stress, he was picturing himself peeling away layers of Piper’s clothes.
“This is about work,” Bobby continued, refocusing himself. “I know that neither of you are very keen on the job I’ve chosen, but you both know it’s important to me. You also know at times it can be complicated. I’m currently working on something, and it’s come to my attention that I may be a target for some less than reputable people. In turn, that puts anyone I care about at risk as well. That’s why I was jumping down your throat today at work, Jules. I need you both to bear with me over the next couple weeks while I work on eliminating the threat. In the meantime you have to stay very alert and be aware of your surroundings constantly. We need to come up with a plan to ensure you’re safe. I’ve started thinking of some simple schedule changes that will help, but I thought we could all brainstorm together on what would work best.” Jules stood up before Bobby could finish speaking.
“How dare you,” she said, glaring at him with fire in her eyes. “You know what we went through with Daddy. You saw what it did to us. This is exactly why I didn’t want you to become a cop. It wasn’t me throwing some temper tantrum about not getting what I wanted. It was about not ever wanting to go through all that pain again. I can’t believe you’re sitting here asking us to uproot parts of our lives for the choices you’ve made at work. That’s so selfish of you.” Jules’s voice was climbing and becoming shakier with every word.
“Sit down young lady,” Betty thundered in a stern voice Piper hadn’t heard from her before. As quickly as Jules had stood up, the sound of her mother’s voice had her seated again. “That’s what people do, they ask their loved ones to make sacrifices to support what they believe. We don’t have to understand it, but we sure as hell have the responsibility to be there for him when he needs us. I don’t like the risk that comes with Bobby’s job either, but there isn’t a single day that goes by I am not filled to the brim with pride.” She turned her stare from Jules over to Bobby. “If you’re telling us to be on guard for a couple weeks then that’s what we’ll do. One of the hardest things I’ve ever been through with Stan was being in the dark. It would have been much easier for you to keep this to yourself and hope nothing happened. In my humble opinion, doing it by himself is what got my Stan killed. You tell us what to do, and we’ll do it. You have our support like you’ve always supported us.”
“Thanks, Betty,” Bobby said, hanging his head. “I’m so sorry Jules. I never wanted to put you in any danger, but the only thing worse than that would be leaving you in the dark about it. I promise it will be over soon and we’ll all be better for it.” Bobby needed Jules’s forgiveness to make all this work. More than that, he needed her support, not because Betty was telling her to, but because she believed in him.
Jules lowered her voice but it was still filled with anger. “Screw you. I’ll do whatever you want for the next couple weeks, but after that you either quit your job or you quit this friendship. As far as I’m concerned if you really cared about us, you’d never put us in this position. No case should ever be important enough to take these kinds of risks.” Jules’s cheeks were flush with anger and she could feel blood rushing around her body.
Betty shook her head in disappointment at her daughter’s reaction. “Don’t waste your breath, Bobby. Trying to get her to understand is like trying to nail jelly to a tree. I swear she’s as thickheaded as her daddy and as stubborn as her mama. You don’t stand a chance.”
“I get it,” Bobby murmured looking defeated. “Let’s discuss how to get through the next couple weeks. I get why you’re upset, Jules. I don’t blame you, and if it means we can’t keep going this way then I’ll understand that too.” Bobby tried to focus on the issue at hand and ignore how much this was killing him. It became clear to Piper he didn’t intend to share with them anything about the