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She hums out a soft reply, but I know I’ve lost her again. This is where the heavens shatter, the sky falls, and I’m a fucking idiot for believing I could have held them up in the first place.
Chapter Seven
Piper
Dad lays back in bed with both his legs in solid white casts. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him this broken. Sure, he’s getting older, but even in his sixties he gets around better than a lot of young guys I know. A big, broken mountain man is hard to see… especially when he’s your dad.
“We’re lucky he’s alive.” Mom has said this phrase at least a thousand times a day for the last week. She hasn’t left his side for more than a bathroom break. “I’m just glad he’s home.” She glances up at me. “Your brother is stuck in Wyoming on a cattle drive. I can’t get ahold of him, and your sister has to head back to college next week. I’m counting on your help, Piper.”
“Yeah. Of course. I… yeah. Where else would I be?”
My mom reaches her hand out for mine. “I know, peanut. Thank you.” She lays her head back on my father’s chest. “I’m just so glad he’s alive.”There she goes again.
Watching the two of them in love has been both a privilege and a curse. They’re the perfect couple.
Dad picks Mom flowers from the field every morning. He makes her coffee and brings it to her in bed, without fail.Every. Single. Morning. In turn, Mom makes sure he’s always got a home cooked meal, a smile on her face, and freshly baked pie for him at least once a week. Watching them in love as a kid was beautiful. As an adult, it’s a little heartbreaking…selfishly so.I’ll never have what they have.
Mom closes her eyes against Dad’s chest, and I tip toe out toward the kitchen where my sister is stirring the pot of soup I put on earlier.
“Hey! That’s my job,” I tease, grabbing a bowl from the cupboard, before pouring the steaming liquid Alaina’s been nursing inside. “Thank you.”
“Well, I figure you’re going to have your hands full come next week. You know, I can stay another month if you need help. Maybe I’ll try online classes?”
“Thanks, but I don’t think Mom or Dad would have that. I’ll be fine.”
Alaina sits at the table next to me. “You’re not fine. Talk to me.”
I stare toward her. She hasn’t asked a single question since I met up with Romeo a week ago. She respected my privacy, held onto my secrets, and been everything I could ever want for in a sister. I’m lucky to have her. “Well, I feel like an asshole that Dad was almost killed doing something I should’ve done for him, but other than that…”
She huffs. “Stop. You know it’s not your fault.Heforgot his toolbox.Hedrove up there to get it. That’s what grown-ups do.”
“Yeah, well… I’m sure if you ask Mom she’d disagree.”
Alaina rolls her eyes. “Mom and Dad are weird.” She peels an orange, stripping the shell off one slow piece at a time. “I wasn’t talking about them, anyway. I meant how are things with Romeo?” She laughs as orange juice sprays everywhere. “I’m going to start calling you Juliet.”
I roll my eyes. “Please! It’s not that dramatic.”
“Okay… then let’s see your phone. Prove he’s not stealing lines from Shakespeare.”
I laugh. “No way!”
She ignores my refusal and grabs my phone off the table and clicks to my messages, reading them back to me dramatically.
“Juliet… how is thy father?”
“Oh, how I missith thee.”
“Art thou well now?”
“I knoweth thou art fear—”
“Okay, okay… I got it. Thank you!” I grab the phone back from her grip, biting back a grin. “You take a theater class last semester or something?”
“Maybe,” she smiles, “but I missed a text at the end there. What’s it say?”
I shake my head, downplaying the message. “It’s nothing. Something about him having a meeting with Kane and Diesel this morning. He asked me to meet him again.”
She bites into her orange. “The plot thickens. Are you going?”
