Page 20 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls (Ivy Falls #3)

PIPER

Lost In The Dark

I had the shittiest luck in the world. Here I was trying to stay away from this guy and I ended up moving next door to him?

It was my own damn fault. When I was signing the lease, Diego had mentioned that the apartment was occupied, I just hadn’t bothered to ask any other questions.

I raced into my bedroom, a stack of moving boxes piled up against one wall.

Everything about this day had gone sideways.

I’d loaded up Sally Mae to haul my stuff, and Beck, without my knowing, had taken the day off from work at his advertising agency.

It took three tries before we finally got the truck to start.

Once we were on our way, Beck shot off a round of questions.

Did the kitchen have a fire extinguisher?

Was the stove gas or electric?

If it was gas, did the apartment have carbon-monoxide detectors?

The questions got more ridiculous as we circled the block four times before finding a parking spot.

Heat from the bright orange sun beat down on us as we hauled box after box through the gate and up the stairs.

When we were finally unloaded, I pushed him out the door, sweat dripping from my brow.

With him gone, I’d gotten the brilliant idea to hop in the shower without a towel.

That was until the rod crashed down, and I ended up answering the door in nothing but a cheap children’s shower curtain only to find the one man in Ivy Falls I was trying to avoid.

I tore open boxes until I found a pair of leggings, a bra that had seen better days and an old concert T-shirt I’d picked up in a vintage store in Brooklyn.

With one hand still pressing the napkin to my head, I used the other to peel off the shower curtain.

I cringed at the deep lines and marks from where the plastic pressed into my wet skin.

Once I was dressed, I tugged a brush through my hair and stalked back to the living room.

‘Sit down and let’s take a look.’ His voice was hesitant, like he didn’t want to do or say the wrong thing. I hated that it was so damn endearing.

I sank onto the couch and he skimmed the beam from the flashlight across my eyes.

‘How’s your head feeling?’

‘I do not have a concussion if that’s what you’re thinking.’

‘You have to be thorough with head injuries.’ He flicked that light over my eyes again.

‘Head injuries? It’s a cut. You’re being too dramatic.’

‘Dramatic,’ he chuckled. ‘Who’s the one that answered the door wrapped up like a taco in a vinyl shower curtain? Were those dancing pink unicorns I saw?’

‘Yes,’ I grumbled. ‘The curtains in the adult section of the store were boring.’

He did a poor job of hiding a smirk as he reached for the first aid kit and pulled out a vacuum-sealed alcohol pad.

‘This may sting a little.’ He eased the napkin away from my head and dabbed at the cut. Under his breath he started to hum and it took me a minute to recognize the melody.

‘That song gets in your brain and doesn’t let go, right?’

He tilted his head before he realized what I meant. ‘Yes, but “A Spoonful of Sugar” is kind of a classic.’ His focus went back to my head. ‘How long have you been playing the piano?’

‘Since I could climb on a stool and reach the keys.’

‘And the singing?’ he said, peeling apart a sterile package and pressing a white, gauzy bandage gently to my head.

I stared at his cornflower-blue eyes. The flecks of gold that danced around the iris. Dammit. He was too gorgeous for words and here I was behaving like a fucking damsel in distress.

‘A few lessons when I was a preteen. Some more vocal training when I lived in New York.’

‘Right, you mentioned New York.’

‘I was one of those starry-eyed girls who goes to the big city with all these dreams. Thought I could be on Broadway. Spent every penny I made waiting tables to see shows like Six and Hadestown . Memorized the songs. Even the blocking onstage. I spent hours in front of the mirror practicing my dancing. Had this vision that I could be up there one day performing for packed houses.’

His gaze stayed fixed on me like he’d listen to me talk for hours. ‘Did you ever audition?’

‘Several times for chorus openings in shows like Moulin Rouge and Wicked . Me and like a thousand other wannabe actors.’

I rarely talked about my time in New York.

While I loved the city, how the pace was like a constant stream of caffeine in my veins, other parts of it were bad for me.

The loneliness and frequent temptation of alcohol and drugs.

How once the sun set behind the skyscrapers, all my demons crawled out of their hiding spaces and took up residence in my head.

He pulled off strips of tape and pressed them against the bandage, mumbling a word under his breath.

‘What did you say?’

‘Brave. It’s like I said the day Mrs V got sick. Putting yourself out there. Sharing your talent with the world knowing you might get rejected. That takes real bravery.’

