by Eden Butler
Ed
Rosemary.
Mint.
Soft, sweet hands and low, worried cursing I recognized but didn’t believe was coming from her mouth.
I hadn’t been this close to a woman in five years. Not even Rey Rigby. Though, I reckon if I’d given her the go-ahead, close wouldn’t have been a good way to describe the space between us.
But this wasn’t a wild, loud woman wanting her hands down my pants and my tongue in her mouth. This was panic and fear and a thousand different things that didn’t make a bit of sense to me—this was Piper Warren worried about me.
“Stupid, reckless, bullheaded…”
“Not supposed to fuss at an injured man.” Slipping my eye open, I dared a glance up, my pulse going a little stupid when I realized she had her hand resting on my chest and her face inches from mine as she kneeled over me. I wondered if the glassy way her eyes shined just might have more to do with simple worry over me breaking my neck on her property. But, hell, that much I was probably inventing.
“Are you hurt… bad?” The question came out on a low breath, like a whisper she didn’t want anyone to hear, maybe not even me. So I didn’t say a word, just shook my head, confused over how Piper watched me. Despite myself, despite the hurt and anger we had for each other, I hated that look on her face and how she didn’t seem able to know if she wanted to cry or punch me in the nose.
She pressed her lips together and the redness in her eyes got brighter, the glassiness there, thicker. “Miss Warren,” I tried, a little desperate to get that look out of her eyes, “you always did like me on my back, but damn, this is a little quick.”
Her laugh seemed to surprise her, but she recovered as Slim hustled to my side, leaning over to get a look at my pupils. “Look at the light.”
“The sun?”
“The flashlight,” Piper fussed, her tone stronger now. “Slim here said he was a medic in the Army before…” She didn’t finish, but I got her meaning. Any before mentioned about guys like me and Slim meant our lives before we went inside.
“Another lifetime, Miss,” he told her, flicking the light into my eye, then away. “Your head pounding?”
“Yeah,” I admitted, a little dumbfounded by how easy this seemed, lying next to Piper, letting her settle me, blinking when she rubbed her fingernail against my cheek like she’d done a hundred times before, a habit she probably didn’t know she did but now it felt like a stinging memory that had me forgetting there wasn’t years of hurt and heartache pulsing between us. “But, I…ah…I’ll be fine,” I said when she moved her hand from my chest up to my shoulder. It was something simple, something she’d always done to relax me. But it felt too good now. Too comfortable. Too usual. We weren’t any of those things anymore.
“Ah…boss?” Slim started, pulling a look from me and Piper, but I ignored the smirk that inched over his mouth.
Whatever ideas he had about the pair of us, I aimed to squash them. “I ain’t bleeding and you got shit to do, I’m sure.”
“A concussion ain’t nothing to play around with,” he said, looking away when I shot him a glare.
“You my daddy?”
Slim opened his mouth, then closed it when I shook my head.
“Alright. I won’t tell you your business.”
“Good. Don’t. Thanks.”
He sighed, signaling with two fingers that he was out before he headed toward his truck.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, breathing in more of that sweet scent, wishing Piper would give me a little space. Hoping she didn’t and hating myself for letting that hope into my head.
“Ed…” Piper reached for me as I got to my feet, seeming not to notice that she held onto my hand as I stood. “Let me take you to the hospital…”
“I’m good.” My chest was tight, head fuzzy, but I hadn’t lost all my good sense. There was a lot I had to say to her and opening my mouth right here, at her business, in front of her employees wouldn’t do. Besides, my attention, my anger got distracted by how tightly she held onto my fingers, how it seemed like she didn’t know she did it.
For the life of me, I couldn’t make myself step away from her.
Her long fingers slipped between mine and I hated that something as simple as her holding my hand could erase what had happened in this driveway five years ago. It was only for a moment, but even a moment, compared to the years I’d spent in a cramped prison cell, was too much.
