AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You need to leave her be.”
“I don’t think I can,” I say, not understanding why Piper felt the need to come here on her birthday of all days. “She needs me.”
“That she does. But some things my daughter needs to do all on her own. This is one of them.”
I run my fingers through my hair, hating to see Piper’s head hung low.
Fuck.
This is torture.
“Why are we here? Why today?” I ask, needing answers.
“Didn’t Piper tell you?”
I shake my head, getting a frown from Shelby in return.
“My late husband, Paul, would have been fifty-two today. He and Piper shared everything together. Even birthdays.”
Fuck.
I didn’t see that one coming.
Shit.
“Were they close?” I ask, although I already know the answer just from the way Piper is holding onto that stone.
“Thick as thieves. Where one went, the other was sure to follow. Paul did everything with her. From playing with Barbie dolls to riding bikes together, taking her to every sporting event, whether it was a hockey game, a basketball match, or football. Don’t even get me started on how the two of them could go on for hours talking about players and statistics. It’s like they had a language all of their own.”
That must be when she caught the sports agent bug.
From spending all that time with her father.
“May I ask how he passed?” I ask hesitantly.
“In the line of duty. Piper had barely graduated from high school when it happened.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
Shelby glances over to Piper one more time, her shoulders instantly slumping before she starts writing frantically on her phone.
“I think I’m the one who should be apologizing to you, not the other way around.”
“I’m sorry?” My eyebrows furrow in confusion.
“I think because of me, you’re going to have your hands full with my daughter.”
I sign, “I don’t understand,” since this phrase I know by heart.
“Piper took her father’s passing very hard. But I’m afraid that I didn’t help the situation any. In fact, I’m pretty sure I only made things worse.” Shelby takes another quick glance at Piper, verifying that she’s still standing at her father’s grave before continuing with her story. “You see, Paul was the love of my life, and when he died, I… didn’t handle it very well, forcing my little girl to take care of me and walk me through the lowest point of my life. I was her mother. I should have been taking care of her, but I had lost all my will to do anything else but mourn the loss of the man I loved.” She sighs, regret and shame coating the same blue eyes Piper inherited.
“It wasn’t pretty. In fact, I’m pretty sure my daughter was traumatized by the things she saw when I was at my worst. It got so bad that I had to be institutionalized. I suffered what you would call a nervous breakdown, though for me it was crippling grief that pulled me under. Not only did my baby girl have to delay her first year of college, but she also had to leave our home to live with some friends of ours, the Moores, while I tried to get out of the dark hole that I had dug for myself.”
“I… had… no idea,” I stutter, overwhelmed with the bombardment of such personal information.
“I figured as much.” Shelby’s sad smile crests her lips again. “Piper likes to pretend that episode of our lives didn’t happen, but I know she still bears the scars of what I put her through. Not that I can blame my sweet girl for wanting to put that all behind her. Can you imagine the despair?” she continues to write frantically. “Not only had my baby girl lost her father—who had been her entire world—but she was losing me too, right in front of her eyes. I was supposed to protect my little girl, and instead, I broke something inside of her that I’m not sure will ever be mended again.”
Shelby stops writing on her phone just long enough to wipe the fresh batch of tears from her eyes, these ones provoked by all the pain her daughter had to endure.
