Page 22 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls (Ivy Falls #3)

PIPER

Muscle Memory

‘Pick an outfit before all my beautiful years are gone and I start sprouting white chin hairs!’ Maisey groaned as she fell back onto my bed.

‘I’m not going because, if you couldn’t tell, I have absolutely nothing to wear.’

‘It’s a good thing your best friend has impeccable taste. Give me a minute to put a few items together.’

She bounced up and stalked to where I was standing in the doorway to my closet.

It’d taken nearly a week, but I was finally unpacked.

Having all my stuff in one spot made me painfully aware that my wardrobe was lacking.

I’d spent the last two years doing exactly two things: going to work and seeing my therapist once a week.

My wardrobe of faded jeans and old T-shirts reflected that lifestyle.

Maisey pushed back hanger after hanger. Small, frustrated sighs filled the shoebox-sized closet. At the end of the top rack, her eyes narrowed on a fringed black skirt. She took two small jumps trying to grab it.

‘Shit, I hate being short.’

‘You’re not short. You’re fun-sized!’ I teased.

She shot me an annoyed stare. ‘Not all of us can be supermodel tall!’

I moved around her and lifted off the hanger.

‘Show off,’ she grumbled before pulling a sparkly silver T-shirt off the lower rack. With another huff she glanced at my pitiful array of shoes, selecting a short pair of black suede booties.

‘This is “Music in the Square” not “Night at the Rave”,’ I protested.

‘Put them on. You know you’re going to look great in it with those long legs and that damn glossy hair of yours. I saw Janice from the clinic at Minnie’s Market earlier today. She said Dr Hottie McHotterson will be there. Once he sees you in that outfit, he won’t be able to take his eyes off you.’

‘What are you even saying?’ I laughed. ‘Ford and I are friends.’

Even as I said the words, I knew they were a lie. When he touched me the other night before he left, I desperately wanted him to kiss me. But it was a bad idea. He was leaving, and was a tie to my past, but that didn’t still the need that coursed through my veins when he touched me.

‘Yeah, and Simone Biles is just a gymnast,’ she called me out. ‘He helped you out after your shower curtain tragedy, and how many times did he happen to need a book or an iced tea this week?’

‘A few,’ I admitted.

Since our impromptu pizza meal, Ford had made more than one appearance at the P&P. He swore it was because he wanted new books, or that the summer heat made him thirsty, but Maisey was right. He did make a few excuses to run into me.

I should have used those moments to remind him we were only friends, but the way his mouth softened, how his gaze hungrily traveled the length of me, had me swallowing all my protests.

It was nice to flirt every once in a while. To remember I was a woman who liked attention from a ridiculously attractive guy. And when he laughed, pushed those glasses up the bridge of his nose, there may have been a swoop in my belly I hadn’t felt since I had my first crush in high school.

I walked into the bathroom and shut the door so she couldn’t press the subject anymore. Having him in town, living next door, it was too much. The last thing I needed was to catch feelings for a guy who was going to turn around and leave in a few months.

I pushed Ford out of my head and tugged on the shirt Maisey picked and the skirt followed.

Dammit. The outfit looked good.

As if she could read my thoughts, she said through the door, ‘You look fantastic, right?’

I cracked open the door and the contrite look on my face made her squeal and clap her hands excitedly.

She pushed her way inside the bathroom, yanking out my makeup and grabbing my flat iron from a basket next to the sink.

More than once her stare moved to the spot where Ford had to spackle the wall and then to the small bandage over my eyebrow.

‘What else did you and Ford chat about the other night?’ Her smile faded. ‘Did he say anything about Old Mrs V?’

‘You know he can’t give information about a patient.’

She gave a reluctant nod and started to work on my hair, pulling back half and threading it into a fishtail braid.

‘He told me a little about his brother. It sounds like he isn’t close to his family.’

‘Look at you getting all the details about our mysterious town doctor,’ she said like she was impressed. ‘He wouldn’t answer any of my questions, but I also don’t have an ass like yours.’

‘Maisey!’ I shrieked.

All she did was shrug. ‘Only facts here, Pipe.’

‘You are incorrigible.’

‘And that’s why you love me.’ She combed out the lower section of my hair and wrapped it around the flat iron. ‘What else did he say?’

‘That Africa is beautiful. He told me about a couple of spots he likes to visit on his days off. Beaches and a place with sand dunes. He’s also fluent in French.’

She fanned herself. ‘Well, that makes him ten times hotter.’

