7. Andy
ANDY
A shrill bell announces the end of school. Within minutes, a wave of kids emerges from the school doors, eager to be done with their day. Parents call names, while teachers and aides shepherd kids onto buses.
Between the lawyer’s office and then the sheriff’s station and finding out about Jedd’s shop, I’m emotionally exhausted from the day.
And the hits are gonna just keep coming because talking to Piper about what’s happening is next on my to-do list.
She’s stayed with me in the past, and I was tempted to just let her think that was what was happening now but thought better of it when Mr. Rupert told me there’s a chance that she could be asked to testify.
She deserves to be prepared if that happens.
Piper’s red curls come into view, a beacon identifying my niece in a sea of bodies.
“Pip!” I call, so she turns in my direction.
“Aunt Andy.” She bounds over to me, making her way through the throng of people crowding the sidewalk.
With a hand on her shoulder, I relieve her of her backpack. I don’t know what type of rocks her teachers expect them to carry, but Jesus, this thing is heavy. I lead her through the parking lot for the pickup area and to my Jeep. Once we’re in and buckled, I ask, “How was school, kiddo?”
“Good. Ms. Lancaster said that she’s about to have her baby and that we’re going to have a long-term substitute teacher.”
I nod along as she continues to chatter to me about her day as we drive through town. Once I have her inside the house and settled in the kitchen with a snack, I pull up a chair next to her at my little dining table.
“Okay so.”
Piper licks some peanut butter off her finger and cocks her head to the side. “How long am I going to be staying with you this time?” The sass this nine-year-old can interject into her voice makes me proud.
“That depends. Your mom relapsed. She was arrested last night.”
Piper nods. “I know. Mason tried to tease me about it at recess today.”
Fucking small towns. They’re either a blessing or a curse when it comes to the grapevine of gossip.
“Wait. What do you mean he tried ?”
She takes a huge bite out of an apple slice and shakes her head with a disgusted sigh in a gesture that’s way too old for her. “I told him that I can’t control my mom’s actions, only my own, and he should be happy I’m in control of my actions and to shut up.”
I want to face-palm and laugh at the same time. Instead of either reaction a snorting laugh shoots out of me. “What did Mason say?”
“His eyes got kinda big, and then he went and told Ms. Lancaster that I told him to shut up. She told me that I had to be kinder with my words, and we don’t tell our friends to shut up.
I told her that Mason wasn’t my friend if he was trying to tease me about my mom going to jail, and she got this funny look on her face.
” Her eyes squint at me. “Kinda like your face right now. I can’t tell if you’re gonna laugh or if you’re mad. ”
Note to self. Email Ms. Lancaster.
I shake my head. “Okay. We’ll … talk about that … in a minute. Back to you staying with me, what would you think about maybe living with me permanently?”
My hands are sweating again, and I hold my breath.
Piper stills, an apple slice halfway to her mouth.
“Like forever?”
I nod. “I love your mom, and I know you do too. But baby, it’s not safe for you to be in that environment all the time. So I hired a lawyer. He and Melinda think that I could make it to where you’d live with me from now on.”
Her eyes brighten just a little before her eyebrow pinches. “What about Mom?”
“You’d still get to see her, Pip. I’d never keep you from seeing her. But you’d live with me. I’d be in charge of you. You’d still go to the same school, you’d just live here with me, and I would take care of you.”
A spark of hope creeps into her gaze.
“Would Mom get into trouble if I lived with you?”
“No. She wouldn’t get into trouble. You know your mom is sick, right?”
Piper nods. “She’s sick because she keeps doing drugs.”
As much as it hurts, I agree. “She is. But if she’s going to get better, she’s going to have to do it herself.
And it’s going to be so hard. The hardest thing she’s ever done.
But like you told Mason today, we can’t control her actions, we can only control our own.
And I need to keep you safe, so those are the actions that I’m focusing on right now. ”
Piper bites the corner of her lip. “Okay. What if it doesn’t work?”
“What do you mean? You coming to live with me?”
“Yeah, what if they tell you that I can’t live with you? Are they going to send me back home with Mom? Will they put me into foster care?”
Fear and panic claw their way into her gaze.
“No. Piper, no.” I grab her hand with mine.
“I wouldn’t let that happen. I would never let that happen.
If they don’t let you live with me permanently, then you’ll go back to living with your mom.
But no matter what I’m still going to be here.
You’ll still be able to come stay the night or call me whenever you need to.
I’ll still be there for all of the assemblies at school, on all of the field trips, and we’ll still have our girls’ nights. ”
“You promise?”
I hook her pinky with mine. “I promise.”
Hal Calhoun’s house is just outside of Everette.
The sprawling ranch-style home is one of my favorites.
I pull my Jeep up behind the sea of cars parked in the driveway and turn off the engine.
Piper’s been quiet since we talked this afternoon, but at the sight of the house she perks up a little bit.
“You ready to eat some lasagna?” I ask, forcing cheer into my voice.
She nods but doesn’t say anything.
“I bet I can eat more than you.” I poke her in the ribs.
“No way.” A small smile dimples her cheeks.
“Yes way!”