There was still worry in her expression. There was still fear. But when I looked at her, when my thumb seemed to smooth across her knuckles all on its own, everything shifted in the world.
For a second there was no past. No lies. No blame. There was just her skin against mine and the quiet hum that moved between us as we watched each other. It was like a memory or dream or forgotten feeling I’d locked away for years, broken loose by Piper’s worry and the small fraying of the anger I was sure would always be between us.
She’d ruined me. She had lost faith in me. That memory would never go away.
“I want…” She moved her body, leaning forward, but when I squeezed her hand, a small reminder of where and who we were, Piper seemed to come back to herself.
She looked around, taking her hand away, slipping her fingers in the back pockets of her jeans.
“Don’t…be stubborn. You fell twelve feet from the roof.” She stood in front of me, her expression shifting to irritation as I shook my head at Slim. He pulled out of the drive and waved, moving down the road.
“Actually, it was more like eight since I dangled a bit, and your gardenia bushes softened the fall.” A glance toward the thick evergreens told me I’d probably have to replace them. “I can see about getting you some more. Pretty sure Velma had a lot in the back of the property…”
“Ed…be serious.” Piper stood between me and the view of her gardenias, her full lips open, her large eyes rounded. “You have to get looked at. What if you really hurt yourself? What if you have a…”
“It’s just a headache.” Behind me, Piper followed as I picked up what remained of the trim, moving slow, rubbing my eyes to clear away the fuzzy spots that appeared there when I bent over.
She stopped me when I turned toward the ladder, intending to pick it up, then fully grabbed my hand. “I can call a friend of mine. She’s an ER doctor. Works on the floor just below where Evie is at Presbyterian Memorial…”
“I’m fine, really…” The small scowl on her face shut me up and I understood she wasn’t gonna let this one die easy. “Tell you what, when I go to see Evie tonight, I’ll stop by the ER. You okay with that?” She nodded, some of the irritation easing from her expression. “You can even give your friend a call, send her my number.”
“I don’t have your number, Ed. Why would I?”
If Piper was another woman, I’d swear this was a game to get into my contact list. But Piper was…Piper, and even if she didn’t hate me—guessing you don’t hate someone if you get all flustered and worried when they fall from a roof—we still had bad history.
“Fair enough.” I pulled the cell Chance had given me from my pocket and opened a new contact window. “We’re about to share a nephew and we’re running things for Evie and Alex. And if I have to get back here to sort out a few things…”
“If you can manage that without falling off the roof.”
“Even then… well, we may as well know how to get in touch with each other, you think?”
“I do.”
“Good. Give me your number.”
We spent a good three minutes adding each other into our phones, an awkward act that might have been funny if not for the seconds before when she held my hand. Her perfume, lotion, whatever the hell it was, still on my skin. I smelled it when I adjusted my hat back over my head. It took a minute to push back the memory of that same scent on my pillows and sheets, twisted up in my T-shirts and the throw blankets in my old place back in the day.
“So, you’ll go see Carol?”
“
Who’s that now?” I asked, blinking at her as she tucked her phone back into her pocket.
“She’s the doctor I told you about. Carol Vargas.”
“Yeah. Sure, this afternoon once I get cleaned up.”
“Good.” She twisted her neck, long and lean, shooting a look back up at the roof. “It looks good.”
“Thanks.” When she was like this, soft, sweet, I could almost forget all the bad between us.
“I mean, despite you almost killing yourself because you have to act like a fool all the time.”
Almost.
“Proving a point, Miss Warren…” But I was wrong on that account. Fact was, I’d proved her point, something Piper seemed to know if those arched eyebrows and smug grin were anything to go by. Shoulders lowered, I shook my head, grabbing my jacket from the ground. “Fine. You were right. I was wrong.”
