by Ali Parker
“Shove off, Phillip.”
He snickered at my expense. “I’m just pulling your leg. How’s it going in Kingston?”
I sighed and collapsed on my bed, lifting up one arm to cross it under my head. “So far so good. It’s been different than the other months. But not in a bad way.”
“What’s this dude do?”
“He’s a writer.”
“A writer?” Phillip almost scoffed. “So, what? He sits around in a robe, drinking whiskey, and has poor personal hygiene?”
“What stereotype are you basing that off?” I quipped.
Phillip loved giving me a hard time. I supposed it was his role as my baby brother, and I messed back any time the opportunity presented itself. Alas, I was the only one whoring myself out to a bunch of billionaires while he was at home being the dutiful son. There wasn’t much for me to poke fun of at the moment.
“Oh, you know. Just the ones I’ve been reading about and seeing since I was a kid. Is he the next Hemingway? Shakespeare? What?”
“No, he writes fiction. Romance. And he’s working on a really good fantasy book right now.”
“Like Game of Thrones?”
“No.”
Phillip sighed. “His loss.”
I rolled my eyes and wondered if Aaron ran into people with this attitude toward his craft often. “Anyway, what’s new with you? How’s the restaurant? Tell me everything.”
“Well, things are all right. Same as usual. You know how it is around here.”
“Have you had any time to do anything you like?” I asked, feeling guilty for abandoning him back at Piper’s Paradise with our parents.
He laughed. “Is that a serious question, Piper? Between opening and closing and covering the day shifts, when would I have time to do anything besides clean dishes that are already clean and bake pastries with Mom that nobody is eating?”
I rubbed at my eyes. “Is business still just as bad?”
My brother was quiet for a moment. “It’s worse, Pipes.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah. Tell me about it. I’ve tried to talk to Mom and Dad about it, but it’s like they’ve become even more stubborn. They’re holding on to this place and completely denying the fact that it’s a fast-sinking ship.”
“I’ll make time to see them between Aaron and my next guy. I promise. Maybe we can sit them down together and break this down for them. Tell them we don’t want the restaurant anyway. Tell them they’re leaving us with a huge financial burden, not a legacy.”
Phillip laughed bitterly. “You want to tell Dad his dream is a burden? You go right ahead, Pipes. I’ll wait in the car and keep the engine running so you can flee for your life after.”
“He has to listen to reason.”
“Yeah. Well, Dad isn’t reasonable. Especially lately.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing,” Phillip said a little too quickly.
I narrowed my eyes and sat up, letting my feet dangle off the edge of the bed. “Phillip. What is it? Has something happened?”
“No. Not exactly.”
“Tell me.”
“I don’t want to worry you, Pipes. You do your thing. We’ve got it all under control.”
“Phillip,” I hissed into the phone like a feral cat. “Spit it out right now.”
My brother was quiet for several beats, which were infuriating, and then he let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “All right. Fine. Just don’t freak out, Pipes. Okay?”
“I’ll decide whether or not I’ll freak out once you spill the beans.”
Phillip chose his words carefully when he finally started speaking. “Dad had some chest pains last week. They were pretty bad, sis. I took him to the hospital despite his protests. And the doctors said he was close to having a heart attack.”
“Oh my God.”
“He’s all right,” Phillip said hurriedly. “He’s fine. Still in one piece. No heart attack. We caught it early. They monitored him overnight—”
“How much is that going to cost?”
“Don’t worry about that, sis. They monitored him and released him the next morning. But he’s on bed rest. And they’ve scheduled his heart surgery. The doctor pulled a couple of strings to get him in earlier. The state of his heart is pretty bad. It’s under a lot of stress, and he needs a bypass, like, last year. The doctor said it was a miracle he was still alive, let alone working every day like a dog.”
My stomach swirled with nausea. “What does this mean?”
“It means the doctor is trying to get Dad in for surgery at the end of the month.”
“What?”
“He might be—”
“I heard you,” I said.
Phillip sighed.
My stomach rolled over, and my head spun. “The end of the month? This is happening so fast. I should be there. I need to be there. You guys need my help and—”
“Piper, slow down. You are helping. You’re doing more than any of us. And once this surgery happens, Mom and Dad are going to need the money more than ever. I have no idea how they’re going to pay for this. They can’t. The bill is going to be insane, and Dad still refuses to entertain any conversation of selling the restaurant.”
“How is Mom holding up?”
“She’s putting on a brave face.”
“But?”
“But she’s scared, Pipes. She’s really scared.”
My throat tightened. “I’m so sorry you’re there alone, Phillip.”
My brother was quiet, and I knew he was struggling too. “Me too, Pipes. Me too. But you have to do this. And I have to be here. It’s all right. We’ll come out the other side in one piece. You’ll see. I have faith.”
“Phillip, I—”
“Pipes, I gotta go. I’m sorry. Dad just walked in the back. I’ll keep you posted, all right? Keep your game face on. I have everything handled here.”
I fought to keep the tears at bay. “I love you.”
“I love you too, sis. Chin up. Everything will work out.”
