by Kendall Ryan
Weird.
“Piper, there’s something wrong,” I said.
She glanced in my direction but still didn’t quite meet my gaze.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“You tell me. Your forehead is wrinkled like you’re trying to diffuse a bomb.”
She sighed. “I thought you wanted me to fix this for you.”
“Was it something at the doctor that you’re not telling me?”
“Jackson…” she started, but I couldn’t let her go on. I couldn’t let her push me away.
“Just answer the question.”
“Did it ever occur to you that some things are personal?” she shot back. “Stop pushing me.”
“You’re the one making me push,” I countered. “If there’s something wrong…”
“Nobody makes you push. You just…do. And there is nothing wrong, all right? Just a regular female checkup, and sometimes you feel a little off afterward. Jeez.” She shook her head and then clicked the mouse button. “Now read the email.”
I moved closer to the screen, reading her words with only half my attention. The rest of it was focused solely on the tension that now crackled in the air between us and the way she crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her shoe against the floor as I read.
“This is exactly what I needed. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she said with a forced smile. “Now, if that’s all, I’m going to get back to my day off and relax a little.”
“No, you’re not,” I said, laying a hand on her arm as she stood. “Something is different, I can tell. And you’re not leaving until we talk about it.”
I knew it was unreasonable, but I was past giving a shit. The merger falling apart was bad enough, and now I couldn’t help but wonder if the doctor’s appointment was just an excuse for her to take the day off because something had changed between us.
Was she over me?
The thought sliced through me like a blade, and when she shook my hand off her, I didn’t try to stop her.
“I’m done discussing this,” she said. “I’ve gone through the proper channels to take a day off, and that’s what I’m going to do, Jackson.”
Without another word, she stalked toward the door and opened it, disappearing behind the frosted glass.
I couldn’t seem to shake the strange and awful sense that it might be for the last time, which was ridiculous. I was overtired and stressed with work, that was all. When Piper was ready to tell me what was bothering her, she would. In the meantime, I needed to focus on getting this merger back on track, or we could both be out of a job.
I turned back to my computer, but the dull sense of dread stayed with me long after that door closed.
Chapter Eighteen
Piper
The whole walk home from the office, I had to remind myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I was dizzy and nauseated, and my head was spinning at the speed of sound, but whether it was because of the pregnancy or simply because of Jackson, I didn’t know.
Pregnant.
Dear God, what was I going to do?
My paranoia—my absolute certainty that he had read the truth in my face—was too much for me to bear, and I found myself searching for a bench and sucking down desperate gulps of air that were quickly becoming hard to come by.
When I reached a bus stop, I huddled into the little glass enclosure and sat down, grateful for the lack of company as I drew a deep breath.
There was no denying it now. No running from the truth. The doctor had taken the tests and shown me the pictures, and the truth was right there on the screen. There was a little pea-sized person inside me.
A person depending on me to make the right choices for the rest of their future.
And the fact of the matter was, the best decision I could make was to ensure this baby would be cared for by people who loved him or her unconditionally.
It was true I hadn’t planned on being a mother, but when I’d stared at that image, I’d known the truth. There were no options for me, no other choices to be made. From the second I knew I was pregnant, this baby was completely and irrevocably mine.
I wouldn’t give this baby up for all the world. And I wouldn’t make him or her live with a father who didn’t feel the same way—nor would I force Jackson into a life of caring for a child he’d been so open and certain about not wanting.
So today had been the day where I had to make my choice once and for all.
I thought once I saw him I would know. That the answer would be so clear to me that all my doubts and restless thoughts about what to tell him would be laid to rest.
But no. Just like everything else in this relationship, it hadn’t been so easy.
I looked into his eyes, if only for an instant, and saw that cold, calculating look of his. That desperation for his business to succeed. That was what drove him, what got him up in the morning. A child would only derail that, and I couldn’t bear it for him to resent the baby or me. But, shit, it would hurt to walk away.
A few times, I’d thought of turning on my heel and telling him everything, pouring out my heart and soul—my terror, my joy, my utter shock—but every time I came close, he would bark something else at me. Another demand. Another question I wasn’t ready to answer.
Because with him, everything was on his terms.
Always.
And then, when he’d tried to press me one last time? Well, that was as close to an answer as I could have gotten. He was uncompromising, stubborn, and used to being in control. A baby would require changes on all fronts. Living life on his terms twenty-four-seven would be over.
So my choice was made. I couldn’t tell him about the baby. Which meant from now on, absolutely everything had to change.
I had to leave this city and my fresh start behind me for an even newer, fresher start. I had to go home to be with my parents. They wouldn’t understand—hell, they probably wouldn’t support me, either—but they’d raised two kids, which made them perfect candidates for helping me with this new chapter of my life.
I would feel like a loser, coming back home unmarried, jobless, and pregnant, but my baby would have a soft place to fall.
