Chapter 15 Piper
PIPER
“Tell me something more surprising,” Jess drawls the following morning over coffee.
We’re on our break at Bean There, perched in the corner, catching each other up on the latest. As of the past month, the focus has been primarily on me. Which is odd. Nothing drastic has ever happened in my life before. Jess used to be the one with all the gossip.
“Hello?!” I snap my fingers in her face. “Me sleeping with Caleb is surprising. You should be spitting out your coffee or something. Acting shocked.”
“It’s more predictable than a Disney princess film.” She rolls her eyes. “Of course you slept with the man when you’re living in his house. You’d have probably found a way to sleep with him if the two of you were living at opposite ends of town.”
“About that…” I grimace. “Mr. Anonymous…”
I don’t need to finish that sentence. Jess already has her jaw at the floor, palms flat on the table, coffee abandoned. “No…” Gobsmacked. But not as much as I was when Caleb flipped that phone around. “It’s written in the stars.” Her eyes flare wide. “Wait. Didn’t he tell you that he had a big—?”
“Yes.” I feel my cheeks flush red, conscious that our voices are exceeding normal volume. “Yeah. He was always confident, but I never thought he was that confident.” I lose my appetite for coffee and this conversation when I remember that Jess still doesn’t know the truth about the fire.
It’s kinda why I wanted to be on the same break as her this morning.
“I’ve been meaning to give these clothes back to you.” I shuffle the bags under the table.
“But all your stuff got burned with the house.”
“Yeah, but Caleb has offered to help me out with some new clothes for Sonny and me.”
“He sounds like a real gentleman.” Jess takes a sip of coffee, the bags of clothes already forgotten about.
“I get it. You’re scared to go there with him after what happened last time.
But people change. That’s what you told me about Jason, and look how well that turned out.
” She points at the engagement ring on her finger.
“Caleb left because of Ellie, his daughter.” I haven’t yet had the chance to fill her in about this part. Or any of it. “Long story short—his ex ran away with their daughter and kept her from Caleb. That’s when Caleb came here last time.”
Jess’s face drops. “He didn’t tell you about the kid?”
“No. And then he left because the ex died in a car accident.”
“And he’s only just telling you this now?” Jess sips coffee and ponders for a moment. “All I’m hearing is that he’s head over heels in love.”
“Not helping.”
“I’m serious.” Jess clutches the rose quartz. “I’m getting that he’s in denial, or trying to shake the feelings off completely. That’s why he held off telling you for so long.”
“What?”
“Think about it. He could’ve told you weeks ago, right when you first met, and cleared the air. But no. He wanted you to hate his ass. Why?” Jess holds up her hands before I can answer. “That, I know the answer to—he’s afraid of intimacy.”
I sit back in the chair and focus on my coffee for a moment. Coffee is easier. It doesn’t know how to dirty talk and bend you over a desk when you should be sleeping.
“I set the fire.”
Now that is what gets Jess spitting out her coffee. Her entire face goes cold. “What do you mean you set the fire?”
“I thought I had it under control. In no way shape or form did I plan to burn down my whole house, but it happened.”
“Then what were you hoping for by starting a fire in your home, Piper?”
“Some compensation from the stove company.” The guilt lowers my voice to a whisper.
“Sonny needed new clothes. I wanted to spoil him a little. Maybe get us out of town for a while with the rest of the—” I shut up before I lose Jess more than I already have.
“I have nothing to say except that I’m sorry.
” I head over to the bar and discard the rest of my coffee.
“Here.” I hand the bags of clothes over to her. “Take these.”
Jess looks at the bags with a disappointed expression, and some confusion. “You could have just asked.”
“I know.” I wince, the guilt doubling. “I know all of that now. I’m gonna take the rest of my break outside. I need some air.”
I head out, hoping for the summer breeze to fix me. It doesn’t. I take a short walk along the harbor boardwalk, listening to the soft chiming of boat bells, when I realize there’s another place I’d rather be.
I left my car parked on the street by my house, so I use public transport to get out into the forest. It’s the only thing certain to cure me.
However, as soon as the bus disappears off into the trees, I realize that the dense forest was a plus. The real cure was Caleb.
It’s been nine years since I stepped foot onto a hiking trail. This one barely exists and is overgrown with all kinds of weeds that are all trying to trip me up.
