Page 71 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls

‘Yes,’ she huffed. ‘Just a little worried about Old Mrs V.’

‘I’m gonna grab my bag.’

I walked to the back of the car and Beck followed. He stayed quiet but the razor-sharp line of his jaw told me all I needed to know.

‘I like your sister.’

‘Yeah, I can tell that by the way you look at her.’ He scrubbed a hand over his mouth. ‘I’m not gonna be one of those dick older brothers that says something stupid like “You break her heart and I’ll break your face”,’ he grumbled. ‘I’ll just remind you of what I said the other night. She’s fragile.’

I swallowed back my protests about that description of her. The woman standing three feet away was a warrior. A force of nature. A goddamn goddess. But I understood why Beck saw her that way. As Piper had explained it, since they’d lost their parents he’d become her protector. He only wanted to keep her safe. Make sure she didn’t go back to the dark place she’d told me about.

‘She’s in good hands with me. I swear it on my medical license.’

He glanced at the black kit dangling from my fingertips. ‘And when you leave? She won’t be in good hands then.’

I wasn’t going to tell him about our agreement. It was a private deal between Piper and me. ‘We’re both adults who understand the situation.’

Torran walked toward us and I didn’t like the way she swayed unbalanced on her feet.

‘Babe, you okay?’ Beck asked.

‘Don’t worry about me.’ She leaned her head on his shoulder. ‘Right now we need to be thinking about Mrs Vanderpool.’ Her gaze narrowed, expecting me to get my ass in gear.

‘On my way.’

‘Piper, call me later,’ Beck said in that older-brother voice.

‘I will,’ she said, waving off his concern.

I slammed the tailgate shut and joined Piper on the sidewalk.

‘Should we drive?’ I asked.

‘No, it’ll take longer to maneuver around the streets than to walk.’

Like she wanted to make a point, she slid her hand into mine and tugged me down the street.

‘Your brother is…’

‘Burning a hole in your back with an acidic gaze. Ignore him. That’s what I do.’

He’d brought up a good point though. It would be easy for Piper and me to get lost in our time together. We’d agreed to this arrangement, but neither of us wanted to get in too deep. Hurt one another. The hard thing was the more time I spent with Piper, the more I needed to be near her. How was that going to work when I’d be gone in October?

Knowing I couldn’t solve that issue now, I focused on Piper leading me down the street. We passed expertly trimmed lawns and pastel-colored bungalows with screened-in porches. We turned a corner and a large white house with a widow’s walk and a massive wraparound porch came into view. A black wrought-iron fence circled the property.

‘Wow, that house is something.’

‘That’s where I grew up,’ she said casually.

‘It’s amazing.’

‘You can thank Manny and Torran for that. Apparently, it was a shithole when they started on it. The previous renters poured concrete down the drains. Stole the cabinets and appliances.’

‘Well, it’s beautiful now.’

‘They’re really good at what they do,’ she said proudly.

We hurried past more impressive homes until we reached the cul-de-sac at the end of another street called Maple Lane. The house at the end was a canary-yellow two-story colonial with a wide driveway and what looked like a garage apartment in the back. It was beautifully built and resembled something out of a TV sitcom.