Seeing is Believing (Cuttersville #3)(52)
Author: Erin McCarthy

She snorted. “Don’t let anyone tell you that. Married people have three times as much sex as single people. It’s the convenience factor. Think about it.”

Brady definitely wanted to think about that. Sex every night. With Piper. Screw the forty virgins in the afterlife. If he could have Piper in bed night after night, he’d die a very happy man.

He massaged his temples. He was getting a headache from all the f**ked-up thoughts he was having. It was like he had too much time on his hands so his brain was circling around finding shit to think about since he wasn’t working. Or something like that.

“I don’t think I can have this conversation,” he told her truthfully. “It’s leaving me hopeless.”

She rolled her eyes. “Wake up and smell the inevitable.”

What did that even mean? “I would much rather smell coffee, if you don’t mind.”

His phone buzzed. Knowing it was rude, he still couldn’t resist looking at the text. It had to be Piper. It was.

Won’t be able to go to dinner tomorrow. Open house at school.

Why that had him feeling like a girl without a date for the prom, he couldn’t say. Nor did he want to.

* * *

AFTER SHE HAD LOCKED UP HER CLASSROOM, PIPER headed over to Shelby’s, who had called and left a message that she had something for her. Piper was distracted when she pulled in to the driveway of Shelby’s gray house. It had been a long day and she was tired. It took a lot of energy to continually shove images of Brady out of her head. Brady smiling at her. Brady taking a bite of her apple. Brady between her thighs.

It was both a disappointment and a relief that she couldn’t go to dinner with him. She didn’t want to face her father’s disapproval. But she didn’t want to give Brady up either. So she was left with churning emotions and a tension headache.

Her phone chimed. Glancing down, she saw it was a text from her half brother, Marcus. Frowning, she opened it.

Need 2 tlk 2 u. Holla.

She sighed. Rarely did she hear from him. Usually if she did, he was asking for something. Money. To borrow her car. Trying to sell her electronics. It made her sad to see what his life had come to, and part of her loved the little boy he had been, but the adult he was now was a stranger to her. She wanted to love him, and she did care about his welfare, but it was hard to establish a relationship with someone she no longer had anything in common with. She wasn’t even exactly sure what “holla” meant.

The hardest thing was realizing that he didn’t really have any emotional attachment to her at all. He saw her as someone he could benefit from financially.

Not sure if she had it in her to deal with Marcus today, Piper knocked on the front door and entered.

“Hey.” Shelby was in the hallway with a basket of laundry. “How are you, sweetie?”

“Fine. What’s up? Did I forget something?” It was possible she’d left half her suitcase here given how quickly she’d been determined to dash away from Brady and the curious stares of Shelby and Boston.

“No, not that I noticed. I just wanted to give you a little something for watching the kids.”

“You don’t have to do that. You know I enjoy their company.”

“I want to.” Shelby plucked at the front of her oversized T-shirt. “Come on in the kitchen. Also, do you mind taking some things over to the house for Brady? I figured the least I can do since I can’t house him is give him some food and some basic household items.”

Wonderful. Piper followed Shelby into the kitchen. “I wasn’t planning on going over there today.”

“No?” Shelby looked overly innocent. “Do you mind stopping on your way home anyway? I need to be here when the girls get off the bus.”

Actually, she kind of did. “I can take them tomorrow.” Today she just couldn’t deal with it. She knew that her father was planning on taking her bed over to the house today, and the last place she wanted to be was in a house with Brady, her father, and her bed.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Shelby handed her a pink envelope off the counter. It probably contained a check or, more likely, a gift card for babysitting. “So, can I ask what is going on with you and Brady?”

That did it. Piper felt tears well up in her eyes and she bit her lip in mortification. She wasn’t even sure why she was on the verge of crying, but she was.

Shelby’s eyes widened. “Oh, baby Jesus in the cradle. I’m sorry. What’s wrong? Did my idiot cousin hurt you?”

She shook her head, fighting back the tears, feeling incredibly stupid. “Of course not. I just . . . I don’t know.”

“Sit.” Shelby gestured to a chair. “Tell me what is going on.”

“Nothing. It’s fine.” This wasn’t something she could talk to Shelby about, for obvious reasons. She was mortified that she was crying. Or almost crying. She wasn’t really crying. And she had no reason to cry. About anything. She had a wonderful life, with a wonderful family.

“Well, you’re not just crying to wet your cheeks. Something must be wrong.” Shelby scrutinized her, concern on her face. “He’s not worth crying over, honey. Honestly. I mean, I love Brady, don’t get me wrong. He’s a lot of fun and there’s just something about him that makes a person smile, but he isn’t worth the price of Kleenex when it comes right down to it. No man is.”

That was a mixed message if Piper ever heard one. She wasn’t really sure what to say to that. “Brady didn’t do anything wrong, Shelby.” He hadn’t. He had been honest and up-front with her. She had pursued him even when he had suggested that maybe it wasn’t the best idea.

The problem was not that Brady was an idiot. It was that she was an idiot. Because now she had to give him up because she could not stomach disappointing her father. “But . . . I think that my dad thinks that Brady and I . . .” Which they had. “And he’s disappointed in me.” Shelby’s sympathetic look almost undid her entirely. Piper propped her chin up with her palm on the well-worn table and felt miserable.

“Hon, your dad really has no say in what you do in your private time. Whether he wants to admit it or not, you’re a grown woman. He and I had already been married for four years and divorced by the time I was your age.”

Sometimes it was hard to remember that Shelby and her dad had been married. They seemed so much more like brother and sister to her. It was weird to think of them as passionate about each other.