He hung up the phone.
And I fell apart.
The walls of my bedroom came rushing in, smothering me with the finality of what was happening. Dad was sick and only getting sicker. Their insurance bills for the restaurant were building, and the restaurant itself was literally and figuratively falling apart. And now he had to go in for a surgery that was going to cost in the ballpark of seventy-five-thousand dollars.
My family couldn’t scrounge up the three grand they were overdue with the insurance company.
How the hell were they going to come up with three quarters of a hundred grand?
The answer was simple. They wouldn’t.
My dad was going to get his surgery and then die from the stress of trying to pay it off anyway. And my mother would be left in his wake with a dying restaurant, a broken heart, and two children who resented the fact that they still had to bust their asses waiting tables with no customers.
It was all too much.
I curled my knees up to my chest, buried my face in my hands, and sobbed my heart out.
There was a soft knock on my door. “Piper?”
Shit. I wiped at my tears and cleared my throat. “Just a minute.” My voice cracked with grief, and I was right back to crying. Shit, shit, shit.
“I’m coming in,” Aaron said.
There was no sense telling him to stay out. I couldn’t muster the words, and even if I’d asked him not to, I had the sense he would have at least opened the door to take a look and make sure I wasn’t drowning in a puddle of my own tears.
Aaron left the door open and came straight to me. The bed creaked softly as he sat down right by my side and, like an old friend, put a hand on my back. “Piper, what happened?”
I struggled to get enough air into my aching lungs to answer his question between sobs. “My dad is sick.”
Aaron’s hand stilled on my back. “Do I need to get you back home? I can call a car. You can be back there
in no time. Just say the word.”
I shook my head and wiped at my tears. “He’s been sick for a while. His heart. And I just got off the phone with my brother, who told me Dad has to go in for surgery at the end of the month. But they can’t afford it. And I don’t see how everything is going to be okay. It’s all falling apart.”
Aaron gathered me up in his arms and pulled me to his chest.
I melted against him and stopped fighting the tears and the sobs. I let them come as he rubbed my back and held me close. Then he rested his chin on my head. I let out a shuddering breath before turning my cheek to his chest and clinging to his shirt. I needed this comfort more than anything else right then, and I was so grateful to him for being willing to step into that role without thinking.
“Piper?”
I nodded.
“I have a lot of money.”
I looked up at him. He was gazing down at me, but his face was blurred by my tears. “What?”
“I have a lot of money. More than I could ever know what to do with. It’s coming out my ears. Let me pay for your father’s surgery.”
I pushed at his chest and sat up. “What? No. That’s too much, Aaron. We barely know each other. I can’t accept that.”
He frowned. “If I have the chance to use my money to save someone you care about, I want to take it. Let me help you. Let me help your dad.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head.
This was insane, wasn’t it? I couldn’t let Aaron sweep in and save the day. I couldn’t let him throw that kind of money my way. And even if he did, my father would be livid that I’d accepted money on his behalf. If his pride wasn’t damaged enough already, Aaron’s cash would be the nail in the coffin.
Aaron sighed and nodded. “All right. Well, the offer still stands.”
He looked hurt by my refusal of his money. But this was about more than his feelings. This was about the right and wrong way to handle a situation like this.
Wasn’t it?
My head hurt. My eyes burned. My throat was tight, and the tears I wished I could keep at bay came roaring back with a vengeance.
Aaron gathered me back into him and held me tightly. “It’s all right, Piper. I’ve got you.”
Chapter 10
Aaron
When I pushed myself away from my computer at ten to seven on Friday night, I turned to find Piper in the same spot she’d resided in for the last few days: nestled in the corner of my sofa with one of my books in her lap.
She was staring off into space instead of reading the page.
I’d caught her doing this several times since she found out about her father and his impending open-heart surgery. I understood her apprehension, although I couldn’t relate. I’d never known anyone going into surgery like this, and it confused me that she wouldn’t accept my money. She clearly loved him enough to want to lessen his and her mother’s financial burden, but my covering the tab wasn’t an option.
Maybe her pride was getting in the way.
And that was fine. I could leave it for now and offer again later. I wasn’t ready to put this to bed yet. I could make a difference for Piper and her family, and I wasn’t going to sit back and accept the first “no” she threw my way because she didn’t want to accept handouts.
“Hey,” I said, pulling her attention toward me. “What do you say we get out of the house tonight? We can hit the town and take your mind off things.”
Piper licked her lips. “That could be fun.”
She didn’t sound all that convinced. But she didn’t sound completely disinterested either. I turned fully around in my computer chair and leaned forward to rest my elbows on my knees. “How about dinner and dancing?”
She perked up at that and sat up a bit straighter. “Dancing? You dance?”
“Well, I don’t think I’d be bold enough to say I dance, but I can follow a beat well enough.”
Piper smiled for the first time in hours, and it lit up her beautiful face. “Sounds fun.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said, closing the book in her lap, setting it aside, and getting to her feet. “I’ll get ready. Leave in an hour?”
“Works for me. I’ll make us some dinner reservations.”
