Three lies. An introduction gone wrong. An impossible decision. And four words chosen that could make or break a perfect romance.
Ever since Piper’s birthday party, we’ve been giving the town something to talk about. But now that Blair has boldly offered me something that I can’t refuse, I have to figure out what to do. And that what to do is staring me in the face. Beautiful eyes, a perfect body, but a silver tongue to boot. Sparks fly when I stupidly accept. It’s the biggest mistake of my life. But when my world falls apart, and the lies all come out, will Blair be there to help me pick up the pieces? And will I let him...
***
Why I get involved makes my head spin. I know I’ll live to regret it. And I do. But, man, is regret fun with her. She brings out the worst and the best in me, in ways I never thought possible. Jade is perfect except for one thing and that one thing I can’t change, nor would I want to. Now that we’ve made the mistakes, when the lessons come, I’m not sure where either of us are headed. Until we witness the flatline. That’s when the truth about us all comes crashing down. It’s a stupid, crazy mess, but as the tears flow down her beautiful face, I’m not sure how long I can stay to catch them...and then it happens...and it makes my stay with her...more permanent.
But can we both handle it?
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Blair
“You what?” I bark at my brother, in shock.
Billy looks at me with irritation in his eyes, but he continues to hose down his new horse, as if ashamed, trying to brush his brief explanation off.
My other brother, Cassidy, looks at him, as he brushes the horse on the opposite side. “So, what are you going to do now, Billy?"
“Well, it's not like I can keep it from her. I mean, we live in a small town, and likely everyone knows about it by now.”
Cassidy adds insight. “Piper finds out that you knocked up some chick in combat, Billy, and that will be the end of the two of you.”
Billy's gaze darts to Cassidy. His voice raises a notch. “You don't think I know that, asshole?”
I lift a hand, trying to diffuse the situation, not wanting to upset the horse. “Now, come on, boys. Fighting about it isn't going to solve anything. Billy, have you even reached out to this chick, Marsha?”
Billy gives me a sour look. “Have I had the chance? This only happened a few hours ago. I ended up kicking the asshole out. I wasn't giving him the satisfaction. Here I was thinking that he was coming around to make amends, but no, he was out for blood.”
Cassidy interjects. “That’s some thanks you get, I suppose. You should have left the son of a bitch for dead in the battlefield.”
I interrupt. “Why do you think he was out for blood?”
“I suppose if I was raising another man's child, I might be a little bit sour about it too.” Billy guesses.
Cassidy intervenes. “That's bullshit, man. If he had a problem raising your kid, why did he wait until now to reach out?”
“I told you. It's because they had a thing, and now it's over, and he doesn't want to leave her high and dry, so he figures now it's my turn.” Billy clarifies.
Now I'm irritated. “So, she has your kid, and she doesn't even tell you about it, and now he's going up to bat for her? What right do either of them have here? I say, call her out on this. Get a paternity test before you agree to give her a dime, Billy. I've seen this before, where chicks think that they can claim that their kid belongs to someone, and they end up draining them dry for nothing. Don't be a fool.”
I can see the muscles in Billy's jaw working. He is right pissed off, but he doesn't want to upset his new horse, so he's holding it inside. The problem with that, is that when he finally blows, bad things are going to happen. My brother has had a short fuse ever since returning from the military. He's known around town for his temper, hence the reputation that he's earned himself, which will only fuel the flame when they find out what my brother did.
Cassidy offers his two cents again. “You want my advice, I say tell Piper about this right away, whatever fallout happens after that, you can handle it. But if she finds out not through your mouth, it's going to be ugly, little brother.”
Billy lifts a finger at me. “You breathe one word of this to Jade and I'll kill you.” He warns, assuming that I'm going to tell a girl that I've been talking to, who, consequently, is one of Piper’s best friends.
I raise both my hands in defence. “Look, dude, you've got nothing to worry about there, man. Me and Jade aren't even a thing.”
This is where Cassidy laughs. “So that wasn't your hand creeping up her skirt the other night at Piper’s birthday party?”
