37. Piper
Piper
D akota and Monty had some business to attend to downtown, and both Maisie and I had a hankering for ice cream.
Truth be told, I also had a craving for a chili cheese dog with extra pickled jalapenos.
Lucky for me, Evelyn’s diner could handle my pregnant lady cravings in the comfort of robust air-conditioning.
So, we opted to join the twins on their errands so that we could hole up in one of the booths at the diner while the Flint brothers went about their business.
“All right, ladies, that’s one junior mint-chip sundae with extra whip and two cherries, and a rocky road sundae with extra hot fudge—and a chili cheese dog with extra pickled jalapenos,” Emmy confirmed.
“You want your ice cream or your chili dog first?” She snickered at me as she finished scribbling down our order.
“Would it be the most crazy pregnant lady thing to ask for the ice cream first?” I winced, making my unconventional request.
“Not as weird as when you put syrup all over your omelet.” Emmy pantomimed a gag.
“Hey,” I protested, wagging my finger at her. “I’m telling you, that’s really good! I ate that even before I had these wacky preggers cravings,” I protested before the pair of us dissolved into laughter.
“No, but seriously—I’ll take my chili dog first and my ice cream second.” I looked to Maisie out of the corner of my eye. “The little ones are always watching us.”
“All right, coming right up!” Emmy chuckled, ponytail bouncing on her way back to the kitchen.
I had just finished munching the last of the extra pickled jalapenos off my plate when the reindeer bells on the diner door jingled loudly overhead.
Dakota shuffled into the diner with a quick wave to Emmy, Evelyn, and Judd before he made his way to our booth in the back corner.
“Can we go feed the ducks?” Maisie blurted as soon as Dakota was within earshot.
He looked to me, searching for any indication of my answer before he gave a response.
“If Daddy Kota wants to take you down to the pond while we wait for Papa Monty, you can go.” I gave a little shiver, the air-conditioning strong on my bare arms and shoulders.
That was always the way in the dead of summer—too hot to wear any other layers outside for any amount of time in that heat, but said layers were necessary for the strong air-conditioning everyone ran during the season to combat the oppressive heat and humidity.
“Plus,” I added, a little sheepishly. “I haven’t gotten my ice cream yet. I just finished my chili dog.”
Dakota let out a laugh, then took in the sight of me rubbing my bare arms before swinging his car keys around his finger.
“I tell you what, Maisie Rae. I’m going to run to the truck to grab one of my sweatshirts, then you and I can take a walk down to the pond to go see the ducks. I don’t think they need any more feeding today,” he chuckled warmly.
“Yeah! I wanna go see the ducks!” Maisie clapped excitedly.
“Be right back, pretty girl.” Dakota beamed, leaning down to peck a kiss on my lips before he hightailed it out to his truck.
“Make sure you don’t step in the water this time, otherwise we’re going to have to wash all the pond muckies off your light-up sneakers again,” I giggled, helping to fix the plastic barrettes that had come loose in Maisie’s hair as we waited for Dakota to return.
“Mama,” she said in her tiny chime-like voice, and my heart threatened to overflow.
Maisie had called me Mama a few times now since that first day with the drawing, but each time made my heart swell a little more.
“Yes, Maisie-Rae?” I responded sweetly.
“When can I take the baby to see the duckies?” she asked, laying a hand on my stomach tentatively.
It was almost enough to make me break down and sob tears of joy right there in the diner.
“Soon, sweet pea, very soon.” I tucked one of her flaxen curls behind her ear and placed a kiss on her little button nose.
The jingle bells sounded again, and Dakota returned with an oversized worn gray hoodie bearing the Blackwood Ranch logo emblazoned across the chest.
“All right, time for you and me to go visit with some ducks!” Kota proclaimed, dropping the hooded sweatshirt into my lap before sweeping Maisie up and into his arms as she squealed with delight.
“See you two in a bit!” I called after them before wriggling into the huge hoodie, settling into its comforting softness. Dakota’s rain on warm mineral earth smell wrapped around me like a hug. Emmy arrived with my sundae almost as soon as the pair had made it out of the door.
“How are things going with the farrier’s son?” I teased Emmy while I dipped the long-handled spoon into the tall glass of ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream before me.
“Not goin’ nowhere anymore. Three terrible comic book movies I’ve sat through at the movie theater now, and not even so much as a peck on the cheek for a good night.
” Emmy rolled her green eyes and shook her head gravely, the very picture of the pretty tomboy girl-next-door in her short denim cutoffs and cropped diner T-shirt.
