“We’re so lucky we have two beds to choose from,” she teased, now amused at his hollow attempt to keep them from being tempted into doing exactly what they were about to do.
“Just try not to fall out of either of them,” he quipped, running his hand up her side and tickling her in a spot only he knew about. It sent her wiggling away, laughing frantically. He quickly followed her to the bed and again was on top of her. They were calm now for a moment; his body pressing down on her, his weight making her feel safe, not smothered. He leaned down and kissed her slowly, until her lips broke into a smile and he pulled away.
“I really hope this experiment works,” she said, then pulled him back down. But this time, she leaned in and kissed him, giving herself over to him.
Chapter Seven
If Piper’s memory served her correctly, what she was doing right now was called a walk of shame. She was wearing the same clothes she’d left in yesterday, her makeup was more than a little smeared, and her frazzled ponytail could only be defined as sex hair. In New York City you could frequently get away with this, blend into the herds of people making their way down the busy sidewalks. But when you’re heading into a Catholic home for unwed, pregnant women run exclusively by nuns, it’s impossible to hide the disgrace of a morning-after walk.
Bobby had left before she woke, leaving a note written on the hotel pad that read, “Had to run out for some things. Text me the details for tonight.”
Completely unacceptable? Not when he wasn’t your boyfriend. When you knew you hadn’t worked things out yet, then it was perfectly expected that you might wake up alone with a cruddy note and a little regret.
She expected to open the door to their shared apartment and find Jules smirking uncontrollably. Piper had sent her a text last night once she realized she’d be staying with Bobby, and all she got back was a smiley face. But now the apartment was empty. Jules wasn’t answering calls or text messages either. Piper sat for a few minutes hoping Jules had stepped out to take Bruno for a walk, but finally she pulled her coat back on and headed out onto the grounds of the facility.
After wandering around for a half hour in the cold, she resigned herself to waiting inside for her. If Jules had ventured out into the city somewhere it would be impossible to find her; this was not Edenville with its small population and favorite haunts. She dreaded, or maybe secretly looked forward to, the fact that she might have to call Bobby for help.
As she pulled open the glass door to the building she heard Jules’s familiar voice from inside.
“Thank you again, Sister Francis.” Piper watched as she leaned in and hugged the frail nun. Piper walked over and read the startled looked on Jules’s face, as she tried to quickly wipe away her tears.
“I was looking for you,” Piper said, ready to remind Jules how frightening it had been to lose her the first time and how she should always answer her phone.
“I’m right here,” Jules replied, clearing her throat of the emotion she had clearly been feeling while talking to the nun. She headed up the hallway toward their apartment, trying to minimize the awkward moment Piper had interrupted.
“What was that all about? Are you feeling all right?” Piper tried not to seem worried.
“I am definitely not feeling good,” she admitted as she pushed open the apartment door and headed for the bathroom. Jules left the door to the bathroom slightly ajar and the sounds of heaving came pouring out. Piper cringed, trying to decide if she should go in or offer empty encouragement from just outside the door. Before she could do anything, Jules reappeared, drying her hands.
“Are you okay now?” Piper asked, starting with a general inquiry, hoping Jules would apply that to not just this moment of nausea but to her whole situation.
Jules dragged herself out of the bathroom and huffed as she slumped into the large cushy couch. She pulled her legs up to her chest and curled into a cocoon of pillows and blankets. “I’m sick, like really sick,” she murmured, now pulling the hood of her sweatshirt up over her head. Piper could barely see her eyes, just a crumpled mass of sad mumbling, “I am not ready for this, Piper. I’m not ready to feel like this every day.”
“Can’t you take something?” Piper inquired hopefully, feeling out of her depth and unsure of what might help Jules the most. This was Betty’s area. Some kind of speech might be in order, or maybe an anecdote.
Jules pulled the strings on her hooded sweatshirt until only her eyes peeked out. She was officially in a one-woman cave.
