25. Piper
25
PIPER
I wasn’t in the mood to be out in public, but Paul was impossible to refuse.
He’d called me the night I left Summit to get the full debrief after getting wind of it from Vincent himself, and he had pestered me into agreeing to meet him for lunch. Darcy had pushed me to go even though all I wanted to do was fuse to the couch for a few weeks.
He was already waiting for me at the restaurant when I arrived, which was a miracle in itself. The man never met a meeting time he couldn’t miss. Clearly, my tribe knew I was in a code red frame of mind and were going to extraordinary lengths to be there for me.
Thankfully, the restaurant was a casual bistro, and my leggings, puffy eyes, and ponytail didn’t make me look like I was crashing the place.
“Hey.” His face was a worried furrow as I slid into the booth. He leaned over to give me a kiss on the cheek and a side hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Hi.” I mustered up a half smile for him.
“You doing okay?”
I planted my elbows on the table and stared at him. “Look at my face. You tell me.”
“I mean…you look like you could use a nap? But your hair looks great,” he added quickly.
I couldn’t help but laugh. Sweet Paul, always trying to see the bright side. My face was blotchy, and my eyes were still swollen from crying.
“Listen, I know Vincent is my friend, but my loyalty will always be to you,” he said. “You’re my family. Maybe we haven’t been the closest, but that’s got to change. Chloe insists.”
“And how is your lovely bride?” I asked.
He waved his hand at me. “We’ll get to all of that, first I want to talk about you .”
“What’s left to tell? You know everything.”
“Yeah, about that. Do you want me to kick his ass?” Paul asked, deadly serious.
It was such a left-field thing to say that I cackled at him. “Paul, what? You’re a lover, not a fighter.”
“Hey, when it comes to you, I’m gonna step up,” he said with conviction in his voice. “Vincent’s a big guy, sure, but I’m scrappy. I can hold my own—I took Brazilian jujitsu back in college. All of those big muscles of his will slow him down. I’m nimble!” He did a duck-and-weave move. “I’m serious, Piper. Do you want me to choke him out?”
I was full-on laughing by the time he finished his tough-guy speech.
“Paul, no. Not necessary.”
He was staring into space like he was visualizing how a match with Vincent could play out. “Hold on, maybe I could tag team with Aiden? He’s the former football player—he’s got strength and agility.”
“I’m serious. No bodily harm is necessary, but thank you,” I said as I squeezed his hand.
“I hate the way things ended up with you two,” he said as he locked onto me with worried eyes. “I know him, and he’s better than that.”
“Is he?” I asked pointedly. “You tell me—what was his history with women before me?”
He winced. “Yeah, okay. Fair point. But…I’m not trying to contradict you, I swear. All I want to say is that this isn’t the Vincent I know.”
The waiter stopped by to get our drink orders, which gave me a moment to take a breath. I didn’t want to think about the “good” side of Vincent. It was easier to focus on the asshole.
“Enough about me,” I said as I settled in. “How’s married life?”
He blew out a sigh. “It’s…a lot.”
“Already? This is supposed to be the literal honeymoon phase. What the hell is going on?”
“Everything blew up over an earring,” he admitted sheepishly.
I settled against the banquette. “Okay, spill it.”
He took a deep breath. “So obviously you know about the whole something old, something new tradition,” he began. “Chloe’s old thing was a pair of earrings her grandmother left her. Little diamonds with pearl drops?”
I nodded. I knew all about them.
“Well, she accidentally lost one of them in the hotel suite on our wedding night, and we didn’t realize it was missing until we came back from the honeymoon. That triggered a total breakdown. I guess I was a little, uh, dismissive about it, and we had a huge fight. And I left to go stay at Vincent’s.”
He looked downright sheepish.
“Paul,” I said slowly. “Did she tell you why those earrings were so important to her?”
“It’s obvious why—they’re heirlooms, and probably expensive as hell.”
