Settling Scores (Piper Anderson Series) (7 page)

“I’m sure that will go over great. But you don’t have any time off, only what you’ve got scheduled for the honeymoon,” Piper said sounding defeated.

“I’ll switch it. We’ll just honeymoon before our wedding. In Jersey. Doesn’t that sound romantic?” Bobby shrugged and leaned into Piper with a sweet smile.

“I’m not sure either of you are capable of relaxing anyway. I figured even on your honeymoon you’d be solving a crime or something,” Michael joked, as he grabbed the onions off of Jules’s salad with his free hand and Jules grabbed the tomatoes off his. Piper had watched them morph into a couple during the time she’d known them and this was just another example. How wonderful to find the person who willingly gave you your favorite thing off their plate and took away the one thing you didn’t like. It brought balance to them both.

“So we’re going?” Piper asked, looking around the table in a speak now or forever hold your peace manner.

“I think we have to. I’ll give my boss a call and explain the situation. Maybe he’ll give me some liberties to work with a precinct up there. If Willow’s dead set on doing this at least we can do it the right way.”

“If you two aren’t here for your wedding,” Betty began, pointing her knife threateningly over at them, “I will hunt you down and drag you back here. I have worked too damn hard to make sure you two don’t screw things up in this relationship. I’ll be damned if I’m going to postpone these vows.”

“I think we’ve done most of the heavy lifting in our relationship,” Bobby shot back putting his arm around Piper proudly.

“Oh please, you’d all be nothing without me. Just a bunch of hungry, lonely buffoons who keep screwing up your lives. Let me hear one of you disagree with that and I’ll start listing the crap you all pull.  So just don’t make me get on another plane and pull your sorry butts back here. You know how much I hate to fly.” Betty sliced off a bite of meatloaf and plunged her fork assertively into it. “Oh and give my love to Willow. Tell her we’re rooting for her and if she needs anything at all, I’m here.”

“You’re scary and wonderful all at once, Betty,” Piper said as she poured a glass of wine for herself.

“You just focus on the scary part if the idea of moving your wedding date creeps into your head,” Betty threatened with a sweet smile.

Everyone finished their meals and then began to scatter. Jedda tossed his dishtowel back over his shoulder and tied his apron back on as he kissed Crystal goodbye. Jules and Michael finished the endless process of getting Frankie cleaned up, strapped in, and all of her jingling toys gathered up.

“Piper,” Crystal called in a hushed voice once Jedda had disappeared back into the kitchen.

“What’s up?” Piper asked reading the look of conflict on her friends face. Crystal had been someone Piper could talk to leading up to the wedding when Jules had been busy tending to Frankie. She’d assimilated well into this patchwork family, becoming her own pattern in their quilt. Crystal was good for Jedda, and in that, good for all of them.

“I wanted to ask you and Bobby something,” she said looking uncomfortable as Piper waved Bobby over. “I know this makes absolutely no sense and I’m embarrassed to even ask, but I was hoping you could take something with you when you go to New Jersey.” She reached in her bag and pulled out the photograph of her missing sister Erica. The edges tattered and the print faded, Piper could see Crystal had been carrying it a long time. Likely, the entire fifteen years Erica has been missing.

“Of course,” Piper answered holding her hand out to receive the picture Crystal clearly didn’t want to part with.

“I completely understand that you’re going up there for Willow. I’m not asking you to do anything proactively on Erica’s case. I know you looked into what was available up there already and there wasn’t anything to go on. That hasn’t changed. I try not to talk about it too much because I feel terrible for the pretenses I used to meet all of you. Hiding my past from Jedda just hoping he’d have information about my sister that was wrong. But Erica is on my mind every single day. Not knowing what happened to her is the worst part. It would mean a lot to me if you could just take her picture. Just in case.” Crystal pressed the photo down into Piper’s hand and brushed her long blond bangs away from her eyes. Wiping away a small tear, she bit at her lip.

“It’s worth having with us,” Bobby assured her as he pulled her in for a hug. There were no shortage of moments in Piper’s life that reminded her why she loved Bobby.

“Thank you both, not just for taking Erica’s picture with you but for how accepting you’ve been over the last few months. I didn’t make a very good first impression but somehow you all found a way to give me another chance.”

