“Please don’t go back out, Tag. Just come home, please.” She knew she sounded desperate, but she didn’t care.
“Honey, I know that you’re worried, but the storm is pretty much over. Spring snow thaws quickly, and by tomorrow, everything will be back to normal. Torren and I need to do this. These guys are friends of Aaron’s and we owe them.” Piper was trying to be open-minded about what Tag was saying, but she couldn’t. She was terrified that he was going to go back up to look for the lost SAR guys, and she would end up losing him.
“I know you must think that I’m being unreasonable, Tag. I can’t just sit here and pretend that I’m okay with all of this. I don’t want you to go back up there.” Piper sobbed into her hand, trying to muffle the sound.
“Piper, please don’t cry. I can’t just leave those three guys up there when they stayed behind to help me find Torren. I need todo this. You stay put at the cabin. The roads are still bad, and going into town won’t be safe. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Tag—” She wanted to scream at him, lose her temper, demand that he come back. But he was gone. He ended the call and left her sitting in the middle of the cabin, fuming that he had discounted her feelings so easily. She stormed into their bedroom and pulled down her overnight bag. If Tag was going to do what he wanted, then so was she. She would find a way to get back into town and open her store. She could stay at her old house with Lorna. Piper convinced her to give up her rental apartment and live at the house after she moved in with Tag. It made her feel better knowing that her aunt didn’t have to worry about paying rent every month, and Piper’s old home wouldn’t be sitting empty. She threw a few days’ clothes into the bag and pulled on her coat and boots. Her car was going to give her some trouble, but she knew that if she took it slowly, she would make it down the mountain. She couldn’t sit around the empty cabin and wait for Tag. He would come home to find that she was gone, and wouldn’t that serve him right? If they were going to be able to move forward in this relationship, she was going to have to find her backbone, and Tag was going to have to consider her feelings. They would work on it, just not today. Tomorrow—yeah, tomorrow they could work on everything. Today, she just wanted to get into town in one piece and work until her body was bone tired and her mind didn’t have the energy to think about all the worst-case scenarios that played through her thoughts over the past twenty-four hours. Tomorrow, she would face Tag and discuss ground rules and promises.
Chapter Sixteen
Tag saw Piper’s face as she rounded the corner and came into view of his store’s front windows. He spent the last day searching for the three missing Search and Rescue members. He didn’t go home for almost two days and slept mere hours since he left Piper. He was dog tired and ready for bed. Bed with Piper sounded like an even better plan. But from the expression on her face, it didn’t look like that was going to happen. She stormed into his store, ignoring the customers who were looking at the fishing lures, and found Tag behind the register.
“Hey, Honey.” Tag reached for her, but she swatted him away. He knew that she was mad that he went back out to assist Search and Rescue, but this was a new level of anger.
“Okay, let’s have it.” He braced himself for Piper’s onslaught of anger, but was met with her tears. Hell, the anger he could handle, but tears were a whole other subject.
“Damn it, Tag, you were gone for almost two days. Why would you do that to me? I thought you were hurt, or worse.” She covered her eyes with her hands and sobbed. He wanted to pullher into his arms and kiss away all her fears, but she wouldn’t have it. She shoved his hands away with a harsh slap.
“No! Don’t touch me,” she shouted. Torren made his way from the back room, obviously hearing Piper.
“Listen, guys, I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going on here, but how about you two take this to the back?” Torren gave Tag a sympathetic look.
“We don’t have to take this to the back.” Piper stopped sobbing and seemed more in control. Her mask was back in place, and Tag felt a chill run up his spine. Piper put her walls back up, and she wasn’t going to let him tear them down easily. “I’m leaving.” She swung around to go, but Tag grabbed her arm, stopping her. “Let go of me, Tag. I said that I am leaving.” He never saw Piper so angry. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to reach her.
“Piper, don’t do this. Don’t shut me out.” He pulled her out through the front doors of the store, afraid to let go of her for fear that she would run.
She barked out her laugh. “I’m not the one shutting anyone out, Tag. You made me a promise, one you should have never made. You told me that you weren’t going anywhere. That we would be together. You promised me, and then you went off and did something dangerous. Something that could have gotten you killed. How would you have kept your promise then, Tag?” He could see the hurt in her eyes—all her fears were shining through. She was afraid that he was going to leave her the way her parents did. He knew that being with Piper meant walking a fine line between grief and happiness. He just didn’t realize how fine a line it was until now. His going up on the mountain to rescue some punk kids scared her. It took away her tightly held control. She lost everyone she loved to fate, and here he was tempting it himself. Tag closed his eyes and groaned at his stupidity.
“Honey, I know that I promised you that I wasn’t going anywhere, and I meant it. If it is within my power to stay with you, I will. But I can’t control life and death; no one can. Not even you, Piper.”
