Wrapped in Lace (11 page)

“What? I’m aware that your generation doesn’t wait to have sex anymore.”

The fact that the word sex just came out of her mouth made me so uncomfortable I felt like I needed to disinfect the air. “Nana, I’m beginning to think you didn’t just beg me to come home to make peace with Rob. I’m beginning to think this was all one big blind date masterminded by you.” She winked at me, and I knew I was on to something. “Mr. Nelson?”

“He’s excited to watch Jack open his presents.”

“I’ve been played by two eighty-year-olds.” I started laughing at the absurdity of it all.

She walked back over and lightly touched my hair. “Be careful with Piper.”

“You don’t have condoms in my bedside table, do you?”

She was a tiny woman, but she smacked my arm so hard I was sure she left a mark. “Boy, that’s not what I meant.”

*

Piper met me
on her front porch, all bundled up in her mittens and coat. I’d invited her over to spend the day with me, but she said she had a better plan. I don’t know what could be better than what I had planned for her, but I played along. What choice did I really have?

“I need to drive,” Piper said, holding out her hand for the keys as we walked towards my truck. “I don’t want you to know where I’m taking you. It’s your Christmas surprise.”

I knew I was sulking, but I didn’t want to go anywhere. I wanted to spend Christmas Day in bed with Piper, not out in the cold. Hell, I even had permission from my grandmother. Before I could think of a good reason not to give her my keys, a snowball hit me right in the side of the head. I looked over at her, her mouth dropped open like she was just as surprised as I was.

“I wasn’t aiming for your head, I swear,” she squealed out.

I shook the snow out of my hair, giving her a devilish grin. “Right, you were a pitcher.” She put her hands on the hood of my truck, looking like she was about to dash off if I came after her. Instead, I scooped some snow off the hood and slowly starting forming a ball in my hands. I moved the snowball back and forth between my hands, taunting her.

“No,” she laughed out. “It was an accident. It slipped.”

I slowly stalked towards her, and she started to move around the hood of the truck. God, she was so adorable and fun. It almost made me forget how sexy she was,
almost
. I reared back and threw the snowball at her. She ducked her head, and it whizzed right past her, smashing against a tree. She busted out laughing at my lame attempt. I took advantage and bolted around the side of the truck and caught her by the waist, picking her up slightly. “I’ve missed you.” She wiggled down and turned towards me, but I kept my arms around her. “I’ve missed this.”

Her head tilted to the side and her blue eyes looking watery, she said, “I didn’t realize how much I missed you. It’s so weird.”

“Come back to Raleigh with me?”

“What?”

“Come back to Raleigh with me when I leave?” I knew it was fast and sounded completely crazy, but I also knew I was totally serious. I couldn’t imagine not being able to see her every day, but her eyes looked so confused, like I just asked her to perform brain surgery. “School doesn’t start back for a few more weeks, right? Come back to Raleigh with me. Let’s spend the rest of your break together.”

“But Granddaddy, I can’t just leave him.”

“It’s a vacation, Piper. He’ll be fine. He and Nana will watch out for each other. My mom and dad will check in on him, too. Come with me.” She looked like I was asking her to commit to a life sentence. Like if she agreed to this, then she was agreeing to something bigger. If I was honest with myself, she would be. She’d be committing to Raleigh, not McAdenville, but she didn’t have to know that just yet.

“Can I think about it?”

“Sure.” I hated that she didn’t jump at the idea, and it made me wonder if I was reading more into whatever was happening between us than she felt. Maybe I was nothing more to her than just a little holiday fun. I handed her my keys and opened the door to my truck for her.

*

PIPER

I drove his
truck through town, seeing all the kids playing outside with their new toys from Santa. I remembered doing the same thing every Christmas as a child. Drew and I would rush to each other’s houses to compare our gifts. It was so surreal being together again, but it certainly wasn’t as carefree as those days had been. The silence between Drew and I was heavy. I figured he was upset I didn’t jump on the Raleigh idea, but he’d caught me off guard. I didn’t want this to be a holiday fling, but I couldn’t abandon my responsibilities here, either. I looked down at the charm bracelet jingling on my wrist, holding the promise of more memories, more time, more Drew. It was just my luck I’d fall for a guy who hated where I lived, and I couldn’t just leave.

“Will you not come to Raleigh because of your date with Davis?” Drew asked, looking out the window.

What? Why in the world would he be thinking about Davis? That came out of nowhere. “I told you it’s not a date.”

“I don’t like it, Piper.”

I glanced over at him. He looked so sad at the thought of me with Davis. If he only knew the truth. I didn’t want to confess the arrangement I had with Davis. We agreed to keep it between us. I knew Davis said it would be all right, but I wasn’t comfortable telling Drew. I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be.

“Stop!” Drew yelled out, making me jump slightly. I slammed on the brakes, hoping I didn’t skid off the snowy road. “Back up,” he said, turning around to look out the window.

