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Pippa
Pippa glanced up the steps. She wasn’t supposed to climb ladders, but this was a short distance. She turned to Lady. “Check me.” Lady sniffed her obediently before licking her hand and sitting.
“Good girl.” Pippa slipped out one of the small treats she kept on her and held it for Lady who gobbled it happily.
Pippa followed Aspen up to the tree house she’d heard so much about. It was a pretty good size. Big enough for her, Aspen, and maybe another full-grown adult. Aspen walked past the first screened-in window and past a built-in bookshelf packed full of Selfie comics and various fantasy and paranormal books. She sat on a thin blue cushion on a wooden seat built into the only other window.
The walls were painted, it seemed, by her own hand. Dragons and fantasy creatures like mermaids adorned them. “Did you do these?”
“Yeah.” Aspen tucked a lock of the hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear self-consciously.
“They’re great. You’re quite the artist.”
Aspen bit back a smile as her cheeks bloomed pink. She opened her arms wide. “So what do you think of the tree house?”
Pippa sat, leaning against the windowless wall. “I think it’s awesome. You are very lucky to have this. You think I could get your dad to help me build a small tree house for the bookstore?”
Aspen’s eyes widened, sparking with excitement as she smiled. “That would be so cool. Finn helped him build it, so you might need him too.”
Pippa nodded, ideas forming in her mind. “You know what would make it even more cozy in here?”
“What?” Aspen leaned in.
“Maybe some throw pillows. And how do you feel about beads hanging from the windows? Maybe some curtains?”
“Oh my God, yes! Ooh, rainbow curtains. Do they make those?”
“I’m sure they . . .”
Aspen’s brows drew together in confusion.
What is that word? Ringing filled her ears as Pippa opened her mouth to speak again. “Um . . .”
“Pippa?” Aspen’s voice sounded far away, drowned out by a rushing noise.
Oh no. A seizure.
Pippa inhaled, trying to relax her body and hope it would pass quickly.
Her vision blurred. Aspen yelled. The hard wood on the tree house floor met her back. Anxiety twisted in her belly as she waited for the inevitable seizure symptoms to worsen. Everything went black.
A deep voice spoke around above her, muffled and quiet, like she was underwater. She blinked her eyes open, her stomach roiling with nausea. A pine wood ceiling was painted with a sun and moon above her. Where am I?
“I got you, Beauty. Just relax.” Mason’s voice pierced through her fog. She tipped her head. His face came into view above her. His eyes crinkled at the edges in concern. A rock sank in her stomach. She’d put that there. Because of her, he had one more responsibility.
“I’m sorry.”
He rubbed across the crown of her head with his warm, soothing palm. “Shhhh. Just take a minute to get your bearings. What’s your name?”
She swallowed at his gentle show of kindness. “Pippa.”
“Do you know where you are?”
She blinked, searching the fog in her mind for answers. “Aspen’s tree house.”
“Do you want to get up?”
She nodded, noticing for the first time that her head was cradled in his other hand, as if he’d been protecting her from the hard floor while she had a seizure. It was too much. He was so thoughtful.