“Stop it, Jules.” Piper pulled one layer of blanket off, then another. Tossing away two pillows, she found room to flop down next to her friend. “You need to tell Michael and give him a chance to process this, too. You’re not staying here and then running away with your baby. I’ll hunt you down and drag you back to Edenville. It’s where you belong. It’s where we all belong. Your mom might take a bit, but she’ll be thrilled for you once she gets past the circumstances. You should call home.”
“Michael and I have chatted since I’ve been up here. That’s it, just chatted. We’ve covered the weather, you, and last night I called to let him know Bobby was up here. Bobby chased after you. He followed you all the way up here and watched to make sure you were okay. He loves you, and I know you guys are all rocky and weird right now, but you don’t do all that without the intention of making it work. Michael doesn’t even seem to miss me. How can I expect him to want to do this with me?” she asked, pointing down at her stomach. “So far all I know for sure is he likes to do that with me.” She pointed to a region just slightly lower and Piper couldn’t contain her laughter.
“You don’t know how he’ll react, but you have to tell him anyway. And don’t use Bobby and me as a barometer, trust me.”
“Judging by your hair and the fact that you were out all night, I’m guessing you made the most of your night.”
“We certainly stayed busy last night, but this morning I woke up alone with some half-assed note. We’re not the relationship to measure yours by, is all I’m saying.” She decided to steer the conversation in another direction, because, frankly, how could she explain something she didn’t understand herself? Instead, she quickly filled Jules in on what happened when she took Jennipher home the previous night. “Connie and Marty want to have me back over for dinner tonight, and they’ve asked that you and Bobby come, too. They are really anxious to meet you and to make sure I stick around. Will you come?”
“Of course, but what do you mean they’re anxious to make sure you stick around? That’s not really the reaction I would have expected.”
Piper groaned and rolled her eyes. “I swear I turned all you happy southern folks into skeptical conspiracy theorists. They are nice people who are glad they found me. He wasn’t some fly-by-night-fling for my mom. They grew up together. He knew her before she got messed up on drugs. I have a sister, who you met, and a brother who I’ll meet tonight. I’m excited, and I think they are, too. They seemed a little worried that I might take off and they wouldn’t see me again. I don’t think that’s the big red flag you and Bobby seem to think it is.”
“The wife likes you, too?” Jules questioned, loosening the strings on her hood and exposing her face again, now full of doubt.
“Yep, Connie was almost more excited than Marty.”
“I’m going to come tonight, but I’m keeping an eye on those two. You might think this city will eat me alive, but I can spot a liar when I see one. Something sounds fishy about their reaction. You’re too lollipops and sunshine lately. I’ll be your healthy dose of cynical. I seem to have that in me right now. This is quite the role reversal.”
“Hey, where’s Bruno?” Piper asked, realizing now that the dog wasn’t with Jules.
“He’s been temporarily hired as a therapy dog here. He cheers up some of the girls, and Sister Francis asked if he could spend time in different apartments keeping them company. How can you say no to a request like that? She was about to give him back to me, though, when I was down there
blubbering about how I’m pregnant and need some help.”
“I’m telling you, that dog should be a service dog for depression, he’s really good at it.” Piper leaned down and rested her head on Jules. “You’re going to be all right, you know, you and your baby. You’ve got lots of people even if Michael bails.”
“I know,” she croaked, as her eyes filled and spilled over with tears. “I just really don’t want him to bail.
Chapter Eight
Rounding up Bobby and Jules for dinner was like herding cats. Jules was having a hard time buttoning any of her pants and on three occasions refused to come out of the bathroom. Bobby had given spotty responses to her text messages, making it impossible to figure out if they were meeting there or if he was picking them up. Her level of annoyance with them both was rapidly growing. It was bad enough she had to explain to Marty that he’d already met Jules, but under false pretenses. That had been an awkward phone call.
She finally got a text from Bobby that read, be there soon. “Jules, Bobby is going to be here any minute, just pick something to wear.”
