Chapter 27 Piper
TWENTY-SEVEN
PIPER
The smell of fresh paint filled my nose, and I looked around the foyer of the house we co-owned in wonder. When I flicked the light switch, the large chandelier I’d chosen for the entryway began to glow. I gasped.
“It’s done?” I stared at the walls, the trim, the door to the downstairs powder room. All of it was freshly painted and looking immaculate. “How—”
“I had a few guys come help us out.”
“But—”
“I’m covering it. It’s not going into our project budget.”
“That’s cheating!”
Rhett threw his head back and laughed, then wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a kiss. Then he leaned his forehead against mine and smiled. “Do you think you can set your principles aside and let me take care of this? They did a way better job than we could have, anyway.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It doesn’t seem fair.”
“To who?”
“To you!” I exclaimed. “What if…” I trailed off, a lump forming in my throat.
Rhett pulled away, his hands coasting down my sides in a gentle caress. “What if what, Piper?”
I didn’t want to say it, but Rhett watched me under the glow of the chandelier, and the words bubbled up before I could stop them.
It was the magic of the Christmas lights, and the laughter of all of Georgia’s friends, and the fun I’d had at Thanksgiving the day before.
It was Rhett’s touch, and the fun he teased out of me at every turn.
My defenses were shattered. I blinked up at him and blurted out, “What if you hold it over my head later?”
He blinked, frowned, and pulled his head back slightly. I’d offended him. Then he blew out a breath and lifted a hand to my face, sweeping his thumb over my skin to trace the arch of my cheekbone. “Let me show you something,” he said, voice a low rumble.
With his hand tangling in mine, Rhett pulled me deeper into the home. We entered the kitchen, which still needed window treatments and—
“Appliances!” I exclaimed, eyes widening at the sight of the brand-new stainless steel items. “And a coffee maker!”
“Figured you’d need a cup first thing in the morning.”
“What?” I said, my fingers already wrapped around the fridge handle. I pulled it open, but my head had turned in Rhett’s direction.
He leaned against the doorway, a smile toying around the edges of his lips. “I said I figured you’d need a cup first thing in the morning, so I got you a machine. That way you can avoid causing a ruckus at Peak Coffee.”
I chose to ignore his playful dig to focus on what really mattered. “What do you mean, first thing in the morning?”
“You need a place to stay, Piper. You own this house. Move in here with the boys, at least until springtime. There’ll be more rentals available then, and we can list the house once you find somewhere suitable.”
My grip on the refrigerator door tightened as my vision went fuzzy around the edges. Rhett straightened, arching his brows. I didn’t understand. “What are you talking about?”
Instead of answering, Rhett crossed the kitchen and pulled open the drawer next to the sink. “I tried to get everything you’d need, but I’m sure I forgot something,” he said, glancing at the gleaming utensils in the drawer. “It’s a start, anyway, and it’s better than Ridgeview.”
“I can’t stay here!”
He closed the drawer and faced me. “Why not?”
“Because you own half the house! Would I pay you rent?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Well, what? I’m just supposed to accept your charity?”
“You’re supposed to take a breather. It makes no sense for you to move somewhere unsafe with Nate and Alec when there’s an empty house right here. An empty house that you own, that’s renovated and ready to move into.”
“With you,” I said. “An empty house that I own with you.”
“Are you saying you want me to move in too?”
“What?” I screeched.
Rhett laughed, his palms rising to try to calm me. But it was no use. My breaths were coming faster, and my heart felt like it was trying to punch right out of my chest. “The schedule…”
Rhett’s arms wrapped around me, so warm and safe that I couldn’t hold back the flood of tears that began to stream down my cheeks. “Hey,” he murmured, holding me close. “Hey, babe, Piper, stop.”
“I can’t accept this,” I said, my body shaking. “I can’t… What if you change your mind?”
Rhett’s voice was calm and low, his lips brushing the top of my ear. “What makes you think I’ll change my mind?”
“It’s too much. You’ll hold it over my head.”
“You must not think very highly of me,” he noted.
“I’m—h, God, Rhett, I’m so sorry.” I covered my face with my hands as a sob tore through me.
Rhett hugged me tighter, his big hands coasting up and down my back as he tried to calm me. Finally, when I caught my breath, he let out a sigh. “I gotta be honest with you, Piper, this wasn’t how I pictured this conversation going.”
I let out a watery laugh, wiping under my eyes with the heels of my palms. I shook my head. “I’m sorry.”
“You’ve got to stop apologizing for things that you shouldn’t be sorry for, Piper.”
“I’m—” I bit off the rest of my sentence and let out another half laugh, half sob.
“Right,” I said. Lifting my gaze up to meet Rhett’s, I was struck by just how warm and tender the look in his eyes was.
I couldn’t believe he ever thought badly about himself when he was the best man I’d ever met.
“After the divorce, my ex told me I could stay in our house. He said he’d let me have it, but when it came time to do the paperwork, he went back on his word.
” My voice came out as a whisper, and I had to drop my gaze to Rhett’s jaw.
