Page 60 of Forty and Fighting Dirty
“I’m so sorry, Rhett,” she said softly.
I shrugged and set my container of food aside, suddenly not hungry anymore. I’d only spoken about this stuff to one other person. Sarah had ended up throwing it back in my face. She’d told me my mom was right about me—that I was worthless and pathetic and stupid. I was ready for Piper to do the same.
“I grew up with a chip on my shoulder and became known for causing a ruckus.”
“How did you go from that to the man you are now?” Piper asked, shuffling backward so she leaned against the wall beside me. “Everyone sings your praises.”
“I’m still the same,” I told her, cutting myself open for her judgment. I lifted my chin. “I still get mad whenever someone speaks to me in a way I don’t like. There was this guy in town—he owned a ski shop that did really well, but he was an asshole. He kept taunting me about my parents, told me that I could pretend to be someone different but he’d never let anyone forget. One time, he told me that it was a shame my dad hadn’t managed to beat some sense into me. I ruined his life.”
Piper stared at me. “What did you do?”
“Bought up a bunch of real estate near his store, started a bigger shop, and undercut all his prices until he went out of business and left town.”
Her eyes bulged. “No!”
There it was. She could see that I wasn’t a good person, and it was for the best. She knew that I was only pretending to help out around town, but really I was petty, angry, and a fraud. I braced myself for her rejection, her judgment.
No one saw the real me—all the ugly qualities I kept hidden beneath a veneer—and stuck around.
But Piper didn’t turn her back. She didn’t walk away. She shook her head and said, “Sounds like he deserved it. What a jerk!” Her teeth sank into her bottom lip. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
“You’ve been on my bad side since the start, Darling,” I grumbled.
Her laugh was pure magic. She nudged my shoulder with hers, and we ate a few more bites in silence. Finally, Piper spoke again. She glanced over at me, looking almost shy as she admitted, “I might’ve misjudged you, Rhett.”
“You might be the only person who hasn’t.”
She shook her head. “I thought you were a fraud, faking nice with everyone.”
“And now you don’t?” A lot of times it felt like that was what I was doing.
“No,” she said. “I think you’re doing the best you can in a world that taught you that you’re never safe. And the fact that you’re doing it by trying to be a good man is really admirable. It’s more than I can say about myself.”
Jagged rocks lodged themselves in my throat. Swallowing was painful.
“I have a lot of bitterness inside me,” she continued, her voice dropping. I watched her gulp, her thumb tracing the seam of her pants. I wanted her to look at me, but she stared at the movement of her fingers over her leg. “I gave up my career to stay home with my boys, and I wasn’t honest with myself about how much that hurt. I’m glad I got that time with them, and my boys are my world, but sometimes I wonder if it was too much to sacrifice. I feel so angry now. Angry at my ex for bullying me into staying home. Angry at myself for giving in. When we met, I thought you were just like him.”
“Like your ex-husband?”
She met my gaze, nodding sadly. “I thought you wanted topush me around to get what you wanted. So when I saw everyone treating you like royalty, I thought you were just manipulating them.”
“Isn’t that exactly what I’m doing?” I answered, bitterness bleeding into my voice.
Piper shook her head. “You’re trying to be better than your parents, better than you were before. Over and over again, until that’s what everyone knows about you. Until it becomes the truth. It’s more than I can say about myself.”
“You’re too hard on yourself, Piper.”
She hummed. “Maybe.”
“What happened with your ex? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“I don’t mind,” she replied, but she wasn’t looking at me. Her eyes got a faraway look. “It was the same old story that so many other women have. I felt alone in the marriage, and it eventually became too much to bear. The moment I knew I had to end it was probably a couple of years after when I probably should have called it quits. I’d stayed home with the boys when they were little, then convinced Jacob to pay for a business certificate at the local community college. He humored me; I could tell he thought it was a waste of time, though.”
“Did you do it?”
She finally met my gaze, and her eyes were filled with sadness. “I worked so hard,” she said in a low voice. “Did everything at home, then studied through the night.”
Just like she’d done when she came up with the concepts for this place. My chest tightened; no wonder I reminded her of her ex.
