hang on. Let Shaylie explain.”
“I can’t believe you would make something like that up just to keep me,” she said.
“Are you kidding? I would never lie about something like this, not even to keep somebody in my life.” My anger brimmed right below the surface at being accused of lying, especially to somebody I loved.
“I can vouch for that,” Marisa said.
Piper turned to face her. “Stay out of this.”
Marisa held her hands up and took a few steps back but stayed close.
“What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey, yeah, I did meet your fiancée, but she and your best friend were practically having sex next to me on the plane’? Piper, nobody on Earth would have told you that after what happened. Nobody. Shit like this eats me up inside. I hate secrets, but I didn’t feel the need to tell you this. You lost so much already.” I tried to take her hands, but she angrily pulled away.
“You’re lying. Why would you say something like that?” She stepped away from me.
“I’m not lying. Robin and Emma were acting like a couple. I’m so sorry, but they were holding hands and kissing.” It killed me to say those words, but now that it was out there, Piper needed to know.
“No. They were friends. They worked together sometimes. You’re such an asshole.”
Her words cut me to the quick. My heart slammed in my chest and anger ribboned through my veins. “Okay, sure. I’m just being hurtful and said these things because I knew you were lurking outside my gate just now. It makes perfect sense.” I rolled my eyes at the absurdity of the situation.
“Shaylie.” Marisa’s voice held a warning. She knew my sarcasm came out in full force when pressed.
“Look, Piper. I know what I saw. Marisa has begged me to tell you since day one, but I wanted to protect you. I wanted you to have peace with Robin and Emma.” I tried explaining, but I knew Piper’s mind was made up. She was too angry to listen.
“I just can’t believe you would stoop this low.” The look of disdain on her face was heartbreaking. I felt my heart splinter even more. Secrets were stupid to keep. Lesson learned in the worst way possible.
“I came over here to figure out a way to make this work. Because I thought maybe we were worth fighting for, but now I know it was a mistake. We were a mistake.” Piper turned and stomped off. I didn’t even try to stop her. I was frozen.
“Aren’t you going to go after her?” Marisa asked.
“Are you kidding? She’s not going to listen to me right now.” I paced in front of the firepit until Marisa stopped me.
“Go inside. I’m going to put out the fire and I’ll be there in a sec.”
Every step I took was heavy. I was so tired. My body was shutting down because my heart hurt so much. I sprawled on the couch and stared at nothing. Twenty minutes ago, I’d thought I still had a slight chance with Piper. Being at her place as her lover instead of her friend really threw her and I knew she needed space. I’d hoped that we could work it out because I felt such a strong connection with her. After tonight, I knew our chance had died. I felt the cushions sink when Marisa sat on the couch. She started playing with my hair.
“I’m so sorry it went down like that. I shouldn’t have even brought it up. It’s all my fault. Did you know she was coming over?”
I couldn’t talk. I shook my head instead. She continued to stroke the back of my head. When the tears came, she held me until I fell asleep, exhausted and heartbroken.
* * *
This couldn’t be happening. I looked over the report twice during the meeting. Of all the buildings to choose, what were the chances?
“I think our client will be happy with our recommendation. It’s a
big enough building for their growing business and it’s close enough to downtown to give it that important vibe without being over the top expensive.” Brittany was getting us ready for our upcoming meeting with Penshaw & Fern. “It will take a year for them to consolidate. That gives the tenants with leases plenty of time to find a new place.”
I didn’t know what to say without coming undone, but I had to say something. I cleared my throat, indicating I had something to say. “This area borders on residential. There are several condos nearby. I think our client might balk at that.”
“Shaylie, this area comes under your recommendation. You can’t back out now. You even said it was great for up-and-coming businesses.”
“I did, but I don’t think this building is the right one for our client. I think they will want a bigger space. If they are consolidating four different offices, this building isn’t going to hold them five, ten years down the road.” My heart pounded. I took a deep breath and waited while Brittany reviewed the building specs.
“This is a two-story brick building. It’s an outright buy. They can build up if they need to. Nobody is going to turn down an affordable building in an up-and-coming area. Denver is growing and there are only so many places available. I think our client will agree. We have a good, solid relationship with Thompson Realty, and getting in the door before it’s even listed is the best thing. This property will be scooped up the minute it’s posted.” She paused long enough to look over the information again. “The current tenants’ leases are up in three months. I’m sure they will be notified soon about the change in ownership if this deal goes through.”
Brittany didn’t open it up for discussion. She marched out of the office with her faithful minions hot on her heels. I sat at the conference table in complete shock. Piper’s studio and the other small businesses in her building were going to have to relocate thanks to a recommendation I’d made months ago. I didn’t know her building was even up for sale. She never mentioned anything about it. Hell, she probably didn’t even know.