“You have,” I agreed.
“You were okay with him touching you to move you?” Joey asked.
“We agreed on it beforehand,” Piper said. “I’m fine.”
Joey slowly nodded, thankfully keeping his thoughts to himself. Piper narrowed her eyes at him, but walked toward the bushes that Jasmine had pointed out.
Out of habit, I grabbed Piper’s hand. She turned to me with a smile, but I could feel Joey’s stare.
We got into the bushes, and I had to let go so we could get blueberries. Mollie’s bushes were massive and spanned into thedistance. There were bundles of deep blue berries waiting for us.
“Careful, Joey,” Piper said. “I’ve heard there’re spiders.”
“There’rewhat?” He froze.
“We’re outside,” Mitch added. “There are gonna be spiders.”
“But, like, where I can touch them?”
Piper laughed. “Yep, but it’s normal and sometimes you have to face your fears.” She gestured to the bushes. “Just follow my lead.”
Joey blinked in shock, but she led me to a bush with lots of berries.
“That was pretty smart.”
“Thanks,” she said. “How am I doing?”
“As amazing as always.”
Her cheeks were red as she turned to the bush. Eventually, Joey and Mitch joined us, and we got to work getting all the berries we could find.
Whatever thoughts Joey had, he kept them to himself, and I was grateful. I liked Mitch, and we talked about how I got into coffee. Joey was quiet for most of the time, watching me closely.
I let him. I wasn’t doing anything wrong.
And it was time I accepted that.
“I see you didn’t take my advice.” Joey said it as I was paying. I looked up, seeing that Jasmine was talking to Piper about something, and Mitch had joined. I hadn’t even realized Joey and I were alone.
“I didn’t,” I said slowly. “And I’m glad I didn’t.”
He crossed his arms and looked at Piper, who was smiling and laughing as she listened to the little girl’s story. It wasbecoming normal to see her practically radiate happiness these days, and I loved it.
It was hard to take my eyes off of her, but I didn’t trust Joey.
He stared at Piper with arms crossed. “I think she’s glad too,” he said quietly. “It’s funny. I thought I knew what was best for her. Guess I was wrong.”
“You don’t have to be the one who knows what’s best for her. She knows.”
He blinked and finally focused on me. “You sound like you’ve got it all figured out.”
“I don’t.”
“Well, you’re better for her than I am.” He sighed. “She’s happy here.”
I took a breath, trying to see it from his perspective. “You care about her a lot. That’s why you do all this, right?”
“She’s family to me. More so than anyone I’m actually related to. I want her to be happy, but she seemed so miserable that I wanted it all gone.”
