14 DAYS UNTIL ANNA & DRAKE'S WEDDING
PIPER
The madness is just madness. The magic part happens when you show up. Her words echoed between them.
"Well, then I guess it's a good thing I showed up," Zach said, wrapping his arms around her.
She shouldn't have allowed it since she was working. And he was working. But then there he was beside her, unfairly attractive despite a long day.
Piper shivered, with goosebumps forming all along her skin.
"You okay?" he asked, rubbing his hands up and down her arms.
She nodded even as the Stallions' field settled into a calm that unreasonably put her more on edge.
"After every event, there's always a dip. An emotional dip. It happens. It's normal, and given the rush of the past weeks, it's not like I've had a second to stop and really prepare for it."
"But you've had two pretty major projects finish up. The engagement pictures and this… " He gestured to the stadium around them. "I don't even know what to call this."
She laughed. With the frenetic energy of the pre-taped Wild Sacks shoot fading, the stadium lights dimming, and shadows stretching across the turf, the air held onto the earthy scent that always came before the rain.
Piper shoved her clipboard into her bag; its pages crumpled from her grip during the bulldog's end-zone heist.
"Today was great." She brushed a stray piece of hair out of her face and moved with Zach toward where the puppy playpens were being dismantled since the pups were all loaded up and headed back to the shelter.
Well, except for the bulldog mix who wouldn't part from Gus. That insistence was mutual, so she had a solid hunch it would work out long term.
"You're right," Tess strode beside them. "Today was great. I couldn't have done it without your help. Thank you, Piper. Truly."
"Pfft," Peggy said as she smacked together two lengths of the plastic play area.
"Don't even start, Grams," Tess said.
"I said nothing." Peggy lifted her hands like she was the picture of innocence even though her voice was gritty, low like she'd smoked a solid carton of cigarettes each day through the 1980s.
"I know what you were going to say, and you don't need to say it," Tess countered.
"How can you know what I was going to say when I don't even know what I was going to say?" Peggy volleyed.
"You were going to spout nonsense about how there's always a price to pay for the good things that happen, but we all know that's bologna." Tess shoved her hands on her hips.
Peggy waggled her fingertip. "Young people don't understand the ways of the world. Ah, to be young and dumb again."
"I vould be young, but never stupid." Babushka shook her head. "I vas never stupid to start. You should listen to Peggy. She's very smart."
"Did you even hear what she said?" Zach asked his grandmother.
"Nope. Didn't need to," Babushka said.
"Because I didn't say it," Peggy huffed.
"Go ahead, just get it over with so we can all move on." Tess pressed her fingertips to her forehead.
"All I would say is that when life is smooth, you better brace for what's coming." Peggy patted Tess's arm, her eyes sharp with wisdom. "That's why I always say to live in the madness. It's safer."
"Oh." Babushka shook her head. "That's no good. That is the kind of advice that makes people vorry."
"And no one needs to worry," Zach agreed. The way he'd said the words was warm and teasing.