The farrier’s boy might have thought she’d be too hot to handle, even if Emmy was sweet as pie.
“I know everyone says that good things come to those who wait, but damn it, Piper, I am not that patient,” she added with a laugh, tossing her chestnut brown ponytail over one shoulder.
“I’m telling you, just hold on. Focus on being yourself, and good things will fall into your lap.
” I gave her a knowing look with a pat to my belly, well hidden by the baggy sweatshirt, and pointed my ice cream spoon at her meaningfully.
“It sounds corny as hell, but I’m telling you—things happen for a reason!
” I tossed my spoon into the empty sundae glass as a sudden ice cream headache struck me.
“Oooh, brain freeze!” I yelped and pulled my scrunchy out of my hair, letting it fall around my shoulders as I shook off the sensation.
“Doling out wisdom even as your brain gets frozen out, like a true friend.” Emmy snorted a laugh at me and my wild hair and crazy expression.
“You should be so lucky!” I stuck my tongue out at her before we were giggling like a pair of high school girls.
Just as I was about to get ahold of myself enough to extend Emmy an invitation to watch some truly terrible reality TV on the couch in our pajamas sometime in the next week, the jingle bells rang out again, interrupting my train of thought.
I turned toward the sound of the bells, assuming it would be Montana, fresh from his visit to town hall about the building permits he’d been looking into, ready for a cup of coffee while he waited with me for Dakota and Maisie to return.
Instead, my worst nightmare came walking through those doors.
Lance, Ralph, and Kyle, all three of them wearing business casual, sunglasses, and sour expressions as they stepped in from the summer heat.
Before I could say anything to Emmy, she turned on her heel and made her way to the hostess stand, grabbing three menus in preparation to seat the new guests.
“Would you gentlemen prefer a booth, or would you like to sit at the counter?” she asked in her usual sunny tone.
Lance pulled his sunglasses off, fixing Emmy with his cold silver stare for the barest of moments before his eyes found me in the back corner booth.
“I believe our party is already seated,” he answered coolly, shouldering past her to make his way toward me, the others filed in behind him dutifully.
Emmy faltered only a moment, a look of confusion crossing her features before she schooled a customer service smile back onto her face. “Oh! Are you friends of Piper’s from the city?” she asked brightly.
A look passed between the three, somewhere between incredulity that a service person would address them directly and mild disgust that Emmy had done so.
“We don't need a waitress right now, sweetheart,” Ralph cut in, giving Emmy a curt smile. “We'll be sure to call you over when we need something.”
Hands on her hips, more than slightly outraged, Emmy opened her mouth as if to speak, but Kyle was quick to cut her off.
“Go ahead, run along. I'm sure there's a table somewhere you could be wiping down.” Kyle sneered as a humiliated blush crept up and over Emmy’s pretty face.
I wanted to stand up and snap at the members of Pack Adamar that they couldn’t treat Emmy like that—to shout for the whole diner to hear that they couldn’t just walk back into my life and be douchebags.
Especially after cheating on me with the goddamn concierge before I finally got the good sense to walk away from them.
Then my belly stirred, low and heavy beneath the sweatshirt that Dakota had lent me.
Oh fuck . I realized with a jolt of panic that I hadn’t spoken to Pack Adamar at all since that fateful night when I ran off to the diner. None of them had any idea that I had bonded into Pack Blackwood, that I was expecting the next addition to the pack in a few months.
Numbly, I braced for Lance’s unkind words, but instead of an insult about my choice of pack or the bun in my oven, he simply followed Ralph, dropping into the booth seat across the table from me, Kyle sliped in to bookend Lance.
“Hello, Piper, you’re looking…well, your face is certainly fuller than the last time I saw you.” He trailed off, his lip curling with mild disgust.
“Ice cream for lunch?” Ralph scanned me briefly. “Probably isn’t helping matters.”
I couldn’t believe it—Pack Adamar stepping casually back into my life like some kind of slow-motion scene from a horror movie, and already, they were calling me fat?
“Working as a nanny in this po-dunk town? I’d be eating my feelings too,” Kyle chimed in with a snide smile. “We heard about your new career from a friend.” He said the word career with disdain.
I blinked a few times, allowing their insults to sink in.
They thought that I was still a single nanny who’d put on a couple of pounds. That was actually pretty lucky. Maybe they would just shout more abuse at me and leave as quickly as they’d come.