This isn’t the exact location where Caleb and I used to hike, but it’s something.
The kids are at school and Caleb is working. Grace is on pickup duty this afternoon, which saves me from having to race back into town. She’s friendly enough and a fun friend to have around, but my pulse staggers every time she and Caleb are in the same room.
She has a big crush on him, but to be honest, it’s becoming borderline obsession.
Caleb never shows signs that he’s interested, but that could change. We’re trialing out being friends now, which is a disaster waiting to happen. But less disastrous than the other alternative he suggested—friends with benefits. I can’t go falling back in love with him again…
Though I’m already over halfway there already.
I have my son to focus on bringing up. I can’t afford to get close to Caleb again. The next time he leaves, I’ll shatter and be unable to be a mother for Sonny.
But I’m still wondering how the fuck I’m gonna be friends with this man after all our history.
Temporary, I remind myself. Wait it out. Soon it’ll be over.
But James Taylor is taking his sweet time with that case. And after that suspiciously parked car yesterday, my overthinking brain tells me that I’m being stalked by him.
The bastard is going to even more extreme lengths than I did to get the money in the first place.
I tackle my way through overgrown bushes and make it into the forest. A section of it, anyway. These trees continue on forever, and Caleb and I used to get lost in them on the weekends.
We came out here the day before he left, took a spontaneous road trip in his rented truck and found ourselves at some deadbeat diner on the side of the road.
We watch the sunset through the trees, taking turns slurping from a milkshake.
“Do you mean what you said about staying?” I ask him. We’re sitting in the back of his rented truck.
“Every word.” His eyes are set on mine. The onyx in them shimmers gold, the same color as the light fading around us. “Not everybody has plans to leave you, Hart. You’re worth sticking around for.”
He cracks a genuine smile, but I still see it as sexy. My heart flutters, both because of the words and the man who’s speaking them.
Goddamn. He couldn’t be hotter if he tried.
He passes me the milkshake, his warm hand brushing against mine. “I never intended to come out here and fall in love.”
The forest holds the echo of his words as I venture further in.
Sunlight peaks through gaps in the trees, lighting the path in front of me. But the undergrowth makes it difficult to see where the trail is headed.
I trial a few routes, but they lead nowhere, so I make the decision to turn back around. Only, I’m confused as to which way that is. Everything looks the same.
Nice one, Piper, I think to myself as I try to remember which direction I came from. Directions aren’t my thing. It’s also not helping matters that I zoned out mid-hike, more bothered about past events than I was about leaving markers to stop myself from getting lost in here.
I swing my arm around a tree and use it as leverage to help me up a bank. Perspective is everything in the game of life…
Only in this instance, I’m just as clueless as I was a few seconds ago.
I waste another minute contemplating a route, and decide to scramble back down to where I first started.
But now’s not a good time to be wearing flimsy sneakers…
I have no grip on the soles of my shoes, and go sliding down the other side of the bank into water. Extremely cold, fast-flowing water that numbs every nerve in my body.
“Fuck!”
And that’s not the worst part.
One foot is stuck under a rock. A rock that weighs half a ton.
Even if I manage to rescue my broken toes from this rock, I’m still screwed. I tumbled right into the heart of the stream, and the water gurgles around me, threatening to pull me under into the current.
I heave my foot out from under the rock, but it’s no good. Panicking isn’t gonna help me think rationally, but I’m too focused on my toe, and how many pieces the rock has crushed it into, to focus on anything else.
The fast-flowing water isn’t helping, smashing up against the rocks and hitting me. The chilled temperature manages to cool some of the sweat dripping down my face, but all it does is remind me that I’m still trapped with no way out.
“Fuck!” I curse again as the panic settles in.
On the count of three, I attempt to heave my foot out from under the stone. Bad idea. The force of trying to escape this boulder-sized rock lands me face down in the water.
And of course, my face just had to make impact with the sharp point of a rock.
I’m unable to cuss this time, more focused on the excruciating pain that explodes through my cheek. I’ve never managed to suck up the sight of blood, and this afternoon is no different. An alarming amount of it drips down my face and plops into the water, turning it a murky red color.
I don’t bother counting down from three this time; I just muster enough strength to get myself the fuck out of the water.
But that’s when the shitshow starts.
I’m bleeding with at least one broken toe, and lost in the forest.