Jules stepped out of the bathroom in yoga pants and a T-shirt, the same thing she had walked in there wearing an hour ago when she had started getting ready.
“I hope they aren’t snobs, because this is what I’m wearing. Deal with it.” She grabbed her bag and pulled on her coat.
“I think you look great.” Piper smiled, just happy to be heading out the door. She didn’t care what they looked like, but she didn’t want to be late.
The ride over was quiet. Bobby had started by asking why Jules was dressed like that, and it was downhill from there. Jules instructed him to go screw himself. At which point Piper replied that if he did screw himself he’d wake up alone and know what that felt like. His unresponsive attitude the entire day had left her feeling slighted about their encounter last night, and she wasn’t above a few verbal jabs in his direction. She knew the rules going in, she heard the speech, but didn’t he know she was secretly hoping it would change everything? Didn’t he understand how women think?
“Why are you ignoring Michael?” Bobby dared to ask Jules. “I talked to him last night, and he said you’ve been blowing off his calls and acting all weird.” Bobby looked Jules over again, trying to get a read on his oldest friend.
“Was it like a passing comment or a long conversation? Did he seem like he was annoyed? Or sad?” Jules asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Um,” Bobby smirked, “guys don’t think like that. He sounded like Michael.”
“Tell me exactly what he said.” Jules sat up straighter in her seat and readied herself for more details to analyze.
“I just told you what he said. I don’t know how he said it or why he said it. So unless the next thing out of your mouth is ‘Thank you, Bobby, for relaying the message,’ let’s just drop it.”
As they pulled in to the driveway of Marty and Connie’s home, Piper drew in a deep breath. “Can you guys please just not be so distrustful and weird? They are nice people who actually seem to like me, so don’t screw this up by scrutinizing every little thing they say and looking for some ulterior motive.”
When they didn’t answer she spun to look at them with daggers in her eyes until they finally rolled their eyes and in unison replied, “Fine.”
The front door pulled open before Piper could even ring the doorbell, and Connie met them all with a giant smile. “Oh, thank you so much for coming. We’re so excited to have you.”
“A little too excited,” Jules mumbled to Bobby, and Piper glared over her shoulder at the two of them like a scolding parent threatening to turn this car around.
“Thank you, Connie, we’re so happy to be here,” Piper practically sang, leaning in to Connie’s open arms. “We brought you a bottle of wine, I hope you like it.”
“How thoughtful of you. Jennipher, Eli . . . Piper is here.” Around the corner came the girl they’d all met yesterday and a sandy-haired little boy who was the spitting imagine of Connie and looked to be about seven years old. He was standing shyly behind his sister, only peeking his head out to see their guests.
Piper waved and crinkled her nose into a friendly smile, which just sent the boy retreating completely behind his big sister.
“He’s a little shy,” Connie said, waving them all into the living room. Piper scanned the room and felt like something had changed, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was exactly. Then she caught herself being as over-analytical as Bobby and Jules about the whole thing and shook off the odd feeling.
“Marty will be home any minute. Doctors’ hours can be a little unpredictable at times. He’s really looking forward to getting to know more about all of you though. We all are.” She gestured to the couch and the three of them sat down. Eli and Jennipher took a seat on either side of them in the wingback chairs and Connie across from them. For Bobby, it was reminiscent of picking up a girl for a date and waiting awkwardly in the living room while she finished getting ready.
Before Connie could say anything else they all heard the door open and Marty stepped in, the smile on his face as large as Connie’s. Piper could see how Jules and Bobby might read this as two people trying a little too hard.
Marty nodded at his wife and said quickly, “She’s doing fine,” before moving on, greeting the group. Was that a weird thing to say right as you walked into the house? Maybe, Piper thought, or maybe Connie was just very invested in her husband and his work, and he was reassuring her about a patient of his.
Marty reached across the coffee table as Bobby rose to meet him, and they shook hands firmly. “I’m sorry I’m running late. I had a special patient to attend to.”