“Okay.” Piper swerved around the couch and made her way to her bedroom. She closed the door behind her, and I was glad to see the pep that had been missing from her step for the last few days.
Then the nervousness set in.
My reclusive lifestyle meant I hadn’t been out to a place like a club in a long time. It was going to be way out of my element. Loud music. Crowds. The potential of people recognizing me.
I swallowed. It didn’t matter. What mattered was showing Piper a good time and taking her mind off her sorrows. She deserved that and so much more, and this was an easy enough thing for me to do for her.
And I was willing to do whatever it took to keep that smile on her lips for as long as humanly possible.
* * *
I opened Piper’s car door for her and offered her my hand. She took it and stepped out of the back seat, one long tanned leg at a time. She was dressed beautifully in a sexy black dress that ended at the middle of her thighs and hugged all her curves. Her strappy black heels showed off her slender ankles and red-painted toes—the same shade as her full lips. She’d curled her hair and pinned one side back, showing off an ear rigged with gold jewelry from lobe to cartilage.
I thanked the driver, who would be back to shuttle us to the club after our dinner. It was a night of care-free extravagances, and I wanted to make sure we got home safely at the end of the evening.
Piper flashed me a smile as I guided her to the front door of a new steakhouse in Kingston that people had been buzzing about for weeks. A young man in a crisp suit opened the door for us, and we stepped into the dimly lit, modern, edgy restaurant.
“This place is swanky,” Piper said in my ear, leaning in close so I could hear her over the buzz and hum of people talking all around us.
“Swanky indeed,” I agreed as we approached the hostess. “Reservation for two under Aaron Morris.”
“Yes, Mr. Morris, right this way,” the hostess said politely before grabbing our menus and leading us through the weaving paths of the restaurant. She stopped at a table by the window, as per my request, set our menus down, and pulled out our chairs for us. Then she stood beside us and told us the specials of the evening. “Your waiter will be with you shortly. Have a wonderful evening.”
After the hostess left, Piper and I were free to pore over the menus and agonize over what to order. Everything looked spectacular. We ended up ordering a bottle of wine for the table to kick our night of dancing off right, and then indulged in four appetizers so we could get a taste of everything.
By the time the food arrived, Piper and I were halfway through the bottle of wine. She was giggly and all smiles, a nice reprieve from the previous days, and she and I devoured our meal without shame.
When she was done, Piper dabbed at her lips and washed her food down with a sip of wine. “So where are you taking me after this?”
“A place called Royal.”
Piper swirled her wine in her glass. “Sounds fancy.”
“It’s supposed to be one of the best places in the city for dancing. The DJ tonight has high praise, and I’ve booked us a table in the VIP section. Better booze. More space.”
“You party in style,” she mused as she popped open her little black clutch and pulled a tube of red lipstick out. I watched, completely captivated by her as she swiped it onto her lips and then rubbed them together. Then she dropped the lipstick back in her clutch and set it to the side. “I’m ready to hit the dance floor when you are.”
I was as ready as I was going to be, so I paid the tab, offered Piper my arm, and the two of us left the restaurant and met the driver out at the curb. He took us down the road. It was only a ten-minute drive to Royal. When we pulled up, it was nine o’clock in the evening. There didn’t
seem to be too much action yet. There was no line out front, which meant it probably wasn’t all that busy inside. So, to kill a bit of time and take the edge off, Piper and I ducked into a neighboring bar with highball specials galore.
By the time eleven o’clock rolled around, we were both giddy on alcohol and ready to hit the club.
Piper walked ahead of me, holding my hand and tugging me along behind her as she led me out of the bar and outside. She made to get in line outside the club, but I tugged her toward the door, reminding her we were VIP.
“I’m not used to not having to wait in line,” Piper confessed as the security guard checked our IDs and took a peek in her clutch. Then he waved us through, already moving on to the next group coming in on our heels.
I took Piper by the elbow and guided her through the double doors into the club.
We were instantly bombarded with a heavy bass that thumped through the floor under our feet and assaulted our ears. The music roared deeper in the club, and people lining up for coat check were already dancing on the spot.
Piper grinned at me. “This is going to be so much fun.”
I told myself she was right as we slipped down a long narrow hallway, which spat us out at the other end on the third story of a club that went down underground two floors. Balconies wrapped around the walls, boasting pockets of dance floors under flashing, strobing lights, and a huge disco ball hung in the middle of the room, lighting up the empty space down below to the ground floor, where there was a massive dance floor rippling with people.
“This place is insane!” Piper cried over the music. “I’ve never been anywhere like it!”
“Me neither,” I confessed, losing myself in the music and the laughter and the sounds of raised voices singing the chorus all around us. This wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was pretty good. It reminded me of my younger days back before writing became the be all and end all of my life and I had time and energy to dedicate to just having fun. “Come on. Let’s make our way down there. We’ll grab a drink or two on the way.”
“After you,” Piper said. She took my hand and let me lead her through the place, past the dancing clusters of young people, past men who I knew were checking her out, down a set of stairs and toward the first bar, where we stopped for tequila shots and cocktails.
