Page 88 of Barefoot Lake

I pause.

“To Mom.”

Piper’s face splits into an enormous grin. I pull the pillow from behind me and smack her with it.

“I’m glad my failure amuses you!!”

She takes the pillow from me, puts it on my lap, and lies on it. She reaches over to lace her fingers with mine.

“I’m smiling because you’re ridiculous. There is nothing about what you want that sounds like failure, and you’re insane if you think you could disappoint Rain.”

“She sacrificed so much for me to get what I have, and now I want to just walk away from it.”

“She sacrificed for you to be happy, Alice. And you’re not walking away. If you go back to teaching, you’re walking toward what you love.”

Well, when she says it like that…

“And if you’re not happy in Boston at all, why are you coming back?”

When I first found William Davis, I decided not to tell my mom about it. I still don’t know if that was the right choice, and I likely never will, but she was already sick, and I didn’t want to risk her thinking that I was disappointed with my life with her as my sole parent. Finding out about his illness only solidified my decision.

Since I kept him a secret from Mom, I didn’t tell anybody else. It felt wrong to tell even Piper without Mom knowing. Now, though…

“I found my father just over two years ago, and he’s living with dementia north of the city in a full-time care facility.”

Piper launches back up from my lap, and her mouth slowly opens as she stares at me, completely speechless. After a few beats, she launches across the bed and throws herself on me, squeezing me in a tight hug.

“You know that’s a big bomb to drop, hun,” Piper says squished against me.

“Yeah…” is all I can think to say. “So, I can’t exactly leave.”

Piper pulls back, holding me at arm’s length.

“I’m sure there are options you could explore,” she suggests, but I just shake my head.

“Not this time.”

She doesn’t push things. Eventually, we lay down and fall asleep side by side.

CHAPTER 34

Alice

Ispend most of the next day looking at overpriced, cramped, ancient apartments around Boston. I for sure waited too long to start my search, and the pickings are slim. The biggest moving day in Boston is September 1st, when students attending the hundreds of colleges and universities in Boston and the surrounding towns come back to school. There aren’t many apartments with January 1st move-in dates as it is, and looking only a month and a half in advance is sheer idiocy on my part.

Cold and with sore feet, I end the day with photos of some places that don’t look completely diseased and links to several invasive applications in my inbox. Great.

The following day is my meeting with the head of the English department at my university. She’s a kind and reasonable woman. Inspired by my conversation with Piper, I have a whole plan for telling her that I want more time in the classroom and less admin work.

Sitting across from her, I can see I’m failing to convince her why I’m unhappy with my current work path. She doesn’t understand why I’m not thrilled with the oversight opportunities I’m being presented with. In fact, she informs me that my one teaching opportunity for the spring semester has been transitioned into a hybrid class, so only five sessions are in person, and the rest will be taught via video conference. And, after the spring semester, she wants to get me on track for an associate dean position without any teaching obligations at all. I think I’m supposed to be elated, but I feel like I’ve been punched, instead.

After an hour, I stumble out of her office, unsure how I ended up even further away from my goal. I run through the conversation over and over in my head as I walk to the little park where I planned to meet Piper. We’re going out for dinner tonight.

I’m so deep in my own thoughts that I don’t realize precisely where I’m sitting until I hear my name.

“Alice, Alice, Alice.” The cool voice is cruel in its mocking. “Coming to my work to get me back?”

My head snaps up, and my heart sinks even further. Reid is quickly approaching my bench from across the street. He kept work so separate from me that I’d completely forgotten where his office building was located. Reid isn’t a factor in my life anymore, and I really wasn’t thinking about him at all. I’m cursing my own stupidity when he comes to a stop in front of me.