I can't help the smirk. “I'm not going to lie, boys. She's as cute as a button, but we were just flirting. In fact, I haven't spoken to her since then. I don't even have her phone number.”
Cassidy looks at me and winces. “That's the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard. Twenty bucks says that you fucked her brains out and then you just lost her number. That's your M.O., man.”
I go for cool. “Hey, a gentleman never kisses and tells.”
Billy seems to be in his own little world, meanwhile, Cassidy is still laughing at me. “So, you're saying that something did happen. You're just not going to fill us in on the details.”
“I didn't say that, either, dude.”
Nash, one of Billy's ranch hands, comes over and takes the new horse for a walk, trying to acclimate him to the environment. Billy nods his thanks as he watches the beast get directed away from us.
“He's gorgeous, Billy.” Cassidy comments. “What are you going to name him?”
“I don't know yet. I was thinking of letting Piper have a go at him. She came up with the name for Sprout, and I like that. She’s pretty good at naming animals, evidently.”
“Where is she now?” I ask.
“At school writing an exam. And then she’s at her aunt’s place for lunch.”
“Where was she when all this shit went down with Wade?” Cassidy inquires.
“She gave us some space. She went outside, I think. Piper’s not stupid. She knew something was wrong. I could see it in her face. She didn’t even come back in the house after he left, either, when I kicked his sorry ass out. Her car was gone when he left.”
“And you had no idea that he was coming around?” Cassidy asks.
“Not a clue. It's like he snuck in here. Slithered in like a snake. I don't even know how the son of a bitch found me.”
“You're not hard to find, Billy. If he did any searching, that is.” I add.
“What bugs me is he didn't even bother to call first.” Billy says. “That’s how come I knew he was up to no good when he just showed up here with that smug grin on his face.” A sigh. “He's not the man I knew back then. He's changed. If he were the way that I knew him back then, he would have been straight up with me. He would have convinced Marsha to call me and tell me the truth. He knows that I would have never left her had I known that she was pregnant by me. He knows I'm a man of my word. And I thought that he was, too.”
“Did he at least give you a way to reach out to her?” Cassidy probes.
“I kicked him out before he had the chance.”
“Do you know how to get in touch with her?”
“I suppose it wouldn't be impossible. I know enough of the men that were in my battalion. Somebody must know how to get in touch.”
“Yeah, but then there's going to be questions.” I point out.
Billy is annoyed. “Don't you think I know that? What do you want me to do? Hire a private investigator to track her down?”
Cassidy waves. “That's not necessary. Just speak to one of your battalion brothers, man. Then you can find her and sort it out yourself.”
“That's part of the problem.” Billy says. “Evidently, she doesn’t want anything to do with me”
My eyes bulge. My neck cranes. “Then fuck her. What’s her goddamn problem? Is this Wade asshole suggesting you just cut out the middleman and give him the cash instead?”
Billy scoffs. “Not only that, but he’s also saying that I owe him backpay, for supporting her and the kid all this time.”
“Fuck him. I say show me the paternity test first.” Cassidy states.
“Yeah, how do you know that this kid isn’t his, and he’s just coming to you for money, because he knows that you’ve got it?” I add.
A stern look crosses Billy’s face. “I’ll fucking kill him. After I nearly killed myself to save that asshole. I should have left the sumbitch there to die.”
“What you should have done was tell Piper to stay put, so you don’t have to walk on eggshells.” I suggest.
Billy seems to mull that over, but he doesn’t comment. The ranch is coming along nicely. My brother has put a lot of work into this place, and a lot of money, and it shows. While living in the small, older ranch house, he’s building a newer, bigger one, on the same lot. He’s just finished building a stable for his two horses, and now for the new one that just arrived this morning. Billy and Cassidy have been close for years, but the relationship that I’ve had with my brother has been tumultuous at best. We’ve only just started speaking again a few days ago, when my folks fired my ass at the textile factory, the family business that Billy refused to be a part of.
