“What happened in here?” Tyler surveys the blanket explosion with raised eyebrows. “Did someone rob a Bed Bath and Beyond?”
“Ty Ty!” Ellie abandons her pillow mission to run at him full speed. He barely has time to set down his stuff before she launches herself at his legs.
“Hey there, munchkin.” He scoops her up, settling her on his hip like he’s been doing it his whole life. “What are you building?”
“Fort.” Ellie points back at the structure. “Big fort.”
“It’s massive.”
She wiggles to be put down, and once her feet hit the floor, she grabs his hand and tugs him toward the fort entrance. “Come see.”
Just like me a few minutes earlier, Tyler crawls partway into the fort, his muffled “Wow, this is amazing” floating out from inside.
The interaction makes me smile even as my heart aches. God, how I wish Troy and Julie were here. But I also love how my people have become Ellie’s people. That means something, right?
“I’m surprised to see you,” I say when Tyler emerges so that Riva has room to join Ellie under the blankets. “I thought you were heading up to Vail this morning.”
He grabs his coffee and settles on the floor next to me. “Mindy’s sister lives in Denver. She’s getting marriednext weekend, and apparently there was some crisis with the centerpieces or the tablecloths or whatever. Mindy drove down to help her, which is probably a good thing.” He takes a long pull from his cup. “After that workout this morning, I’m more whipped than your protein smoothies.”
“Lightweight,” I scoff, and he checks to make sure the girls are still in the fort before flipping me off.
“Speaking of whipped,” Tyler says as he takes a muffin from the paper bag. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at Piper’s friend’s wedding?”
My stomach knots again. “She didn’t want a plus one.”
Ian and Tyler exchange a look. The kind that makes me feel like I’m back in high school, missing some obvious social cue that everyone else picked up on.
“You’re letting her do it alone?” Tyler’s staring at me like I’m the biggest idiot he’s ever met.
“Do what alone? It’s her high school friend. She’s going to know everybody there.”
“Yeah. Including her ex-fiancé and his new wife.”
The words slam into me like a hit from my blind side. “What?” Why in the hell didn’t Piper mention that to me?
“Her supposed friends haven’t exactly been nice to her since she’s been back,” Tyler continues, and now Ian’s nodding along like he already knows this. “She told me they’ve been making comments about her being your nanny and following in Sadie’s footsteps with the whole NFL player thing.”
I look at Ian. “Did you know about this?”
Ian holds up his hands. “Sadie mentioned it, but she also told me I couldn’t say anything. Piper wants to stand on her own two feet.”
I turn back to Tyler. “And how the fu—fudge doyouknow?”
“Because I ask her questions about herself.” Tyler’s tone is pointed. “You know, like you would do with a person you want to?—”
“Message received.” The last thing I need is Ty blurting out my ring purchase. There’s no way Ian wouldn’t spill those particular beans to Sadie. My gaze flicks to him. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“What part of figuring it out on her own don’t you understand?”
“That’s fine and good until one of those women takes her out at the knees,” Tyler adds.
A hot band of protectiveness surges through my chest. My heart pounds, my muscles tensing the way they do right before a game. “Nobody’s going to be mean to Piper. Not on my watch.”
My brother rolls his eyes. “Maybe you should watch more closely, Jon Snow,” he teases, but his voice is gentle.
“Exactly.” I’m already on my feet. “I have to get to that wedding.”
Tyler checks his watch. “The ceremony’s over by now, and you can’t crash the reception.”
