28. Piper
28
PIPER
“ P inch me,” Darcy said as she kicked up her feet on her new desk. “Is this real life?”
“You sitting and me working feels very real life to me,” I joked as I broke down a cardboard box.
“Don’t you dare,” she scolded me. “This is the first time I’ve taken a break in three days.”
“Totally kidding. You’ve been incredible.”
I plopped into the roller chair in the middle of our brand-new office. Setting up was taking longer than expected, but we’d both been having a blast easing into our new space. The brick-walled former garment district cutting room was bigger than we thought we needed, but Mercedes had convinced us we’d grow into it way quicker than we expected. The order just in from Italy was taking up plenty of space, and we weren’t even operating at full capacity yet.
My professional life was at an all-time high. I was so busy I didn’t have time to think about the nightmare that was my personal life.
“You ready to head out for a quick bite?” Darcy asked. “I’m starving.”
“Not yet. I have a couple of emails to send, plus I want to hang my photos. I picked them up from the framers today.”
“Oh, let me help then,” Darcy said. “Where’s the toolbox?”
“Stop it. I know you’re meeting that bartender later tonight; you don’t have to hide it from me. Go home and start getting ready.”
“I just feel bad going out on a date,” she sighed. “I hate what that asshole did to you, and that it went down right as our dreams were coming true.” She swept her hand around the space.
“I’m totally fine,” I lied. “Better to figure it out now, before I got too wrapped up in his bullshit. Work is a great distraction.”
“You have a point,” she agreed. She squinted at me. “You sure you don’t mind if I head out?”
I pointed at the door. “Go.”
Darcy ran over to give me a quick hug, and as the door shut behind her, I paused to take stock of the after-hours work I still needed to take care of before I left for the day.
Hang photos.
Finish assembling the shelving unit.
Rearrange the shipping and receiving tables.
Respond to the twenty new emails I hadn’t had a chance to address during business hours.
My to-do list was endless, but I was loving every second. Staying busy kept my mind from wandering.
Most of the time.
There were still moments when I was reminded of Vincent against my will. A bus passing by with my photo of Maya, Rodrigo, and the bottle of Evermore on the side of it. A social media post from someone visiting Hawaii. Even fresh flowers outside the neighborhood bodegas made my heart pinch with memories of Vincent.
Thinking of him was pointless. Each day that passed brought me a little more distance, to the point where I could almost convince myself he’d been the absolute worst during our time together.
My head was able to buy into my revisionist history, but convincing my heart was proving to be more of a challenge.
I started stacking broken down boxes when the locked main door rumbled like someone was trying to break in. I laughed to myself at Darcy’s nonstop-ness. She moved through life at warp speed, and I was always trying to keep up with her.
“Hold on,” I yelled as I ran across the giant space. “Gimme a sec, woman.”
I slid the door open and froze when I saw who was on the other side of it.
“ Vincent .”
“Hey,” he said. He looked exhausted, and I immediately felt a pang, despite everything. “Can we talk for a second?”
My heart shouted, “Yes, I’ve missed you, what took you so long?” but I forced myself to close the door on that feeling. That organ in my chest was a ridiculous asshole that couldn’t be trusted.
I didn’t even realize I was physically closing the door in front of me until it came to a stop on an expensive-looking black loafer, getting a shocked cry out of Vincent.
“Seriously, Piper?”
“I have nothing to say to you,” I said through the half-closed door. “You should leave.”
“But what if I have something to say to you ?”
“Oh, you’ve said plenty,” I snapped as I leaned my forehead against the door. “I’ve heard enough from you.”
“Piper…come on. Please?”
I was a sucker for a grovel. Maybe I could let him say lots of nice things to me and drop kick him anyway?
I slid the door open and ignored my body’s visceral reaction to seeing him up close.
Yeah, he looked wrung out, despite the expensive suit and bright tie. A shadow of the man I knew, with hollows under his eyes. I hated my reflexive need to wrap my arms around him and tell him everything was going to be okay.
“What do you want?” I demanded.
“Can you come outside with me? I’d like to show you something.”
He sounded uncharacteristically nervous.
“No, Vincent, I can’t. I’m working. Just say what you need to say and go.”
“ Please .”
There was desperation in the single syllable.