And right now? That was all that mattered.
With another rush of nausea, I crumpled on the cold bus stop seat and waved off the driver of the bus that was pulling to a stop in front of me.
I still needed this. Some time alone without the reality of my apartment or my job or my future. There was so much to do, so much to plan, and I wasn’t so sure all my organizational systems would come to the rescue this time.
After all, no matter how regimented my planning was, I couldn’t magically come up with money for a crib and diapers and baby toys. And before that, maternity clothes and doctor’s visits and a million other things I probably didn’t know about yet.
Closing my eyes, I forced myself to breathe deep in through my nose and out through my mouth until my heartbeat steadied again.
I just had to look at today as the start of a new chapter. A new book, even.
Jackson would close out the end of my old life. When my baby asked about his father… Well, that was another chapter’s problem.
For today, I’d have to think of what I needed to do.
With a shaking hand, I grasped my phone and dialed the number I’d been dreading almost as much as Jackson’s.
The phone rang once, twice, and then the clipped, cool tones I knew so well greeted me.
“Piper,” my mother said.
“Mom.” My voice shook. I couldn’t help it.
“What’s wrong?”
My heart is breaking.
My life is over.
I’m totally overwhelmed.
The answers spun through my mind, and finally I landed on my truth.
“Everything.” I choked out the word as a sob rose up my throat. “Everything is wrong. I need to come home.”
Chapter Nineteen
Jackson
The next morning, as soon as I got in to work, I stared at my door, waiting for Piper to finally arrive. She may have gotten away from me yesterday, but today I was going to have the answers I’d been looking for that had kept me up half the fucking night.
I’d messaged her. I’d called her. And nothing. Which left me sitting at home remembering the worn, weary look in her eyes as she’d surveyed my email. Her guarded, tense tone.
Something must have happened that she wasn’t telling me about, and I was going to find out what.
So, when the clock struck nine and the elevator doors opened with their soft, metallic ping, I was already waiting with my hands folded on my desk for Piper to enter and pour me my morning cup of coffee.
But she didn’t.
Instead, another fifteen minutes went by. Then another. And then it was nine thirty and I had no coffee, no assistant, and no clue.
Snatching my phone from the surface of my desk, I checked for some sort of notice that Piper might be in late today, but no messages awaited.
Frowning, I opened a new conversation window and started typing, but just before I hit Send, I heard the click of my door as it opened. I looked up to find an ashen-faced Piper staring at me, her knuckles white as she clutched the doorknob.
“You’re late,” I said.
She nodded. “Yes. And I’m sorry about that. Do you have time to talk?”
I glanced at my calendar, pretending I hadn’t already cleared my morning to speak with her, because I was in a foul mood and was an asshole like that.
“I can find some time,” I said. “Sit down.”
“That won’t be necessary. I won’t be long.”
I raised my eyebrows, and then my gaze fell to her clothes. Unlike her usual business attire, she was wearing jeans and a button-down blouse. Her purse was still slung over one shoulder, and she hitched it higher as she finally released the door and closed it behind her.
“I’m hoping you came in here with some answers,” I said.
She frowned. “Look, Jackson, I don’t know what—”
“You came in here yesterday looking like you’d seen a ghost, and then you left without explanation. You didn’t answer my messages,” I said, my concern and fear bubbling up into anger on a dime again.
“I was busy.” She wrung her hands in front of her before crossing her arms protectively over her chest.
“Doing what?” I demanded.
“Look, that’s not what I want to talk about,” she said.
“If only you were in a situation where you were the boss. Since you’re not—”
“I quit,” she cut in, her words clipped and to the point.
Her words hung in the air between us, and I could barely get my head around them. She didn’t sound angry. If anything, I might have thought she was on the verge of tears, but she took a steadying breath and clasped her hands in front of her again.
“I’m sorry it has to be so sudden, but I have to quit.”
“Did you find a better job? I don’t understand,” I said, my mind reeling.
How could she go from redesigning an entire department, taking on more responsibility, and revolutionizing a company to leaving it in one fell swoop? I started again, trying to make heads or tails of what she’d said. “You know I value your input here. If I asked too much of you during the merger…”
She shook her head. “It has nothing to do with you or the merger, I promise.”
I raised my eyebrows, thinking through my options as the thought of her leaving hit me like a two-by-four to the skull. “Well then if it has nothing to do with me, the rest of our arrangement—”
“Will also have to end,” she finished, her tone choked now. “I’m leaving the city.”
It was like a sucker punch to the solar plexus, and I sucked in a breath. “Piper, I don’t understand. If you got a new job, you know I would pay you more. What is it you need? Name your price.”
She shook her head, her bottom lip quivering now. “This isn’t about a price. And it’s not you either, I swear. I just need to be with my family for a while. I’m homesick.”
