Page 71 of Meet Me in Ivy Falls

‘That sounds exciting. Do you know what the character is like? Have they sent you a script?’

‘It’s for the sister of one of the main characters.’

She pressed the roller into the pan with a little too much force and splashed paint across the khaki tarp. Her eyes flicked up like she was waiting for me to scold her.

‘It’s okay. Happens all the time. That’s why we have the floor covered.’

Relief flooded her face. ‘All the same, I’ll be more careful.’

I patted her hand. ‘It’s fine, and you know me and paint, we’re practically synonymous these days.’

Piper let out a low snort but went back to work like she was too polite to bring up a touchy subject. She covered the last part of the wall and a few quiet moments passed until she spoke again.

‘The character’s a drug addict.’ Her mouth thinned and she looked everywhere but at me.

I gave the corner one final layer of color before I set the roller down. ‘I’m not going to lie, Piper. Beck told me about what you’ve been through over the last couple of years.’

‘Great. Should I leave now?’

‘Of course not. Who’s going to climb the ladder and do the corner touch-ups?’ I teased and the tight set of her mouth softened. ‘There’s no reason for me to judge you. What you and Beck have been through is a horror no young kid should have to face. He said you’ve had some rough patches but you’re putting it behind you. We’re all stumbling through this life. Asking for help is what makes us human. It’s what we do with our next chance that matters.’

‘Yeah, I guess you’ve been knocked down lately too.’ The lines in her forehead pinched. ‘I’ll be honest, I did laugh at the video and I feel kind of bad about it.’

‘Don’t. It happened and if I let it define me and my career then I may as well give up right now.’ I pointed to the tarp and she sank down next to me. ‘Am I still hurting over the video and the sting of all the horrible comments? Yes. But I can’t let it stop me from moving forward.’

‘At first, wasn’t your instinct to run away? Leave it all behind?’ Her childlike tone begged for an honest answer.

‘The day I got the call from Manny telling me about the video, I was leaving flowers at my mom’s grave. It didn’t take long to search the internet on my phone and see it in living color. Yes, at first, the whole thing did knock the wind out of me. I’d worked hard on building up this business and it took ten seconds of film to make me look like an incompetent ass.’

‘Didn’t you want to do something to make the pain go away?’ The anguish in her eyes was palpable.

‘I did want to disappear under the covers the first week, but Manny wouldn’t let it happen. He yanked me out of the house. Forced me to go to work because we still had a job to finish.’

She scratched at a drop of dry paint on her arm. Her gaze floated to the golden light streaming in through the window. ‘What did Beck tell you about the day the RV exploded?’

‘Not a lot. Only that you two were having a snowball fight when it happened and that he tried to save your parents.’

‘The early months of the trip were amazing. We stopped in places like Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, and the Blue Hole of Santa Rosa, which is this cool little swimming spot in New Mexico. Dad insisted we go to a spot in Tucumcari called Tee Pee Curios. It was like being transported back to 1950. It was a little weird with all these old-fashioned cars and actual teepees. Mom loved it though.’

Her far-off look said she was completely immersed in her memories.

‘Beck took pictures everywhere. He said he wanted to share the trip with you when we got back home.’

My stomach curled into a knot, but I didn’t say a word.

‘Then we got to California and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. The trip felt magical. Like we were these four explorers on a great adventure.’ She shifted back on her arms, the color leaving her cheeks. ‘When we got to Lake Tahoe the snow was coming down in these lacy quarter-sized flakes, and Beck and I wanted to take snowboarding lessons. My parents agreed and we spent the entire day on the mountain.’ Her lower lip started to quiver. ‘Things went bad after that. After the explosion, our mom’s screams tore through the icy air. Without any thought for his own life, Beck tried to save them.’

She scratched harder at her skin, the paint chipping off in her hands.

‘Want to know what I did? I watched. It was like I was paralyzed. My brother risked his life to save them and I stood still as a statue. Some daughter I am, right?’ Her hands shook and she shoved them into the pockets of her jeans. ‘It’s times like these that my body screams for a drink or a pill. As if it knows I want to be numb.’

I slid a hand over the top of her arm. She clutched my fingers as if desperate to hold on to something real.

‘All you can do is live your best life and honor your folks. That’s what they’d want for you.’

She shrugged. ‘It’s harder than it looks.’

I pulled her up and pointed at an empty wall. After dunking my roller in the pan of paint, I encouraged Piper to do the same.