“Why don’t you run along and try to catch up to Sunny? Piper and I were doing just fine without your help.” Tag reached out to Piper, and she took his hand. The three of them started back on the trail when they heard Sunny’s scream.
“Oh my God, that’s Sunny!” Piper took off running in her friend’s direction, leaving Aaron and Tag behind.
“What now?” Tag mumbled, following Piper up the trail to find Sunny sitting on the ground holding her ankle.
“Damn it!” Sunny seemed madder than hurt. “I hurt my ankle, guys. I was coming back down to find you all and tripped over that stupid rock.” She motioned back to a good-sized boulder behind her.
“How did you not see that?” Aaron teased. Tag removed Sunny’s sneaker and sock to check her ankle. She cried out when Tag tried to move her foot. He couldn’t see any bruising or swelling, but she needed to have it x-rayed, just in case.
“Sorry, Piper, but I think we need to get Sunny to a hospital. I’ll radio for help.” Tag pulled out his satellite phone to reach the store. He could have a rescue team up to them in less than an hour. He wasn’t sure that Sunny would be able to walk down the mountain.
“No! I won’t let my mistake ruin Pipe’s birthday.” Sunny tried to stand, only to fall again once she put pressure on her bad foot.
“You guys are so close to Tag’s cabin; you should go and have the picnic. I’ll give Sunny a piggyback down the mountain and have her foot checked out,” Aaron said, waggling his eyebrows at Sunny, causing her to laugh.
“Pipe, please go and enjoy your picnic. Tag has gone to so much trouble to make this day special for you,” Sunny said. Piper looked torn. Tag knew she wouldn’t want to leave her friend, but he hoped like hell she would agree. He wanted to be alone with Piper more than he wanted his next breath.
“I’ll still call it in,” Tag offered. “Search and Rescue will meet you on the trail and take Sunny from there.” Aaron agreed to Tag’s plan.
“Don’t worry, Piper, she’s in good hands. I’m a fireman.” Aaron puffed out his broad chest, making both women laugh. Tag could see that Piper was still torn.
“Honey, if you don’t want to have the picnic, we can do it another time. We can head back down with Sunny, no pressure,” Tag said.
Piper nodded, “I just don’t want to leave her.” She looked at her best friend. Sunny jumped on Aaron’s back with some help from Tag.
“Pipe, if you don’t go up to the cabin and have that damn picnic, I will never speak to you again.” Sunny did her best to look angry, but she wasn’t very good at pulling that emotion off. “I will have the store radio Tag when I find out what’s wrong with my ankle. I’m in good hands.” Sunny wrapped her arms tighter around Aaron’s neck as if trying to prove her point. Piper finally agreed, making Aaron promise to take good care of Sunny.
“If you change your mind, just say the word. I can have you back down the mountain in no time flat,” Tag said. Piper smiled up at Tag, taking his offered hand.
“Thanks, but I think that Sunny is happy about having Aaron all to herself. Did you see the way she wrapped her arms around him? She’ll be fine.” Piper giggled as Tag pulled her faster up the mountain. He wanted to show Piper that she was in good hands, too, and now was his chance.
It took another half hour to reach the cabin. Piper loved the rustic feel of Tag’s place. It was almost as if they stumbled onto a magical house in the woods. He must have made his way up the mountain earlier because his truck was parked by the side of the house, and smoke was streaming from the chimney. He led her onto the front porch.
“Wait here, Honey.” He went into the cabin and came right back out holding a wicker picnic basket and a red tartan blanket. “You ready for our picnic?” Tag laid out the blanket and put the basket down.
“When did you do all of this?” Piper took his outstretched hand and settled next to him on the blanket.
“I ran everything up here early this morning and hiked back down the trail.” Tag shrugged as if it was nothing that he planned such a wonderful surprise.
“Tag, no one has ever done anything like this for me. The last time I was on a picnic was—” Piper froze at her own words, not meaning to talk about her past. Tag planned such a perfect day for her, and she didn’t want to ruin it with memories from her childhood.
“It’s okay, Piper. I know about your parents. I’m sorry that you had to go through that. You must have felt so alone.” Piper nodded her head, tears filling her eyes.
“The last time I went on a picnic was with my parents the day before they died. My dad planned the day, and we picnicked in Central Park—it was perfect,” she said.
“Piper, you need to hold onto those good memories and let go of the bad ones.” Tag held her hand, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. The connection felt comforting.
“I get that, I do. But I can’t let go of what happened to them. I was there. I should have died too, but I was too afraid to go into the store to help them.” Piper felt foolish that she was crying again, but she couldn’t help her fresh tears.
“Honey, if you went into that store, you would be dead too. You were just a little girl. What could you have done?” Piper didn’t know how much she could tell Tag about that day. At what point would he want to walk away from her?
“I could have tried. They died that day, and maybe I should have too.” Piper wiped her tears from her face. It was her birthday, and yet they ended up talking about the saddest day of her life.
“Piper,” Tag whispered, pulling her into his lap, stroking her back with his hands. “I won’t pretend to know what you are going through, but I do know what it feels like to lose a parent. My mother died when I was six. I wasn’t all alone, though—I had Torren.” Tag kissed her forehead and rubbed his nose over hers. Hearing about Tag’s mother, Piper felt his sadness as if it were a part of her. He and Torren were only six—just babies. She had twelve years with her parents —not enough to make her loss any easier, but enough to have some happy memories of them. Did Tag have any happy memories of his mother?
“At least you had your brother,” Piper whispered.
“That’s true, I did have my brother. But you are forgetting the fact that you had Sunny and your aunt. I know it’s not the same, but you were not alone.”
