Page 38 of Definitely (Maybe) Dating
“Sundays were just me and my dad. With six boys, he made sure he did something different with each one of us. Mine was nature and shawarma. Rhett’s was anything that had to do with music. He curtailed everything he did with us.”
Piper couldn’t even begin to fathom what that kind of childhood would have been like. Her mom was an addict: alcohol and men. By the time Piper was ten, she’d had five different dads. None of them stuck around long, especially the nice ones, which made Piper gun shy of commitment.
“I knew you had a lot of brothers but hearing the word six is terrifying to someone who was an only child.”
“I can’t imagine not having siblings. Was it lonely?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Sometimes, but I guess I didn’t know any different.” Piper had learned that lonely and being alone were vastly different states. She didn’t mind alone, but the lonely part was getting harder by the year. “What’s it like with so many brothers?”
“Loud,” he said and they both laughed.
“Quiet can be overrated.”
He looked at her so long, she began to squirm. It was as if he were seeing all the parts of her she did her best to hide. Piper knew she wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but some of her parts, her most challenging parts, were hard for people to accept or understand.
“So can all the noise.”
“My friend would tell you to just turn down the volume,” she said.
“Does thisfriendwear slacks and a tie?”
She snorted. “Thisfriendwears tie-dye and the Universe’s blessings. And in case you were angling to figure out if I’m single, the answer is yes.”
“Good to know since I’ve been thinking about you nonstop for weeks.”
A thrill zinged through her. “What have you been thinking about?”
“Most recently, I’ve been obsessed with what’s going on under that sweater.” His hand slid around to her lower back, and he tugged her closer. “Lace or silk, Boots?”
She laughed. “A little of both.”
That earned her a half-smile, which always managed to make her knees quiver. “Are we talking pink with black hearts?” He looked at her boots. “Please say they’re red.”
“You’ll have to wait a lot longer than one date to find out that answer to that question.”
“This is a date, then?”
“I’ll let you know.”
“While you’re figuring it out.” He took her hand in his, and the most incredible thing happened. Instead of making up some excuse, Piper laced their fingers, and that was how they walked, side by side, silently holding each other’s hands. It was a gentle and sweet gesture that reminded her of picture frame photos she’d seen in drug stores.
No pretense, no games—just a simple act of connection that moved her.
“Do your parents live in Oregon?” he asked, and Piper’s chest filled with a lethal combination of embarrassment and anger, like it always did whenever her mom was brought up in conversation.
“My dad left when I was little, and I don’t know where my mom is.”
“I lost my dad when I was in college, and it shattered my world. I can’t imagine not growing up without him. Do you miss him?”
She never understood why people were always so fascinated with who one’s parents were. Then again, she didn’t really have parents. She had a family in Skye, but she didn’t have parents. That always made people more uncomfortable than it did her. And since she was engaged in an actual adult conversation that didn’t involve the word “cheese”, she wanted to steer clear of pity topics.
“You can’t miss what you don’t remember. It was just me and my mom, that was all I knew.” Until it was just Piper.
There were still days she wondered what would have been harder. Being alone on the street or being scared in her own house.
In a very Josh-like move, instead of asking her more questions, he took the spotlight off her and gave her a chance to catch her breath.
“I used to be so mad at the world, then my dad died,” he said. “Then a few years later, my brother, Kyle, died. He and Gage were twins, and I remember at his funeral being relieved that my dad was gone. Losing Kyle would have crushed him.”