‘You are too much.’

She barked out a laugh. ‘What about his job?’

‘He didn’t say much, but by the way his eyes lit up when he talked about the other staff and the patients, it was easy to see he loves it.’

‘When is he going back?’

‘Early October.’

She got a glint in her eye but stayed silent, which worried me.

‘It’s okay to meet a new person,’ I said. ‘Get to know them and keep things platonic.’

I might have been saying the words, but the way my heart stuttered every time he dragged his hands through his dark hair said my feelings were anything but platonic.

She bit into her lip while she worked the iron through the rest of my hair.

‘You think I’m wrong,’ I said, needing to break up the silence.

‘Piper, it’s your choice. All I want is for you to be happy. If being friends with Ford is all you want, then I’m behind you.’

‘But…’ I urged because she’d always been careful about my feelings. Not pushing me.

She pressed her lips together, pausing for too long.

‘Spit it out, Maise.’

‘I love you, but I worry that you’ve fought so hard to get your life back that you’re afraid now to take a risk. Rock the boat against the solid life you’ve built.’

‘Is there something wrong with that?’ I said, unable to keep the hurt from my voice.

She set the iron on the edge of the sink and turned me to face her.

‘You’ve been through hell and back. Battled nightmares that would knock most people out for the count.

But every damn day you get up and prove to this town that you have the heart and soul of a warrior.

’ She went back to work on my hair. ‘What good is all that fighting, getting yourself to a solid spot, if you’re not thinking about the future?

Any man on this planet would be fucking lucky to call you theirs, Pipe.

I wish that you would be willing to take a small chance.

It doesn’t have to be with Ford. It doesn’t have to be right now.

I only want you to think about what comes next, because you, my best friend in this world, deserve goddamn rainbows and unicorns-farting-glitter-out-of-their-butts kinds of happiness. ’

‘Oh, Maisey,’ I gasped. Tears tracked down my cheeks and she pulled me into a firm hug.

‘Good thing I didn’t do your makeup first,’ she said, swiping away her own tears and then pressing a tissue to mine.

‘Before I got sober, I made terrifyingly bad choices when it came to men. Those choices hurt a lot of people.’

My mind flickered to the moments in New York where I blew through all my money. How I took drinks from strangers. Walked home alone at all hours of the night. I was reckless, dumb and damn lucky I didn’t do anything worse to ruin my life.

‘I’m afraid if I let myself try, I’m going to say and do the wrong things. Pick another bad guy. Ruin the people I love again.’

‘You won’t.’ She lovingly patted my cheek.

‘From what you’ve shared with me, you know what you need.

What you deserve. After all the work you’ve done to change your life, don’t you owe it to yourself to test the waters?

It doesn’t have to be a commitment. Go on one date.

Have coffee with someone. It’s like learning to ride a bike.

Start slow until you’re ready to pedal like hell on wheels. ’

I placed my hand over hers. ‘I promise I’ll think about it.’

‘Thank you. Now enough with the love lecture.’

‘Good,’ I said, patting at my eyes with a tissue. ‘Because I have other issues to deal with, like figuring out how I’m going to get Lauren not to be a pain in the ass on Torran and Beck’s wedding day.’

‘They agreed to let Hearth and Home film it?’

‘Just the getting ready part. After that, they can only have access to a few frames of still photography for the show and social media.’

She faced me back to the mirror to finish my hair. Crying always made my eyes and cheeks puffy. She was right. I was glad makeup was last in her devious plan to make me presentable. ‘And this concerns you how?’

‘They asked that I run interference with the production crew. Make sure they keep their promises. Not film the ceremony. Stay out of the way.’

‘So they’re making you play defense to a very cagey offense?’

‘I have no idea what that means.’

‘It’s football. Joe has it on from late August to January. You learn a lot through osmosis.’

I laughed. Maisey was like a computer with about a hundred tabs open.

‘You’re going to have to keep them from making things uncomfortable during the ceremony, basically.’

That sent a chill down my spine. ‘Really? That’s what you think?’

‘Torran and Beck’s wedding will be a big marketing boon for the network. The more images and video they have to promote it, the better their numbers. The more viewers they attract.’

‘Well, shit. That sounds like a lot of work.’

She gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. ‘You won’t keep the wolves at bay alone. I’ll be there to help.’

The stress that had been building in my bones ever since I agreed to help out Beck and Torran started to ease. ‘You’re the best, Maise.’

She gave me a cheeky wink in the mirror. ‘I know.’