For some reason Piper felt incredibly self-conscious of her friends, as if it were obvious that they were looking at the family with suspicious eyes. She watched as Jules returned his too big smile with her own, almost mockingly. He settled into the seat next to his wife and a wave of silence filled the room as each seemed to be waiting for the others to speak. Then, to escalate the awkwardness of it all, Connie and Marty began to speak at the same time, cutting each other off, then pausing and starting again until finally Connie covered her mouth and gestured for Marty to speak.
“Nice to meet you, Bobby, and Jules, if that is your real name,” he teased, “it’s good to see you again. So tell us a little about yourselves. We’re so happy to have you here tonight. We’re looking forward to getting to know all of you better.”
Bobby cleared his throat as he considered what version of himself to present. Testing his theory that these people were being too kind under the circumstances, he opted for the blunt truth. “I’m originally from New Jersey. I moved to North Carolina when I was ten years old. Piper and I met a few months ago in Edenville. We’ve had a rough go of it so far; we’re still trying to sort ourselves out I guess. I quit my job as a police officer to come up here and help her work some of this out. She’s got a lot riding on finding out who her father is.” Bobby knew this would sound like a sideways warning for them all, a reminder that the emotional investment on Piper’s part was a significant one.
“I work at Town Hall in Edenville,” Jules jumped in, recognizing the uncomfortable heat that stemmed from Bobby’s introduction. “Piper and I have grown close over the last few months. My mother, Betty, and I feel like she’s already a part of our family. She’s really something special, we’re lucky to have her.” Another successful attempt at subtext; judging by everyone’s squirming, the message was being heard loud and clear.
“She seems very lucky to have you both in her life. Good friends are hard to come by and when you find them, you have to keep them close.” Marty turned toward his young son and smiled. “Eli, we said if you had any questions you could ask. Do you have anything you want to ask?”
The boy fidgeted in his chair a bit and looked up at the ceiling, trying to find the right words to form a question. “Will she buy me something for Christmas?” Eli asked, a slight lisp painting his
question with even more childish charm. And just like that, the tension that was building steadily in the room was sliced in half by the laughter passing among all of them now.
“No, Eli, she doesn’t have to get you a Christmas gift,” Connie said, leaning over and tickling his knee. “Piper’s here to spend time with us and get to know us better.”
Eli looked again like he was pondering something profound. He licked his lips and smiled at all of them. “Can we eat now?” Again, they all chuckled.
“Yes, Eli, we can eat now.” Connie stood and motioned for all of them to join her. “I’m afraid I’m not much of a cook. I hope you all enjoy dry chicken and lumpy mashed potatoes.”
“I’m sure it will be delicious,” Piper beamed, becoming less recognizable to her friends by the minute.
The meal wasn’t nearly as bad as Connie had warned. The food and conversation began to flow nicely as they broke into broader topics like upcoming events in the city and a past vacation they had taken to North Carolina, naming off places they had greatly enjoyed.
Dessert was a fancy fruit tart pulled out of a bakery box. As Piper ate it she finally realized that during her time with Betty she’d acquired a taste for home-cooked food and could actually distinguish the difference now.
When the plates were empty and the time grew later, Connie placed her napkin on her plate and turned toward her daughter. “Jennipher, will you take Eli up to get bathed and put on his pajamas?” Jennipher stood obediently, and took her reluctant brother by the arm.
“I’m not tired,” Eli moaned, dragging his feet and sticking out his lip in a protesting pout. Connie caught him on his way by, pulled him in to her arms, kissed him playfully, and tousled his hair. “You can watch one show in your room. Daddy and I will be up to say goodnight in a little bit.”
With the remaining people around the table all adults, Jules took the opportunity to say what was probably on everyone’s mind, her specialty. “So what happens next? A paternity test?”
Changing Fate (Book 3) (Piper Anderson Series) Page 8