Chapter 9
NINE
Devon
Reaching to turn the heat down, I let go of Piper’s hand and turned the dial to the left.
I gripped the wheel in both of my fists and focused on the slight vibration of the car and the rumble of the tires against the asphalt. I judged the distance between my bumper and the car in front of me. I checked my blind spots and glanced at the sign above us stating our exit was still three miles away.
Only then did I nod.
“That’s not her name?” Piper asked for clarification, and I shook my head. “We…umm…we don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want?—”
“No,” I said quickly, knowing that not talking about it would likely prompt questions—whether right then or later—about why I didn’t want to talk about it. “We can talk about it.”
She was quiet for a beat, and I could feel her eyes boring into the side of my face. I usually kept my emotions locked up tight, and that moment wasn’t any different. But she looked at me like she was trying to decipher my thoughts and feelings without any clues .
“What’s her real name?”
My chest tightened, and the sensation worked its way up my throat until my tongue felt like it was three sizes too big for my mouth. “Blakely,” I somehow managed to say.
Piper nodded, not sensing the strain behind the name. “Blakely,” she repeated, and I hit the brakes harder than I meant to. Her seat belt locked, and my hand reflexively shot out to brace against her.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“No problem. This traffic sucks,” she said. Silence stretched between us, the only sound the low hum of the music filtering through the speakers and the heat still pumping through the car.
I hoped that she’d asked all the questions she had on the topic, but I couldn’t be so lucky.
“So, Blakely’s still missing? You haven’t talked about her, so I’m assuming you haven’t heard from her?”
Taking a deep breath, I said, “Yeah, she’s still missing.”
“Wow, two years is a long time. Do you?—”
Her words abruptly cut off, and I realized it was because I’d inadvertently made a sound deep in my throat.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t?—”
“No, no, it’s okay,” she said, readjusting in her seat and waving off my apology. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sure it’s rough on all of you. To lose a friend like that.”
To lose a friend like that . The words echoed in my mind and sounded worse and worse each time. I knew Piper didn’t mean it the way it sounded, but it hit me in the heart all the same. Like she was dead or we’d lost her like you do your car keys or wallet.
“Crap, I’m really messing this conversation up. We can talk about something else,” she said quickly. “Let’s talk about anything else, actually.”
She straightened in her seat and placed the casserole dish on the floorboard. Before I could say anything else, she continued. “The kid a few rows behind me on the plane pooped his pants. The smell was so bad a few people almost threw up. But the flight attendants were amazing, and they…”
She seamlessly jumped into the story and didn’t stop talking until we pulled up to Amanda, Josh, and Reed’s house.
I appreciated that she’d changed the subject when she did, but it was too late for my mind to focus on anything but that. Or better yet, focus on anything but Blakely.
The search still pulled up on my phone was taunting me every moment. A simple search of her name—it was the same every time and pulled the same results: none. Whether she knew it or not, Piper was right. We’d lost Blakely and had no idea the circumstances.
The way it seemed, Blakely had set Hazel up. Intentionally inviting her to lunch, only to lead her into Valerie’s waiting hands. Then she’d raced out of town without a trace. But the Blakely I knew—the Blakely we all knew—wasn’t capable of that.
We’d argued about it endlessly right after it happened. A few of us, including James and Luke, had been steadfast. That her actions were premeditated, and she was working in tandem with Valerie.
But as much as the evidence appeared to support their suspicions, I couldn’t believe it.
My mind was spinning, and I wasn’t getting anywhere. I hadn’t gotten anywhere in the last two years, I wasn’t sure what going over it again would help.
Piper’s small hand brushed against my arm, and I looked up at her soft, sympathetic expression.
The questions in her eyes were loud, but she didn’t voice them. “Ready?” she asked, and I nodded, hopping out of the SUV and walking around the rear to open her door.
I retrieved the chips and dip I’d brought from the back seat and took the casserole dish from Piper’s hands. She gave me an unimpressed look but didn’t argue. I waited for her to grab her purse and close the car door before we began up the walkway .
She slipped her hand into the crook of my arm and peered up at me through dark lashes. “We okay?” she asked as we stepped onto the porch.
I looked down at her and awkwardly bent down, trying not to drop everything in my hands, to kiss her.
“Yeah,” I said. “Of course.”
Pushing open the door, Sadie, Luke and Hazel’s golden retriever, was the first to greet us. She barreled around the corner, and I hurried to shut the door. She was a runner. Given the opportunity, she’d take advantage of it.
She bounced around my legs, and Piper kneeled to give her the attention she was craving. Sadie immediately flopped onto her back, pawing at the air with her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth.
“I’m going to set this down,” I said. Too wrapped up in the ball of fluff, Piper didn’t seem to care.
I turned the corner into the kitchen and the first person to greet me was Hazel, who had one hand on her swollen stomach. She fist pumped into the air with the other.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said quickly, taking the dip and chips from my hands and kissing my cheek.
“Excuse her,” Luke said, apologizing for his pregnant wife, who set the dish on the counter and shoveled a huge chip with plenty of dip into her mouth at record speed. “She’s been talking about that dip since Thanksgiving.”
I shrugged and set the casserole dish on the counter so I could shake his hand. “Anything for the pregnant woman.”
“And that’s why you’re my favorite,” Hazel mumbled through a mouthful of food.
Amanda was the next to say hi, kissing my opposite cheek and wishing me a happy new year. Reed waved from his spot on the other side of the kitchen where he was standing in front of the sink and elbow-deep in soapy water .
