Page 62 of Meet Me in Ivy Falls

She settled her hands on the marble counter and focused clear eyes on me. I loved that she finally looked like her old self. Healthy pink skin. Soft round cheeks. It was surprising what not flooding your body with alcohol and drugs, and getting more than three hours of sleep, could do for someone.

I stopped my frantic search and faced her. The only way to explain was to finally tell her the truth.

‘It’s Torran,’ I said.

‘Torran Wright?’ she yelped. ‘Was that her on the phone? The one you fucked up?’

‘I didn’t fuck up entirely. We were supposed to go to dinner…’

‘And you bailed because I’m here.’ Her shoulders sank in the defeated way I hated. ‘You’ve already taken time off of work for me, and now you’re flaking out on a date?’

I moved around the counter and sat on the barstool next to her. ‘It’s important to me that I spend time with you. Torran will understand once I explain it to her.’

‘What exactly is going on with you two?’ She glanced at the Band-Aids covering two of my fingers.

‘Besides the new pitch at work I was telling you about earlier, I’ve also been working on another project. It’s something that means a lot to me, and I hope it’ll mean a lot to you too.’

She twirled a lock of dark hair around her finger. A nervous tic she still had from when we were kids. I hoped I wasn’t making a mistake by telling her about the house.

‘I’m not sure if you remember Diego Morales. He was a year older than me at Ivy Falls High. Anyway, he owns a property management and auction business. He’s a great guy. Married and has twins.’

‘You’re stalling, Beck.’ She waved her hand in the air, encouraging me to move on.

‘Diego sent me an email saying our old house was going into foreclosure. That it’d be sold at auction.’ The glow in her cheeks faded, but she nodded for me to continue. ‘Believe me, I had no intention of making a bid. All I’d planned was to go and look at it. Then I ended up at the auction and Torran was there bidding against me.’ I hesitated, unable to spill the last bit of truth to her. ‘It would have bothered Mom and Dad to see it in such bad shape and…’ An unsteady breath filled my chest. ‘I bought it as an investment.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘How long has this been going on?’

‘Since April.’

‘Shit, Beck. That’s some secret to keep.’

I stayed frozen, waiting for her to celebrate, or curse me out, but she went painfully silent which was the worst reaction of all.

‘I should have told you…’

‘Yeah, I’m not happy that you kept this from me, but it’s done now, I guess,’ she sighed. ‘Explain to me more about this situation with you and Torran.’

‘She’s a contractor in Ivy Falls. She’s been buying historic places like our old house and returning them to their original state. Or as close to it as possible.’

‘Let me get this straight, she wanted to fix our house? Make it as pretty as Mom and Dad had it and you stepped in and screwed that up?’

‘Yes, well, no.’ I tugged my hands through my hair. ‘I did buy it, yes, but then when I went to inspect it, I almost fell through the ceiling and Torran had to come and save me.’

A loud snort erupted and she slapped her hand over her mouth. Once she stopped laughing, she said, ‘She white-knighted your ass?’

‘Pretty much.’ I laughed too. ‘It was clear to me in that moment I was in over my head. I knew if I was ever going to get the house back to its rightful state, I needed Torran’s help. After a lot of coaxing, she agreed we could be partners and restore the house together.’

Piper turned to me, hands on her hips. ‘And why did you not tell me any of this?’

‘Because I wanted to wait until it was done.’

‘Why?’

The fact that I wanted her to live there danced on the edge of my tongue, but she was still so fragile and I didn’t want to freak her out with that expectation.

‘It wasn’t in great shape, Pipe. I was worried that if you saw it, it might bring back too many memories. Stir up old feelings you weren’t ready to face.’

Her lips thinned into a somber line. ‘Listen, Beck, I know I haven’t exactly been the pillar of responsibility most of my life but you can talk to me. Be honest. Restoring the house does bring up a ton of memories, but it’s also like giving a gift to our parents.’