A tentative knock at the door jerks me to my feet. I jog down the stairs. Piper is on the porch, a canvas bag in her hand.
“Hi.” She lifts the bag. “I brought you some towels and things. Finley remembered there were some missing touches in here. Can I come in? I wanted to talk to you about something.”
I glance behind me. The bed is upstairs, but there’s a perfectly serviceable sofa right here. Images of me and Piper on couches are harmful to my willpower.
“Why don’t we sit on the porch?” I take the bag from her and set it on the floor. Then I step out into the night, shutting the door and engulfing us in darkness.
She doesn’t step back to accommodate my forward motion. Her chest is only an inch from mine, her features shadowed. My pulse throbs.
After a beat, she turns away, plopping into one of the Adirondack chairs.
“What did you want to talk about?” I sit in the seat next to her.
“Well, first I wanted to apologize for all the teasing at dinner.”
“It’s fine. I was here at Easter, remember? Your family is very… robust.”
She huffs out a small laugh. “That’s a diplomatic way to put it.”
“How would you put it?”
“Chaotic.”
I incline my head. “That too.”
She takes a deep breath and sinks a little farther back in the chair. I mimic the movement, filling my lungs with the cooling night air, breathing in the aroma of soil and pine. The light from the moon and stars overhead barely reaches us in the shadowy recesses of the porch. Over by the tree line, faint glowing dots appear and disappear. Fireflies. I haven’t seen any in years, not since I was a child.
“How much did I have to do with you pursuing this property?”
Piper’s low-pitched question tugs me out of my meandering thoughts. I’m not going to lie to her. I can’t. If it means she avoids me from now on, so be it. That might be for the best anyway.
“After I purchased Lamentation, I wanted to acquire more of your work. This was your last known address. When I saw the size and location, I wanted it.” I drum my fingers on the armrest.
“So, initially you only wanted more art, but then the property happened to suit your needs?”
I stand up and move over to the porch railing, my attention on the glowing bugs in the distance. “The location and size were ideal for my needs. The fact that it was connected to you made it even more compelling.”
Might as well tell her. Better to scare her away now rather than later.
The porch creaks, the air stirring at my back. She rests her hands on the railing next to mine. “Why?”
I need more time to consider my responses. “Why what?”
“Why would I make it more compelling?”
I take a deep breath and blow it out slowly, my resolve fleeing with her nearness. “I don’t want to frighten you.”
“It doesn’t frighten me.” She covers my hand where it’s clenched on the patio railing. “Is it the same reason you showed up at that event in Brooklyn?”
I don’t quite compute the question, at first, distracted by her touch. “What?”
“You never explained why you were there. You have your hands in a lot of things but not anything Mindy’s connected to.”
Shit. I can’t tell her I’m having her followed and that I knew Ben would be there because the PI I hired saw him enter the event. But I don’t want to lie, either.
“Oliver, you can tell me. I care about you.”
My heart tumbles. “You shouldn’t. I don’t know how to care back.”