“No, it’s way more than just that. Wow, you two really need to learn how to communicate if you’re going to make this work,” I scolded lightly. “Chloe and I had a long talk the day of the elevator debacle. She told me her grandmother died of breast cancer. And then, her mom had a shadow on her last mammogram, which required a biopsy. It was all going down the week before your wedding, so it was wedding stress compounded by real-life stress.”
“Oh no way .” His face fell. “Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She didn’t want to add another stressor to everything else you guys were dealing with, so she figured the best course of action was to keep it bottled up.” I paused. “You’re not the only one to blame for it, Paul. She needs to be open when she’s facing something tough, but you do need to give her the space to talk about these kinds of challenges.”
He cradled his head in his hands. “Fuck. Yeah, leading up to the wedding, things got pretty crazy. There was just so much that needed to get done. I spent all my time checking things off lists. It didn’t give us a lot of openings to really talk. I guess I let the important stuff fall off the radar. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t push to find out what it was. I guess I was a little afraid. We seemed so…fragile as a couple. I didn’t want to shatter what was holding us together.”
I reached out to slide my arm around his shoulder. “Oh, come on. You two are strong as hell. You just need to learn to navigate life’s challenges. They’re going to keep coming, you know.”
He made a frustrated noise. “Right? Add a baby in the mix, and we’re screwed if we don’t figure it out.”
“Hold on a second!” I leaned away from him. “ Baby ? Do you have something you want to tell me?”
“Oh god, no, not yet,” he laughed. “I’ve barely touched her in a week.”
“Okay, that’s TMI,” I said and plugged my ears.
“I need to make it right,” Paul continued. “Should I send flowers?”
“Nope, that’s hollow. And easy. Think, Paul. What triggered everything?”
“The missing earring.”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “It’s a symbol of so many things for her. So what can you to try to make it right?”
I knew what he needed to do, but I wanted him to come to the realization himself.
“Okay, so maybe the hotel would let me go back to the suite and look?” he asked.
I shook my head. “They’ve probably had a dozen people through that room since you stayed there. What else you got?”
“Maybe I could go on eBay and try to find a match?” he asked, staring into space.
“Good option, or if it’s a one-of-a-kind, you could…”
“Have a copy made! That’s it ,” he slapped the table, and a few other diners turned to look at us.
“Yes, perfect,” I cheered. “You know that jewelry store, Veritique? They have a whole side business creating duplicate jewelry. I bet they could do it.”
“Oh, hell yeah. Chloe loves that place—I think she’s seen the movie Very Veritique about twenty times. We could make a day of it.”
I sat back and grinned at him. “That’s the spirit. It could signify the beginning of a new approach for the two of you. You two could actually talk about what went wrong, and ways that you can be better about communicating in the future, so it won’t happen again. You can show her you’ll always be there for her, for better and for worse. Yes? You literally said those words to her in front of everyone who matters to you.”
“You’re right,” he admitted. “But it’s a two-way street. She needs to tell me when she’s struggling instead of keeping it inside.”
“Exactly, you get it now,” I agreed. “So, you’re welcome for solving all your problems. I’ll mail you my bill for all the therapy.”
He laughed, but then his face turned serious. “I wish I could do the same for you. I hate that he hurt you.”
I stared out at the other diners stuffing their faces. Thanks to the food all around us, my appetite was slowly coming back. Maybe my grieving process was moving on to the “eat the sadness away” period?
“I don’t think Vincent is capable of giving what I need in a relationship. His first love is Summit. And the man barely even believes in actual love, you know? It’s like he’s run the numbers and decided it’s not worth the risk.”
“His dad didn’t exactly model great relationships,” Paul said. “How many marriages has he had? Five?”
“Four,” I corrected. “One great love and three runners-up. Anyway, there’s no need to talk about it. It’s done, I’m moving on. Let’s talk about what’s happening with Strapped.”
And with that, we took a page from the Vincent Forde playbook and moved on to the only thing that mattered: business.