Page 19 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls

Piper’s arched brow morphed into a scowl.

Yeah, probably should not be giving the kid ideas.

‘One night when I was hanging out at my favorite pizza place, my brother came in with his high-school friends. He bet me I couldn’t eat an entire large pepperoni pizza and drink a full liter of soda in under ten minutes.’

Dex’s eyes gleamed. ‘You totally took that bet, right?’

‘Yeah, and I paid the price.’

His look turned puzzled. ‘How?’

‘I took that pizza down, not a crumb left. Drinking the liter of soda was easy too. Thought for sure I’d beaten my brother, but five minutes later the cutest girl in middle school showed up. She smiled at me and I proceeded to throw up all over her flip-flops.’

‘Ooooh, gross,’ Dex laughed. ‘Were there chunks and stuff between her toes?’

Piper pressed a hand to her mouth but not before I saw her smile.

‘Tons of chunks. She and her friends hated me for the rest of middle school.’

Dex gave a hesitant smile. ‘Wish I had a brother. I’m an only child.’

‘Do you have a best friend?’

‘Yeah. Jensen Banfield. We’ve been buddies since second grade.’

‘And do you play video games? Skateboard? Hang out regularly?’

‘Yep,’ he sighed, finally showing a flicker of vulnerability. ‘He invites me over a lot because my mom’s always working.’

‘See, you do have a brother then. Blood might not unite you but friendship does.’

Dex cocked his head like he was giving it serious thought. I caught Piper’s eye and her steady gaze said she approved of the way I’d handled his worries.

Shirley returned a minute later with another sterile package. She pulled out a curette and handed it to me.

‘Continue to hold still, buddy. I’m going to use this to scoop out the rest of the candy.’

Piper’s stare never left Dex. For his part, he managed to stay frozen as I worked the candy out of his ear. Piper was good with him. Knew to smile when he tensed up. Squeeze his hand when he winced.

There was something gentle, kind in her demeanor that made me want to move closer. Look into those deep, thoughtful eyes and ask about her life. If she was originally from Ivy Falls. How long she’d lived here.

A small knock on the door forced me to look away. In a flurry, a woman with curly white-blonde hair flew into the room.

‘Oh, Dexy! What did you do?’

Piper instantly moved out of the chair. ‘Sit down, Mrs Swanson.’

The woman gave Piper a scathing look before she said, ‘Is my baby all right, doc?’

‘He’s fine. I’m almost done.’

She held her son’s hand and he wilted. ‘Sorry, Mom. It was a dare and I had to do it.’

‘We’ve talked about this, Dexy. You don’t have to perform to get people to like you.’

Piper inched back against the wall like all she wanted to do was disappear.

‘I know, but I thought it’d be funny. People did laugh.’ His chin dipped. ‘Until they didn’t anymore.’