Rounding the island, I pulled open the fridge and retrieved one of the specialty beers I always teased Reed for keeping stocked. I turned back to the kitchen as Josh pushed through the back door with Zach, his six-year-old son in his arms. My mom was following right behind them.
“Hey, babe,” Josh called, and both Amanda and Reed looked up. I couldn’t help but laugh because it happened a lot. With three of them in the relationship, they all ended up answering.
“Do we have Band-Aids?”
Reed responded immediately. “There should be some in our bathroom,” he said, shutting off the water and wiping his hands quickly.
Amanda slid a light wood bowl across the white countertop and dumped the bag of chips Hazel was still eating into it. She walked around the island and met Reed, Josh, and Zach near the back door. Zach reached out for Reed, and Josh passed him off.
Amanda and Reed were as good as stepparents to Zach, although none of them were married. That didn’t matter to them. They cared about him like he was their own.
“What happened?” Amanda asked as the four of them headed toward their bedroom on the other side of the house.
“James and Ivy aren’t here yet?” I asked.
Luke leaned over Hazel and kissed her softly on the neck. He grabbed a chip and tossed it in his mouth as they both gave me a look.
“They’ve already made bets on how late they’ll be,” Hazel announced.
“Young love,” my mom crooned, closing the back door and walking into the kitchen. “It’s so sweet.”
“And very inconvenient,” Luke muttered. “He can’t leave her alone long enough for them to be on time to anything.”
Piper walked into the kitchen with Sadie following behind. She stopped to say her hellos to Hazel and Luke, and then my mom, who smiled and gave her an awkward hug.
I gave my mom a look over Piper’s shoulder. I don’t know what it was, but it was taking her longer than usual to warm up to Piper. If she didn’t get it together, Piper was bound to notice soon.
“So, Piper,” Hazel began. “How late do you think Ivy and James are going to be?”
Piper laughed and tossed her jacket on the rack next to the back door. “Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. But I can’t imagine how Ivy’s okay with that,” she said. “She’s pretty anal about not being late.”
Hazel pursed her lips and laughed to herself. “I think she’s getting something out of it. Something she enjoys more than not being late.”
The two of them continued laughing together as Luke jumped in and stirred whatever dish Amanda had left on the stove.
Amanda, Josh, and Reed joined us back in the kitchen, and Zach sprinted back outside, yelling “Hi, Uncle Dev!” as he went. Sadie chased after him and found a ball in the yard that she scooped in her mouth and tossed up into the air.
“You can’t blame him, though,” my mom said, continuing the conversation about James and Ivy. “He spent how long? Over a decade pining for her? He’s gotta make up for lost time.”
“Mom,” I chastised while everyone else murmured their agreement.
She just smiled and patted me on the arm as she reached for the fridge. Piper stood next to me and leaned into my side, holding a glass of wine Hazel had poured for her. I tossed my arm over her shoulder.
Piper fit in with the group perfectly—she’d had nothing to be nervous about. I told her as much, and she rolled her eyes.
We all fell into easy conversation while I helped Amanda finish cooking. We talked about the gym Reed owned and Murphy’s Law, our college hangout that we never really stopped going to. And now the bar Reed, Josh, and Amanda owned.
Hazel talked about her upcoming book release, and Luke had planned to open his own veterinary practice, likely toward the end of the year when things weren’t as crazy.
Only an hour late, James and Ivy finally arrived. Amanda won a hundred bucks from Reed and Luke, and most of them were wrong: they had not gotten engaged.
I took a sip of my second beer and glanced around at my friends. Surrounded by my favorite people, there wasn’t another place I’d rather be. But there were still moments when I could feel something missing. I realized, like a fucking punch to the gut, that someone was missing.
Looking around the room at the joy and happiness filling the space was one of those times.
James came to stand beside me and plucked a chip from the bowl. More than any of my other friends, James knew me the best. He had this uncanny ability to read through my lack of expression and understand my few words.
“Things are going well?” I asked, nudging James’s shoulder and trying like hell to cover up the uncomfortable weight in my chest.
His smile was large and fucking goofy.
“I’m so fucking in love it hurts sometimes,” he said quickly, and I shook my head because I knew he was being completely honest. I was extremely happy for my best friend, that he and Ivy had finally figured it all out.
“How are things with Piper?” James asked, and for some reason, the question made me stiffen.
“Good,” was all I could seem to respond, eyeing the stairs where Piper had disappeared to call her mom. I took a long pull of my beer and tried to ignore the way James watched me with narrowed eyes.
“She seems nice,” he continued.
“She is,” I said too quickly. His assessing gaze was still pinned on me, but thankfully, he didn’t question it further.
I wasn’t sure why questions about the woman I was dating made me uncomfortable, maybe because I wasn’t used to having someone for people to ask about, or because I hated being the center of attention that much.
I considered saying something else—something that required more than a few syllables—when the doorbell rang. All of us in the kitchen stopped and looked at one another.
Based on everyone’s facial expressions, we weren’t expecting anyone else.
“I’ll get it!” Ivy hollered from the entryway only a second before we heard the door open.
Muted voices carried through the house, and James was gone in the next second, setting down his beer and beelining for the front of the house.
I wasn’t going to follow, but something in my gut told me I should. Rather than ignore the feeling, I slowly set my own drink down and walked into the entryway. I stepped just behind James, who had a protective arm around Ivy.
His posture put me on high alert.
Peering around James, I could finally see who had stepped inside.
And everything stopped.
There was only her .