Page 4 of Finding Romance (Romances in the Building #2)

CHAPTER FOUR

Piper

“Don’t worry about the necklace right now. It’s wine night. Grab some glasses and come sit out here,” Aunt Cornelia says.

This woman literally had surgery yesterday and she’s already bossing me around. Hopefully, that’s a good sign.

“Aunt Cornelia, you can’t drink. You’re on painkillers,” I chastise, my hands going to my hips as I walk into the living room.

I managed to get her set up on a chair with her leg on the ottoman.

She glares at me, and I want to smirk but I’m tired.

She may weigh nothing, but damn, it’s hard helping her move around.

The friend that brought over their walker that has a little seat on it and wheels also brought over a special chair for the toilet which has been useful.

She can’t shower for a few days, so I went and got some more wet wipes for her.

At some point last night, she offered to call a nursing service if it was too much.

But I can be as stubborn as her, so I told her firmly no.

“I know that. But that doesn’t mean everyone else can’t have some,” she says with a long sigh.

I pat her shoulder. “Sorry. Maybe you’ll be off pain meds by next week.”

“I hope so,” she grumbles as Margie comes in and sets some tea down on the small stand next to her. “What’s that?” she asks as she points to the mug.

“Vanilla red tea. You’ll like it. I added simple syrup,” Margie says with a big smile.

My aunt rolls her eyes, and I turn around to hide my grin.

There’s a knock on the door and I leave the two older women to discuss the plusses and minuses of red tea. I open it and am surprised to see Kasen standing there.

“Oh, hey,” I manage as I look up at him. “Do you need something?”

“No, but I think you need something.” He turns and points to the open door behind him. I peer around him and see a chair.

Frowning, I look back at him. “Uh, I…” I trail off because I have no idea what to say.

“I have one of those chairs that lifts you to help you stand. It also lies flat, well, nearly flat. I thought Cornelia might like to borrow it,” he explains.

“You rang?” a voice calls out as a giant, blond man comes up the stairs.

“Hutch, you want to help carry this,” Kasen asks the man. I feel like I’ve met him before, maybe when I visited a few years ago.

“Oh, hey, you’re Piper, right?” Hutch asks as he extends a hand, well, it’s more a giant mitt.

Then it dawns on me. He’s the football player and I did meet him a few years ago but he was sitting down and we only spoke for a few minutes since I had to leave to go attend a friend’s photo exhibit downtown.

“Yep. I think we met a while back, yes?” I ask him, confirming that I’m not making up something in my head, which seems entirely possible because I haven’t exactly slept great since being here. I thought I had to pee a lot but Aunt Cornelia needs to get up at least twice in the night.

He smiles and it puts me at ease. Something is calming about Hutch, like he’s a giant but he wouldn’t hurt a fly.

I make a mental note to think of Hutch as a gentle giant.

Especially when he picks up what has to be a several-hundred-pound chair with ease and Kasen guides it through the door of my aunt’s apartment.

Hutch sets it next to the one Aunt Cornelia is sitting in and then sits down in it.

Patting the armrests, he looks around. “I think you’ll like the view better in this chair,” he states. Then he stands and leans over Aunt Cornelia. “May I?” he asks as he looks from her to the chair.

“Hutch, you better be gentle. I’m old,” she protests.

“Ma’am, I’m always gentle,” he says with a wink as he scoops her up and then, true to his word, cautiously sets her down in the fancy chair.

He presses a button on the remote and the leg rest moves up, supporting the cast on her leg. He leans in and shows her how it works, including a heat option and a massage option.

“This is heaven,” Aunt Cornelia declares as she vibrates with the chair.

We all laugh.

“OK, well, feel free to keep that until you are all recovered,” Kasen says as he walks back over to the door and Hutch joins him.

“Thank you, sweat pea,” Aunt Cornelia says. “But if you think for one minute I’m giving you back this chair, you have another thing coming.”

He chuckles and walks out with Hutch in tow.

“Oh, keep a lookout for my necklace, boys!” she calls out after them.

“We will,” Kasen replies as he shuts the door.

I’m about to bring in a charcuterie board that Margie’s prepared when there’s a knock at the door.

“The ladies are here,” my aunt says, and for the first time in days, I see a real smile grace her lips.

I open the door to find four women standing there. Two are holding bottles of wine, one has a fruit salad, and another has a plate of cookies.

“Hello,” I say, recognizing some of them from around the building, but not all of them. I step back as they file inside.

“Girls, this is my niece, Piper,” Aunt Cornelia says as Margie brings in the cheese platter and sets it at arm’s length of her.

