One Summer in Santa Fe - By Molly Evans Page 0,37

for a time I believed it, too. It wasn’t until I went to college that I saw things clearly. I wasn’t the one with the problem, my father was.” He paused at the memory. “My uncle was the one who helped me more than anyone. He never had kids, but he was a great uncle, a sounding board when I needed one, helped me do all those things my father should have been doing.” During those teen years, he’d sure needed it.

“That’s terrible, Taylor.” She touched him on the arm, some of her floundering compassion resurfacing for a desperate gasp of air. “Children shouldn’t be treated that way. No one should be.”

“No, they shouldn’t. It’s not something I think about every day, but it is something that happened to me—shaped me, I guess. Gives me a lot more sympathy for people in the same boat.”

“Your sister, too?” she asked.

“Yeah. Caroline had a different kind of experience. Cooking, cleaning, sort of a child-sized servant. Married young to escape, but that turned out to be a mistake. Except for the Alex part. That was the best part of her marriage.”

“She must be a very strong person, too.”

“She is. We kind of banded together to survive.”

“That’s why you’re so close, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Settling into her thoughts, Piper sipped her coffee and tried to make sense of what was happening, why she felt so out of control, why she needed such control over her sister’s life. Didn’t she have enough on her plate to worry about? “I put myself into the role of parent when I could have been a sister, a friend, to Elizabeth. I insisted on having things my way. She went to the schools I chose, we vacationed where I thought was right.” Piper snorted at a memory. “She wanted to go to Jamaica when she graduated from high school, I took her to Disneyland.”

“Those are the small details. Right now, your sister needs your support.”

“How am I supposed to give her my support if I don’t know what she’s doing and the things I do know she’s doing sound outrageous?”

“To you, but not to her. Where is this restaurant going to be opened?”

“I’m not sure. She’s in Phoenix, Arizona. I think Eduardo was from that area, too, so probably there.”

“Why don’t you take a weekend and go spend it with her, see what she’s up to? Might do you some good to be with her a while. Get to know her as an adult, not the teenager who has grown up on you.” Taylor pressed a kiss to her temple, then rose, pulling her to her feet. “I’ll go home and let you do what you need to do.”

“I’m sorry, Taylor,” Piper said, and escorted him to the door. “This wasn’t the night I had…hoped for.”

“Me, either, but I’ll survive.” He gave a quick smile and a kiss on her nose. “Weather’s supposed to be good, so I think I’ll go jump out of an airplane.”

Piper laughed at his go-with-the-flow attitude, wishing she could be more that way. “Just don’t forget to open the chute,” Piper said, feeling somewhat better having talked to Taylor.

“I won’t.”

“Thank you for listening. I needed it.” She pulled him down for a hug, warmed when his arms wrapped her up for a squeeze and went no further. He was becoming a friend, more important to her than she had anticipated. And that…surprised her, scared her, and made her wonder if there could be anything else between them. As she watched Taylor from the doorway, she wondered if she was deluding herself. A man like Taylor didn’t settle for women like her. Men like him needed more excitement than she was capable of offering. Maybe cooling things between them would be better for both of them, rather than looking for opportunities to heat things up.

Though her time here in Santa Fe was limited, it wasn’t out of the question for her to extend her contract or even take a permanent job in Santa Fe. There were definite possibilities, but she didn’t want to set herself up for heartbreak. Was she asking too much of an affair with Taylor? Could she just take what he had to offer and leave it at that?

Someday she wanted a family. Someday she wanted a relationship that would stand the test of time. Someday she wanted to stay in one place and put down the roots that she hadn’t been able to.

Closing the door, she sighed. Someday was getting closer every day.

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