She took a dramatic step back, her hand on her chest, eyes exaggerated and wide. “Good God in Heaven! He admits he was wrong…”
“And that’s my cue to leave…”
I made it three feet from her, ignoring her laughter, how that damn sound wormed into my head like music and made me think things I didn’t want, before I spotted a black BMW pulling into the drive. It was new, looked to be something right off the lot, but it wasn’t the 22-inch rims or the slick LED headlights that caught my attention. Wasn’t even the curvy woman with the wide green eyes and thick auburn hair peeling out of the passenger side door, her smile warm and welcoming as she greeted Piper that held my eye either.
No. It was that mop of long blond hair and the wide, suspicious grin on the driver’s face that had me stopping, had me itching to call out a quick, “Chancey boy!” before the man himself cut a look my way, giving his head one shake, before he grinned and walked right by me like he hadn’t spent his entire two-year sentence sharing a cell with me.
“What do you make of this one, love?” he asked his woman, curling a hand around her waist and they both looked over the Victorian, heads moving in approval.
“I love it. It’s so gorgeous.” She held out her hand to Piper, shaking it quick. “I’m Aubrey Bateman. This is my husband, Chance. Please tell me you have vacancies. We’re looking for a place to escape our life for a couple weeks.”
“Easy, Princess.” Chance patted her back, still examining the place. “Let’s have a look at it. Maybe get a tour.” Scratching his chin, he shrugged, throwing Piper a grin I’d bet money he used anytime he found himself in trouble with his lady. “No offense. I’d just like to see the grounds and such before we make a decision about staying on.”
“Of course,” Piper said, leading them toward the paved walkway near the gazebo around the corner.
“Excellent.” Chance shot me a wink, holding up a finger as I watched, letting Aubrey and Piper move ahead of him. My head still pounding, I thought of leaving, at least going inside to ask the front desk girl if I could buy an aspirin, but Chance was plotting something, and I wouldn’t move and risk missing whatever that something was.
“Oh, shoot,” Aubrey said, turning to face Chance. “We’ve got to call Adele and check on the baby before she puts him down for a nap.”
Chance turned, glancing toward me before he faced Piper. “Why don’t you show my wife inside and let her make the call, show her the lobby and such and your man here can give me a look ’round the garden, ay?”
“Oh, he’s not my…”
“I don’t mind,” I told Piper, shrugging. “I owe you for, you know…” I pointed to the roof, hoping I managed to at least look sorry.
“Well, okay. Sam’s off doing a pitch so…I mean, if you don’t mind.” She slipped her hair behind her ear, then motioned toward the gazebo. “The lavender out back is…um nice this time of year. You remember where—”
“I remember.” Like I’d forget about the lavender patch. First place we ever—
“Good,” she said, and I didn’t miss the blush that ran up her neck when I arched an eyebrow at her. She motioned toward the front porch, smiling at Chance’s wife. “Let’s get you inside, Mrs. Bateman.”
We watched the two women walk away. Aubrey pointed curiously at a few plants and trees then motioned to a couple of new cottages Piper had built at the back of the property. They moved to the entrance and Piper seemed eager to answer whatever Aubrey asked. They seemed distracted, engaged, but Chance kept silent until they were inside, until, in fact he moved his chin toward the corner, that ever-smirking mouth twisted to the side as he pointed toward the gazebo.
“You build this, mate?”
“Nope,” I said, leading him away from the house and the gazebo, farther into the small maze of hedges that ran behind the garden shed, beyond the back patio area lined by Piper’s now massive rows of lavender that edged the back porch. My gut fluttered remembering her over me that night, touching me for the first time, letting me cover her with my body, letting me slip inside her like it was the most natural place for me to be.
“Mate, you alright?”
“What?” The word came out in a sharp snap, making Chance stop walking, making him scrunch his nose like he smelled something rotten.
“Ed…what the hell?”
“It’s…” Jerking my gaze away from the back porch, I scrubbed my face, tearing off my Stetson before I plopped onto a bench between two low hedges. “Shit’s sake, man, my head is muddied right now.”
“I take it that’s your…girl, then?” Chance leaned back, his posture easy, his expression amused.
