14. Pike
At first, I don’t hear what Lily is chirping about, her constant chattering acting as background to my everyday life now. The child is always going on about something, as four-year-olds do, and it’s impossible to keep up with the never-ending flow of words coming out of her mouth, particularly in the mornings when caffeine has barely affected my brain.
It isn’t until she says, “Molly Jean” that my head jerks up, and I look at Aspen directly from my place at the kitchen island.
“You went on Caden’s boat yesterday?” I demand.
Lily stops speaking, her dark hair swept up in an intricate braid on top of her head, back to me, but Aspen’s solemn eyes meet mine.
“For a couple of hours,” she concedes. “You should have come. It was fun.”
I frown. “What else did you do?”
“We went jet skiing,” Lily calls out, spinning around on her chair to look at me, her baby teeth flashing wickedly. I pale at the admission as Aspen’s chin drops.
“You what?!” I growl, standing. “I specifically told him not to do anything stupid!”
“It was fine, Pike,” Aspen reassures me quickly. “I was with them the whole time, and he drove responsibly.”
“That’s not the point!” I interject. “He knows better! If he wants to kill himself, that’s one thing, but I won’t have him endangering Lily!”
“Pike, really, it wasn’t dangerous. It was fun,” Aspen pleads, following me as I stalk toward the front of the house, ready to confront Caden. I need Flint to back me up, but he’s in New York again. He left in the middle of the night, waking me before he had gone to warn me he was going to be out of town again.
I’m irked with both my housemates, the reckless one and the one who can’t get his work in order to maintain his house. Am I the only one who is consistently around for Lily?
I glance over my shoulder. Well, me and Aspen now, I suppose. Maybe it should have been me who adopted the girl.
“Pike!” Aspen hisses as my foot hits the bottom step, my irritation driving me. “Listen to me, please!”
I hesitate, the urgency in her voice giving me pause. Turning, I scowl at her. “You don’t get it. He’s always doing dumb shit like this. If it’s not jet skiing, he has her in the garage around dangerous tools. He’s teaching her how to shoot BB guns, he’s?—”
“His style of parenting isn’t yours,” Aspen concludes gently, her voice low as her eyes dart toward the back of the house. “Because you three are not the same people, are you?”
I stare at her. “Parenting 101 dictates that we keep the kid safe, Aspen.”
“Caden would never put Lily in danger,” she insists. “I’ve seen all three of you with her, and I find it hard to believe that you would ever put your interests over hers. Caden just has a different view of how she should be raised than you.”
“And Flint!” I growl back. “He thinks Caden is being careless, too!”
She exhales and puts a hand on my arm, the feel of her touch immediately calming me down. “Raising a child is never easy, under any circumstance,” she murmurs. “But I have to believe that Ryker and Alexandra put Lily in your hands because they had faith in you. All of you. Even Caden.”
“Caden has changed,” I snap. “He was different before.”
“I don’t think people change at the core, not that much,” Aspens says. “He’s still the same person, even if he’s made some different choices.”
My arguments die on my lips, not because I truly believe that Aspen is right, but because I don’t want to fight with her.
She wants to believe the best in everyone, I realize.
“He can’t keep doing what he’s doing with Lily,” I assert. “It’s not safe.”
“What about a compromise?” Aspen suggests. “I will make sure that I’m always in attendance on outings with Caden and Lily. If I feel like anything is getting too dangerous or questionable, I’ll put an end to it.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Do you think he’ll listen to you?”
“I’ll make him listen to me. You have entrusted me with Lily’s care, and I take that position seriously.”
My shoulders relax, and I exhale, darting my eyes back up the stairs, willing Caden to come out of his room, but the doors remain closed.
“Fine,” I mumble, unsure that the matter really is resolved. Relief crosses over Aspen’s face, and she smiles brilliantly.
How does she do that? She’s bewitching.
It’s a small wonder I can’t stop drawing her.
“Come on,” she urges. “Let’s go back and eat breakfast. You know what today is, don’t you?”
“Teddy bear picnic day,” I sigh. As if I can ever forget about Tuesdays.
“Are you going to join us?” Aspen asks hopefully, and I shrug, nodding without hesitation. “Oh, good. Lily will be thrilled.”
Zoe packs up the wicker basket as we re-enter the kitchen, and Lily barely noticed we were gone, her chattering continuing without a break.
“The weather will hold, hm?” the housekeeper comments, peering out the back door and into the summer sky.
“I hope so,” Aspen says nervously, casting the middle-aged woman a nervous look. Aspen can’t relax for a minute around Zoe, but I suspect that’s because of what transpired by the pool.
She’s worried about what Zoe might have seen or heard.
The notion almost makes me chortle.
“Are you all done, sweetheart?” Aspen asks Lily. “If so, let’s go get our bears for the picnic.”
“Is Papa Flint coming? I haven’t seen him this morning.”
Aspen shakes her head. “No, honey. He had to fly to New York last night.”
Disappointment colors Lily’s face. “Again?”
“I’m sure his work will be done soon,” Aspen tells her smoothly. “But Papa Pike is coming, right, Papa Pike?”
I sit up straighter on my stool. “Just make sure Suzie Seal doesn’t eat all my cookies again, or I’m turning Pablo Polar Bear loose on her.”
“Pike!” Aspen gasps, but Lily snickers loudly.
“That’s okay. Suzie knows how to fight back.”
Aspen and Lily stand from the table, and I wink at Lily as they retreat upstairs, leaving me alone with Zoe, who fusses around the kitchen.
“I think I made her uncomfortable,” she comments when Aspen’s out of earshot.
“She’s still warming up to everyone,” I grunt. “Don’t take it personally.”
“She’s warmed up to you and Caden well.” I glower at her, and she smiles beguilingly before returning to the dishes.
Shit disturber.
The doorbell rings, and Zoe wipes her hands on a dishtowel.
“You expecting someone?” she asks, confused by the sound.
I frown. “No.”
She heads out, and I close my sketchbook, preparing myself for the upcoming morning, but as I start toward the hallway, I hear Zoe calling out to me. The hint of panic in her voice sends me hurrying.
As I round the corner into the opulent foyer, my gaze falls on two under-dressed strangers at the threshold—a man and a woman. Their holed jeans and plaid shirts are not indicative of new neighbors on the street. The woman’s dirty blonde hair sits high in a tight ponytail, her eyes ice-cold and green. They don’t belong here, and I intuitively dislike them.
The man stands slightly behind her, scruffy faced, as if he had forgotten to shave rather than attempting to grow the patchy beard on his chin and cheeks. His eyes are a duller blue and bored. I guess they’re in their late twenties, but hard living may have aged them both, rendering them older.
“You’re Pike Hartley!” the woman squeaks, her voice surprisingly succulent. “Oh, finally! I wasn’t sure I was writing to the right address!”
Her thick, southern twang sends deep chills down my spine, and I realize who she is even without the introductions.
“Well, come here, silly!” she demands, stepping over the threshold. “I’m Cousin Raya! Gimme a hug!”
I step back as she extends her arms, noting that her pretty smile does not meet her eyes.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I growl, my breath shortening.
Her smile widens. “What do you think, silly? I’m finally here to see my little Lily!”