I sighed. “Fine. But you only get three minutes,” I grumbled as I jogged back to grab my keys so I could lock up behind me.
“Let’s take the stairs,” I said. “It’s only four floors.”
It was four long flights of stairs, but I wasn’t about to get trapped in the elevator with Vincent. Even just a hint of his cologne would remind me of pressing my nose against his neck and breathing him in, and that was a level of emotional self-sabotage I couldn’t handle. I had to stay as far away from him as possible, because my body could betray me if he got too close. I practically sprinted down the stairs to keep a buffer between us.
Dignity mattered, but not as much as self-preservation.
“Hold on,” Vincent called after me as I started to push against the door to the street. “Don’t go out yet.”
I harumphed as I turned around to face him. “ What is your deal? You were the one begging me to come out just a minute ago!” I huffed, annoyance bubbling up again.
“Just wait a sec,” he puffed as he caught up to me. “Piper, before you go out, I want you to know that this is all for you.”
He pushed open the door, and my jaw dropped when I looked outside.
The entire block around our office had been transformed into a wonderland of blooms. Everywhere I looked, from the mailboxes to the light poles to the construction signs, was draped in lilacs. The lush purple and white blooms were threaded around every surface.
“What?” I asked in a whisper, utterly dumbfounded.
“I did it for you,” Vincent replied.
I walked out in a trance. How in the world had he gotten the lilac garland up the side of my building? Why was a trashcan transformed into a lush arrangement of deep purple blooms and spiraled greenery? Every direction I turned, lilacs. There were so many that the street was perfumed with them.
“I collected all seventy-five different shades,” Vincent explained as he gestured toward the over-the-top display. “They’re all here, every one.”
He pointed, and I was shocked to discover the explosion of blossoms continued down the block. My mouth went dry, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t know what to say.
It was too much, too beautiful, too…Vincent. A grand, sweeping gesture that made it all but impossible to breathe, let alone think straight. But amid the overwhelming beauty of it all, one thought lodged itself stubbornly in my brain: What the hell am I supposed to do with this?
“But… why ?” I asked.
He blinked at me as confusion settled in his expression. “You said lilacs were your favorite flowers. At the farmers’ market.”
“I mean, yeah, they are.” I gestured around. “But why this ?”
A group of teenage girls passing by asked me to take a photo of them posed next to a wreath of flowers in the shape of a heart, which gave me a few seconds to think about something other than what he’d done.
For me, apparently.
Vincent was staring at me when I handed the phone back to the girls. “Do you like it?”
“The lilacs are stunning.”
His face brightened. “I’m glad. I thought you deserved something special after…everything that happened.”
My heart did a three second polka, but I forced myself to calm down. It was a lovely gesture, but not the response I needed after what he’d done to my heart. And worse, he’d just distanced himself by saying “everything that happened” and not “what I did.”
“I appreciate that.”
The sidewalk was packed with gawkers, so Vincent motioned for me to follow him to a less crowded stretch of sidewalk, right next to a vacant storefront that had a giant silver bucket filled with blossoms blocking the doorway.
“I have a few things I’d like to say to you,” Vincent began haltingly.
“Fine.” I crossed my arms, trying to squeeze any hope from my body. “I’m listening.”
“That night…” he trailed off, and I could tell he was trying to put his racing thoughts in order. “That night was a mess. The party was the culmination of years’ worth of work, and I was overwhelmed. And I’ve never been one for parties.”
“You don’t say,” I snorted. “You seem to be forgetting I witnessed your performance at Paul and Chloe’s engagement party.”
He flinched at the mention of it. “Exactly. I don’t enjoy all of that fake smiling and small talk.”
I didn’t respond. I wasn’t about to placate him and make excuses for his terrible behavior.
“Add the pressure of being the center of attention, Maya chasing the spotlight with me in the crosshairs, and it was a recipe for combustion.”
I stared at him silently, which made him fidget. I’d never seen him nervous. Ever. But he was clearly going all out, between the flower display and actually talking about his feelings for a change. The display was gorgeous, and obviously very expensive, but I didn’t need grand gestures.
I needed him to be real. To be accountable for what he did. But I still wasn’t sure he could manage that.
Vincent kept talking. “And then there was the stuff with you and Rodrigo. That certainly didn’t help my state of mind.”
I froze. Huh ?
“You mean me congratulating him about his baby news?”