I’m learning, day by day, just why my brother decided to keep his nose out of it and do what he wanted to do deep down from the start. It’s just my good luck that my brother couldn’t turn my help away when I offered it. Billy’s got a big heart, despite the chip on his shoulder. And I get why it’s there, too. This Piper girl seems to have softened him some but considering what’s just gone down in the last few hours, I’d say that my brother needs to act fast. Piper’s not only his girl, but she’s also his most valued employee, looking after his books and a whole heap of other shit that was left to the wayside when his last employee hit the bricks on a dime.
Billy’s luck could run out quickly if things go down even a little bit. And after all the trouble that he’s saved me by adding me to the payroll, I’d love to help him out as much as I can. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got problems of my own, which I won’t get into now, but let’s just say that a certain chick named Jade could be the death of me if I don’t watch my step. Adding fuel to that flame is the fact that I know something about her best friend’s boyfriend, who also happens to be my brother. Now, anyone would tell you that family comes first, and I get that, but some women don’t always take it that way.
Now, sure, I told a lie just now, when I said that I don’t even have Jade’s number, but I have my reasons. See, I do have her number, and sure, it was my hand up her skirt at Piper’s birthday party. But there’s a perfectly good explanation for that. And it ain’t some torrid thing, neither, see, so just hold your horses here.
“No, she was right to leave, Blair.” Cassidy defends, lifting a hand. “It would be different if it was me or you there with him, but Piper likely felt out of place, so I don’t blame her.”
“Plus, she’s not nosy.” Billy adds. “She’s not the type to gossip. That’s one of the things that I love about her. She’s not like one of these other assholes in town, just sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting for some dirt on me, or anyone else for that matter. She’s decent. And she did the right thing by leaving us be, even though I’m not sure if it makes my life easier or harder.”
I scoff. “It makes your life harder. Because now you’ve got to explain it from scratch.”
Cassidy chimes in. “Better for Billy to explain it than Wade, dude. Think of all the bullshit that that asshole said to have Billy kick him out.”
“Billy kicks everyone out, man.” I whine.
Billy gets pissed off again. “Can you two stop talking like I’m not here! Goddammit! I’ve got to clear my head. I’ve got work to do. The last thing I need to be worrying about is this horse shit!”
“You want me to deal with it, Billy?” Cassidy offers. “I know half your battalion, since I was the next of kin. They’ll tell me how to get in touch with Marsha, and I’ll sort it out.”
Billy is defeated. “Thanks, man, but it’s better that I deal with this.”
Cassidy tips his hat at him. “You be sure to let me know if I need to kick anyone’s ass.”
Billy nods, dismissing his comment, and he looks at me. “Blair, you go on into town, and take my truck.” He says, giving me orders to pick up some specialty items for the stable. Things that we’d talked about earlier, but all this bullshit with Wade popped up and sidetracked us.
“Sounds good, brother. I’ll be back in an hour.”
But I take two hours, only because I decide to do some digging around, and see what I can find out about my brother’s dear friend, Wade Dire.
***
Jade
I’m sitting in my car, in traffic, on my way to the ranch for work, when I hear my phone ring on Bluetooth. It’s Piper, my best friend, and technically my boss, calling me. I pick it up on the first ring. “Are you on your way here?” She opens with.
“Yes. Just stuck in traffic.”
“Where are you?”
I tell her.
“Okay, pull off and meet me at that donut place, before the crosswalk.”
Her voice sounds funny, urgent. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t tell you over the phone. Just pull off and meet me. And don’t tell Crystal, or anyone, okay?”
Crystal is my sister, and Piper’s other best friend. She’s never asked me to keep anything from my sister before, so it must be serious.
“Okay, I just got an opening now. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Why she couldn't wait until I got to the ranch is beyond me. I’m suddenly worried. This is very unlike Piper to behave like this. For a girl that has seen it all, from all but running away from her parents to go to college, to recently losing them in a car accident, to losing her childhood home and basically being homeless, there is nothing that Piper hasn't experienced in the last five years.
