He’d take his time, plan, get this right.
* * *
Piper’s parents went straight to bed when they got in, too discrete to ask about why Mikah hadn’t driven her home.
Piper wanted to be in Mikah’s arms. She felt guilty as hell about Dahlia’s situation. And she had no privacy here at home to lose her cool and cry without upsetting her loved ones. Her throat ached from holding back her emotions. She went to the kitchen for a glass of water.
The dishes were done. Like four days of dishes. The whole time she’d been with Mikah number of dishes. Mikah. Wrapped in his shirts, his sheets, his arms. Piper sighed and slammed down the imagery before the emotion swamped her.
No way Calista had done them. She hated dishes. Unless Calista had changed. She was tired of missing major clues around her and needed to pay better attention.
Calista came into the room, climbed onto the window seat, her favorite spot, and kicked off her shoes.
Piper joined her, nudging her feet over to make room. “Bad day.”
“Yeah. I didn’t meet the captain of the Snowers.”
“Erm. That’s just a bit of poor luck. Today was a bad day.”
“Fight with Mikah? He still should have driven you home.”
“Yeah.” She understood him though. “Dahlia, Mikah, and I saw something pretty awful.” Blown-up futures, adult weakness, and unkindness that stuck with the viewer and cracked their perception of the perpetrator in an irreparable way. Sick sympathy for Mrs. Czerski, Dahlia, and Mikah made her feel like a shocked kid. She could only imagine the depths of their anguish. And Mikah…the pregnancy stick…no wonder he’d looked at her like she was manipulative and not to be trusted. She shouldn’t have done that task, even for a thousand dollars. She shouldn’t have done it for any amount of money. Her heart squeezed. She’d give him time and space.
Calista pinched her lips together.
Being a confidant was a burden too, but they didn’t keep secrets from each other, and Dahlia’s situation would come out. “We walked in on Dodo and Willow having sex in the staffroom. We opened the door and straight-up saw them.” Piper’s stomach knotted in revulsion.
“Ugh.” Calista’s voice held all the yuck in the world. “Dahlia okay?”
Piper held open her palms and grimaced. “Would you be?”
Calista shook her head. “You okay?”
“I’d be happy to never walk in on anyone having sex again. And I’m going to put in a special request to the universe that if it has to happen again that it is not Willow.” Warren on Valentine’s, Kiernan in Vegas, now Dodo. “Three times in a lifetime is more than my fair share.”
“Sorry.” Calista looked out the window. “Applebaum men suck.”
“Yep. They’re missing the fidelity gene for sure.” An angry tear slipped over her cheek, hot and scorching.
Calista squeezed her knee in sympathy. “Don’t give him that.”
“I hurt for Dahlia.” And herself.
“Really? I’m relieved. She’s escaped Dodo.”
Good perspective. “True. Better now than later.” Piper patted her sister’s knees. “Let’s go to bed. Tomorrow will be rough.”
“Hate knowing that in advance.”
Hard truth. “Me too.” There were probably life skills to help with that. She didn’t have them. A handsome life partner to cuddle with. She didn’t have that. Applebaum. Applebaum. The ability to shut out earworms. A skill she lacked. They left the kitchen and climbed the stairs. “She was doing an Applebaum chant. Cheering him on while doing him.”
Calista gagged.
Sharing eased the ick a little. “Exactly.” Piper nodded toward downstairs. “Did you do the dishes for me?”
“Yep, It was horrible.”
“Thank you.”