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Not when love didn’t change her for the better.
Love almost destroyed her.
And me.
“When we lost… dad… I almost lost you, too. How is that for the better?” I ask, feeling a sting in the corner of my eyes.
“You’re focusing on all the wrong things, sweetheart. When I found your father, I found myself, too. Every day I spent next to him was a day that I discovered something new about myself, too. And vice versa. You never truly know who you are as a person until you love someone else unconditionally. The lengths you would go to protect them and love them. So, when he died, a piece of me died along with him. However, it was his love and the memory of our life together that brought me back to life. And it was you, Piper, that made me want to live another day because you were the very embodiment of what true love can manifest. You are our miracle. Our love in human form. A walking, talking reminder of the love that I was so blessed to call mine.”
“But if you could go back and never meet Dad, just to save yourself from all the pain that you went through, wouldn’t you?”
“No. Never,” she signs aghast. “I’d go through all of it again if it meant I had one more day with him. Love is not a punishment, Piper. It’s a gift.” She adds, her gaze soft and loving. “Don’t squander that gift, sweetheart. You’ll live your entire life regretting it. The only regret I have is that my grief caused you such pain. Other than that, I have no regrets. Not when it comes to falling in love with your dad. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.”
“How can anyone rejoice in something like love when heartbreak is the only outcome?” I ask, feeling overwhelmed and confused.
“I’d rather you go through that kind of suffering after spending every second of your life loving fiercely and wholeheartedly than never having been brave enough to try. Your father and I didn’t raise a coward, Piper. Don’t prove us wrong.”
“Geez, thanks, Mom, for the vote of confidence.”
“Not a problem. Sometimes a good kick in the butt works better than any words of confidence.” She winks. “Now, let’s go back into the house. Lottie looks like she could use a friend right now. And frankly, sweetheart, so do you. Does Lottie know about Trent yet?”
I shake my head.
“Why?”
“Because… because then it becomes… real.”
My mom nods her head in understanding and then signs, “I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but it’s already real. It’s up to you to take the first step in making itextraordinary.”
Chapter 26
Piper
“That motherfucker!” I shout, gaining an amen from Harold and a ‘shh’ from Lorelei and my mom as they try to listen to Lottie’s one-sided phone call with her bastard of an ex.
We’ve spent most of the night huddled around the kitchen island in our bathrobes and pajamas as Lottie ended things with that waste of sperm. If there was ever a person who should have been discharged into a tube sock, Cooper would be it.
Okay, so it’s true that there has never been any love lost between me and Lottie’s asshole of a boyfriend. I knew he was no good since we were in high school together. He reeked of douche.
But this… cheating… that son of a bitch!
I’ll have his balls.
I’ll cut them into tiny little pieces and feed them to fish in the Charles River.
That bastard!
Here was Lottie, feeling all sorts of guilt for having fallen out of love with him and in love with Nathan while this asshole has been cheating behind her back all along.
I don’t care what the fucker says to her. No way was this a one-off thing.
The video Caleb sent me of him with two girls at that NYC party is all the proof I need.
He looked far too comfortable with getting his tiny dick sucked out in public for it not to be a recurring event.
I pace the kitchen floor while Lottie exasperatedly tells Coop—for the millionth time tonight—that they’re over.
If I were in her shoes, I’d dump the fucker by text.
