separate ways, didn’t hurt any less.”
This time, I say nothing.
My throat dries as I force myself to nod, knowing he’s being sincere. When I meet his eyes, his are searching mine to see if I accepted his unspoken apology. I can tell he’s sorry, that he’s sad about Danny’s passing, but there’s still a part of me that wonders what kept him from coming that day.
“Why?” I don’t need to clarify.
“It was too hard.”
My brows raise.
The door opens again before he can answer, and a student walks in. The blond-haired boy looks between us, cheeks pinkening, before jabbing his thumb toward the door. “I can come back. I’m, uh, here to see Piper Montgomery.”
Carter speaks up. “She’s all yours.”
He tips his head at me once before walking out the door, hands in his coat pockets as he exits. My eyes don’t linger long before locking on my nine o’clock appointment.
“I’m ready when you are.”
He grumbles something and sits down at the table with me. While he pulls his agenda out of his bag to set up our meeting days, I sneak a peek out the side window to see Carter walking toward a different academic building.
I make it to all my classes early to make up for the scramble my life consisted of the first day. By the time I arrive to my last one, History of Mythology, I’m startled to see Carter already in the front of the room writing something on the whiteboard.
When the door closes behind me with a loud click, he turns around. He caps the marker in his hands and sets it down, walking over to the table and opening his messenger bag.
“Piper,” he greets, tipping his head.
Clearing my throat, I try not to make things weirder than they already are between us. My eyes go to the middle section where I want to sit since it’s open. The sound of his raspy voice makes me sigh and walk toward the same seat I occupied before.
Dropping my bag into the chair next to me, I pull my notebook and pen out before putting my hair into a ponytail. “Professor Ford. How’s your day been?”
He gives me a half smile. “Up until spilling my coffee down the front of my shirt, it was going well. Considering that happened right before my first class…”
Cringing, I click my tongue. “Been there, done that. Coffee is my lifeline but the amount of times I’ve worn it, ran out of it, or didn’t have time to get it tests me more than my sanity likes.”
He chuckles. “The older I get, the more dependent on caffeine I become to get through the day.” He pulls out a folder from his bag and sets it on the podium. “You mentioned your friend told you to move here?”
I nod, tapping the end of my pen against the cover of my notebook over the change of topic direction.
“Has he lived here long?”
Choking out a laugh, I fight off a smile over the assumption. In hindsight, I am living with a guy … and sleeping with him. But we’re no more than roommates with benefits, not even really friends, and that’s all because Jenna told me about the house when it went up for foreclosure. “She moved here a little while ago. I met her at the first university I attended. I had to take time off, but she graduated and came here to work at a boutique using her degree. We’ve kept in touch over the years, so she made sure to help me after I finally got my bachelor’s and decided to find somewhere else to finish my master’s degree.”
He scrubs his palm across his jaw. “I didn’t mean to assume anything. Sometimes I speak to Jesse or your father, but they haven’t mentioned anything about you.”
Clicking my tongue, I nod slowly. “Yeah, well…”
He cusses softly under his breath. “That didn’t come out right. They’ll mention you—”
“It’s okay,” I assure, waving my hand in dismissal. Jesse is thirty-three, seven years older than me. The age difference made it difficult for us to get along, something I can relate to when Carter made the point with Danny earlier.
Jesse and I grew up differently. He lived with his biological mother for a while before moving in with Mom and Dad after her passing, same with Hanna, who’s two years younger than him. By the time I came around, they were living their own lives and visiting their other family up until Hanna’s suicide. Like their