Settling Scores (Piper Anderson Series) (24 page)

Betty pushed the stray pieces of her wind-blown hair aside as she smiled hopefully at Willow. “Are you doing any singing? I sure love your voice. I’d hate to see you rob the world of it.”

“I’ve taken a little break from singing while I help out up here. When I go back to it I want it to be with a clear head.”

“I had the chance to meet with Denny yesterday to thank him personally for helping to find Erica,” Crystal said, touching Willow’s trembling arm gently. “You left something out of the story. He told me you paid the witness for the information. Out of your own pocket and it wasn’t a small amount.”

“I got some money from a friend who died out in California. He wanted me to use it in a way that helped me get on with my life. I initially thought I should take it and pay my parents back but when I told them what I did with the money they understood. I’d do it again tomorrow given the chance.”

“I know I’ve said it a hundred times before, but thank you,” Crystal gulped as she leaned backward into Jedda’s arms.

“You ready?” Josh asked, taking a step toward the entrance where Tony was waiting to let them into the apartment.

“As I’ll ever be,” whispered Willow as she met his stride and headed toward the door. She turned back to see the legion of people who’d gathered to support her as she faced the darkest place she’d ever known. It was clear to her now, this was a place where bad things had happened to her, but they weren’t happening anymore. This, all these people behind her, that was happening now.

She stepped inside the door, farther in now than any other attempt she’d made and as the smell hit her nose, she felt like she was falling from the clouds, plummeting toward the earth. That was okay though because there were plenty of people to catch her.

As they stood staring up at the run down somber looking apartment that Willow had just stepped into Michael’s phone rang. It drew everyone’s attention and elicited a roll of Jules’s emerald green eyes. “I swear your office doesn’t know what the word vacation means,” she huffed as she released his hand and he stepped away, an apology on his tongue.

After nearly ten minutes, Bobby wondered why Michael hadn’t been able to get off the phone with whoever had called. Clearly Jules was wondering the same thing as she griped, “The whole point of us being here was to support Willow when she comes out if she needs us and he’s going to be on the phone.”

“Go get him Bobby,” Betty said shoving him in the direction Michael had disappeared to.

“I’ll go with you,” Piper said, tugging a reluctant Bobby along. “He’s probably micromanaging whatever cases he left behind.”

As he and Piper rounded the corner of the adjacent building, they saw Michael bracing himself against the brick wall as though he’d just taken a physical blow. “What happened?” Piper asked, racing toward him as he instantly tried to gather himself. It was too late; they’d already seen his crumpled over shoulders and the pain in his face.

“That was my mom,” Michael blurted out with a cracking in his voice. “My dad had a heart attack. He’s dead.”

“I’m so sorry,” Piper opened her arms to him but he didn’t move toward her. He straightened his back and swallowed hard.

“I need to get to Ohio.”

“Of course,” Bobby said, as though it was the only thing that made sense. “Do you want Piper and me to keep Frankie while you and Jules go?”

“No, I’m going by myself,” Michael insisted as he tucked his phone back in his pocket. “Tell Jules,” he hesitated on the words, clearly struggling to come up with a message. “Tell her I’m sorry,
and I’ll be back in Edenville by the weekend.”

“Wait a second,” Bobby said catching his arm as he spun to leave. “We’ve all turned a blind eye to the fact that you don’t talk about your family. It’s none of our business that up until this point they haven’t met your wife or daughter. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to walk back up to my friend and tell her that her father-in-law just died and her husband took off without her.”

“You don’t understand Bobby. I’ve stood by all of you with your stuff, I’m asking you to do the same.”

“No, you’re not, Michael,” Piper snapped. “You’re not asking us to stand by you, you’re asking us to watch you bail. You’re married now. You exchanged vows, for better or worse. Whatever it is, she’ll understand.”

“I don’t like this new optimistic Piper, she’s too happy to remember how messy things can be,” Michael said in a hushed and serious voice as he shook his arm free from Bobby’s grip.

“Take care of my girls Bobby,” Michael called as he hustled toward the street, a pleading look in his eyes.

Bobby wanted to chase after him and tackle him to the ground. He wanted to hold him there and force him to face whatever it was he was running from, or running toward. Instead, when he saw the desperation in his best friend’s eyes, so he did the only thing he could, reassure him. “I will,” he called back feeling like the earth had just spun off its axis. It had been Michael, Jules, Bobby and Piper for almost two years now. They’d been through hell and back together. This was supposed to be the beginning of their finally peaceful lives. Michael was a husband and father now. He had responsibilities to Jules. Hell, he had responsibilities to all of them. That was who he was, the stable one. He was the voice of reason in the face of everyone else’s panic. Now suddenly as he ran away from them at a frantic pace Bobby could tell all of that was about to change.

“What are you saying Bobby?” Piper pleaded anxiously tugging at his arm. “We need to go after him.”

“We will, just not yet.”

Follow The Piper Anderson Series in book six

Battling Destiny September 2014