And during all that turmoil, Piper never once came unglued. But I suppose that we all have a limit, and perhaps Piper has finally hit hers. I see her beat up little sedan parked in the lot where she told me she would meet me. The car is empty, indicating that she has already gone into the restaurant, so I go inside. She waves me over from a table in the back, where there are no other patrons.
“I already ordered us some juice and donuts.” She says, lifting the glass bottle that I assume is mine.
I sit down with a sigh, searching her face for some inkling as to what is going on. I mean, I've heard everything from her recently. When her parents both died in a car accident, I thought that was the worst. But whatever has just happened to Piper seems to be worse than that.
“So, what's going on? What's with the urgency?”
She lets out a breath of air quickly. “I need to tell you something, and you have to promise, on your life, that you will never breathe a word.”
I nod, face set. “Sure. You've got it.”
“Billy had a friend over this morning. A surprise friend.”
“Male or female?”
“Male. I think he was a friend of his from the military. But I thought that Billy was going to puke when he saw him. He turned as white as a sheet. I've never seen anything like it.”
“What did he want?”
“Well, God, where do I start.”
I sense that Piper is anxious. While I don't want to probe her, I feel like she needs a little bit of encouragement to keep talking. At the same time as my best friend is no closed book by any means, she also isn't one to just lay it all out there. Piper is always one to measure her words carefully, and the last thing that she ever wants to do is hurt anybody. Piper is no gossip. So, to respect her boundaries, I stay quiet, and let her take her time, but also, by peppering in vague questions, it helps her to feel safe to move on.
“Look, piper, I know that you want to talk about whatever happened, so just remember that you can trust me.”
“I know, I know.” She waves, worry registered all over her face.
I decide the only way out of this is to prime the pump. Tell her something secret, to make her feel that it’s okay to tell me something secret. It’s a secret that I promised I wouldn’t share until it was the right time, which would be never...
...so, it just comes out of my mouth, as natural as saying hello, and the second that I do it, I want to put my foot in it. “I'm seeing two guys right now, and I don't know which one to choose!”
Ever since Piper’s birthday party, we’ve been giving the town something to talk about. But now that Blair has boldly offered me something that I can’t refuse, I have to figure out what to do. And that what to do is staring me in the face. Beautiful eyes, a perfect body, but a silver tongue to boot. Sparks fly when I stupidly accept. It’s the biggest mistake of my life. But when my world falls apart, and the lies all come out, will Blair be there to help me pick up the pieces? And will I let him...
***
Why I get involved makes my head spin. I know I’ll live to regret it. And I do. But, man, is regret fun with her. She brings out the worst and the best in me, in ways I never thought possible. Jade is perfect except for one thing and that one thing I can’t change, nor would I want to. Now that we’ve made the mistakes, when the lessons come, I’m not sure where either of us are headed. Until we witness the flatline. That’s when the truth about us all comes crashing down. It’s a stupid, crazy mess, but as the tears flow down her beautiful face, I’m not sure how long I can stay to catch them...and then it happens...and it makes my stay with her...more permanent.
But can we both handle it?
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Blair
“You what?” I bark at my brother, in shock.
Billy looks at me with irritation in his eyes, but he continues to hose down his new horse, as if ashamed, trying to brush his brief explanation off.
My other brother, Cassidy, looks at him, as he brushes the horse on the opposite side. “So, what are you going to do now, Billy?"
“Well, it's not like I can keep it from her. I mean, we live in a small town, and likely everyone knows about it by now.”
Cassidy adds insight. “Piper finds out that you knocked up some chick in combat, Billy, and that will be the end of the two of you.”
Billy's gaze darts to Cassidy. His voice raises a notch. “You don't think I know that, asshole?”
I lift a hand, trying to diffuse the situation, not wanting to upset the horse. “Now, come on, boys. Fighting about it isn't going to solve anything. Billy, have you even reached out to this chick, Marsha?”
