by Ali Parker
“So, what the hell do I do?” I asked.
Janie laughed. “Piper, it beats the hell out of me. But if you want my advice, I say this is simple. Accept the money. Spare your parents the suffering of even more debt. And suck Aaron’s cock so good he’ll never regret forking out the cash—”
“Janie!” I exclaimed, horrified by her crude sense of humor.
Janie burst into a fit of laughter on the other end, and before I could stop myself, I started laughing right along with her.
Like my dad said, if they try to make you laugh, they’re a true friend. And Janie was just that.
Chapter 14
Aaron
All the vegetables were cut up and separated into glass bowls on my kitchen counter. I’d cracked the eggs and whisked them together in a large mixing bowl, added a splash of milk, and a dash of salt and pepper. I’d even managed to get the coffee brewing and heat up the pan in the span of time Piper had been gone.
And she still wasn’t back.
I frowned at the time on the stove. She’d been locked in her room for the last twenty minutes. Far longer than I’d been expecting. Had she been talking to anyone but her father, I would have assumed it was a harmless conversation.
But as the minutes ticked by, I started to worry that something might be wrong. So, I went to her door and knocked.
She opened it seconds later and blinked up at me. Her nose was pink, and her eyes were glassy, and she sniffled before averting her gaze to the floor. “Sorry. Family stuff.”
“Is everything okay?”
She nodded and then started shaking her head. “Not really.”
“Is it your dad?”
“Yes. He’s going in for surgery on his heart.”
“When?”
“The twenty-first.”
“That’s soon,” I said lamely.
Piper pressed her hands to her temples before sinking her fingers into her hair. “I know. Too soon. I don’t have enough time or energy to process all of this. It’s just happening so fast, and I’m so worried that things are going to fall apart.”
“Come,” I said, taking her hand and leading her into the living room so we could sit down on the couch and talk. This was heavy stuff. I didn’t envy her for one second. “What scares you the most? Are you worried about surgery complications? Open-heart surgery isn’t what it used to be, Piper. There are very low risks involved, and I’m sure your father is in the best of hands.”
“It’s not that.”
“What then?” I asked, taking her hands in mine.
Piper’s big brown eyes swept up to meet my gaze. She looked like she might fall apart at any minute. If she did, I would be there to gather her up and hold her together. “I’m scared about what’s going to happen after,” she whispered.
“Tell me. What might happen after?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “They’ll be under even more debt than they already are. They can’t make ends meet as it is, and somehow, they think they’re going to walk into this surgery and come out the other side and nothing will have changed. My father won’t be able to work for three months. Minimum. It’s all going to be on my mother and Phillip’s shoulders. And I would be there if I could, to help, but even if I was, it still wouldn’t solve things. I tried to explain it to my dad. I tried to get him to see reason, but he won’t hear me.”
“What did you tell him?”
“To sell the restaurant.” She sighed, looking down at her hands engulfed by mine. “But he just doesn’t get it. He sees it so differently. And I get it. The restaurant is like a third child to him. But his love for it is going to destroy him and my mother. And he says he’s doing it for me and Phillip, but neither of us want it. Do you know how hard it is to sit back and watch the people you love put everything into something that you know died a long time ago?”
My heart ached for her. I reached up and cupped her cheek. “No, I don’t. But it’s hard enough watching you go through it. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be in your shoes. I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes and leaned into my touch. A tear trickled down her cheek, and I wiped it away with my thumb. Her eyes fluttered back open, her lashes now heavy with wetness. “Thank you, Aaron.”
“Can I offer my two cents?”
She nodded. “Please.”
“Your father comes from a different generation. He thinks what he is doing is the best way to serve his children. To serve you and your brother. He wants to leave you with more than picture frames and boxes of memorabilia. He wants to leave you with something that stands the test of time. Something like the restaurant.”
“I know, but it’s not worth it.” More tears spilled down her cheeks. “I don’t know how else to help him see things differently. I don’t want to lose him and be stuck with this stupid restaurant that I already resent. I hate it. I hate it with every ounce of my being for the destruction it’s wrought on my parents. For bleeding them dry.”
“Then you have to tell him. You have to tell him everything.”
She blinked at me. “How?”
“Trust me, Piper. I’ve been studying people and relationships my entire life so I can write them realistically. You have to talk to him. And you have to tell him everything so that he has the whole picture and he can make the right choice. His right choice. Not yours.”
Piper’s eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “And what if it doesn’t change anything?”
“Then you need to accept his choice.”
“I—I don’t think I can.”
“Then you are just as stubborn as he is. Your relationship with your father is more important than everything else. Everything else is all just white noise. If he can’t let the restaurant go, then you have to let go for him. Or this will continue eating you up, and it will bleed into every aspect of your relationship with your dad. I know you don’t want that.”
She shook her head and wiped at her tears. “No, I don’t.”
“Do you think you can put it all out on the table for him like you did for me just now?” I asked.
Piper’s bottom lip trembled, and she hung her head. Her shoulders slumped and she let out a soft sob. “I have to. Don’t I?”