“Yeah. Who knew?” he chuckled. “I’m sorry, but the guy is a total flirt. He was hanging all over you. It’s no wonder I was suspicious.”
“ Right ,” I said slowly as I weighed this new information. “Of course you’d assume the worst of me as well.”
“Can you blame me?” he argued. “I mean, look at the guy! It’s literally his job to be every woman’s fantasy.”
The aroma of the flowers all around us was making my head swim. Normally, I loved the scent, but the concentration of it all around me had my sinuses constricting painfully.
Or maybe it was something else?
“You have to understand my frame of mind that night,” Vincent continued. “The pressure was intense. Of course there was going to be some friendly fire, and you took the worst of it.”
“Friendly fire?” I asked as a pit opened up in my stomach. “That’s what you think it was?”
“Well, yeah. I reached a breaking point, I flared up, you got burned—and now I’m making up for it.” He gestured to the display on the street around us, as if I needed a reminder of his fat wallet.
I glanced around at the opulence again. There was no denying it was a beautiful gesture, but it wasn’t even close to what I needed.
“You don’t get it, do you?” I asked him slowly. “You didn’t even say it,” I murmured, even more lightheaded.
“C’mon, you’re talking in riddles. Say what ?” Vincent asked, sounding a little agitated.
I stared at him, shocked that those two little words weren’t on the tip of his tongue.
“You never said you’re sorry.”
He frowned as he jerked his head back in shock. “That’s what all of this is for.”
I coughed out a shocked laugh. How was he still not getting this?
“The flowers are a gesture,” I said slowly. “A beautiful one, yes, but without the feelings to back them up, they’re just you showing off. Your money doesn’t fix everything, Vincent.”
He looked genuinely shocked by that idea.
We stood in the alcove staring at each other as everyone on the sidewalk marveled at what Vincent’s money could do.
Funny how it was the part of him that mattered the least to me.
I wondered how long we’d stand there in silence. He knew what I needed to hear, yet he still wasn’t saying it.
“I’m sorry, okay?” Vincent finally managed. “I thought the flowers made that part obvious, but I guess not.”
I shook my head at him. “They prove you’re amazing at theatrics, but that’s it.” I blinked away the tears that caught me off guard. “And what’s even worse is that you didn’t realize that all I wanted, more than anything, was a sincere, heartfelt apology. To prove that my feelings matter to you. I don’t need a show. You could’ve saved yourself a couple grand.”
“The money doesn’t matter,” he said angrily.
“Wow, we actually agree on something,” I huffed out a laugh.
Vincent moved closer and started to reach for me, then thought better of it. “Piper, I’m sorry you were hurt by what happened. I just want to make things right between us. I thought you’d love the flowers.”
He was still getting it wrong. I wanted him to own the way he’d hurt me, yet he was sidestepping it.
“They’re beautiful. But you know what upsets me about all of this?” I glanced out to the street.
Vincent furrowed at my non sequitur and shook his head.
“The fact that you had no clue what I needed to hear. That apologizing to me wasn’t your automatic, instinctive reaction to hurting me. Do you even know what hurt me in the first place?”
“Maya,” he answered automatically. “Making a scene like that and ruining the launch.”
“No, that’s what upset you , not me. I was upset because you were on camera talking about how our relationship was a sham. You know what I went through with Matthew—how could you not realize how humiliating that would be for me? Even before that, I was upset because you spent the whole night introducing me as a colleague when I thought I was your girlfriend. And in the end—the reason I walked away? It was because I was so incredibly upset about all of it, and all you could think about was the business. I was hurting so badly, and not once did you ask if I was okay. My feelings didn’t matter to you at all. I didn’t matter to you. And that’s not a problem you can fix by throwing money at it.”
“Piper…” his voice was strained, like he was finally starting to understand that for once, this wasn’t a problem his bottomless bank account could resolve.
“Thank you for turning my street into a garden. It’s lovely.” I managed a tight-lipped grin at him even as tears spilled down my cheeks. “And thank you for showing me an incredible time over the past few months.” I drew a shaky breath. “But this is where our story ends. Goodbye, Vincent.”
I turned to walk back to my office.
“Piper,” he called after me, so loudly that people turned to look at him.
But I didn’t pause. And I didn’t look back.
I just walked away.