Page 22 of Wild About You
She cocks a brow as if to say,what about the last four years?
“Please? I really do want to chat about Ev.”
“Justdrinks. I ate half of the concession stand.”
One side of my mouth pulls up in a grin. “Drinks are perfect.”
We walk a few blocks from the arena to a quieter bar. I order a beer and she gets wine. It’s surreal being out with her like this, even if she is keeping a foot of distance between us at all times. We were only kids when we dated so we never went out to bars or restaurants and drank together. Hell, even if we had been old enough, I was stupid broke.
She turns the wineglass by the stem slowly, keeping her gaze forward. Angling my body in her direction, I study her. Her hair is longer, but the same shade of dark brown, and so thick I want to run my fingers through it. She still looks so much like the girl I fell in love with all those years ago, I have to remind myself that this one isn’t mine even though my fingers burn to touch her.
She catches me staring at her. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re cataloging all the ways I’m different since the last time you saw me.”
“The opposite actually. You look exactly the same. It’s like no time has passed.”
“Except it has. I’m not the same girl I was then.”
“I get that. I’m not the same guy either. I’m really sorry about the way things ended, Piper. I only wanted the best for you. Even if it wasn’t me.”
Her eyes fall closed and her body trembles. “Why is your sister living with you, Tyler?”
Right to it, I guess. “She showed up on my doorstep a month ago. She was having a hard time in Iowa, got suspended from school a couple of times until they told her not to bother coming back, and she came to me wanting a place to start over. She begged me not to send her back.”
Piper’s face softens. “Suspended for what?”
“Threatening another student.” I wince. “She had an issue with a girl in her class. The girl was bullying Everly, and Ev told her she was going to cut off all her pretty hair with a knife.”
A laugh escapes Piper’s lips. It starts quiet and builds. She covers her mouth with a hand. “Oh my gosh. Did she?”
“No.” I crack a small smile. “And I know Everly, or I’m starting to again. It had to have been bad for her to get to that point. Plus, the knife she had on her was like a million years old. It’s this old pocket knife that belonged to our grandfather. I don’t think she could have hurt the girl if she’d tried. But the school had a zero-tolerance policy with weapons, and it wasn’t like it was the first time she’d gotten in trouble.”
“Wow.”
I nod.
“What about your mom? What did she say about Everly moving here?”
“Not a lot. She’s fed up, basically washed her hands of it all. She thinks Everly needs time away to get a new perspective.”
“So, you became her guardian.”
“More or less. She’s eighteen now, but she still needs someone to look out for her. I’m not much, but I can at least give her a safe place and make sure she graduates high school.”
Piper blows out a breath. “I want to hate you.”
The admission doesn’t surprise me, but still knocks the air from my lungs. “I figured as much.”
“I want to hate you,” she says again. “But I think what you’re doing for your sister is really great.”
A rough laugh slips from my lips. “I don’t know if she’s any better off with me. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“But you’re trying. You haven’t given up on her.”
The praise makes me uncomfortable because it took me too long to realize I was acting like her annoyed big brother instead of the parent-figure she needed. “No. Everly is great. She’s smart and tough. She hasn’t had the easiest life and I basically abandoned her when I left to play hockey. This is the least I can do.”