‘Or a hell of a lot of delusion.’

‘I disagree. People spend their whole lives thinking about their dreams but never chasing them. Then, when they are at the end of their life, they voice all their regrets. Believe me, I’ve heard from more than a few patients how they wished they’d taken more chances.

You had a goal and went after it. What you did took courage.

Never underestimate how powerful it was to make that choice. ’

I sat in stunned silence. He barely knew me but he easily cut right to the heart of the matter. There were a lot of things about my past I wasn’t proud of, but auditioning for shows, living in New York, was the one glimpse of sunlight in that stormy period of my life.

‘Is it weird?’ I asked hesitantly.

‘Is what weird?’

‘Having to take care of me again?’

It was the damn elephant in the room. Might as well get it out in the open.

‘If this, if I’m… making you uncomfortable, I can go because that is the last thing I want.’

‘No.’ I reached out and touched his knee. He focused on where my hand sat and I quickly pulled away.

‘Piper, what you battled is a sickness like any other. You were treated and then followed doctor’s orders. Committed to recovery, set a new path, which by the looks of things was a damn good choice.’

Behind those beautiful eyes was not a single flicker of judgment. And if he was going to work at the clinic through the summer, he would have heard my whole story anyway because no one in this town could keep their mouth shut.

His steady gaze never wavered even as I said, ‘Am I fixed, doc?’

He pressed his lips into a thin line. ‘Ford.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘I want you to call me Ford.’ That sweet grin reappeared. ‘It feels appropriate now that we’re neighbors.’

I muttered, ‘Fine.’

‘Do you have a headache or any other symptoms?’

‘Besides extreme embarrassment, Ford ? No.’

That got me a full-blown smile. He closed up the first aid kit, set it on the counter and walked straight toward the bathroom. I chased after him and stumbled into the room, bumping into the pedestal sink.

He ran his fingers over the spot where the shower rod was once anchored to the wall. ‘Wow. This took some work. Were you hanging on the bar like it was a jungle gym?’ he chuckled.

‘No, but I may have been dancing a little. Flailed my hands out and hit it.’ The way he bit into his lip said he was holding back another smile. ‘Yes, Rihanna does make me want to move, but maybe the shower isn’t the best place for a dance party.’

He threw back his head and laughed. ‘You think?’

As his shoulders shook, I took in this casual side of him.

The T-shirt and shorts. How the sheen in his luscious dark hair made me want to reach out and run my fingers through it.

And that smile, it was equal parts boyish and sexy, which only made my mind race with thoughts of how his lips would feel brushing across mine, his tongue parting the seam between us.

‘I have spackling paste in my apartment that’ll patch it,’ he said, interrupting my fantasy.

‘That’s not necessary. My soon-to-be sister-in-law is a contractor. She can fix it.’

‘When? Because unless she can come over in the next day or so, you’re not getting a shower.’

‘There’s a tub. I’ll take a bath.’

He rubbed at the dark stubble on his chin. ‘Are you always this stubborn?’

‘Yes,’ I admitted.

‘Let me help you out, Bird. It’s the neighborly thing to do.’

There was that nickname again. I hated that it was sort of growing on me.

He arched an eyebrow, waiting on my answer. If I called Torran, she’d bring Beck. There’d be a dozen questions and then getting my brother to leave again would be an ordeal.

‘Okay. Thank you.’

He left and, as soon as I heard the door close, I raced back into my bedroom. In one of these boxes or bins there had to be my towels. My hair was still sopping wet and I didn’t want to keep dripping everywhere.

I wrenched open several plastic containers until I found a hand towel mixed in with my perfume and lotions.

Quickly I squeezed out most of the water from my hair and tossed it up into a messy bun.

When I raced back into the bathroom, Ford was already covering the hole with what looked like children’s glue.

‘A doctor and a handyman?’ I teased.

‘You’d be surprised at how basic skills can be helpful around a house.’

‘Did your father teach you?’

The lines in his forehead pinched.

Okay. Maybe not a great question.

‘My father is more of a hire-someone-to-do-it-for-you kind of guy. I learned about drywall and plumbing from one of the guys on the ship. My cabin had a broken door handle and Kip, who handles all the maintenance, came by to replace it. I asked a bunch of questions and he showed me how to fix it on my own. Whenever he had other jobs to do, and if I wasn’t on shift, he’d let me tag along and learn. ’

‘The next time you see Kip, tell him thank you for me.’