I put the truck in reverse. “What is it?”

“Is that a for sale sign in front of the Harlow place?” he asked as I stopped.

He hopped out before I even got the truck in park. I looked out the window, watching him stare up at the house. The Harlow house was the nicest in town, at least according to Drew, and sat on a good-sized piece of property with a huge garage in the back. I put my hand on the door handle but didn’t open the truck door, something about his profile telling me he needed to be alone, his normal, flirty, sexy smile now sad. I watched him as he just stared at that house like it held all his pain and sadness. The minutes grew longer and longer as he stared, before finally turning around and getting back in the truck. I started the ignition but didn’t drive. “I won’t go with Davis, if it bothers you so much.” He forced a small smile, and I realized whatever was bothering him had nothing to do with my New Year’s plans. “You all right?”

“Fine, this town just messes with my head,” he said, staring out the window.

“There are more reasons to love this town than hate it.”

“I’ve got some big reasons to hate it.”

I was fed up with not knowing. I could ask anyone in town and probably get the scoop, but I wanted to hear it from him. “Would you like to tell me?”

“I guess I should,” he said, looking out the window into the snow. “Ellie and I used to be a thing.”

Ellie and Drew? No f’ing way! She was
so
not his type—prissy and catty and completely high maintenance. “When was this?”

“We started dating about a year after you moved and were together all through high school. So, from the time I was fifteen until I was nineteen.”

I felt my heart thumping in my chest. He was still upset about their breakup. He was still hung up on her. “So, that’s why you hate coming home. You’re in love with your brother’s wife?”

“What?” His eyes darted to me then he scooted closer. “No, not at all.”

But I wasn’t sure I believed him. “Then what is it?”

He exhaled. “Ellie’s your age, a year younger than me, so she stayed here for senior year when I went off to college.”

“You didn’t break up when you left for college?”

“No, we never even considered that. We wanted to get married and live here, raise a family. The plan was for me to go to school then come home and run the bar with Rob. Ellie was going to join me at college after she graduated. We had the whole thing planned out.”

“What happened?”

“I came home for Christmas Break my freshman year. I hadn’t seen her since I left for school in August. I couldn’t wait. The distance was so hard. I walked into my parent’s house, and she was there waiting for me.” He stopped for a second. I wondered if he was deciding how much detail I needed. “She was crying, and I thought she was just emotional about me coming home. I dropped to my knee right there in my parents’ foyer in front of everyone and pulled out the tiniest diamond you’d ever seen and asked her to marry me.”

My brain was on overload. He’d proposed to Ellie? At nineteen? He said the distance was hard, so what about the distance between us? “You proposed to her?”

“She just started crying hysterically. My dad helped us both to our feet. I was so damn confused. Ellie couldn’t even speak. My mom, dad, and Rob all just stared at me. I begged Ellie to calm down and talk to me, but she couldn’t. She just kept sobbing.” Drew shook his head slightly. “My mom and dad each came to my side and took one of my arms. I’ll never forget the look on my dad’s face. He cleared his throat and told me Ellie was pregnant.”

My head started spinning. I did the math. “Jack is your son!” I felt my whole body starting to shake. “Oh, my God! He’s your. . . .”

“No, Piper, no.” Drew placed his hand on my cheek, directing my eyes to him. “That’s the thing, Ellie and I never had sex.”

It took me a second to process what he said. “What? Ellie
cheated
?” I couldn’t believe it. How could anyone cheat on someone as wonderful as Drew? I knew there was a reason I didn’t like her—skank.

“We wanted things to be perfect. She told me she wanted to wait until we were married, to lose our virginities together on our wedding night.”

I watched his eyes turn down. I could see the pain in them even now. I could see his heart breaking as he told me the story. “So, who. . . .”

“Rob,” he whispered. “Rob and Ellie slept together.”

Suddenly, I knew his heart wasn’t breaking for her. It was breaking for someone he loved even more—his brother. I felt my stomach tighten. I’d always liked Rob, but this changed everything. Male skank! “I’m so sorry.”

Drew nodded. “Now, you know why I don’t come home. There are too many memories here. Everywhere I go, I have a memory with either Rob or Ellie. They didn’t just cheat, betray me. They stole my brother, my girlfriend, my hometown, who I wanted to be, where I wanted to live, everything.”

“But you have a great life now—a successful business and a career you seem to love.”

“I do, and I’m happy.”

“What happened that Christmas? I mean, after you found out it was Rob?”

“I just went numb, in shock, I think. I got in my truck—this truck, actually, and left. I didn’t speak to Rob or Ellie again, not until a few days ago.”

I crawled into his lap, wanting to comfort him. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t like to talk about it.”

I had a ton of questions, and I knew he’d answer them all, but I didn’t want to make him relive any more of it, at least not right now. “Just one question?” He nodded. “How long did your virginity last after that?”

He busted out laughing. “Let’s just say I had a really good New Year’s that year.”

*