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I scowled. “I wasn’t even looking at you!”
She laughed. “But I’m right, because I know you, Kit. Work and Dakota are your whole life.”
“Ouch.”
“But lately you’ve had something else on your mind. You’ve been a thousand miles away when we talk, and I’ve seen you grinning at your phone like an idiot. So fess up and tell me about your guy.”
I grimaced. Piper thought this was a cute little story about a crush, but it was so much more complicated than that.
Her grin fell. “Oh, no, I’ve stepped into something. I’m sorry, Kit. I didn’t mean to—”
“No, it’s okay.” I exhaled noisily. We ran a few more paces while I caught my breath and searched for the words to explain. “It’s just messy. I’ve been hooking up with a guy that…well, we’ve just got a lot of baggage.”
She nodded. “That can be tough.”
We jogged for a minute without speaking.
Thoughts swirled through my head, rising to the surface, then retreating under waves of denial. I didn’t want to talk about this with Piper, and yet I needed to talk to someone or I’d explode.
“It’s Joey Whittaker,” I blurted.
Piper jolted to a stop. I went a couple paces past her, then stopped too, and turned to her.
I smiled tightly. “It’s that shocking, huh?”
“Uh, well, I can say that in all my years of therapy, no one’s surprised me as much as you just did.”
“Great. New achievement unlocked.”
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m processing. So, how did this happen?”
“Well, I met him at a club in Omaha. He was using a nickname, so I didn’t realize it was him, you know? I really liked him. When I saw him in Riverton, I thought it was my lucky day.” I gave a winded laugh. “Gave him my number. Flirted my ass off. Thought, hey, this might actually turn into something real. Joke’s on me, huh?”
“Oh, Kit. That is messy.” Piper was my friend, so she cut right to it. “Does Dakota know?”
“Not about the Omaha part. But she knows we’re…involved. Joey came to her with an apology letter. He wanted to make amends. So he’s become a part of our lives.”
Piper made a thoughtful noise. “So Dakota is forgiving him?”
“Way easier than me.” I shook my head. “She sees him as a kid who made a mistake. One who deserves another chance. I don’t know why I can’t do the same.”
“Well,” Piper said thoughtfully, “Dakota has gone through a lot more therapy than you to deal with her emotions.”
“True.”
“Joey was a stranger who accidentally hurt Dakota,” Piper said. “But he’s not a stranger to you. At least, not by the time you found out who he was. Even if it wasn’t intentional, you feel emotionally betrayed.”
“Huh. I hadn’t thought about it that way.”
“Let’s walk while we talk,” she suggested. “We need to stay warmed up.”
I fell into step with her. “We don’t have to keep talking.”
She flashed me a quick grin. “You’re not getting out of it that easy.”
I huffed a laugh. “Fine.”
“You know that tricky patient I mentioned before leaving today?” she asked.
