Chapter Three
Tag jumped at the chime from his phone. He was working in the storage room after store hours to get everything together for Piper’s trip.
It was going to be Piper, Sunny, Maddie, and her husband, Jack, going on the hike.
He had been getting to know Jack since he moved to town a few months ago, but he still felt they needed one more guy to even out the group.
Truthfully, he hoped they wouldn’t mind his best friend, Aaron Steele, tagging along.
He needed someone there who knew what went through asking Piper out weekly and being turned down flat each time.
Aaron knew everything, and he was the only one who could run interference if Tag needed it.
Plus, it didn’t hurt to have a firefighter on the trip just in case of an emergency.
Aaron knew the local area about as well as Torren and Tag did.
He could just tell Piper and Sunny that he needed Aaron on their little trip as backup; it really wouldn’t be a lie.
It was best to lead groups out with another team member.
They didn’t hire summer help yet, but the season would soon be in full swing.
It was time to look at some of the applications that college students dropped off.
For now, he knew he could rely on Aaron to give him a hand with Piper’s day hike.
Tag pulled his phone from his jeans pocket and saw that someone was a match on his dating app.
He needed to swipe right if he liked the person, left if he didn’t.
He felt a moment’s panic at having to make a decision when Piper’s profile picture popped up on his screen.
Piper was on a dating app? How was that possible?
He didn’t ever see her with anyone, not even as a teenager.
She was either with Sunny or Lorna, or was alone.
Tag stood frozen in place, clutching his phone.
He broke out in a cold sweat and felt sick to his stomach.
If he swiped right, would she want to go out with him?
If not, he didn’t know if he could stand her rejection again.
If he rejected Piper and swiped left, he might never get another chance with her.
God, what if someone else wanted to go out with her?
He would never forgive himself for not taking one more chance on Piper.
He couldn’t stop himself; he swiped right, which automatically opened a dialogue with Piper and honestly scared him shitless. Her comment popped up immediately.
Hey, so when and where do you want to meet? Piper asked.
Tag took a minute just staring at her message.
No niceties, no formalities, she just got down to the nitty-gritty.
He could deal with that. In fact, he preferred things that way.
He was a simple guy. He didn’t want to get into anything too deep with Piper for fear of scaring her off, especially now that she was finally giving him a chance.
I’m up for whatever. Tag texted.
That way, she could come up with what they would be doing. He wanted to make her feel as comfortable as possible.
How about we do that new Escape Room over in Estes? We can grab pizza after. Piper offered.
Piper must have read about pizza being part of his perfect date.
Geez, now he wished he had put a little extra effort into his profile.
He wanted to take Piper someplace nice. Maybe even a local lodge to have a nice dinner, even get dressed up.
The past year of begging her for a date gave him time to think of what a perfect night with Piper would look like.
Hell, he dreamed of booking a room in the lodge after dinner and showing Piper just how much he wanted her. But he knew that would scare her away.
Sounds good, I’ll pick you up at five tomorrow evening. Can you find someone to cover your shop? He asked.
Lorna will cover for me, but I’ll meet you at the Escape Room. I have an errand to run first. Piper typed back. Tag knew that she was avoiding spending extra time alone with him, but he would take it.
See you there. Tag said, logging out of the app, not quite sure how he felt about the whole thing.
He started to wonder why Piper had a change of heart. After fifty-two times of turning him down, why did she change her mind now? He decided not to question it. He would take the win and find a way to convince Piper to give him a chance.
The next day, Piper felt emotionally drained.
She had a fitful night filled with nightmares.
Most of them involved her parents, much like the ones that plagued her every night since their murders.
Last night, she dreamed about Tag. He was standing on the edge of a cliff trying to reach her, but he couldn’t.
She was screaming for him to help her, but he just laughed at her.
He walked away, leaving her to fall to her death.
She woke just before she hit the rocky ground and was unable to fall back to sleep.
It was going to be a long day, especially since hers began at 4 am.
She decided to get dressed and head over to Sunny’s bakery.
