Page 24 of The Refiner

“Fine, be a Disney Princess and wait for Prince Charming to wake you up with a sloppy kiss. Maybe he’ll bring back your book so that I can beat his ass with it.”

While I appreciate Astor not being a jerk when I last saw him, I don’t appreciate a thief. He could have asked me to look at the book. He didn’t have to take it when I fell asleep.

“Be honest, Piper, is Dr. Dreamy a terrible lay?” I grab the hairbrush I remembered to bring from Piper’s house and run it through her hair. “In my experience, the hottest guys are the worst in bed. It’s that whole giving thing they struggle with.” Selfish assholes.

“Maybe you should bat for the all-girls team then. I hear they are the more generous lovers.”

A voice I’m used to hearing drunk snaps my head up. “Kenny!” Dropping the brush, I sprint to the other side of Piper’s room and throw myself at the best bartender friend ever.

“Hey, darling.” He smothers a grunt as he catches me, looping his arms around me as I start to sob. “Hey now, none of those tears.”

I can’t stop the wetness or the heaving breaths as I relish being in the arms of a friend, someone who cares about me. “How long can you stay?”

He pulls in a breath that’s basically a sigh. “A couple of days. I didn’t want you to be alone when it happened.”

When I agree to take Piper off the machines.

I talked to Dr. Cox last night. I told him I would make a decision soon. And Kenny, my dear sweet Kenny, didn’t want me to be alone when I did.

“Thank you,” I tell him, squeezing him hard. “Thank you for coming when you’re allergic to tears.” I’m cracking a joke, only because I’m tired of being sad.

Kenny tucks my head under his chin. “You’re going to get through this, love. I’ll make sure of it.”

Grabbing Kenny’s hand, I take the pen from Dr. Cox. “Piper has always been the more responsible one, you know. When our parents died, she was the one who stepped up, refusing to go live with our distant Aunt Linda.” I chuckle, looking over the document that says I consent to take Piper off the machines. “She stood before Child Protective Services at nineteen years old with a spiral-bound notebook, outlining how she planned to take care of herself and her little sister.”

Her plan didn’t include her going off to college as planned.

It also didn’t include us staying in our childhood home.

No, Responsible Piper packed us up and moved us into a tiny one-bedroom apartment, where she could drop me off at school before heading to her classes at the community college.

Piper loathed community college. For years, all she talked about was going to an Ivy League school and becoming a doctor.

But then our parents died.

And she had to get a GED in order to take care of me and still pursue her dreams of one day becoming a doctor.

Love changes a person.

Humility refines them.

“She would come home every day after six hours of college classes, take a nap, burn our dinner, and help me with my homework before her shift started at an all-night diner.”

For four years, Piper the Protector cut costs and saved every bit of our parents’ life insurance money.

And then she gave it to me.

“All those sacrifices for it to end like this.” I put down the clipboard and blink back the tears. “She deserves so much better than this.”

Kenny puts his hand on my shoulder reassuringly. He tried to get me to wait and sign the form, but I knew I might never do it if I waited and he left. Piper does deserve better. She doesn’t deserve to suffer—to prolong her life here for my benefit. My sister deserves to be in heaven with the other angels. She was always too good for this world. She belongs there.

“Your sister is a wonderful woman.”

I nod at Dr. Cox. “She really is.”

“And you’re a wonderful sister for making this decision and putting her needs first.”

I choke out a laugh. “You might change your mind when I ask you this.”

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