Billy gives me a sour look. “Have I had the chance? This only happened a few hours ago. I ended up kicking the asshole out. I wasn't giving him the satisfaction. Here I was thinking that he was coming around to make amends, but no, he was out for blood.”
Cassidy interjects. “That’s some thanks you get, I suppose. You should have left the son of a bitch for dead in the battlefield.”
I interrupt. “Why do you think he was out for blood?”
“I suppose if I was raising another man's child, I might be a little bit sour about it too.” Billy guesses.
Cassidy intervenes. “That's bullshit, man. If he had a problem raising your kid, why did he wait until now to reach out?”
“I told you. It's because they had a thing, and now it's over, and he doesn't want to leave her high and dry, so he figures now it's my turn.” Billy clarifies.
Now I'm irritated. “So, she has your kid, and she doesn't even tell you about it, and now he's going up to bat for her? What right do either of them have here? I say, call her out on this. Get a paternity test before you agree to give her a dime, Billy. I've seen this before, where chicks think that they can claim that their kid belongs to someone, and they end up draining them dry for nothing. Don't be a fool.”
I can see the muscles in Billy's jaw working. He is right pissed off, but he doesn't want to upset his new horse, so he's holding it inside. The problem with that, is that when he finally blows, bad things are going to happen. My brother has had a short fuse ever since returning from the military. He's known around town for his temper, hence the reputation that he's earned himself, which will only fuel the flame when they find out what my brother did.
Cassidy offers his two cents again. “You want my advice, I say tell Piper about this right away, whatever fallout happens after that, you can handle it. But if she finds out not through your mouth, it's going to be ugly, little brother.”
Billy lifts a finger at me. “You breathe one word of this to Jade and I'll kill you.” He warns, assuming that I'm going to tell a girl that I've been talking to, who, consequently, is one of Piper’s best friends.
I raise both my hands in defence. “Look, dude, you've got nothing to worry about there, man. Me and Jade aren't even a thing.”
This is where Cassidy laughs. “So that wasn't your hand creeping up her skirt the other night at Piper’s birthday party?”
I can't help the smirk. “I'm not going to lie, boys. She's as cute as a button, but we were just flirting. In fact, I haven't spoken to her since then. I don't even have her phone number.”
Cassidy looks at me and winces. “That's the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard. Twenty bucks says that you fucked her brains out and then you just lost her number. That's your M.O., man.”
I go for cool. “Hey, a gentleman never kisses and tells.”
Billy seems to be in his own little world, meanwhile, Cassidy is still laughing at me. “So, you're saying that something did happen. You're just not going to fill us in on the details.”
“I didn't say that, either, dude.”
Nash, one of Billy's ranch hands, comes over and takes the new horse for a walk, trying to acclimate him to the environment. Billy nods his thanks as he watches the beast get directed away from us.
“He's gorgeous, Billy.” Cassidy comments. “What are you going to name him?”
“I don't know yet. I was thinking of letting Piper have a go at him. She came up with the name for Sprout, and I like that. She’s pretty good at naming animals, evidently.”
“Where is she now?” I ask.
“At school writing an exam. And then she’s at her aunt’s place for lunch.”
“Where was she when all this shit went down with Wade?” Cassidy inquires.
“She gave us some space. She went outside, I think. Piper’s not stupid. She knew something was wrong. I could see it in her face. She didn’t even come back in the house after he left, either, when I kicked his sorry ass out. Her car was gone when he left.”
“And you had no idea that he was coming around?” Cassidy asks.
“Not a clue. It's like he snuck in here. Slithered in like a snake. I don't even know how the son of a bitch found me.”
“You're not hard to find, Billy. If he did any searching, that is.” I add.
“What bugs me is he didn't even bother to call first.” Billy says. “That’s how come I knew he was up to no good when he just showed up here with that smug grin on his face.” A sigh. “He's not the man I knew back then. He's changed. If he were the way that I knew him back then, he would have been straight up with me. He would have convinced Marsha to call me and tell me the truth. He knows that I would have never left her had I known that she was pregnant by me. He knows I'm a man of my word. And I thought that he was, too.”
