“Reconcile?” she asked, staring at me.
“Make sense of it all. That everything checks out. Money doesn’t make this better. What I did, or what’s ahead of us now.”
“Aston does seem cool,” she said, tilting her head to the side, taking me in. “You know, he looked familiar to me the other day. Probably because we look so much alike, now that I think about it.”
I could practically see the wheels turning in her head, firing off questions like neurons.
“I’m going to get to know him,” she said slowly. “He’s not going to replace Dad. But he’s also my dad, I guess. So, yeah. But ... I don’t think I want to tell anyone at school.”
“That’s fine, sweetie.” It wasn’t until now I realized the nape of my neck was damp from sweat. Taking a deep breath, I said, “You don’t have to tell anyone anything you don’t want to. We’ll explain this to Tyler. That it’s your choice.”
“Aaack, Tyler, what if he doesn’t think of me as his sister anymore? Or he thinks I’m different because I’m rich?”
“Piper, stop with the rich stuff. And that’s impossible. You’ll always be Tyler’s sister.”
“Okay. You know what? I’m going to make Aston some cookies too.”
And just like that, my baby girl stood up and walked into the kitchen, leaving me a jumbled mess of feelings and tears while she digested this all with grace.
“Mom! They’re back!”
My car had been returned an hour earlier. With cookies in hand, the delivery guy made his way out to a Ford pickup waiting for him, and Piper settled in the window seat. She’d been waiting for Aston to pull up, and truthfully, I’d been hiding.
“Oh, look, they’re in a sports car. Tyler must be excited!”
Piper ran to the front door and yanked it open before they even made it up the walkway.
“Hi,” she said quietly, shyness replacing her exuberance from earlier.
“Move, I want to show Mom this,” Tyler said as he pushed past her, and I frowned at him.
“Tyler, say it nicely.”
“Excuse me,” he said automatically, and then held up a video game. “Look!”
“Oh, I’m looking. Where did you get that?”
“Little A and I won enough tickets for us each to get a game! Can you believe it?”
“Oh, I can believe you probably spent a fortune in tokens to get those tickets.” I shot Aston a dagger-filled look, and he rolled his eyes.
“Mom, don’t ruin it,” Piper said. “They had fun. Plus, you know ... you didn’t pay for it.”
“She’s right,” Aston said with a smug grin. “This was my treat. We went for a good time.”
Freaking Aston, spoiling everyone already.
“Where’s Little A? And Mara?” Piper asked.
“We dropped Little A at home with Mara, who stayed home with Denise to do her nails.”
“Oh, is Denise your wife?”
Freaking Piper, pumping for information.
“I’m going to get some water. I’ll be right back,” Tyler said, oblivious to the tension.
“Denise is my nanny. Well, not mine, but the kids’,” Aston said, looking directly at Piper.
