Page 33 of Snowed In with the Wrong Cowboy
And my heart starts to sink.
“Piper?” Mackenzie presses. “Do you love my brother?”
“I…” Piper's voice cracks. “I do.”
9
PIPER
“Ilove him,” I say again, stronger this time. Looking right at Mackenzie. “I'm in love with your brother.”
Mackenzie’s face goes through about seventeen different emotions in three seconds.
“Are you serious right now?”
“Completely serious.” My voice is shaking but I don't look away. “And I know how this looks. I know it feels like a betrayal. And Kenz, I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I didn't plan for this.”
“This is unbelievable. My best friend and my brother. How am I supposed to…” She stops, pressing her fingers to her temples. “God, this is so messed up.”
“I know,” I say.
“Do you?” She looks at me, and the hurt in her eyes makes my chest ache. “Because it really doesn't feel like you do. It feels like you forgot everything I told you. Everything he did.”
“I didn't forget.” I take a step toward her. “But I heard his side too. And Kenz, he's not the villain you think he is.”
“Don't defend him to me.”
“I'm not defending what he did. I'm just saying, there's more to the story. He was drowning under all that pressure. He made a mistake trying to fix things. A huge mistake, yes, but he's been paying for it for two years.”
“Good. He should pay for it.”
“For how long?” The question bursts out of me. “How long does he have to be punished? How long until you can even consider forgiving him?”
“That's not your decision to make.”
“You're right. It's not. But Kenz, he's your brother. And yeah, he screwed up. But he loves you. He misses his family. And he's sorry. Really, genuinely sorry.”
“He told you all this.”
“He did. Because he's actually talked to me. Actually opened up. And he’s kind and caring and he took care of me when I was hurt. He brought me art supplies your mom left here. He made me cinnamon toast because he wanted me to feel better.”
Mackenzie's quiet for a moment.
“I didn't want to fall for him. I tried not to. But being here with him, I couldn't help it. And these feelings are real. I think maybe they were always there, buried somewhere, and I just didn't let myself see it because I knew it would complicate everything."
“You're right about that,” she says.
“I know. And I understand if you can't forgive me. If this ruins our friendship. But Kenz, don't you want your family back? Your brother back? Because he wants that. He wants you back in his life. He just doesn't know how to fix it.”
Mackenzie is quiet for a long moment. I can see her working through it, see the walls she's built starting to crack.
Then she looks at Callum, who's been standing silently this whole time, watching us.
“You really love her?” she asks him.
“Yeah,” he says simply. “I do.”
“And this isn't just some fling? Some revenge thing because I cut you out?”