He let go of her arm and took hold of both of her hands. He needed to reach her—make her understand that he was promising her forever, as long as his forever with her would last. Piper shook her head, trying to pull her hands free from his.
“He promised they would be right back. He said that it would only take a minute. But they never came back. He lied, and you lied too.” Tag knew exactly what Piper was talking about. He heard those same promises from his father when he dumped him and Torren off at Dane’s. He promised both of them that he just needed some time to sort everything out. He said that he would be back before they could even miss him. He lied, too, but his father chose to break his promise. Piper’s father had his choice taken away from him.
“Piper, your father didn’t lie to you, and neither have I. Your dad couldn’t keep his promise. I’m sure that he wanted to, more than anything. Don’t you think that your parents would have given anything to have not walked into that store? They wanted to get on that plane and come home with you, but they had their choices taken away from them. You’ve been blaming them for something that wasn’t their fault. Cut them a break, Piper.” Tears were streaming freely down her face, and she was breaking his heart. He knew her next words before she even said them.
“After you called yesterday to tell me that you were going back up on the mountain, I packed a bag and left the cabin. I didn’t want to stay there without you. I couldn’t spend another night wondering if you were alive or dead. I spent the night before that curled up in your favorite chair, wearing your t-shirt and praying that you would find your way back to me,” she sobbed.
“I have, Pipe. I did.” His hands longed to reach for hers, but he could only let them drop back to his sides. “I begged you not to go. I told you that I needed you to come home to me, but you chose to do what you wanted to do. You chose to break your promise, Tag.” She shook her head, anger still seething through her body.
“Piper, I explained why I needed to do that. I’d do it again, too. All three men made it down the mountain because Torren and I could lead the team back. Without our help, everything might not have ended so well. Those men could have lost their lives.” Tag shoved his hands into his pockets to prevent himself from reaching out to Piper.
“I stayed in town last night, and when I found out that you never made it home, that you’d just got back in, I went back up to the cabin and packed a few more bags.” Tag could feel his head shaking. He wanted to scream at her to stop, but he knew that she wouldn’t. “I can’t stay in a relationship with you and protect my sanity, Tag. I can’t keep putting myself through so much pain, not if I can help it. We’re done,” she whispered. “I can’t be with someone who takes chances. If you had died, I would have died. I can’t do this anymore, Tag. I need something that you can’t promise me. I need a guarantee that you won’t die. I know how crazy that sounds.” Piper ran her hands over her face, wiping away her tears. “I’m sorry.” Her voice cracked with her final words, and she turned to leave. Tag felt panic like he never did before. He was in hundreds of dangerous situations, but never felt the fear that he currently felt. He couldn’t lose Piper, but right now, he wasn’t able to reach her. She was lost to her irrational fear and anger. He did the only thing he knew to do—he stood in the middle of the road and watched his future walk away.
Piper knew that New York was her only option right now. Some time away from Harvest Ridge and Tag was what she needed. Then why did it feel so wrong to slink away into the night? After she ran away from Tag, she took care of a few loose ends and then drove straight to Denver Airport to catch the first flight to New York. Her heart ached with every step closer to her grandmother’s apartment. Agnes’s lawyer, John Ketchum, met Piper in front of the building to show her into her grandmother’s home. The apartment was cold and dark. Even though it was filled with her grandmother’s things, it felt empty. Piper’s little home might be small in comparison to her grandmother’s penthouse, but at least it felt like home. Agnes’s place felt like a museum, and that made Piper sad for the woman that she never really knew. Why would her grandmother choose to live such an empty, cold life when she could have been surrounded by family? Piper remembered the stories that her parents told her about Agnes. How cold and distant she was towards Piper’s mother, even though she came to dislike her son for the choices that he made in his life. Her father chose love with her mom, and that was too much for Agnes to bear. Piper looked around the massive living space, gravitating towards the gothic fireplace mantle that held family pictures. At least, she believed them to be family pictures. Most were people she had never seen before, dressed in clothing that told her they were from past generations. She stopped in front of a picture of Agnes, appearing to be in her late twenties, holding a baby. Piper knew that the baby was her father. She had similar pictures of him on her fireplace mantle. Her pictures did not include a smiling Agnes. She studied her grandmother’s face,seeing a lot of similarities in her reflection. She never knew how much she looked like her grandmother—the resemblance was almost uncanny. Piper replaced the picture on the mantle and turned to face John as he cleared his throat.