“Did he at least give you a way to reach out to her?” Cassidy probes.
“I kicked him out before he had the chance.”
“Do you know how to get in touch with her?”
“I suppose it wouldn't be impossible. I know enough of the men that were in my battalion. Somebody must know how to get in touch.”
“Yeah, but then there's going to be questions.” I point out.
Billy is annoyed. “Don't you think I know that? What do you want me to do? Hire a private investigator to track her down?”
Cassidy waves. “That's not necessary. Just speak to one of your battalion brothers, man. Then you can find her and sort it out yourself.”
“That's part of the problem.” Billy says. “Evidently, she doesn’t want anything to do with me”
My eyes bulge. My neck cranes. “Then fuck her. What’s her goddamn problem? Is this Wade asshole suggesting you just cut out the middleman and give him the cash instead?”
Billy scoffs. “Not only that, but he’s also saying that I owe him backpay, for supporting her and the kid all this time.”
“Fuck him. I say show me the paternity test first.” Cassidy states.
“Yeah, how do you know that this kid isn’t his, and he’s just coming to you for money, because he knows that you’ve got it?” I add.
A stern look crosses Billy’s face. “I’ll fucking kill him. After I nearly killed myself to save that asshole. I should have left the sumbitch there to die.”
“What you should have done was tell Piper to stay put, so you don’t have to walk on eggshells.” I suggest.
Billy seems to mull that over, but he doesn’t comment. The ranch is coming along nicely. My brother has put a lot of work into this place, and a lot of money, and it shows. While living in the small, older ranch house, he’s building a newer, bigger one, on the same lot. He’s just finished building a stable for his two horses, and now for the new one that just arrived this morning. Billy and Cassidy have been close for years, but the relationship that I’ve had with my brother has been tumultuous at best. We’ve only just started speaking again a few days ago, when my folks fired my ass at the textile factory, the family business that Billy refused to be a part of.
I’m learning, day by day, just why my brother decided to keep his nose out of it and do what he wanted to do deep down from the start. It’s just my good luck that my brother couldn’t turn my help away when I offered it. Billy’s got a big heart, despite the chip on his shoulder. And I get why it’s there, too. This Piper girl seems to have softened him some but considering what’s just gone down in the last few hours, I’d say that my brother needs to act fast. Piper’s not only his girl, but she’s also his most valued employee, looking after his books and a whole heap of other shit that was left to the wayside when his last employee hit the bricks on a dime.
Billy’s luck could run out quickly if things go down even a little bit. And after all the trouble that he’s saved me by adding me to the payroll, I’d love to help him out as much as I can. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got problems of my own, which I won’t get into now, but let’s just say that a certain chick named Jade could be the death of me if I don’t watch my step. Adding fuel to that flame is the fact that I know something about her best friend’s boyfriend, who also happens to be my brother. Now, anyone would tell you that family comes first, and I get that, but some women don’t always take it that way.
Now, sure, I told a lie just now, when I said that I don’t even have Jade’s number, but I have my reasons. See, I do have her number, and sure, it was my hand up her skirt at Piper’s birthday party. But there’s a perfectly good explanation for that. And it ain’t some torrid thing, neither, see, so just hold your horses here.
“No, she was right to leave, Blair.” Cassidy defends, lifting a hand. “It would be different if it was me or you there with him, but Piper likely felt out of place, so I don’t blame her.”
“Plus, she’s not nosy.” Billy adds. “She’s not the type to gossip. That’s one of the things that I love about her. She’s not like one of these other assholes in town, just sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting for some dirt on me, or anyone else for that matter. She’s decent. And she did the right thing by leaving us be, even though I’m not sure if it makes my life easier or harder.”
I scoff. “It makes your life harder. Because now you’ve got to explain it from scratch.”
Cassidy chimes in. “Better for Billy to explain it than Wade, dude. Think of all the bullshit that that asshole said to have Billy kick him out.”
“Billy kicks everyone out, man.” I whine.
