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“But man, the second the Davis family got wind that Mickey had invested an ounce of time into any of it, a switch flipped.” Brett looks at his best friend next to me, and I can tell this part probably hurt the most. “They spent the last few months of Mickey’s life telling Piper how horrible she was for keeping him away from his family, from hislittle girl.” He says the last two words with an air of disgust that surprises me. “As a father, if I truly believed I was dying, I would move heaven and earth to be with my children. With my family.” He shakes his head. “But by then, Mickey realized that what we’d all suspected from the get go was probably true - Kelsie used him to put down on the birth certificate after the fact, so that when he died, they’d get survivor’s benefits. And the Davis’ supported Kelsie instead of rallying around their dying son.”
I balk at him. I hadn’t even considered the financial gain that the legal paperwork might bring.
Nolan speaks before I can even breathe out a shocked response. “That was the paperwork she needed him to sign. And he’d done it incorrectly the first time, so we all thought it was done and dusted, until one day, everyone started posting pictures of the three of them together along with the birth certificate.”
“These annoying family pictures," Vic adds. "Kelsie thought Piper knew they were all spending time together, or, that’s what she tried to say at the funeral.”
I stare at Vic, unsure I heard him correctly. “She showed up to the funeral?”
Luca lets out a humorless laugh, and I twist the top off my beer, taking a deep sip, overwhelmed and mind racing.
“Oh, man,” Brett says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “The Davis family walked Kelsie and Kayla into that funeral like they were his family, and we were a pile of trash.”
I feel my mouth pop open.
“Yes, exactly that face.” Vic laughs, humorless, like Luca. “God, I mean it’s not funny, but it is.” He looks at the older man next to him. “I’ve never seen Bianca so mad. I thought she was going to have to be restrained.”
“I thought we were going to have to tie Alex and Penny up with her,” Nolan adds.
“And Bethani, at the time.” Brett trails off, making a disgusted face. “There were so many of us who spent days with them, with him, because we fucking loved him, and didn’t want him to be alone at the end.”
“She couldn’t do it by herself,” Vic says with a shrug. “So we made sure she didn’t have to.”
I feel my heart swell, and every instinct in my body is fighting my growing urge to pull Vic into the tightest bro hug I can muster. Because while I had my head up my ass, he was making sure she was cared for. They all were.
“No one even knew they were married.” Luca’s eyes close, his head shaking in a reflection of the same horror coursing through my body. “We didn’t do anything big, because they wanted it to be private, but once we were able to share, we were screaming it from the rooftops. Celebrating. Sharing with everyone.” He scratches at the gray stubble along his jaw. “Piper told us later that most of the people going through the line at the visitation didn’t know they’d been married at all. His family was more focused on making up for time lost with their not-so-surprise secret grandchild instead of celebrating the very real relationship right in front of them.”
“Why?” I breathe the word out so forcefully, it surprises even me. Vic meets my eyes.
“Why would they treat Piper the way they did? Why would they pretend like Kayla was Mickey’s when literally everything said she wasn’t?” He looks around the table. “Why would they walk into that funeral and let everyone think they’d been at his bedside every day with his child and her mother, instead of all of us?” He gestures to the men around the table, and then vaguely in the direction of the house, where we can just barely hear voices carrying from the kitchen. Why would someone do that? Why would anyone do that?
“Grief,” is Luca’s simple answer. Around me, all of them nod, even Dylan. “Grief will drive people to do - to say - crazy things.” He takes off his glasses, pressing his thumb and forefinger into his eyes, and then looks at Nolan next to me. “You all did right by her - by both of them.” Luca reaches over, patting Vic’s hand. “Youalldid.”
Before I can agree with his sentiment, which I’m not sure will mean much as an after-the-fact bystander, I hear the door behind me open, and Nolan and I both swivel to see Carla in the doorway. “Incoming!” she says, and a black and white ball of fur comes barrelling out of the house, followed by a plain black one. They whiz under the table, nearly pulling the plastic tablecloths with them, and then go straight through to the other side and into the yard beyond. The patio lights illuminate where we sit, and in the distance I can just make out Bex’s tiny little legs, along with another dog I don’t recognize.
“Gesù Cristo,” Luca huffs, putting his glasses back on and looking over his shoulder. “Sorry about them. Though I suspect you know Bex can be a little crazy. Ernie on the other hand…” He shakes his head, looking at Carla over my shoulder. “Can we come in? As much as I love walking down memory lane, I would love more to sit in a chair with better cushioning.”
And then there’s a crash from inside the house. I watch Luca’s eyes widen, and Vic’s face crease with concern as someone yells. “You didwhat?” It’s loud enough that I think it’s Bianca, though this far away, it could be Penny. Then, the voice continues, screaming in Italian. “Mi stai prendendo in giro, Piper? Hai lasciato il lavoro?”
“Oh shit,” Vic says, and both he and Luca stand at the same time. I press to my feet, and Vic catches my arm as I try to follow Nolan inside. “I’d stay back and out of the line of fire, Bianca just found out that Piper quit.”
Chapter 46
Piper
Bythetimeeveryoneis crowded in the living room and kitchen, Mom has started her typical pacing up and down the space in front of the fridge, cursing to herself.
“I can’t believe you would throw all of this hard work you’ve done away. And for what?” She’s going a million miles a minute, a skill I very much inherited, nearly spitting as she throws out question after question in Italian so deep I’m not even sure I understand every word. “It’s taken you years to get back to where you’re at, and now you walk away? Why? Why would you do this?”
I track her with my eyes, leaning against the counter.
“Love, what’s going on?” My father slips past Penny and Alex, who are standing together in the archway, unsure of whether to approach or stay back.
“Your daughter,” she hurls, hitching a thumb back at me, “has just casually informed us that she up and quit her job today.” She huffs, throwing her hands up in the air. “With no plan. Nothing lined up.”
“What’s she saying?” I hear Brett mutter to Vic, who snorts.
“Piper’s introuble.” He drags out the last word. “She finally kicked our boss to the curb today.”