It was impossible to be stressed around the man, and I shook my head, thinking how shit had shifted between us. “This is weird, you being all happy and relaxed. You damn sure weren’t that way in Stillwater.”
“Mate, I have a beautiful wife and a son that is the make of me.” He lifted his hands as if to say, “what else do I need,” that smile getting wider. “I can’t seem to find a single thing to put me out of sorts, except, maybe my mate, Ed, and the sorry state of his life since he got back home.”
“I wouldn’t call it sorry…exactly.”
“From what you told me the other day, almost the second you came home you ran into your ex, argued with her so loud that your pregnant sister nearly went into pre-term labor and now the pair of you are stuck running your sister and brother-in-law’s affairs…together.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not like—”
“And,” he said, holding up a finger to tick off another point, “not three days ago you get landed with a job at the same place where you were arrested and hear suspicious rubbish from the same bastard you’re convinced set you up.”
Chance looked way too smug counting off the pathetic of my brief return home.
“Mate, I gotta tell you, this isn’t the homecoming I was hoping you’d have, but I’m here to change that.”
“Yeah? How?”
He stretched out his legs, head back like he enjoyed the feel of the sun on his face. “Since I don’t trust anyone to snoop around this sleepy little town and check things out for you, I intend on sussing out this Sam bugger whilst my lovely bride finds out what she can from your Piper.”
“What?” I stood, trying to work out the pinch that had instantly formed between my shoulders. “No damn way. Pass. Hard pass.”
“Why not?” That pretty boy grin was gone, replaced by the wide-eyed, opened mouthed confused stare of a lost kid.
“Because, I’ve raised enough hell in this town and I don’t want to do more of that by lying to people about my knowing you or your wife.”
“You don’t know her. Haven’t even been introduced, have you now?”
“Not the point.” He followed after me when I moved through the hedge path. “I’m trying to keep the peace here with her. My sister is stressed enough. If she hears I’m screwing with Piper to find out shit on Sam…”
“I’d be insulted by your lack of faith in me if I didn’t know you better.” Chance stopped, folding his arms as paused near the gazebo. “If this bugger set you up for that robbe
ry, and messed with your jobs to make you look bad, then what else has he done and why? You said he’s her business partner?”
I nodded, not sure of his point. “Right…so if he’s the sort to do that, what else would he be doing? That kind of man can’t be trusted. We’ve got to find out what he’s up to. I can help with that.”
We both glanced toward the entrance when Piper and Aubrey walked out of the front door, talking, their expressions relaxed, engaged, like they’d known each other for years, not minutes. Piper had believed Sam. She hadn’t trusted me at all that day. We weren’t anywhere near to chipping away everything that lay between us, but if I could expose that asshole, then maybe we could find some peace.
“Fine,” I told Chance, my voice low as we moved toward the approaching women. “Just be subtle.”
“Mate…it’s me,” he said, spreading his arms, that shit-eating grin back before he jogged toward his wife, pulling her into a hug. The man was a little obnoxious, a total show boater and as he spoke to Piper, his arm around his wife, gesturing to the property, I got a bone-deep feeling that I was going to regret believing that Chance Bateman knew what the word subtle meant.
Piper
“So, just like that? Twenty years old, and you decide to buy the whole thing? All by yourself?”
“Well, I have a partner. Sam. I mean, he doesn’t own anything. Technically, it’s all mine, but he helps run it. But, yeah. On my own.”
“That’s amazing. I couldn’t have gotten my nose out of a book to run a business at twenty.” Aubrey’s smile was wide, beautiful. Her laugh was loud enough that the men around us, no more than five in the entire bar, all turned at the sound. She was definitely one of those women—the make-an-entrance type that commanded attention with the stretch of her mouth and the low rumble of her laugh.
“Well, I was motivated. One of those annoying kids who graduated at seventeen and did community college in three years.” The waitress brought us another round of drinks, smiling when Aubrey thanked her, and I continued. “My dad wanted me to go off to medical school.”
“Is he a doctor?”