I pulled her into me. She clung to the open parts of my shirt and slipped in close, resting her cheek on my bare chest. The wetness of her tears slicked my skin as I stroked her hair.
“You don’t have to do anything,” I whispered.
“Yes, I do. I love my family too much not to try one more time. Regardless of how angry it makes them.”
“I’ll go with you.”
She lifted her head and peered up at me. “You will?”
“Of course. I can call a car for us now if you want. We can be back in New York City by tonight, and you can get this over with. Only if you want to, of course.”
“You’d do all that for me?”
I’d do anything for you. “Yes.”
Piper cupped my face in her hands and lifted herself up to her knees to give me a wet kiss. Then she closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to mine. “Thank you, Aaron. I needed this.”
Chapter 15
Piper
I ran my hands up and down my thighs as the limo pulled away from the curb outside Aaron’s apartment building later that evening. There was no sense in going in the afternoon because my whole family would be at Piper’s Paradise, and I stood no chance of being able to talk to them there.
Not only that, but if I arrived in the afternoon my parents would wonder how on earth I got there so fast after getting off the phone. They thought I was overseas studying, so I had to wait at least nine or so hours before I could show up and maintain any level of believability.
And I still had to explain all that to Aaron, too.
We left around seven o’clock so we’d be at my family home by nine thirty, when my family would be home for the evening after closing up the restaurant.
Aaron reached over to put a hand on mine and still my nervo
us fidgeting. “It’s all going to be fine, Piper. I’ll be right there with you for the whole thing.”
I nodded. He was right. Of course, he was right. Everything would be fine. My parents and I were perfectly capable of having a calm, rational, mature conversation about the present situation. I wasn’t a child anymore. I was a grown-ass woman, and my opinions and concerns were equally as valid as theirs.
There would be no more brushing that under the rug.
“I’m glad you’re with me,” I said softly.
There was no way I could go into this without support. And Aaron, despite us having a bit of a rocky start, was the perfect person to have by my side right then. I needed him desperately, and he knew it. He’d offered me supportive words all morning while we got ready to leave, and now here he was, with his hand on my knee, still making sure I knew things were going to be okay.
And even if they weren’t, at least I had him to hold me in the aftermath of it all.
“I’m glad I’m with you too.” Aaron smiled. “And if I’m being honest, I’m very intrigued to meet your family.”
“Don’t get too excited. They’re a little nuts. And you’re probably not going to see them at their best. The restaurant is a sore subject for them.”
“Everyone’s a little nuts.”
He had no idea what he was walking into. Not a clue.
I licked my lips. “I haven’t told them about the Casanova Club.”
Aaron’s eyebrows crept upward toward his hairline. “Okay. Well. Huh. Where does that leave me in all this?”
“I’m sorry. I know it’s awkward. But with my father’s heart condition, I didn’t want him knowing I was—well, you know—seeing twelve different men over the course of the year.”
Aaron chuckled almost nervously. “Yes, I can see how that might make a man unsettled.”
I winced. Poor Aaron. He wasn’t in a very good spot, and yet here he was, loyally standing by me through this mess. “I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing, Piper. It’s all right. I get it.”
“So you’ll understand if I ask you to just play along like you’re my classmate and friend while we’re at my parents’ place?”
“This is your business. I’ll go along with whatever you think is best.”
I squeezed his hand. “Thank you. Seriously.”
“You’re welcome.” Aaron leaned back in his seat and clasped his hands together. “So. Tell me about your family. What should I expect?”
What should he expect? Well, that was a very good question.
He could probably expect a lot of anger and avoidance from my father, who was going to blow a top when he found out why I was coming out to visit them. And my mother was probably going to be meek and timid, busying herself with fixing tea or doing some other mundane thing to get herself out of the tense conversation. Phillip would be the mediator, like always. And me? I’d be the one causing the whole fiasco.
I smiled nervously. “My mother is really sweet and friendly but kind of shy. It might take her some time to warm up to you. It’s nothing personal. Just how she is. Phillip, my little brother, is funny and smart and always keeps a level head. I think you’ll like him. And my dad? He’s the hothead of the family. So, it’s no shocker he’s the one with a bad heart. But he has good intentions, and he’s a good man. He’s just got an outdated way of thinking that doesn’t serve him anymore.”
“They sound like a good crew. Balanced.”
“Balanced.” I smiled. “I like that actually.”
I spent the duration of the drive from Kingston to New York City nervously sweating while my stomach rolled over and over, threatening to make me puke my lunch out the window onto the warm asphalt.
Luckily, I kept my shit together, and we were able to avoid unnecessary stops.
But that also meant we arrived at my parents’ house in good time—nine thirty on the dot.
I stared out the back window of the limo at my family home that was illuminated by a light above the garage and two lights on either end of the porch. It was a small, single-story, two-bedroom, pale-yellow house with shutters on the windows that used to be royal blue but had faded to a near gray after endless summers bleached their color away. The gardens were overgrown and untended, the picket fence was peeling and worn, and the porch was a little lopsided, sinking toward the north end of the property.
