Chapter 14 Piper
Piper
Tati’s text was dramatic as usual, insisting I leave Blitz Brews immediately and run by Publix for a carton of almond milk because I selfishly drank the last of it this morning.
I knock out the errand, then head for the Towers, waffling about whether to take Henry up on his invitation to meet at the pool.
It sounds suspiciously like a date, which I’m not into.
I love me some torrid fictional romance, but I’ve never had a boyfriend.
I’ve never wanted one. Tati’s succession of failed love affairs has taught me that relationships follow a certain pattern: new love euphoria, flaws inevitably coming to light, increasingly intense bickering, heart-shattering end.
And then there’s the way Gabi has gone all heart-eyes for Damon, that filthy loser.
I’d rather be single forever.
But Henry is fun to talk to. Also, the way he shut down Damon at Blitz Brews… I didn’t hate feeling looked after, if only for a few minutes.
After Tati goes into her room for the night, I put on a fresh suit—a cherry-printed bandeau top and red high-waisted bottoms—then cover it with cutoffs and a tank.
Slipping on my favorite Reefs, I peer into the mirror over my dresser.
My curls, windblown and salt steeped, are beyond help, so I leave them in their knot.
I take five seconds to swipe vanilla gloss over my lips, then tiptoe into the hallway.
All’s quiet in my sister’s room. It seems that nagging me about almond milk, then bitching when I bought oat milk instead of almond milk, has extinguished her fire for the night.
I sneak past her door, then pull a beach towel from the linen closet and stuff it into my bag.
I’m within arm’s reach of freedom when she steps into the hallway.
“Where are you going?” she asks, not very nicely.
“To the pool.”
Her gaze narrows. “I’ve heard that before.”
The night of Gabi’s party, I said I was going to the pool too.
Only instead of a towel, I was toting two bottles of Pinot and one of peach Schnapps, all stolen from my sister, wrapped in T-shirts to keep them from clanking.
I didn’t go to the Towers pool, but I did go swimming at Gabi’s.
Tati was livid when I was dropped off in the middle of the night by none other than her then-boyfriend, Officer Adam Lopez.
While out on patrol, he’d spotted me making a serpentine trek down the sidewalk near the Marine Conservation Park.
My drunken brain had insisted that now was the time to sneak in for some curative time with my favorite sea animals, but because I was a stumbling, bumbling mess, I drew the attention of a cop.
The most unfortunate cop.
By the time he drove me to the Towers and escorted me upstairs, I was sobbing.
Tati didn’t care that I was borderline hysterical. She didn’t care that I threw up until dawn. She didn’t care that it wasn’t my fault—not all of it, anyway.
“No, I really am,” I say now, pulling down the strap of my tank to show her my suit.
She sighs, wary. “Why? It’s after nine. It’s dark.”
“Fresh air,” I lie. The truth—because a boy asked me to—won’t go over well.
“What’s in the bag?”
I bite back the You’re not my mother retort that lives permanently on the tip of my tongue and hold my bag open so she can examine its contents.
When she’s done, she steps back and crosses her arms. “You’re not going to be accompanied home by a police officer, are you?”
“No, Tati.”
“You have an hour,” she says with a resolute nod. “If you’re not back by ten thirty, I’m coming to get you.”
Because she has nothing better to do.
I turn for the door. “Whatever. Have fun up here by yourself.”
***
Henry’s poolside when I arrive.
He’s left a towel, his book, and his shirt on a chair near where he’s sitting on the deck, legs dangling in the illuminated water.
He waves as I approach, and whoa. I’ve had him pegged as an adorkable intellectual, which I still think is true, but he definitely has a thing for the gym too.
It strikes me as comically unjust that this boy was granted brains, muscles, thick hair, and etiquette.
What was left for the other boys once Henry received his attributes?
Maybe he’s the reason Damon lacks any good qualities.
I drop my bag on the chair beside his stuff. I leave my clothes on, feeling a little shy about hanging with Mr. Washboard Abs in my bikini, and take a seat on the deck. I leave a chasm of space between us, wishing I didn’t feel this new compulsion to keep boys at a distance.
“I was starting to wonder if you were gonna show,” he says.
I splash water over my knees. “My keeper wasn’t keen on me coming down.”
“Ah. My dad’s still at work, or he would’ve hassled me too.”
“He’s overprotective?”
Henry gives a derisive laugh. “More like he wants to hang out all the time. When I was showering earlier, he burst into the bathroom to tell me Field of Dreams was on TV. Let a guy rinse the shampoo out of his hair before you start hounding him about a movie that’s older than he is, you know?”
I resist the urge to tell him how lucky he is, that he should never take his parents’ care for granted.
Not that Tati doesn’t care about me. She cares that my GPA remains above average.
She cares that I don’t end up a teen mom or with a criminal record.
She cares that I become a responsible, productive Floridian because I’m a reflection of her.
Because she took on a parental role she never asked for. Because she refuses to fail.
She doesn’t care like a mom or a dad would.
But this is one of those grass is always greener situations. Maybe if Henry knew how I live—perpetually pestered about the importance of good grades and my bank balance and my future—he’d think, Yes, please. I sure as shit wouldn’t turn my nose up at watching a movie with my dad.
The way he regards me makes me worry that my usually dormant grief has revealed itself. Very aware of how intimate this conversation is about to become, I say, “Your dad must love you a lot to try so hard.”
Henry grasps the back of his reddened neck, watching the water lap against the tiled pool wall. “Yeah. I just wish he’d tone it down a little. I want to want to be here, you know?”
His deep brown eyes lift to meet mine. The air is warm, infused with ocean salt and the lingering scent of tropical tanning lotion. It scares me a little, how much I like being around this boy who gives me space without asking why I need it.
I smile. “Yeah, I know. I want you to want to be here too.”