He gave an approving nod and went back to work. It was hard not to watch his biceps flexing up and down, the intense set of his full lips as he concentrated. The question I’d been wanting to ask since last week ping-ponged inside my head. I guess there was no time like the present.

‘Any word on Mrs Vanderpool’s tests?’

He stopped mid-spackle and pulled in a heavy breath.

Shit. That wasn’t good.

‘I can’t say much besides she’s getting the care she needs.’ He pushed up those cute Clark Kent glasses. ‘You two seem close. Have you been friends a long time?’

‘Mrs Vanderpool is one of the weirder twists in my life and I’ve had some doozies.’

‘Really?’ That damn grin was back. ‘Do tell.’

‘When I came back to Ivy Falls, a lot of people weren’t sure how to treat me. Mrs Vanderpool always scared me when I was young. Kids at my school even made up stories about how she was a witch. Liked to boil kids in her backyard if a ball was hit on to her lawn.’

‘That’s damn morbid.’

‘For a long time she was our version of the bogeyman. Then I moved away and when I came back…’

I could still see her piercing blue eyes the first time she ran into me and Beck at Minnie’s Market.

Everyone knew what I’d done to the house on Huckleberry Lane.

Whispered about my third trip to rehab. Mrs Vanderpool marched right past the fruit and vegetables, a box of bran cereal tucked under her arm, and said a sentence to me I’ll never forget.

It’s easy to get lost in the dark. Let Ivy Falls be your light.

It knocked the wind out of me when she pulled me into a massive hug, held on for no more than two breaths, and then turned in her black orthopedic shoes and stomped toward the register.

Since that day, she’d given me a smile, a pat on the shoulder, every time she saw me.

On that day she could have easily replaced the words Ivy Falls with me , because she’d been the kindness and understanding I’d needed at the lowest point in my life.

‘It was kids being dumb. I know better now. She’s become the grandmother I never had.’

‘I wish I could tell you more—’

‘No, it’s okay. Sorry if I made this… weird.’

‘You can ask me anything you want, except for confidential patient information. I’m an open book, Piper.’

‘No one is an open book, Ford .’ That earned me another one of those panty-dropping smirks. ‘It’s easy to say that but when people ask hard questions, even you might find it hard to be honest.’

He tapped at the spackle with a putty knife and said, ‘Let’s put that theory to the test.’

I leaned a hip against the sink, studying how he continued to work without a single hint of tension in his athletic frame.

He was cocky but not in an off-putting way.

In his Harpeth Manor world I bet things were always proper.

That certain topics were off limits in order to keep up appearances.

Maybe it was time to make him uncomfortable.

Set him a little off-kilter like I felt when he stared at me with that pale blue gaze.

‘How old were you when you lost your virginity and how badly did you screw it up?’

I waited for him to sputter. To take several uncomfortable gulps. What I did not expect was the roar of a laugh that burst from his lips.

‘It was bad. I was in the eleventh grade and at my first senior party. There was a girl in my class I liked. No names to protect the innocent,’ he said coyly. ‘We kissed at first and then went upstairs. I tried to be smooth, kicked off my shoes, lowered her onto the bed.’

Heat snapped through my veins. Dammit, I’d walked right into a trap. My point was to embarrass him, but I was the one getting all pink-cheeked.

‘Once we were on the bed, she rolled me over and kissed me. I thought it was a power play, so I rolled again and sent us careening right off the bed. I landed on her with the full force of my weight, knocking the wind out of her.’ He shook his head.

‘Poor girl gasped for air for like thirty seconds. It was a real shitshow.’

‘After all that, did it… still happen?’

God, my cheeks were blazing. So much for being a smart-ass.

‘Yes. After she could, you know, actually breathe again.’ He let loose another uninhibited laugh, and it was so infectious I found myself giggling along.

How was he doing this? Being so smart. Cute. Honest. Making me smile so wide my face ached. It was easy to see why he was good at being a doctor. He wore empathy like a second skin and I hated to admit it was a goddamn turn on.

He went back to fixing the wall, anchoring the shower rod and humming ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’ until the doorbell rang.

I froze. Shit. It had to be Beck. Besides my close family, Diego and Maisey – and, well, now Ford – no one else knew I lived here.

My brother’s hovering had to end and I was going to tell him that. I started for the door when Ford said, ‘That would be the pizza.’

‘You ordered pizza? To my apartment ? Why?’