Page 61 of Somebody To Love

“Or babies...”

“Shut up, Piper.” With that she walked away.

A minute later I heard an excited whoop and then she strolled in with a big smile on her face. “Negative.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank God, I was about to lose my mind for a second. If I have to look at one more diaper, I think I would scream...” She chewed on her lip and looked regretful for a second. “But it would have been nice to have a fourth.”

I shook my head. “You don’t know what you want.”

“Yeah, I do. A beer. That was close call. Got any?” I gestured to the fridge and then heard her say a minute later, “Piper, you’re a disappointment. The strongest thing you have in your fridge is this apple juice that smells rancid.”

“Sorry,” I said not really sorry, “I haven’t gone shopping in at least a week.”

“Don’t you eat any more?” Dana asked, coming back into the living room empty handed.

“Ty cooks all the time or we go out—”

“Oh yeah, tell me about this whole key situation.”

“There’s not much to tell,” I said, feeling sort of ridiculous that I had made a big deal of it. “It’s just a matter of convenience.”

“Hmm... you two sure are getting close...”

I shrugged. “I guess.”

“So do you think he’s the one?”

“I don’t really believe in that.”

“Oh, please, of course you do. You’re a diehard romantic.”

“I am not.”

“Yes you are.”

“Am not.”

“Oh gosh, now we sound like the kids.”

I got up. Not wanting to tell Dana how I really felt. My track record wasn’t great and I wanted to be totally sure about Ty before I went around singing his praises to everyone who would listen. Not that I didn’t do that already...

“You know it’s ok to fall in love, Piper.” She looked concerned.

I laughed it off. “In love? I’m not in love, I just really like him.”

“That’s ok, too. I don’t want you to feel as if you’re going to be judged for falling in love again.”

“Well, it does feel that way... I mean, not by you, but I’m my biggest critic, Dana. I can’t be trusted to make any decisions of the heart because I always mess up. No matter how hard I try to get things right, I fail over and over. I compulsively fail. Maybe in some ways, I’m a failure.”

“No you’re not. You run a very successful business, you built this house almost from the studs up and you’re a great aunt. Nothing about who you are says failure.”

“Well, everything about my track record in love says I’m a failure.”

“You’re being too hard on yourself. Everyone makes mistakes of the heart. It’s called being human.”

“It’s called being stupid.”