I didn’t want to see the pity in his eyes.
But I felt that I owed him an explanation for my tears and my less-than-grateful reaction.
“I had to leave the house. He tried to keep the boys, but I managed to get a part-time job bagging groceries, got an apartment, and fought him while I looked for better work. He used every lever he had against me. He pretended he wanted to be amicable and then fought dirty every step of the way. And I was caught off guard, because I’d trusted him. ”
Rhett’s hand had stopped its strokes up and down my back, but he started them up again. “That’s why you want everything to be fair between us.”
“You’re already giving me a good deal, Rhett. You’re putting up all the money but agreeing to split the profits down the middle. You’re getting the place painted out of your own pocket. And now this?” I shook my head. “If I accept…”
He waited for me to finish, but I didn’t. “If you accept, then what?” Rhett finally prompted gently.
“Then it’ll hurt that much more when the rug gets pulled out from under me!” I looked up at him, desperate for solid ground. “If I stumble again, I won’t be able to scrabble my way back up onto my feet. I can’t stumble, Rhett. My boys need me, and I can’t afford to let them down again.”
Rhett put his hands on either side of my face and tilted it up so I was forced to look in his eyes.
It hurt. I didn’t want to see the tenderness and heartbreak written in his gaze.
I didn’t want to question my need to protect myself.
When I was married to Jacob, he’d always been looking for the upper hand.
Arguments were full of land mines. I couldn’t navigate them without fearing setting one off.
“What do you need to feel safe, Piper?”
I stared at Rhett, blinking. “What?”
“Tell me what you need. Do you want a lease? We’ll put it all out on paper and sign it. I won’t be able to kick you out. You’ll be protected.”
My heart still wasn’t beating right. I frowned, my mind racing, looking for the catch. There was always a catch.
“Come on,” Rhett said, braiding his fingers in mine.
He tugged me back down the hall and up the stairs.
They creaked as we ascended, welcoming us up to the second story.
Rhett opened the door to the main bathroom, and I sighed at the sight of the stack of fresh towels and the new white shower curtain.
Then he opened the door to the dormer bedroom, and all the breath left my lungs in a rush.
“Rhett,” I whispered, unable to actually make a sound as I stepped over the threshold.
He’d bought two beds and installed them on either side of the room, under the angled pitch of the roof.
The bedspreads were branded with the Hot Wheels logo, along with a car with flames shooting out from under the tires.
Each bed had a toy car on it, brand new in the box.
There were simple, sturdy dressers on either side of the window, and a rug that felt plush underfoot.
“All I wanted as a kid was somewhere that felt like home,” he said behind me. “I wanted my mother to look at me the way you look at your sons. I wanted her to listen to me and hold me when I was afraid. And I wanted somewhere that I could go back to that felt safe, that felt like it was mine.”
“This is blatant emotional manipulation,” I croaked.
Rhett’s smile was evident in his voice, even though I still had my back to him. “I told you the good-guy thing was an act.”
Finally, I turned around. He filled the doorway, his gaze hesitant as he watched me. “Thank you,” I whispered.
He inhaled sharply. Exhaled. “You’ll stay?”
“I can’t keep this from the boys,” I said, my bottom lip trembling as my arm waved at the room he’d decorated. “But…”
“Give me a few seconds to enjoy this, Piper,” Rhett said, entering the room to wrap me in his arms again. “Tell me the rest of your protests later.”
I laughed, burying my head in his chest. “We’ll have to move out to stage the place properly for sale.”
“Fine,” Rhett agreed. “We’ll worry about that later.”
Looking up at him, I shook my head. “I don’t deserve this.
” The words slipped out, and the truth in them shimmered in the air between us.
I gulped, suddenly afraid. Rhett saw so much, and it was so easy to fall for his charm.
I wanted to believe that he was as good as he appeared.
I wanted to live here, to see the boys’ faces when they saw their room, to spend every day and night with Rhett from now until the end of time.
But what if every time I accepted help, it came back and bit me in the ass ten times worse? What if I hadn’t worked hard enough, or fought hard enough, or been smart enough to actually deserve more from my life than what I had?
Rhett’s shoulders dropped, and his grip on me tightened. “You deserve a hell of a lot more than an old house with leaky plumbing, Piper. But it’ll do for now.”
“I thought you fixed the plumbing,” I teased.
Rhett huffed, touching his nose to mine. “You want to see the master bedroom?”
I wasn’t sure my heart could take it, but my curiosity wouldn’t let me refuse. “Lead the way,” I said.
Rhett took my hand once more, and it felt natural and right to hold his hand like this. We walked along the stairway to the main bedroom, and as I watched Rhett reach for the handle, I wondered how it would feel to just enjoy this. To do what he said and simply take a breather. To feel safe.
With Rhett by my side, solid and immovable, feeling safe didn’t seem like such a stretch. I let out a long sigh, and with it, released some of the fear that had plagued me since the breakdown of my marriage.
And Rhett opened the door.