by Kris Bryant
“So, do you want to tell me the real reason you’re leaving?”
Travis leaned his shoulder against my doorframe. Although his face said he was calm and relaxed, the tension in his body language was unmistakable.
“It’s just time for me to move on.” I shrugged like I didn’t really have a plan. I didn’t want him to try to blackball me or spread rumors about me in the industry. I knew there was going to be some blowback, but I wanted to keep it to a minimum. He wasn’t appeased by my reason, so I offered more. “It’s been a rough year. I’m just trying to do what’s best for me.” It was a subtle reminder of what I’d been through. I knew he wasn’t going to fight me on that.
“Well, I wish you luck and if you need anything, I’m just a phone call away.”
I thanked him for the opportunity and wished him continued success. When he finally left my office, I relaxed. I was really going to do this. I didn’t have a lot to pack and was done while the meeting was still in session. I grabbed a second cup of coffee, found one of my own mugs hidden behind several others in the kitchen, and wandered back to my office. By eleven I was anxious to leave. I slipped out of my heels and into my warm boots. It had snowed three inches overnight, and even though the streets were clear, I was wary of heels and icy sidewalks.
A few agents stopped by and wished me well, but most employees avoided my office. I was sure Brittany advised them not to talk to me. She would forever be emotionally stuck in high school. When the clock struck eleven thirty, I grabbed my box of belongings and walked right out the front door of Mountain View Commercial Real Estate. I had a plan in place and more papers to sign with Charles. I maneuvered out of the parking lot and into traffic with a huge grin on my face. I called Marisa on my way home.
“Well, I did it. I’m done with that place.” I smiled, completely comfortable with my decision.
“I’m so proud of you. Did they give you a hard time about leaving?” Marisa warned me that I should give more time, but after I explained how historically things went down in real estate, she wanted me to leave right away.
“Brittany panicked, but I did an excellent job of maintaining records and sharing information. They won’t have any problems and I’m not worried about any phone calls,” I said.
Marisa crunched on something before she responded. “Did you tell them your plans?”
“Hell no. Let them find out the hard way. Now I just need to figure out who, what, when, and especially the where.”
“Want some company tonight? To celebrate?” she asked.
I hadn’t seen Marisa in a few days and hanging out at the house drinking wine sounded perfect. “Definitely. I miss your face.”
“Not as much as I miss yours.”
* * *
I started a fire. My living room was my favorite place in the house. The stone fireplace was slightly oversized, but it put out an enormous amount of heat and I didn’t want to wear layers of clothing. Marisa was going to be here any minute with pizza and an overnight bag. My phone rang. I almost answered it without looking, but stopped just in time. My blood turned cold even though my heart was racing. I swallowed hard and finally answered on the sixth ring.
“Hello?” I knew it was Piper, but I didn’t want to sound desperate.
“Shaylie. Hi. It’s Piper.” Her voice was shaky and I automatically thought something bad had happened. My mind always went dark now. Ever since the accident.
I cut to the chase. “Are you okay?”
“Yes and no. I need to talk to you. Do you think you can make time for me this week?”
Even though it had started snowing again, I thought about offering to drive to her house immediately, but I needed to be strong and not cater to her every whim like I did before. I had tried too hard. I had tried to force something that wasn’t there. Falling for Piper was the best and worst thing that happened to me.
“What’s your Saturday like?” It was Thursday night and I figured by the weekend, I could prep myself mentally and emotionally to see her again.
“I’m off at noon. Can you meet me at Peak Brew? About one?”
I was already counting the hours. I rolled my eyes at my own weakness. “That’s fine. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I will be.” She paused and our conversation would have continued, but my doorbell rang. “Oh, somebody’s there. Okay, I’ll just talk to you on Saturday.” She ended the conversation and I sat there looking at my phone until Marisa opened the door and yelled from the foyer.
“What the hell? Why didn’t you answer the door?”
