Page 68 of The Right Woman

Piper takes a step back into me, away from her sister. “Listen, I only came here to tell you both something. You, my dear sister, have terrible taste in men. First with Noah, who raped me, and you, Mother, for choosing a man like my father.”

Both gasp and open their mouths to argue, but Piper takes the floor by holding up a finger. “You can deny everything all you want, but the fact remains, you allowed me to get hurt for years. And I’m not going to take your abuse anymore just because we share blood.”

“Throwing away your family for some man, Piper? How tired.” Her mother rolls her eyes at us both.

“He’s not justsome man—” Piper says, but I interrupt.

With a grip on her waist, I pull her closer to me, press my lips to the top of her pink head and say, “Right. I’m her family.”

Her fingers latch onto one of mine and squeeze in response.

She doesn’t know it yet, but the ring has been burning a hole in my pocket. I can’t wait to give it to her.

“Let’s go.” Piper turns and walks toward the front door, and I follow, but then pause when we reach the stairs.

“Do you want to go up there?”

I hear the deep breath she takes as she considers the second floor and her old room. The memories are practically a vision within her eyes as they scan the house. Finally, she shrugs.“Nope. It’s meaningless now. Not even a bad memory. It’s justthere. Like it happened to someone else. Not to the Piper who stands here with you.”

Heat radiates over my eyes as I behold her power. When she looks at me, a bright smile crosses her lips like she’s just won a prize. “Come on,” she says. “Let’s go to my real home.”

We get in the truck, but I drive the back roads and take my time, nervously gripping the steering wheel.

“Adon, it’s been on this stupid commercial for a minute. Can I change the channel?” she asks.

My thoughts are brought back to the present as I nod at the radio. “Sure, change it.”

She hesitates for a moment while eyeing me suspiciously, then selects a new station. Still jazz, though, and that makes my heart warm enough to tell her what I need to.

“So, I did something. And I need to tell you before we move forward.”

Her eyebrows stitch together, and she slinks back against her door. “What?”

One of my palms rubs against my jeans to swipe off the sweat. “I found Noah.”

A gasp parts her lips as she whispers, “Yeah?”

“He was in medical school.”

“Was…”

Perhaps the pause before my reply is too great, but I take the time to swallow and stare straight ahead. I can’t even look at her. “I took care of him.”

She’s still and silent for so long; I glance over at her while stopped at a red light. “Took care…”

I let the words hang in the air without explaining.

Her voice is tiny when she asks, “Will anyone find out?—”

“No. And this is the last time I ever want to talk about it.”

Once we reach my driveway, I put the truck in park and wait while peering into the open garage. I’m afraid to peek over at her. To see any sort of change in her demeanor. What if she’s afraid of me now? What if she feels differently?

A little finger slides under my hand as it rests on my lap. When it does, I finally lift my head and take her in. Instead of fear, she holds an expression of awe. “You didn’t cheat on me.”

My brow lowers. “What? No. What the fuck? Never. I’m just letting you know where I was instead of at that hockey game.”

Her pert pink lips curl into a smile. “Oh. Okay. I’m thinking of making more cinnamon rolls today.”

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