Maybe a freshly baked pastry and some coffee would make her feel better.
Just seeing Sunny usually helped her mood.
She had the whole morning to spend with her best friend since Scrumptious didn’t open until 11 am.
Honestly, she could eat ice cream for breakfast and had in the past. But today’s overcast skies and cool temperatures made her crave coffee, pastry, and Sunny’s company.
Piper grabbed her keys and realized her phone wasn’t sitting in its usual place on her entry table.
“Great,” Piper grumbled. “I’ve lost it again.
” She was constantly losing her phone. Most of the time, she either left it in her shop or over in Sunny’s back kitchen.
She could have sworn that she brought it home with her last night, though.
“Oh well, it’s probably at the shop.” She headed next door to her shop but didn’t find her phone there.
Sunny must have it. She was always teasing Piper that she needed to have the phone permanently attached to her body.
She skipped through Sunny’s back door to find her friend singing, dancing, and baking the morning’s special—blueberry muffins. Piper loved Sunny’s blueberry muffins.
“Hey girl,” Piper shouted over the music.
Sunny jumped and squealed, startled by the interruption. “Geez, Pipe, you scared me!” Sunny turned down her country music, leaving flour on the knob. “Why are you awake?” Piper looked around Sunny’s kitchen searching for her phone.
“I couldn’t sleep. Have you seen my phone? I must have left it here; I’ve checked everywhere else.” Piper noticed Sunny’s back stiffen as she began to stir the batter.
“Nope, haven’t seen it. Did you check your shop?” Sunny asked.
“Yeah, not there. Damn it, I must have lost it again,” Piper said. Sunny laughed and folded in the fresh blueberries, making Piper’s mouth water.
“Pipe, you lose that phone every other minute.” Sunny shook her head.
“The crazy thing is I could have sworn that I took it home with me last night.” Piper lifted a stack of papers that Sunny had on the back counter. Her friend wasn’t the best at the paperwork part of owning a business. She needed a personal assistant to keep track of everything.
“Hey, I almost forgot to tell you—Maddie and I want to take you someplace fun tonight for your birthday,” Sunny said. Piper groaned at the thought of having to go out tonight. She barely slept the night before. She was already exhausted, and it was only 5:30 am.
“No, I just want to stay in and hopefully sleep tonight. I don’t want to go out.
Besides, you two are taking me on a hike on Thursday, and that’s enough birthday fun for me.
” Piper snuck a few blueberries while Sunny put the first batch of muffins into her industrial ovens.
She turned towards Piper, wiping her flour-covered hands on her apron.
“Pipe, you need to enjoy life a little—it’s your birthday week. Live it up!” Piper couldn’t help but smile at Sunny. Her friend was always so optimistic, even when covered in flour at the crack of dawn. She just couldn’t say no to her.
“Fine, what are we doing tonight?” Piper asked. Sunny’s smile brightened. She always seemed to know just what to say to Piper, to get her way.
“Well, Mads and I thought it would be fun to go to that new Escape Room in Estes.” Piper groaned again, thinking about how much energy it was going to take to escape from one of those rooms.
“I don’t know, Sunny. That sounds like a lot of work,” Piper grumbled.
Sunny giggled, wrapping her arms around Piper’s neck. “Hopefully, it will be a night you will never forget.” She kissed Piper’s cheek, probably leaving flour behind.
“Well, I don’t think that will be the case unless we can’t escape and we all die in a tiny room together. That would be pretty unforgettable.” Piper wiped at her cheek, causing Sunny to pull her closer.
“Always the optimist, Pipe.” Sunny kissed her one last time and then released her to work on the second batch of muffins.
Piper turned to leave, deciding that she needed to get a jump start on her day if she was going to have any energy for tonight.
“I’ll pick you up at 4:30. I’ve already talked to your aunt, and she’ll watch your shop,” Sunny called after her.
Piper nodded. Arguing with Sunny wouldn’t get her far.
Sometimes she felt it was best to just give in to her best friend. Life was just easier that way.