I heard her stomp snow off her boots and make a big production of taking off her coat and scarf. She stopped ranting when she saw my face.
“What happened?”
“Piper just called me. Out of the blue. She wants to talk.”
“Did she say why?”
I held my hand up to stop the barrage of questions. “I asked if she was okay and she said yes and no. Then she invited me to coffee on Saturday.”
Marisa marched me into the kitchen and poured me a glass of wine. “Come on. Let’s go over by the fire and talk about it.” She carried the pizza and plates into the living room.
“That’s all it was. Then you rang the doorbell. The one time you actually ring the doorbell and it spooked her.”
“I was going to do something funny, but you didn’t play along.” Even though Marisa’s mouth was full, I understood her perfectly. “Well, that’s kind of good news about Piper, right? I mean, she hasn’t talked to you in over a month.” It had been five weeks, but who was counting?
“Yes, about that. It just floored me. Is it good news? Is it bad news? She didn’t tell me. It’s going to be hard to sleep until then.” I took a bite of pizza and moaned at the pleasurable distraction. “This is really good pizza.”
“It’s a new shop by my work.”
“I’m going to miss this when you move,” I said.
“Which part? Me catering to you and bringing you delicious food during a snowstorm? Well, you should know I’ve decided that you’re just going to hang out with me during the winters. I mean, how much real estate really sells during subzero temps?” Marisa took another huge bite.
“One day your metabolism isn’t going to be so kind to you. It’s amazing watching you eat.” Marisa was the same size she was in college. At least I had lost a few pounds recently so I wasn’t so self-conscious around her.
“Jason keeps me in shape.” She shot me an exaggerated wink and took another bite.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head at her. “You’re impossible. New topic. Tell me what they said when you told them you’d be leaving in the spring?”
She laughed. “They were surprised.”
“Can you make more money up in Cheyenne?” I shifted closer to the fire.
“Apparently, Cheyenne is too rural for a lot of detectives and it’s hard to keep them. Everybody wants to be in large cities, like Denver, because of the action.” The faraway look in her eye told me she wasn’t worried about missing any action.
“Thank God you’ll still be close. I don’t want to have to find a new best friend.”
“Impossible. Nobody could know you better than I do. I mean, we shared the growing years. I’m not going to bail on the relaxing ones. Maybe we can take the trip to Aruba like we’ve always wanted to.” Every winter, we went to a warm destination, lay out in the sun, and drank mai tais on the beach. This year, neither one of us brought it up. I wasn’t ready to fly. We were stuck in the cold for months.
“I’m sure I’ll be up for flying in the next five years.”
“Even if you weren’t, I would understand. We could always drive to Southern California or Mexico. Keep that in mind. Now that you aren’t working, I’m sure I can put in for a week.”
I knew if Marisa took vacation, it would be without pay. She’d spent several days helping me heal after the crash. Even though my mom was with me for almost a month, Marisa took me to appointments, specialists, meet
ings, therapies. I knew her days off were limited. “I don’t know that I’m in the mood, really. Right now I want to wallow for a bit longer.”
“I can’t imagine Piper has bad news. Worst case, she wants to be friends.”
“After the things we did? You don’t touch somebody like that and the next day expect to just be friends. She might be able to turn it off that fast, but not this romantic over here.” I pointed my thumbs at myself and nodded when her eyes met mine.
Marisa tapped my leg. “Come on. We don’t know what she wants. Don’t assume it’s a friends-only scenario. Not that I’m trying to give you hope, but keep an open mind and see what she has to say. Now start the movie before we go down the slippery slope to Piperville.”
I finished my pizza and put my plate on the coffee table. We started an alien versus human movie, one of my favorite genres to get my mind off things, but I couldn’t focus. What did Piper want? I stared at the fire and thought about our time together. Did she miss me? Did she finally forgive me? It had to be good news because she’d reached out to me. I thought about all the late night messages I’d typed but never sent, the phone calls I wanted to make but didn’t, and the dozen times I drove close to her place but didn’t take the exit. I hated that I wasn’t strong enough to move on, to forget.
