Molly grins. “There was undeniable chemistry.”
“Barely,” Avah scoffs. “Like two sentences of chemistry.”
“Sometimes that’s enough to start,” Iris says with a grin, and everyone laughs.
I try to focus on the conversation, but my mind keeps drifting to Felix and Ellie, who are arriving later this afternoon. He texted an hour ago that they were almost packed up. My house—my empty, too-quiet-without-Max house—is about to become a lot less empty.
I don’t know if I’m ready for that. Or any of this, if I’m being totally honest.
“Piper?” Sloane’s voice breaks through my thoughts. “You with us?”
“Sorry. What?”
“It’s okay that you didn’t get through the whole thing,” she says gently, as if she can sense my emotional upheaval. If only it involved something as simple as anunfinished book.
“I meant to,” I admit. “I got about halfway before everything kind of exploded.”
“Exploded how?” Iris asks, leaning forward with interest.
“You aren’t talking about your newly returned ex, right?” Avah eyes me over the rim of her coffee mug. “You can’t give a douche canoe that kind of power over you.”
This is it. The moment I’ve been dreading and needing in equal measure.
“No.” I shake my head as Sadie reaches out from her seat next to me to squeeze my arm. “This isn’t about Bradley. But before we get into that…” I take a deep breath. “I want to volunteer for the bucket list challenge.”
“Yaasss, queen.” Sloane applauds, then glances at Avah. “Your turn is coming.”
Avah scrunches up her nose. “Maybe I’m in line behind you.”
“You can’t rush the cancer patient,” Sloane says sweetly.
“Well played,” Avah says with a smirk. “Again.”
“Thank you.” Sloane’s grin is unapologetic. “Back to our newest member and latest bucket list volunteer.”
“Victim,” Avah mutters under a fake cough, making some of the tension inside me ease.
Molly pops a bite of brownie into her mouth. “What do you want to do, Pip?”
“I want to learn to stand on my own two feet.” The words come out steadier than I expected. “I want to stop relying on other people to take care of me, or to make things easy for me. I want to figure out who I am when I’m not a little sister or an ex-fiancée or someone’s...” I trail off, doing my damndest to avoid eye contact.
“Someone’s what?” Taylor asks gently.
I glance at Sadie, who gives me an encouraging nod. I need her support right now.
“Someone’s baby mama,” I finish. It feels like my throat is coated in sawdust, but I force myself to continue. “Which you already know. What you don’t know…is who the father is.”
The room goes completely quiet for a few long seconds.
“You said it was a one-night stand,” Avah says slowly. “Some random dude from a bar.”
“I might have left out some key details. Like the fact that I do know his name and–”
“Who is the father of your baby?” Iris asks slowly.
“Felix Barlowe.”
The silence that follows is even louder than before.