Billy gets pissed off again. “Can you two stop talking like I’m not here! Goddammit! I’ve got to clear my head. I’ve got work to do. The last thing I need to be worrying about is this horse shit!”
“You want me to deal with it, Billy?” Cassidy offers. “I know half your battalion, since I was the next of kin. They’ll tell me how to get in touch with Marsha, and I’ll sort it out.”
Billy is defeated. “Thanks, man, but it’s better that I deal with this.”
Cassidy tips his hat at him. “You be sure to let me know if I need to kick anyone’s ass.”
Billy nods, dismissing his comment, and he looks at me. “Blair, you go on into town, and take my truck.” He says, giving me orders to pick up some specialty items for the stable. Things that we’d talked about earlier, but all this bullshit with Wade popped up and sidetracked us.
“Sounds good, brother. I’ll be back in an hour.”
But I take two hours, only because I decide to do some digging around, and see what I can find out about my brother’s dear friend, Wade Dire.
***
Jade
I’m sitting in my car, in traffic, on my way to the ranch for work, when I hear my phone ring on Bluetooth. It’s Piper, my best friend, and technically my boss, calling me. I pick it up on the first ring. “Are you on your way here?” She opens with.
“Yes. Just stuck in traffic.”
“Where are you?”
I tell her.
“Okay, pull off and meet me at that donut place, before the crosswalk.”
Her voice sounds funny, urgent. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t tell you over the phone. Just pull off and meet me. And don’t tell Crystal, or anyone, okay?”
Crystal is my sister, and Piper’s other best friend. She’s never asked me to keep anything from my sister before, so it must be serious.
“Okay, I just got an opening now. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Why she couldn't wait until I got to the ranch is beyond me. I’m suddenly worried. This is very unlike Piper to behave like this. For a girl that has seen it all, from all but running away from her parents to go to college, to recently losing them in a car accident, to losing her childhood home and basically being homeless, there is nothing that Piper hasn't experienced in the last five years.
And during all that turmoil, Piper never once came unglued. But I suppose that we all have a limit, and perhaps Piper has finally hit hers. I see her beat up little sedan parked in the lot where she told me she would meet me. The car is empty, indicating that she has already gone into the restaurant, so I go inside. She waves me over from a table in the back, where there are no other patrons.
“I already ordered us some juice and donuts.” She says, lifting the glass bottle that I assume is mine.
I sit down with a sigh, searching her face for some inkling as to what is going on. I mean, I've heard everything from her recently. When her parents both died in a car accident, I thought that was the worst. But whatever has just happened to Piper seems to be worse than that.
“So, what's going on? What's with the urgency?”
She lets out a breath of air quickly. “I need to tell you something, and you have to promise, on your life, that you will never breathe a word.”
I nod, face set. “Sure. You've got it.”
“Billy had a friend over this morning. A surprise friend.”
“Male or female?”
“Male. I think he was a friend of his from the military. But I thought that Billy was going to puke when he saw him. He turned as white as a sheet. I've never seen anything like it.”
“What did he want?”
“Well, God, where do I start.”
I sense that Piper is anxious. While I don't want to probe her, I feel like she needs a little bit of encouragement to keep talking. At the same time as my best friend is no closed book by any means, she also isn't one to just lay it all out there. Piper is always one to measure her words carefully, and the last thing that she ever wants to do is hurt anybody. Piper is no gossip. So, to respect her boundaries, I stay quiet, and let her take her time, but also, by peppering in vague questions, it helps her to feel safe to move on.
“Look, piper, I know that you want to talk about whatever happened, so just remember that you can trust me.”
“I know, I know.” She waves, worry registered all over her face.
I decide the only way out of this is to prime the pump. Tell her something secret, to make her feel that it’s okay to tell me something secret. It’s a secret that I promised I wouldn’t share until it was the right time, which would be never...
...so, it just comes out of my mouth, as natural as saying hello, and the second that I do it, I want to put my foot in it. “I'm seeing two guys right now, and I don't know which one to choose!”
