“Which ones go to the personnel files?”
“The personnel files?” she parroted back to me.
“Yes,” I snapped. I didn’t have time for this. I needed answers, and I needed them now. There was only the slightest chance my plan would work, and I had to get it in motion as quickly as I could muster.
“The blue one,” Clara said. “It’ll be the stack closest to the door.”
“Thank you,” I murmured and then paced the length of the floor until I got to the file room, all too aware of the way each of my employee’s eyes followed me as I went. I wanted to snap at them to get back to their business, but I couldn’t bring myself to slow down enough to bother—not when I had something more important on the line.
I shut the door behind me, pulled the ancient rope that turned on the file room’s dim light, and stuck the blue key into the nearest filing cabinet.
Quickly, I riffled through the alphabetical lettering until I reached the name I needed and snatched up Piper’s file, my heart pounding in my chest.
This was it. The moment of truth.
I flipped open the file and thumbed past the insurance and social security information until I found her emergency contact form. The first person listed was her mother. The second?
Her sister, Hailey.
Boom.
My heart leapt into my throat, and I pulled my phone from my pocket, quickly dialing her number with shaking, anxious fingers. The phone rang once, twice, and then a dial tone sounded.
The number I reached had been disconnected.
“Damn it,” I swore again. She must have gotten a new phone. But how likely was it that she had gotten a new address?
I glanced at the information, weighing the options again in my mind.
Piper had walked away and asked me to stay out of it, but I knew for a fact that her family couldn’t possibly have the resources I had available to me. If something was wrong with Hailey—and if that something was bothering Piper—who better than I to fix it? I had to help.
By rights, Piper didn’t even need to know it was me behind it. I could just go talk to Hailey in person, find out what was wrong, and fix everything, with Piper being none the wiser.
Nodding to myself, I copied Hailey’s address onto the notepad on my phone and then strode back to my office and booked a flight. In the morning I would have my answers. And just maybe I could find a way to win Piper back too.
*
When my plane landed in Chicago two days later, I made quick work of grabbing my luggage and renting a car. I hadn’t bothered to book a hotel room—I couldn’t imagine I would be in town long enough for that, but as I drove into the township where Piper had grown up, I couldn’t help but envy her a little.
Sprawling trees lined the suburban streets, and the playground of the elementary school was packed with laughing, screaming children. It seemed like the kind of place where kids could wander off and have adventures. The kind of place to have a happy, safe childhood.
I could picture her here, growing up and becoming the person I had come to care for. The woman I now realized I’d fallen for.
Swallowing that thought, I turned on a few streets until I reached a little development of cottages and slowed, trying to find the number I’d memorized on the plane ride.
But I didn’t need to bother.
I knew the house instantly.
Not from the number or the woman who looked just like Piper but from the car parked in the driveway.
Piper’s car.
My heart plummeted into my stomach, and I considered driving away and coming back when I could have Hailey’s attention to myself. Piper, whether I liked it or not, didn’t want to see me, and I knew forcing this issue was wrong. Still, once I knew she was there, I couldn’t seem to stop myself. It was like my brain went offline and my heart was working on autopilot. It was a feeling that was entirely fucking new to me.
I parked behind Piper’s car, walking carefully up the long drive while the early afternoon sun warmed my skin.
Distantly, I could hear voices from the open window.
“You really didn’t need to do this. It’s too much,” Piper was saying softly.
A second, higher-pitched voice responded. “Oh, it was the least I could do. I figured you have enough to worry about right now. One less expense is always a good thing.”
“Not just that, sis,” Piper said. “All of this.” There was a long pause, and I slowed, my stomach dropping into my feet as her voice sounded tear-filled. “Taking me, us, in. It’s more than I could have ever expected.”
I frowned, the words not computing. But then, as I rounded the shrubs, I understood her meaning, and it rocked me to my core.
Through the wide bay window, I could see the mostly assembled crib in the center of the room. Piper was standing beside it, one hand on the railing as she glanced at the mobile, the other resting low on her flat belly.
One less expense…
Taking us in…
Cold realization sank deep in my chest, freezing my heart and pausing its beat.
Piper was pregnant. With my baby.
I was frozen to the spot, staring at her through the glass as her gaze slowly centered on mine.
Chapter Twenty-One
Piper
The moment I saw him, the world whooshed around me in a blur of color and light and sound. Distantly, I heard my sister asking me what was wrong, but then she followed my gaze out the wide bay window to spy the tall, handsome man standing on her garden path.
“Is that…?” she asked, but I was too busy gulping down my next breath to answer her. The air was thinner than I remembered and harder to come by.
And then, all at once, my panic was gone. Replaced instead with white-hot boiling anger.
Why was he here?
My stomach twisted, and I clenched my teeth, balling my hands at my sides as it sank in why he was here—what he must have done. I’d told him specifically to stay out of it, that we were finished, and he’d ignored me because that’s what he did. He barreled over people’s wants and needs. I relished the anger that overshadowed the pain of heartbreak and held it close and tight.
Stepping away from the crib, I crossed the room and swung open the front door, marching down the front path until I was only a few feet from him.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
For a moment he said nothing, and a new, strange expression crossed his face. It wasn’t his usual stern, business demeanor or his angry, tough-guy act. It was almost something like…hurt.
His voice was tight when he finally answered, “I could ask you the same thing.”
“What do you mean? This is my sister’s house. I don’t owe you any explanations.”
“Don’t you?” His voice was cold now, and his gaze flicked to the window behind me, where the crib and mobile still sat, a massive admission of my guilt.
“That’s Hailey’s,” I lied a little too quickly.
“I heard you,” he said simply and then waited as I let the truth wash over me.
He knew. I’d been caught red-handed. My heart sank into my stomach, and I clutched the space there, certain the baby could feel my rioting emotions.
“You have no right to be here,” I tried again. “I told you to stay away.”
“And what right did you have to do that?” he demanded, his voice rising slightly now. “What right did you have to keep me from my child? To not tell me?”
“We both know I was making the right decision,” I shot back.
“For who? For you? You wanted to raise a child who would never know his father?” He speared a hand through his hair and blew out a long breath. “You’re unbelievable. All the lies… You had me thinking your sister was sick. I came all this way to help her. To help you.”
“Nobody asked you to do that,” I said. “In fact, I recall pleading with you to do just the opposite.”
“Maybe you didn’t ask, but that’s what good people do. They help the people they love. They don’t lie to them over and over and fucking over again, Piper.” He was yelling now, but I was too distracted by his words to say anything.