paints in the basement. They stripped naked and painted the walls, the floors, and each other.”
Everyone laughed, except Ben, who looked like he wanted to scalp Piper.
“What’s so funny?” Zane asked as he and Willow joined them.
“We were just talking about the day Piper streaked down Main Street,” Ben said with a victorious grin.
Piper scowled at him. She’d only recently learned that her mother had known about that particular indiscretion, but by the wide-eyed look her father was giving her, he must have been kept in the dark. “It was on a dare, and it was dark out. I’m sure no one saw me.”
Willow crouched in front of Piper to play with Emerson and said, “Except Marshall.”
“Whatever,” Piper said.
“Does Harley know about this naked street romp?” Ben asked, pulling his phone from his pocket. “I bet he’d like to.”
“It was not a romp!” Piper exclaimed.
“Benjamin.” Their father shook his head, and Ben set the phone on the table.
Piper had no idea if Harley knew about her streaking, or if he’d care after all these years. All she knew for sure was that after nearly a month of spending every free minute with him, it sucked being apart. Those feelings made her a little anxious, and snappy. She snagged two of Emerson’s toys from the table—a plastic horse and a noisy cloth doll that made different sounds depending on where she touched—and said, “On that note, I think I’ll take a walk with Emerson.”
She sauntered over to Ben and bent to speak in his ear. “The only reason I’m letting that comment go is because you had my back with Harley. Watch yourself, because I know your secrets.” She didn’t, but the worry in Ben’s eyes was exactly what she’d hoped for.
“Ben, remember that girl you kissed behind the stage in sixth grade? The one who ran away laughing?” Zane teased as Piper walked away.
Piper strolled around the yard with Emerson, trying to weed through her thoughts, which was difficult with her adorable, apple-cheeked niece pulling on her hair and making sweet baby noises. “Can’t you be annoying or something? It’s hard to stop thinking about babies and futures when you’re so freaking cute.”
She crossed the yard and set Emerson on the blanket Willow and Zane had abandoned, settling in across from her. Emerson was adorable in a pink shirt and white leggings. Her pudgy little feet were bare, and Piper couldn’t resist tickling them. Emerson’s giggles filled the air.
“Uncle Harley would sure get a kick out of you.”
Uncle Harley . . .
She kept telling herself she didn’t want to change, but she wasn’t sure she had control of that anymore. She never thought she’d want to disregard her steadfast rule about keeping her home man-free, but the night she and Harley had gone out on the boat, she’d been this close to inviting him to stay over. But when she’d tried, she’d gotten nervous and had let it go.
She’d thought about asking him every single day since. She wanted to, but their lives were so in sync, she didn’t want to take a chance of rocking the boat. Staying at his place had become a given rather than an exception, and she liked it that way. She liked having her things there, showering in his new bathroom—which was gorgeous and a much more reasonable size for Harley—and knowing she’d wake up in his arms. She felt herself smiling as she thought of the way they slept, tangled up like they were one being. It seemed impossible that she’d gone from thrashing around in her bed to snuggling a man all night long.
Impossibly wonderful.
But it was not only possible; it was real. She couldn’t imagine her life without Harley, or even Jiggs, in it, but if she invited him to spend the night at her house, in her bed, it would take away the only place she could hide if things went bad between them.
She saw her father heading her way and wondered if she and Harley could ever be as lucky as her parents were. To wake up thirty-plus years from now to grayer, wrinkled versions of themselves who were even more in love than ever. She swallowed hard, her pulse quickening with the thought.
“Mind if I sit with you?” her father asked.
“Not at all.”
He sat beside her and waved at Emerson, who was chewing on her plastic horse, watching them. “She sure has changed, hasn’t she? Sitting up, curious about everything. I swear they change fast at this age.