When Marisa went through a harrowing breakup after college, I held her while she cried and explained that it was impossible to make somebody love you. I told her she was better than he was and that she would find her true love soon. It took several years and several men, but she found him. I needed to heed my own advice. I couldn’t make Piper love me, so I warned myself not to get my hopes up, but deep down, underneath all of the pain and hurt that had settled in my heart, there was a sliver of hope waiting for the right time, the right words, to blossom and warm my heart again.
Chapter Twenty-four
After trying on seven outfits, I decided on a pair of charcoal slacks and a simple black sweater. I spent half an hour on my hair and another fifteen minutes perfecting my makeup. I arrived fifteen minutes early and ordered a peppermint tea. With Christmas less than a month away and the coffee shop decorated for the holidays, it was the festive drink of choice. Plus, I was afraid to overcaffeinate. I was already a bundle of nerves. I placed my hand on my stomach to try to slow the quivers I felt. Today felt like a very important day, one beyond my control. I added honey to my tea and waited for Piper to show up.
“Hi.
Piper’s voice was low and had a hint of sadness. I looked up at her. My heart almost stopped at how beautiful she was. I wanted to stand and give her a hug, but I stayed seated because I was nervous and wasn’t sure why we were here.
“Hi.”
“May I sit?”
I pointed to the chair across from me. “Please do.”
Piper sat and waved at the barista on duty. Everybody here knew her order. Even I did. Green tea with a sprig of mint. I should’ve ordered her one, but I was early and it would have cooled.
“How are you?” I asked. I refused to look away from her. Her hair was down and she looked even more beautiful than I remembered. My heart pulsed so hard in my chest, I feared I was going to pass out. I needed oxygen. I took a deep breath. I’d missed her eyes and how she always looked at me like I was the only one who mattered in the world.
She let out a deep breath that had a slight laugh in it. “I’ve been better.”
I stopped myself from taking her hands. “Are you okay?” My mind was swamped with possible worst case scenarios: cancer, Clifford died, somebody else in her family passed, she lost the business. I bit my tongue to keep from shouting out “tell me now,” because every second felt like an hour.
“Okay. First of all, I have to apologize to you.”
Not what I expected right off the bat. I leaned back, refrained from crossing my arms, and waited. Tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill. Again, I refrained from touching her. She looked up at the ceiling for so long that I almost looked up, too, but I realized she was keeping it together and trying not to cry. I’d done that so much lately. I didn’t push her. I waited. At least I knew she was okay physically and this was about us and not another horrific event in her life.
“So, that tiny room I have in back of Bodhi? The one with the futon and desk? Well, I was cleaning it out because I was going to donate the desk. Anyway, the bottom drawer was locked, but I managed to pry it open and found—” She looked up at the ceiling again. I slid my napkin over to her because I knew the tears were going to win. “I found letters that Emma and Robin wrote to one another.” The tears spilled onto her flushed cheeks.
“I’m so sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. I knew it couldn’t be easy for her to find out, let alone confess it to me.
“I didn’t trust you and I should have. I should’ve seen the signs. They were everywhere. What I can’t understand is why Robin didn’t just break it off with me if she was so in love with Emma? Why didn’t Emma just tell me she was in love with Robin?”
I finally took her hands. “I don’t know, but I’m sorry you won’t ever get an answer.”
“I should have believed you. You’ve been nothing but supportive and sweet and patient with me since the crash. I should have paid more attention to you, to us, and focused on what I had in front of me. Not on the past,” she said. She squeezed my fingers and let my hands go so she could wipe her tears again.
“I came on too strong. I didn’t give you time to figure things out and deal with everything that happened. I was selfish, and for that I’m sorry.” I took a sip of my tea even though it was lukewarm. I managed to put the cup on the saucer without dropping it. I was the epitome of cool on the outside. Inside, I was begging her to say we still had a chance.