“I’m going to eat twelve pieces and all the breadsticks.” She opens her door and hops out, slamming it shut.
I climb out after her. “Oh yeah? Well then I’m going to eat thirteen pieces and all of the salad.”
She snorts out a giggle as we climb the steps to the porch. “You’ll explode if you eat thirteen pieces of lasagna. And you don’t like salad.”
True—on both counts—but I’ll happily explode if it keeps her in good spirits.
I push open the door and walk into a wall of noise. The entryway opens up to the living room, where Duke and Finch are sprawled on the couch watching a football game four notches above necessary volume. More voices come from the kitchen, and I trail after Piper as she hotfoots it back that way.
“Grandpa Hal! Aunt Andy says she’s going to eat more lasagna than me and all of your salad.”
Hal is mixing a giant bowl of salad at the kitchen island. Jedd stands beside him, and his gaze trails over me—probably making sure that I’m okay now. Always my knight in shining armor.
Harlan and Maisie are at the table with Audra, Maisie’s daughter, strapped into a high chair. Through the back windows, I see Jem and Boone in the deck chairs outside.
“Maybe I should order pizza for the rest of us if she’s going to eat all of the food?” Hal asks with a mischievous look on his face.
“She can’t eat that much. She’ll explode or throw up,” Piper responds.
I come up behind her and snag her arms, holding them above her head. “You little tattletale. Now you’re gonna get it.” I paste a bright smile on. “I have a girl who needs some tickles here.” I step forward with Piper, pushing her closer to Jedd, who makes grabby hands at her.
“Lemme at her.” Jedd growls playfully.
Piper squeals and squirms in my hold, trying to escape.
“Grandpa Hal! Uncle Harlan! Save me.” She screams with laughter once Jedd starts to mercilessly tickle her sides.
Hal comes around the island with a wooden spoon in his hand. “You let go of my favorite Piper.”
Jedd steps back as Hal winks at Jedd.
“My turn.” Hal hoists Piper up in his arms, her legs dangling toward the floor. Banding his arms around her rib cage, he digs his fingers into her ribs and uses his beard to tickle her throat as she laughs uncontrollably.
A beep on the oven drags Hal’s attention back to the stove and he lets the kid go, her feet hitting the floor. “Saved by the kitchen timer, Pipsqueak. Go wash your hands and then you can help set the table.” He drops a kiss to the top of her head before turning my direction.
There’s an unspoken are you okay? in his look, and I nod. His gaze narrows on me for a second before he turns to open the oven and pull out two giant casserole dishes.
The feeling of family is always there with the Calhouns, but it’s more than that for me.
It’s the way Hal silently checks in with me.
It’s the way they treat Piper—and me—like one of their own.
It’s the way Harlan tousles Piper’s hair as he walks by to get Audra more snacks.
The way Finch hands me a beer and squeezes my shoulder before heading back to the football game in the living room.
The silent support, comfort, and familiarity of belonging.
Jedd’s always been my knight in shining armor, but the Calhouns have been the army at my back, ready at a moment’s notice whenever I need them.
Piper and I set the table as the lasagnas cool from nuclear hot down to a consumable temperature. Jedd brings over garlic breadsticks and the two giant bowls of rabbit food that I’ll force myself to eat to be a good example for Piper.
I nudge his shoulder with mine. “How’s Clancy?”
“He’s okay. It was a clean break, so he’ll be in a sling for a while. Then he’s got physical therapy to rehabilitate it.”
“Which means he’s going to be off for a while. How’s that going to affect the shop?”
I know Jedd’s worried about Clancy. He likely doesn’t give two shits about the impact it’ll have on the shop, but he has the pinch between his eyebrows that means he’s thinking hard about a problem. I’ll have to coax it out of him if I want to help.
He shrugs. “We’ll make do.”
“Yeah, but you guys are gonna have a shit ton of catching up to do once the shop reopens,” Duke calls from where he’s setting out water glasses for everyone.
I whip my head in Jedd’s direction. “Reopens?”
He winces and glances away. “They shut the shop down. I have to close until I get everything cleaned up and back to code.”
Finch chooses that moment to chime in. “Yeah, I got the electrical fixed for you, but the new OSHA supervisor for the county is a dick. He wrote me up for my chemical storage even though it’s been up to the previous code for years.”
“There’s a new supervisor?”
Finch and Jedd nod at the same time. Finch owns a handyman and exterminator business, along with a budding animal sanctuary, so he and Jedd have to deal with the county inspection process due to the chemicals they work with.
The topic dies off as everyone settles at the table. Food is passed between the family, conversation floating along with the pans of lasagna as I put the pieces together.
Jedd’s been saying that his shop is too small for a while now. And while he’s been trying to buy the property next to the shop for years, he hasn’t been able to afford it.
I know his brothers have offered to help. But the stubborn man refuses to take their help.
If they closed him down for Clancy getting hurt and the fire, that means he’s out of work until everything gets fixed. Which puts him even further from buying that lot.
I chew on the problem as we eat, listening with half of my attention. Jedd needs more money to buy the lot. Or he needs an investor or a cosigner on the loan.
Maybe it’s time for me to force my brand of knight in shining armor services on him.