“I was surprised when you called me last night. I didn’t expect you to change your mind after our first conversation.” He sat on the large sofa, signaling for Piper to sit across from him. He pulled out a stack of papers and set them on the coffee table. Piper felt as though he shouldn’t put anything on Agnes’s perfectly polished table. She was almost afraid to touch anything herself. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that Agnes was gone. That’s why she was here—to decide what to do with her grandmother’s things. She knew that she was using this responsibility to get out of dealing with her feelings for Tag, but she didn’t care. She welcomed the distraction. Not having to think about the way that she threw away the only man that she ever loved was a blessing in disguise. The plane ride to New York gave her some time and perspective to realize that not only was she in love with Tag, but that she acted like a fool. How could she blame him for living his life and doing his job? Her irrational fears won, and she lost—everything. She would spend a few months settling Agnes’ estate and then decide what to do from there. Before she left Harvest Ridge, she closed the shop indefinitely. She didn’t want to push her problems on Lorna. She left notes for both Lorna and Sunny, letting them know that she needed some time to figure things out. She told Sunny where she could be reached in case of an emergency. She also begged her best friend not to tell Tag where she went. She knew that her aunt would tell him, for the sake of true love. Lorna was a sucker for romance and happily ever after. But Sunny would keep her secret under the best friend’s oath that they swore to each other when they were both nine. Besides, she wasn’t sure that Tag would try to find her. He let her walk away so easily. Sheimagined that he would take a few days to sulk and then move on. She wished she could do the same, but she was afraid that she would never find another man like Tag. He came into her world and knocked it sideways. She fell for him so easily, so completely. She knew that she was in love with him, but she was too much of a chicken to tell him how she felt. Walking away from him was the hardest thing that she had ever done. She knew that she was putting up her walls and not letting him in. Not even giving him a chance. She needed to protect herself, her heart. The pain she felt after losing her parents almost killed her. Losing Tag would have been her end. She couldn’t imagine a world without him in it. If he were alive, she could continue. But she couldn’t be with him, knowing that he could be taken from her just as her parents were. She knew it was irrational, but it was the way she felt. Years in therapy taught her that running away from her feelings wasn’t the answer, but denying them was just as bad. At least she was embracing her feelings about Tag, but she was still running. Eventually, she would run out of valid excuses and have to return to Harvest Ridge. Until that day, she would hide from everything and everyone that she loved. It was safer that way.
It seemed to take hours to go through all the paperwork for Agnes’s estate. “You were her sole beneficiary, Miss Flynn.” Her grandmother’s lawyer almost seemed pleased with himself, sharing that bit of information with her. Piper waved off the thought.
“I don’t care about any of it, Mr. Ketchum.” She looked at the older gentleman sitting across from her and wondered how well he knew Agnes. “How well did you know my grandmother, Mr.Ketchum?” The question was out of her mouth before she could think better of asking it.
“Please, call me John. Your grandmother and I had a working relationship. I didn’t know her outside of those parameters. Why do you ask?” He seemed to study her, waiting for her answer.
“Well—” Piper wasn’t quite sure why she asked. She had about a million questions about her grandmother, but didn’t know if any were appropriate to ask her lawyer. “I guess I’m just wondering why she chose to leave it all to me? I didn’t have a relationship with her.” Piper thought back to the number of interactions that she could remember with Agnes. Her father tried to see his mother each time they made a trip to the city. Piper could only remember seeing Agnes on two occasions. The first was when she was just five and her parents brought her to the city for a writer’s convention that her dad attended. The second was the trip to New York when she lost her parents. She always wondered what kind of person could leave a grieving twelve-year-old girl by herself in a police station. It made her stomachache just remembering her grandmother’s face as she turned to walk away from her. So stoic and harsh. She didn’t even hug her goodbye. Over the years, Piper gave up on ever hearing from Agnes again. She expected a Christmas or birthday card, but they stopped coming after her parents’ deaths. Until Mr. Ketchum called her last week, she hadn’t heard a peep from her grandmother since that day. And now, to find out that Agnes left her everything—she just couldn’t wrap her head around it.
“I have something here that might help explain things, Miss Flynn. Your grandmother left a sealed letter for you. I am only to give it to you after you have signed for the estate.” Piper looked at the envelope that Mr. Ketchum had laid before her. She wanted to go against her grandmother’s wishes and peek inside. She wanted some insight as to what Agnes wanted from her after all this time. She also knew that the letter might notgive her any answers. “I also know that your grandmother was a hard woman. She was even harder to work for. After she and I met to go over these papers, she handed me this envelope with her instructions. She told me that her one regret in life was you, and then she sent me on my way. That was over two years ago, Miss Flynn. I’m not telling you what to do; I just know that sometimes in life, second chances are needed. You need to decide if you want to grant her another go around.” He pulled his pen from his suit coat pocket and pushed it towards Piper with the papers. She studied them for a few minutes, weighing the pros and cons of the situation. Did she fly all this way to turn down her grandmother’s estate? She didn’t want anything from the woman; she just wanted some clarity. Maybe her grandmother’s letter would give her that. She decided to take a leap of faith. After all, she had nothing waiting for her back in Harvest Ridge. She had nowhere else to go but home, back to a failed relationship and heartache. She picked up the pen and signed the papers, taking ownership of her grandmother’s estate. Mr. Ketchum gathered them up and stacked them neatly back into his briefcase.
