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His stomach knotted painfully.
"Really?" he couldn’t help but ask, hoping he didn’t sound as hopeful as he felt.
He wasn’t sure what surprised him more. The fact that Mia had a roommate or that she’d mentioned him to said roommate.
"Piper, what’s—"
Mia appeared in the arched opening of the room and slowed to a shocked halt.
His pulse beat a hard tattoo through his body. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he breathed out the word, "Hi."
She closed her mouth. "Drew? What’re you doing here?" Her gaze zipped from her roommate to him and then back to her roommate before settling on him.
"Uh … " he glanced toward Piper. No way could he apologize in front of her roommate—her roommate, who also lived at 410 South Elm.
"You know," Piper broke the loud silence and started to back toward the exit. "I was just about to head to the mall. So, if you two will excuse me." She paused to scoop up a purse and a set of keys by the door.
"Drew," she added. "It was nice to meet you."
He swallowed. "Yeah." He wasn’t certain if it was so nice, though. Sure, it seemed to clear Mia from guilt. But it didn’t clear Jeff … at all.
Neither he nor Mia spoke until they heard Piper’s car start outside and back down her drive.
Then he lifted his face. "You have a roommate."
Mia’s lips compressed in a tight line. "What are you doing here, Drew?" Her voice was in no way welcoming.
He blew out a breath and started to lift his hands to sift his fingers through his hair. But that’s when he caught sight of the flowers.
"Oh, man," he whispered.
Mia followed his stare and immediately stepped into his line of vision, though they both knew the damage had already been done.
Betrayed, he sent her look.
"You didn’t get a delivery of flowers, huh?" he murmured, moving toward them.
"Drew—" she started.
But he ignored her. "I guess that means these are for your roommate then. For Piper."
And yes, there was the note, sticking up between the buds, with the word "Piper" stenciled out in a man’s heavy scrawl. Was it Jeff’s writing? He had no idea.
He reached for the envelope, but Mia caught his arm.
"You can’t read her note."
Meeting her gaze, he said, "I’m sorry," and tugged free of her grip. Snagging it, he tore the card from the envelope and scanned the message.
It read, Thinking of you. J.
Peeking around his elbow, Mia let out a breath of sound as she read the note as well. But he couldn’t tell if it was from relief or disappointment.
"This doesn’t mean anything," she said, sounding defensive. "A lot of people have names that start with J."
He turned. "What? Don’t you know what J stands for? Didn’t your roommate tell you who sent her the flowers?" She didn’t answer; Drew clenched his teeth. "Don’t you even care that she might be destroying a marriage? A family. This isn’t just my sister’s happiness at stake. She and Jeff have three kids together."
"Please, don’t," Mia whispered. Her eyes looked tortured.