“I’m the jerk that said awful things to you. God, I’m so sorry. I hope that if nothing else, you’ll forgive me for being horrible to you. And Marisa.” Fresh tears popped out and I looked around for another napkin. I found one on the table next to us and handed it to her.
“Piper, that news is not easy for anybody to handle. I would have doubted anybody who told me that. You reacted exactly how anybody would have. I don’t blame you.” I wanted to blame her for breaking my heart and not trying to understand my side of things. I wanted to be angry at her for all the pain I felt when she didn’t take my calls or answer my messages the day after she stormed off, but I couldn’t. I loved her. I didn’t know how to stop. Seeing her in front of me, beautiful, vulnerable, and raw, I couldn’t help but forgive her.
“You’ve had so much happen to you this year and you’ve been on this roller-coaster ride with me for months. Can you forgive me? Can we start over?”
I had no idea what that meant. I stared at her, silently begging her to be more specific. I had to know where we stood. “What does that mean? As friends? Because honestly, I don’t know that I can just be friends right now. I’m entirely too invested to rein it in. Maybe in a few more months.”
She put her hand on mine and I stopped rambling. “Yes, I mean, no. I want to pick up where we left off. Ease back into us if you’re willing.”
It was my turn to look up at the ceiling. I hated that I wanted to cry. I hated that we were in public for this very emotional breakthrough and I had to keep my shit together.
“I know I have a lot of making up to do, but I don’t want to lose what we had. We can start over with date number one,” she said.
“You said you never wanted to start over. How about we pick things up where we were, but take it slow? A pace we’re both comfortable with. I don’t want to just forget about the last six months. Well, maybe the last month.” Five weeks and two days, but who was counting?
She nodded. “Do you mind if we get out of here? Maybe go back to my place? Only because it’s quieter and close. I can’t be around all of these people right now.”
I stood and slipped on my coat. “Lead the way.” I put my hand on the small of her back and walked out with her. We crossed the courty
ard silently. I had to stop myself from skipping with glee across the icy ground when her hand found mine.
“Is this okay?” She held up our interlocking fingers.
I nodded. “Are you sure? Because I don’t know if I can—”
She stopped and pulled me in front of her. She looked into my eyes, down to my mouth, then back up to my eyes. “I’m positive. I promise you. I’m not going to back out or run away. I want this, Shaylie. More than you will ever know.” She ran her fingertip across my cheek and very carefully, very cautiously, leaned in and kissed me. It was a sweet, gentle kiss that reminded me just how perfect we were together. There was a hint of passion when I felt her tongue glide on my upper lip for a fraction of a second. My knees went weak. Such a delicate kiss and it almost knocked me over. She pulled me in the direction of her loft. “It’s too cold to be out here.”
I followed her into her loft. Clifford was waiting for us and I stooped down to pet him. “How are you, big boy? Did you miss me? I missed you.” For once he seemed excited to see me.
“Come in. Have a seat. Here, let me take your coat.”
Piper was so polite and a little bit nervous. I knew I should have held out just a little longer, maybe made her sweat a little bit more considering I’d wallowed in a pit of utter depression, lost ten pounds, and showered only when Marisa made me, but I just wanted peace. She apologized and I accepted. It was time to forgive.
“Thank you,” I said. Hell, now I was nervous. I sat on the couch and waited for her to join me. I declined her offer of tea and waited patiently for her to steep hers. When she sat, she gave us enough room but was close enough that I could reach out to her, if I wanted.
“Can we talk about you? What’s been going on? I thought about you a lot. And you look incredible.” She shook her head at herself.
I touched her arm that was draped across the back of the couch. “Don’t.”
“What? Don’t what?”
“Don’t think about it. This is a new start, okay?” I ran my fingers down her arm and locked my fingers with hers. “Tell me what’s been going on with you. How’s yoga?”