Seeing is Believing (Cuttersville #3)(40)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“Which dog are you taking?” Amanda called from the other room.

“Huh?” She stepped back into the small hallway. “What do you mean?”

“You should take one of the dogs for security purposes. Angel will be heartbroken when you move out anyways. She’s really more your dog than mine.”

Sometimes her mother was exhausting. There was no other word for it. But after that afternoon, when she had seen blood trail down a headstone, at least this was normal. Wearying, yes, but well-meaning and loving and very, very normal. “I don’t think there’s really a security issue here, and I don’t want to do that to Angel. She’s used to the freedom of the farm. This is a small house with a small yard and I’m at work all day. She’ll miss the boys and the other dogs.”

“That’s probably true. Maybe we should get you a puppy.”

How that made any sense was beyond her. If a well-trained and low-energy older dog wouldn’t like being cooped up all day, why on earth would that be fair to do to a bouncy puppy? She decided to change the subject. It was a strategy that always worked. “So do you think Dad could bring my bed over here in the next couple of days?”

“Your bed? Why?”

“Well, Brady is going to be staying here while he’s painting, and it seems a little ridiculous that he’s going to be sleeping on the floor.”

“Why isn’t he staying at Shelby’s?”

“She doesn’t have the room.”

“That house is poky,” Amanda agreed. “What about Jessie’s house? She has room.”

“She has a gentleman friend and she doesn’t want Brady there.”

“Oooh. I see.” Amanda grinned. “Well, I say more power to her. But Piper, I don’t know how appropriate it is to have Brady sleeping in your bed.”

“Even if I’m not in it?” she asked. She shouldn’t have asked. She should have just told her mother this was what was happening. She should have just sent Brady to go get the bed. That would have really raised an eyebrow or two. But no, she had asked, and now she was going to be questioned and eventually worn down to where she agreed not to proceed with the idea.

“It just seems weird to have him sleeping in your bed. I mean, you’re not a Hilton hotel, for crying out loud. Why can’t he get his own bed?”

“Why does he need a bed here if I can provide him with one? It just seems like an easy thing to do,” she said stubbornly. “It’s only for a week or two. I’ll wash the sheets.” After she tussled in them with him, if all went according to plan.

“Ew. Okay, you know what? This is getting weird. I don’t want to think about Brady snoring on your mattress.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to blurt it out, to tell her the truth. That while yes, she was being kind and considerate and didn’t want Brady to sleep on the floor, she also had an ulterior motive in that she wanted to have sex with him again without getting a butt splinter.

But she didn’t.

Because her mother would tell her father and they would both disapprove and they would be disappointed in her, and she didn’t want to think that they felt that way about her.

So instead she just said, “I’ll have Brady call Dad so he can help him carry in the mattress and box spring.”

If there was going to be an opinion offered to this statement, it was cut off by the sound of the front door opening.

“Is that Jessie?” Amanda asked. “I wonder if she has a preferred cleaning service.”

Piper sighed. She loved her mother, but she didn’t always listen. Amanda had a whirling-dervish quality to her, and she strode through a room confidently, problem solving in high heels.

But sometimes she surprised Piper. As they walked into the living room, she amended, “Oh, wait, you said we don’t need a cleaning service. But I will drop off some cleaning supplies tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” she said, genuinely pleased. Leaving her parents wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d thought, and she had to appreciate the way they were handling it. They were letting her go and helping her in every way they could, like they always did. She was struck again by how fortunate she was, the great gift that been given to her inadvertently by her stepfather when he had dumped her in Danny Tucker’s driveway. His goal had just been to get rid of her, but he had changed the course of her life in ways that she could never fully articulate.

Sometimes she tried to visualize who and where she would be if she had stayed with Mark, and it wasn’t a pretty picture. Contacting her younger half brother Marcus had confirmed that. He was a crystal meth addict at eighteen, with sallow skin and dead eyes. It had been devastating to see him like that.

She felt a rush of emotion and was going to hug her mom when she realized it wasn’t Jessie in the front entry.

It was Brady.

He was carrying a yoga mat and a blanket. “Hey,” he said to them with a smile.

“You going to bust into a downward dog?” Amanda asked him.

“No. This is my bed for the next few weeks. Shelby didn’t mind giving it up. She said yoga is for people who can sit still, which is not her. The mat has been collecting dust in her basement.”

“You’re going to sleep on hardwood floors on a yoga mat?” Amanda looked horrified. “What is this—Survivor?”

Brady snorted. Piper laughed at the comparison.

“Well, that’s just ridiculous, and Piper had a great solution,” her mother continued. “There’s no reason we can’t just bring Piper’s bed over here in the next day or two. It needs to come over anyway in a couple weeks, so why not now? That way you won’t damage your back.”

While her mother explained, Piper watched Brady’s face. His nostrils flared, like he was picturing exactly what they could be doing on that bed.

“Where is Piper going to sleep?” he asked, his eyes trained on her, dark and seductive.

Piper felt her ni**les harden and she crossed her arms over her chest so it wasn’t noticeable. But he noticed. He glanced right down at them.

Where was she going to sleep? With him. That was where she wanted to sleep. Among other things.

“In the guest room at our house, of course,” Amanda said.

Piper could feel the weight of her stare as she watched them, evaluating what she was seeing. Her mother was not stupid. She had to be able to see the sexual tension that stretched between them.

“That’s really nice of you to offer,” Brady said. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your generosity.”