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“Three o’clock,” I smiled. With that, I ducked out in the hallway and hurried down the stairs. I glanced at Lillianna’s bedroom door. It was closed tight and I breathed a sigh of relief. My feet barely made any noise as they tiptoed through the living room and into the kitchen. I’d snuck out of the Prewitt’s house before and I knew the front door made way more noise than the back. When I reached the kitchen, I moved quickly to the door, but a small cough stopped me in my tracks.

I turned around slowly. Piper’s dad was sitting alone at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of him. If I’d been paying more attention I would have been able to smell the coffee brewing the second I stepped downstairs. Damn, my skills were slipping.

I sighed and walked over to sit beside him. He watched me carefully, his eyes narrowed and his hands wrapped tightly around his coffee mug.

“Good morning, Mr. Prewitt,” I said simply.

“Coffee?” he asked.

“Thank you,” I nodded. Mr. Prewitt stood up and grabbed a mug from the cabinet above the stove. He filled it to the brim and set it down in front of me.

“Black, right?” he asked.

“Always,” I said. I tried to smile, but it was a weak attempt. I knew he had something to say and I knew I wouldn’t like it.

“What are you doing here, Logan?” he asked simply. His question was an obvious one, but I still didn’t have an answer for him.

“Piper and I fell asleep last night,” I said. “I’m sorry, sir. We didn’t mean for it to happen.”

“Which part?” he asked. “Falling asleep or being in the bed

room to begin with?”

“Falling asleep,” I answered honestly.

“That’s great,” he said with a small chuckle. “She’s not even back a week and you already have your hooks in her.”

“That’s not…” I began.

“Listen,” he interrupted. He leaned forward and fixed his angry eyes on my face. “You don’t know what you did to her when you left. You have no idea how badly she was hurt. It’s not right for you to just swoop back in and…”

“I know about Lili,” I said suddenly. Mr. Prewitt’s expression changed from anger to surprise then back to anger again.

“She told you?” he asked.

“She did,” I nodded. “I met Lili yesterday. At Audra’s. Then we came back here to put her bed and talk about things.”

“I see,” Mr. Prewitt sat back in his chair and took a long sip of coffee. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. I knew she would tell you eventually.”

“I’m glad she did,” I said quickly.

“What do you plan to do about it?” he asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came out. The truth was, I didn’t know exactly what to do. All I knew was that I loved Piper and Lilliana.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “We haven’t gotten that far yet.”

Mr. Prewitt nodded and stood up from the table. We took my untouched cup of coffee and dumped it out in the sink. With a meaningful look, he jerked his head toward the back door.

“Well,” he said. “That’s something you should probably go figure out.”

Without a word, I stood up and crossed the kitchen slowly. When I glanced back at him he was busy washing his own mug. I slipped through the back door and out into the early morning, my head spinning.

Twenty- Nine

Logan

As I walked around the back of the house that afternoon, Mr. Prewitt’s words were still echoing in my ears. I could still see the look on his face as he scrutinized me in the dim kitchen light. He didn’t trust me. That much was obvious. But, what was worse, was the fact that he was right. It was ridiculous that I hadn’t figured out some sort of plan for being in my daughter’s life. How could I have let the night pass without discussing the logistics with Piper? When were they leaving for New York? How often would they come back to Bradberry? How many times would Piper allow me to visit them in the city?