I’ve only been working here for two months. I need at least a year to prove myself.
“Marco—fetch that case file. I sent the number over to you earlier. James Taylor is requesting a copy.”
James Taylor. What a spiteful old man.
I drop my shoulders as soon as Keller is out of my hair, and get to work on the signatures.
My head starts spinning again as I start signing the documents. Piper possibly committing insurance fraud should create some good emotional distance between us.
A voice inside tells me she didn’t burn down her house.
But I’m still skeptical about those finances.
I approached her earlier in the corridor to test how easily she would cave. Safe to say she’s a tough cookie to crack. Even more than last time.
But I know how she operates.
As soon as she admits something, other truths come spilling out.
Although, I lost direction the moment she decided to wrap her hands around my cock. Everything else became irrelevant after that.
The rest of the night is a breeze. Marco helps me sign the documents, and we spend most of the night talking about sports. We receive a call from dispatch to rescue one cat from a tree, and head back to the station to pour coffee.
Piper frequents my mind, and I find myself checking my phone notifications, anticipating a text message from her. I don’t get any. She’s asleep. But even if she was awake, I’m sure she would give me the silent treatment.
Or a naughty text.
One or the other.
I finish up on the last of the paperwork and decide I’m going to leave work thirty minutes before the end of my shift to prepare breakfast.
The roads are desolate, and the drive back home has me thinking about Piper. About what we used to have, and how easy we had it.
I arrive back home just in time for sunrise. My jingling keys ring loud into the morning. Long Island never used to be this peaceful, even in the middle of the night. The silence is good but it’s been carrying feelings of melancholy in it ever since Piper moved in.
I’m surprised to find the door already unlocked, and the kitchen occupied with two of my favorite people on this earth. Piper and Ellie. Cooking together, each with a smile on their face.
My presence in the kitchen interrupts the giggling.
“Dad!” Ellie darts over to me, and I lift her up, planting a kiss to her cheek.
“You’re up and at ’em early this morning, sweetheart.”
“Yeah,” Piper says from the stove. Hesitation is written all over her face. “I hope you don’t mind. Ellie woke up and I was already awake, so I decided to make pancakes. Don’t worry.” She backs away from the stove with both hands in the air. “I was careful. Your house is still intact.”
The house is.
But me?
Walking into laughter and the fragrant smell of pancakes is something I’m not used to after my shift. Ellie is normally still asleep when Grace is on duty.
I know my girl. She loves to wake up at the crack of dawn. But I don’t think Grace likes to entertain Ellie in the morning after being on duty the whole night.
I watch Piper as she flips the pancakes, and I feel it drill a hole in my chest. The house feels complete.
And it’s making me feel more broken each day.
Piper finishes serving up the pancakes, leaving some saved for Sonny. I sit at the table and stuff the food into my mouth, hoping it’ll quiet my mind. But every time I look over and see Piper shoveling pancakes into her mouth, I’m reminded of how head-over-heels in love with her I was nine years ago.