Margie points out each woman. “This is Carly. She lives across from Brayden and has an adorable little girl, Ava. This is Cam. She works at the café across the street and makes the best baked goods. But, you girls met already, yes?” We both nod.

“This is Roxy. Roxy owns the bookstore downstairs. And this is Jocelyn. She works at the bookstore. We are down one tonight. Jessa is meeting an old friend for dinner. But you know her.”

I nod. Jessa and Troy have lived here longer than my aunt and Margie. Cam wanders into the kitchen and comes back out with wineglasses for everyone. And before I know it, all the women are settled on seats and chatting about all the juicy neighborhood gossip. I can see why my aunt loves this place.

“So, Gray is taking me away next weekend, but I have no idea where. Did he tell any of you?” Roxy asks.

I purse my lips. “Gray, the composer who lives downstairs?” I ask, confirming because it’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen him.

She nods. “That’d be the one.”

“Nope. You know he wouldn’t trust us with that information, right?” Carly says with a giggle.

“Did anyone ever get the scoop on where Kasen’s been?” Jocelyn asks. My ears perk up at the name of the mysterious, grumpy man across the hall.

“Sort of, but just what he told everyone at happy hour,” Roxy says.

“I just feel like, there has to be more to that story,” Jocelyn laments with a sigh before taking a long sip of a merlot.

Cam shrugs. “Who knows? That man could be James Bond for all we know.”

“True,” Carly says as she reaches for the chardonnay.

“Who’s watching Ava tonight?” Margie asks.

“Bray for the first part and Kasen for the second part,” she says.

“Huh?” I ask, confused.

“Oh, Bray has to work tonight, but he promised Ava that they would finish this puzzle they’ve been working on. Kasen volunteered to get her to bed.” Carly snorts a little as she laughs and the others join in, including me, because the thought of Kasen tucking in a small child is pretty funny.

“What, no Hutch?” Cam asks while grabbing a piece of cheese. I reach for some myself because I’ve flat-out forgotten to eat tonight. I definitely chose correctly when I went to art school and not nursing school. Taking care of someone is hard work.

“Nah, he promised his brother that they’d play some video game tonight,” Carly explains.

“Everyone here is, like, really close, huh?” I ask because I’m truly curious. I remember my aunt taking me up to some happy hour thing on the rooftop once as a teenager. And they are always talking about their neighbors, but I never realized just how tight-knit the building is.

“Yep,” Roxy says with a grin.

Cam throws a cracker at her and rolls her eyes. Roxy laughs. “Some of us are closer than others,” Cam states dryly.

“Hey, don’t be a jealous beotch!” Roxy retorts.

Cam groans. “Anyhow, do you have a significant other?” Everyone looks at me.

“Oh, uh, no,” I stumble over the words too quickly.

I feel my cheeks heat a little. Every woman my age seems way more experienced with men than me.

While most girls were dating in high school, I was flip-flopping between my parents’ homes and then spending time with my grandmother, my aunt, or an art camp.

And now, I’m a twenty-three-year-old virgin.

Talk about feeling inadequate. I wouldn’t know the first thing about doing anything but kissing a boy and that’s only happened a few times.

I can literally count the number of dates I’ve been on with my two hands.

I had one college roommate who tried to get me out on dates with guys she knew, but none of them worked out.

The guys were terrible kissers and just wanted in my pants immediately, or they were super jerks and we never even got to the kissing part of the date.

By junior year, I just put dating on the back burner, figuring it would happen after college, but here I am nearly six months out of college, and I still haven’t dated anyone.

“Well, you’re young. No rush, right?” Cam offers.

I nod a little and take a sip of wine so I can keep from talking. Carly’s phone pings, and she smiles and walks to the front window.

“May I?” she asks my aunt and Margie. They nod and everyone grins. I’m confused until she opens the window, pokes her head out, and looks up.

“Goodnight, Mommy!” Ava yells. I smile.

“Yeah, goodnight, Mommy,” Kasen mimics.

We all burst into laughter. “Goodnight, everyone else,” Ava yells again.

“Make good choices,” Kasen adds.

Shaking her head, Carly closes the window. She turns to us and Roxy says, “I think we need to find that man a girlfriend.”

“Agree,” everyone else says in unison before Margie brings up a book she wants to read and Roxy and Jocelyn start talking about the author.

I sit back and listen, wishing I had friends like this who would find me a boyfriend.

I guess I’ll just add it to the list of things I need to find that include a place of my own to live and a job.

Those two seem way more likely than the boyfriend thing.