“Good.” She pointed a threatening finger in my direction. “Don’t do it again.”
I put up my hands. “I won’t. I want things to work here, even if people are mad at me. The shop might be slow for a bit.”
Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Still so stupid. I’ll see you at work soon.”
“Wait, how am I stupid? What are you talking about?”
“You’ll see. I’m gonna go eat ice cream because of you. This is all your fault.”
47
PIPER
Danielle Pepper Fan Club
Trina Dunn:All right, I managed to snag an early copy. Thoughts in the comments.
Comments:
Dana Holden:WHAT!!! How did you get one and I didn’t? I don’t even wanna know what you think! I bet you hated it.
Trina Dunn:Actually, I didn’t. I was always saying that her novels felt juvenile, but after some thought, I felt like she was just pretending with a lot of this. This one is a turn for her. It still had moments that felt odd, especially with the smut, but the bond between them felt like it was coming from someone who fell in love. Not just someone pretending to know what love is.
Judy Cohen:She had a change of heart! Finally!
Theo crashedafter the town hall—hard. Kelsey opened the coffee shop back up and I let Theo sleep as long as he needed to.
Once I knew Kelsey had it, I did the same thing.
There had been many times in my life where I’d experienced a lot of emotion, and sleeping it off was always a good start.
The next thing I did was make an appointment with Scarlett.
Her jaw slowly opened more and more as I caught her up. When I was finally done, she was quiet for a long time.
“What the actual fuck?”
I blinked. “Uh, is that because I did something wrong or just shock in general?”
She seemed to shake herself out of her thoughts. “No, I’m sorry. That was ... a lot to go through. Your friend’s decision regarding something he disagreed with was to try to out Theo? Are you kidding me?”
“I’m not.”
“That’s so ... fucked up. And I know I should say more, but I can’t imagine thinking that’s the right course of events.”
“Me either.”
“And the way you fought for Theo, that’s really brave of you, Piper.”
“I feel like I shouldn’t have yelled. Or let it get this far. But I tried.”
“Telling him might have helped, but I’m genuinely concerned for Joey’s mental health and his desire to control you.”
“He says he cares.”
“Right, but it’s on his terms. Not yours. You’re a human being. You can make mistakes. You can do things your friends disagree with. But that doesn’t justify what he’s done.”
I closed my eyes. It helped to hear that I wasn’t entirely in the wrong. “I don’t want to talk to him now. I’m not sure I ever will again.”
