“Yes. You can deal with the bees,” he replies absent-mindedly, like he’s mentally boarding that plane already.
“I don’t understand.”
My father releases one of his classic jaded sighs and looks at me with tired eyes. “You’re too much to handle sometimes, Piper. All that trouble, and what is it worth?”
But the bees that escape the garden and sting people are no trouble.
I sink my face into the pillow and kinda get my father’s point.
Too much trouble.
I brought this shit on myself.
And now I risk going to jail.
From here on out, I’ll fight for my future, deny every accusation, and hope for the best.
The stovewasold. I had a sketchy insurance consultant write out a story for me, but the stove actually could be at fault for all we know. It’s very plausible.
Caleb might know a lot about insurance fraud, but he’s wrong about this.
I finally tear myself away from the pillow and focus on some breathing techniques. After calming my nervous system, I step out of the room…
And find Caleb standing outside of it.
“Hello?” I narrow my eyes, feigning confusion to disguise the fact that I’ve just been bawling my eyes out. “What’s up?”
But Caleb, like always, sees straight through the bullshit and takes a step closer. “Tell me the truth, Hart.”
“Use my first name.”
“What really happened two days ago, Piper? With the fire?”
I flinch and hope he doesn’t notice.
The man has unfortunately always been a very good reader of character.
Deny every accusation.
“You’re team Taylor?”
“There are no teams.” Caleb sighs. “I want to know the truth.”
“The truth is that my house is unsalvageable, and Sonny and I are currently out of a home.”
“That’s part of the truth. But I want all of it.”
“I can’t stay here, Caleb. And you know it.”
A beat of silence falls between us.
And then Caleb goes and breaks it, circling back around to his original question. “Did you light the fire deliberately?”
“You think I’d want to burn down my own home?”
Caleb sighs into the doorframe, his body only just managing to slot into it. I swear he’s grown a whole foot taller since we last met.
I gulp and wonder what to freak out about more—James Taylor discovering the truth, or Caleb. The man has only ever seen me as good.