“Then I’ll fly you to see them. Don’t be so drastic. This can still work.”
She took a shaky breath. “It’s not something a quick visit can fix.”
“And how can you be so sure?”
“Because…” She swallowed hard. “Because there’s an emergency. With my sister. I have to be with her, and I have to focus on doing what’s right for my family right now.”
I blinked. “Is there something I can do to help? Does she need a specialist? Is this why you had to go to the doctor? Does she have some genetic disease you needed to be tested for?”
“Jackson, I can’t talk about it. Please, for once, don’t try to micromanage the situation, okay? I need to leave, and you need to let me. End of story.”
This was nonsense. No matter where she was, I could find a way to be with her. If only she’d just let me in and tell me what was going on.
She blew out a trembling sigh, and for a second, the Piper I knew reared her head. I could see the affection in her eyes and the sadness too. “We both know you’re not the long-distance type. We had fun together. Why can’t you just let that be enough?”
“Because it’s not,” I argued. “It’s not enough for me. I’m not willing to let you just walk away with barely an explanation about what I can do or how I can help.”
“That’s because there is nothing you can do. The best thing you can do for me is let me start my life over somewhere new. To let me leave you here, where you belong.” She sniffled and then swiped a hand over her face. “And to promise me you won’t come looking for me.”
“No,” I said solemnly. “I deserve more than just this pathetic explanation, Piper.”
“And I’m not willing to give that to you,” she said, her voice cold and stony for the first time since she’d begun to speak. “Goodbye, Jackson.”
She strode toward the door for the second time in as many days, leaving me broken in her wake.
Chapter Twenty
Jackson
No.
This wasn’t happening.
I wasn’t going to allow it to happen.
I gripped the edge of my desk and propelled myself from my chair and crossed the room in three easy strides before flinging my door open again. The people in the cubicles nearest my office all turned to look, but I ignored them, scanning the aisles instead for the pretty dark-red wave of hair I knew so well.
When I found her, though, she was turning, facing the metal doors of the elevator as they slid closed in front of her.
“Damn it,” I muttered, closing my hands into fists as I stalked toward the stairwell, but even I knew better than to race the elevator.
I could go to her apartment and head her off, but that still didn’t guarantee me the answers I was looking for. She clearly wasn’t going to give me what I needed. She wasn’t ready to talk.
Which left me with no other choice.
Tightening my jaw, I made my way to Human Resources and stopped short in front of Clara’s desk.
She looked up at me, her gray eyebrows tilting in curiosity.
“I need the keys to the file room,” I said.
“Right away,” she croaked. She opened a metal drawer beside her and grabbed a little ring of keys.
“Which ones go to the personnel files?”
“The personnel files?” she parroted back to me.
“Yes,” I snapped. I didn’t have time for this. I needed answers, and I needed them now. There was only the slightest chance my plan would work, and I had to get it in motion as quickly as I could muster.
“The blue one,” Clara said. “It’ll be the stack closest to the door.”
“Thank you,” I murmured and then paced the length of the floor until I got to the file room, all too aware of the way each of my employee’s eyes followed me as I went. I wanted to snap at them to get back to their business, but I couldn’t brin
g myself to slow down enough to bother—not when I had something more important on the line.
I shut the door behind me, pulled the ancient rope that turned on the file room’s dim light, and stuck the blue key into the nearest filing cabinet.
Quickly, I riffled through the alphabetical lettering until I reached the name I needed and snatched up Piper’s file, my heart pounding in my chest.
This was it. The moment of truth.
I flipped open the file and thumbed past the insurance and social security information until I found her emergency contact form. The first person listed was her mother. The second?
Her sister, Hailey.
Boom.
My heart leapt into my throat, and I pulled my phone from my pocket, quickly dialing her number with shaking, anxious fingers. The phone rang once, twice, and then a dial tone sounded.
The number I reached had been disconnected.
“Damn it,” I swore again. She must have gotten a new phone. But how likely was it that she had gotten a new address?
I glanced at the information, weighing the options again in my mind.
Piper had walked away and asked me to stay out of it, but I knew for a fact that her family couldn’t possibly have the resources I had available to me. If something was wrong with Hailey—and if that something was bothering Piper—who better than I to fix it? I had to help.
By rights, Piper didn’t even need to know it was me behind it. I could just go talk to Hailey in person, find out what was wrong, and fix everything, with Piper being none the wiser.
Nodding to myself, I copied Hailey’s address onto the notepad on my phone and then strode back to my office and booked a flight. In the morning I would have my answers. And just maybe I could find a way to win Piper back too.
When my plane landed in Chicago two days later, I made quick work of grabbing my luggage and renting a car. I hadn’t bothered to book a hotel room—I couldn’t imagine I would be in town long enough for that, but as I drove into the township where Piper had grown up, I couldn’t help but envy her a little.