I was almost glad it was dark out so Aaron couldn’t see just how poor of a state the house was in.
I offered Aaron a weak smile. “I know it’s not much, but it’s home.”
Aaron followed me out of the limo and put his hand in the small of my back. “What a peaceful neighborhood.”
I looked around. I hadn’t thought about it that way before. Birds were chirping in the maple tree in the front yard, despite the time, and children were playing street hockey in their sneakers in the cul de sac a block down the street. Weekends on our street had always felt like summer vacation. There was barely any street traffic, so it was a safe place for kids to play until their mothers called them back inside for the night.
“It is, isn’t it?” I asked, looking up at him.
“It reminds me of where I grew up.”
With a decisive nod, I took his hand. “Come on. Let’s go inside before I get cold feet and back out.”
“Lead the way.”
Aaron followed me through the rickety gate in the fence, down the overgrown path, and up onto the porch where flower baskets hung from hooks mounted on either side of the large bay window in the living room. They’d died a long time ago, but a couple of fresh blooms and green sprouts were trying to survive and reaching for the sun at the edge of the porch. My mother was too busy to tend to plants. The new petals were doomed.
I stopped at the front door, straightened my T-shirt, swept my hair off my shoulders, and lifted my chin. “All right. You can do this. Just knock. Come on, Piper.”
I was acutely aware of Aaron watching me as I psyched myself up.
I still couldn’t do it. I clenched my jaw. “You’ve got this. Just knock.”
When my arm remained motionless at my side, Aaron reached up and rapped his knuckles against the door. Then he put a steady hand on my shoulder. “Here we go.”
I wanted to thank him, but the words died on my lips as the sound of footsteps coming down the hall reached my ears.
Aaron dropped his hand from my shoulder. My heart thundered in my chest. The birds in the maple stopped singing as if they, too, knew how dire things were going to get.
Then the door opened, and my brother Phillip stood there like a deer in the headlights.
“Piper?”
“Hey, little brother.”
Phillip sprang out of the doorway to throw his arms around me in a hug that was as comforting as knowing Aaron was with me. With both my brother and my bachelor in my corner, I knew I could handle whatever was about to go down.
“What are you doing here, Pipes?” Phillip asked as he stepped back and held on to my shoulders. He was taller than me and had been for the last eight or so years, but it still felt weird to have to look up at my baby brother.
“Dad called me this morning. And he wouldn’t indulge me in the conversation I need to have with him. So, we drove out to talk.”
Phillip looked from me to Aaron, and then back to me. “Holy shit. Are you serious?”
I nodded.
“Wait.” Phillip frowned as his attention went back to Aaron once more. He dropped his voice to a whisper like I was the only one who could hear him. “Is this one of the guys?”
“Yes,” I said.
Aaron stuck his hand out. “Aaron Morris. Nice to meet you, Phillip. Piper has told me a lot about you.”
Phillip shook Aaron’s hand. “Yeah. Nice to meet you too, man. I think.”
Aaron fixed his jacket and cleared his throat. “I realize how awkward this might be. But let’s address one thing before this goes any further. For tonight, I am Piper’s friend and classmate. Nothi
ng more. Are we on the same page?”
Phillip looked at me with raised eyebrows and a slack-jawed expression.
“Aaron is right,” I said. “I don’t want Mom and Dad knowing about the Casanova Club. Not yet. Especially with Dad’s heart so fragile. I know it’s a lot to ask you to lie for me. But do you think you can help me keep it in the bag? Just for now?”
Phillip groaned and hung his head back. “Jesus, Pipes. I’m the one who’s going to end up having a heart attack if this shit doesn’t stop. But yes, I got it. Loud and clear. Aaron is a friend from school. Are you going to tell them you flew all the way out here?”
“I hadn’t thought it through that far yet,” I said.
Phillip dragged his hand down his face in exasperation. “Well, you’d better, because-”
“If they ask we’ll tell them I’m a trust fund kid and paid for the ticket,” Aaron piped up.
Both me and my brother looked over at him. I peeled my tongue off the roof of my mouth. “What?”
Aaron nodded, looking more confident about all this than I felt. “Only if they ask. Otherwise, we leave it alone. We’re friends, right? And I’d do anything for a close friend like you. Especially since I have such a fat bank account.” He winked at me.
I looked at Phillip. “Good enough?”
My brother sighed dramatically. “It’ll do. Are you two coming in or what?”
Aaron followed me inside. I slipped my sneakers off in the doorway and tucked them against the wall where I always used to leave my shoes and school bag as a young girl. Then we made our way down the narrow hallway, lined in old photos of me, Phillip, my parents, and Piper’s Paradise. It was like a shrine to an old life that my mom and dad wished was still real.
Or they believed it was.
Either way, it made me sad.
The living room smelled like cinnamon candles, my mother’s favorite. She burned them year-round, even in the middle of August, and steadfastly refused to try any other scents. It was practically one with the light-brown shag carpet and cream sofas, upon which my parents were both sitting, sipping cups of tea, reading books in their laps.
