“Yeah, sorry.” Tag found Piper in the corner of the kitchen, unloading one of her boxes. He smiled at her, and Torren groaned.
“Crap, you’ve fallen for her.” Torren’s voice was so loud that Tag worried about Piper hearing him. He wanted her to hear how he felt about her from him. Also, he was afraid that she would freak out and want to load everything back into the trucks to move back home. He shushed Torren, grabbing his arm to hustle him back out to the front porch.
“Lower your voice, Tor.” Torren laughed as his brother pulled him through the open screen door.
“Wait, you’ve fallen for her and you haven’t told her?” Torren doubled over laughing, slapping his thighs. Yeah, Tag didn’t find the whole situation as funny as his twin brother did.
“It’s complicated. I don’t want to scare Piper off; she’s been through more than most people.” Torren straightened up at Tag’s somber tone, placing his hand on his shoulder.
“Listen, man, I get it. She’s had it rough, but so have we. You and I only had each other and Dane, but we turned out all right.” Tag nodded. He knew that Torren was overcompensatingwith the opposite sex to forget some of his crappy childhood memories. Tag tried to be there for Torren their whole lives, but his brother proved to be a handful. Dane stepped in to point both the boys in the right direction, but as kids, they didn’t want to listen to any authority figure. Now, Tag would do just about anything to have Dane around to dole out some advice.
“Right, but we also didn’t have to watch both of our parents being murdered. It’s just complicated. I’m trying to navigate a minefield here, so don’t screw this up for me, Tor.” Tag stared down his brother, knowing that Torren would get why he needed to proceed with caution. They both knew what it felt like to be left by someone they loved.
“I get it, Tag; I do. But Piper isn’t Dad. She’s a good person with a shitty past. I bet you’ll find that she is just as into you as you are into her. Just give her a chance.” Tag nodded and slapped his brother on the back, deciding that they had spent enough time sharing their feelings. He hoped like hell his brother was right. The last thing he wanted to do was watch Piper walk out of his life as his father had all those years ago.
Chapter Thirteen
Two weeks into living under the same roof with the woman of his dreams and Tag proved to himself that he was just a big coward. They both settled into living in the cabin, dividing up chores and even finding a routine for sharing the bathroom in the morning. Piper liked to go into town early to get her shop ready for customers, so she and Tag usually rode down the mountain together. He dropped her off at Sunny’s bakery and picked up his morning coffee, and then headed over to his store. Torren usually showed up about thirty minutes before they opened, wearing a shit-eating grin that told everyone around him that he just got laid. He would tell Tag all about his sexcapades from the prior evening. He recently took up pestering his brother about not coming clean with Piper about his feelings, to which Tag’s usual response was that at least he had feelings. This prompted Torren to point to his crotch, telling Tag where he kept all his feelings “bottled up”. It was almost as if Torren wasn’t capable of an adult conversation that didn’t revolve around his dick. At quitting time, Tag would circle back to Piper’s shop and wait for her to finish up with herday. She would usually check on her parents’ house and pick up the mail that she still had delivered there.
Most of her daily mail went directly to the shop. In a small town, everyone knew each other, so the postman just dropped all her mail at the ice cream parlor, but occasionally, a stray piece of mail would find its way over to Piper’s house. Tag was sitting in the corner booth where he usually waited for Piper when Lorna came storming through the door.
“Piper,” she said breathlessly, “I got this letter from New York today, it was delivered to the library. The guy who delivered it was looking for you, but said that I was also on the list of people he could deliver to, so he left it with me. It looks official, open it.” Lorna thrust the large brown envelope into Piper’s hands.
“Thanks, Lorna.” Piper tossed the envelope onto the back counter and continued to refill the straw containers.
“Wait, you’re not going to open it? I’ve been dying all afternoon waiting for my shift to end so I could run that over to you,” Lorna said.
Piper nodded at Lorna and smiled. “Well, thanks for doing that, but I don’t have time to look at it right now. I’m sure it will keep until I close in fifteen minutes.” Lorna settled into a seat at the bar, disbelief showing on her face. Tag moved from his spot in the corner to sit next to her. He liked Lorna, and he respected the way she stepped up to take care of Piper. Not many young women would give up their freedom to be saddled with someone else’s kid. She was one tough cookie, and he could tell that she was not going to let this envelope go. Tag wanted a front-row seat to watch the two most stubborn women he knew go match for match about when the mystery envelope should be opened. Truthfully, he was a tad curious as to what was in it. He knew that Piper’s parents had been killed in New York, and he was worried that it contained something about their deaths.He couldn’t stand the thought that a simple piece of mail would have the power to hurt Piper. He suspected that she drew the same conclusions and was just flat out avoiding it.
“Piper, you can’t keep me in suspense! Just open the darn letter.” Lorna folded her arms over her chest, waiting her niece out. Tag almost laughed when Piper assumed the same stance, shaking her head at her aunt’s request. He couldn’t help himself. After about two minutes of them staring each other down, he reached around the counter and snatched up the envelope.
“Hey!” Piper tried to grab it out of his hands, but he spun around on his stool, holding it just out of her reach.
“Honey, as amusing as this is, I want to get home at some point.” Tag tore open the envelope and handed the letter to Piper. He could tell that she thought about throwing it back onto the counter, but something seemed to catch her attention.
“Oh,” she breathed, “Agnes died.” Lorna found her way around the counter to pull Piper into her arms.
“Piper, I’m so sorry.” Lorna kissed Piper’s cheek. Tag must have looked as confused as he felt because Piper offered an explanation.
“Agnes Flynn is—well, was—my grandmother. She was my dad’s mother, and she lived in New York. We weren’t close. I haven’t seen her since—since that day.” Piper returned her gaze to the letter, reading it aloud for both Lorna and Tag to hear.
Dear Ms. Flynn,
We regret to inform you that your grandmother, Agnes Flynn, has passed away. We have enclosed a copy of her last will and testament. We are obligated to do so since you are her only named heir and last living relation. Our firm hopes that you are willing to travel to New York to settle Mrs. Flynn’s estate in person, as we have a greatdeal of information to provide to you. Please contact our firm at your earliest convenience, and we can arrange a travel itinerary that suits your schedule. We await your response.
Cordially,
John Ketchum, Esq.
Piper set the letter back on the counter and looked back and forth between Tag and Lorna. Tag couldn’t help himself; he rounded the counter and pulled her out of Lorna’s arms and into his own.
“I’m sorry, Honey.” He kissed her forehead, and she melted into his body.
“It’s fine, Tag. As I said, we weren’t close.” Tag thought that it was strange that Piper was taking her grandmother’s death so casually. He remembered when Dane passed away; he felt like his whole world was going to end. Piper must not have known her grandmother since she was so nonchalant about the whole thing.
“Pipe, if you decide to go to New York, I’ll go with you.” Lorna seemed more upset about the letter than Piper did.
“No, really, that’s not necessary. I’m not going. I don’t want anything from my grandmother. My father told me that she had money—heck, you could tell that from the building that she lived in. I remember going to meet her when I was just a child. My mother would never come with us, just me and my dad. Agnes wouldn’t even have us up to her apartment. She met us in her lobby as if we were long-lost acquaintances who’d come to visit with her. She would come out of her gilded cage just long enough to pat me on the head and hug my father. She didn’t like my mother. She didn’t like that her son chose a life with me and mymother over her.” Piper seemed to get angrier with every word, and Tag hurt for her. How could a grandmother reject not only her grandchild but her son? He knew too well what it felt like to be rejected by a parent.