“In this family, we do second chances,” Piper smiled, squeezing Crystal’s arm. “Hell, we do third and fourth chances too,” she teased.

“Well Betty seemed like she meant business so you just make sure you two are back for your wedding. Sounds like you might be out of chances.”

Willow clutched her bag close to her chest as they made their way through the hotel lobby. The notes she’d gathered, the things she’d forced herself to remember were all tucked away in the pockets of that bag and they felt as important to her as oxygen. She didn’t want a single scrap to be lost. She couldn’t afford to a have a piece of the puzzle misplaced, even if much of it was unimportant.

“You sure you’re alright with me only getting us one room?” Josh asked hesitantly as he pushed the elevator button.

“Yeah, I don’t know how long I’ll be up here and it’s too expensive to get two rooms. I think we can be adult about it.”

“Absolutely,” Josh agreed, grabbing Willow’s guitar case and gesturing for her to step into the elevator ahead of him. It was those small acts that, all stacked up together, made Josh who he was. His arm reached out across the opening to ensure the doors didn’t prematurely start to close on her. His movements were always accommodating and kind. Selfless. He’d likely let the elevator door chop off his arm if it meant she got in safely. Luckily, it didn’t come to that and he stepped in behind her.

“I called the sketch artist. She’s going to meet with us here in the lobby tomorrow morning. Is there anything you want to do tonight or did you just want to rest? I’m sure the jet lag is harder on you, adjusting to the time change and all.”

“I want to go to the apartment. Even if we don’t go inside, I just want to get there. I need to see it all,” Willow said, fidgeting with her nervous hands. Maybe that didn’t make sense to Josh, but to her it was a crucial part of what she was doing. She’d splintered off so many pieces of her life that until she saw that structure, the actual building standing there in front of her, she wouldn’t be completely convinced any of her memories were real. This was going to set the tone. Would Josh really support her or would he take every opportunity to talk her into backing off? Would he suggest they rest, grab dinner and start fresh in the morning?

“Sounds good. I put the address in the GPS earlier and we’re about twenty minutes from there. I wanted to make sure we were close enough to get back and forth easily but that we were staying in a safer area.” With those words, Willow felt another of her defenses fall away. He’d passed every test so far, and she was starting to wonder if he really could just support her.

“That’s smart. I think it’ll be good to have a home base that’s far enough away in case I get overwhelmed.” Admitting the chance that she might struggle was her gift to him. She wasn’t dumb enough to think this wasn’t going to take a toll on her, but normally she’d put up a blustery front about how she’d have it under control. Josh deserved to see that she was nervous, that she was being realistic.

“Let’s get our bags settled then head out. I don’t think we should be there after dark, do you?” Again, Josh wasn’t dictating, he was letting it be her choice, her idea.

“Definitely not.” Willow smiled as Josh opened the door to the hotel room and she felt a wave of relief flow over her. She’d been living in that decrepit miserable hole for so many months. A nice clean, comfortable bed in a safe place was exactly what she’d hoped for even though she wasn’t going to ask for it.

“I know I already said it a bunch of times Josh, but I don’t feel like I’m saying it the right way. Maybe I don’t even know how. The fact that you’re here, the way you’re backing me up… it’s helping. I think it’s going to make all the difference. I know I don’t really ever get the words right but…”

“Message received,” Josh said with a flash of understanding in his eyes. “I know taking help isn’t easy, so I’m just glad you haven’t tried to lose me yet.”

“Trust me, if I wanted to it wouldn’t be a matter of try. I can disappear.” Though she meant it more as a joke than a warning, she regretted it as she saw a seriousness fall over Josh’s kind face.

“Don’t disappear,” he pleaded as he pushed his hair off his forehead and stared straight into her. “Just don’t.”

“I won’t,” she assured him, even knowing the odds were against that being true.

They settled themselves into the hotel and Willow found herself antsy to leave. Her nervous energy was practically shooting sparks out of her as she paced around the small hotel room.

“Ready to go?” Josh asked as he tucked in his shirt.

“You should change,” Willow suggested, trying to be tactful. “You look like a doctor. Did you bring anything else?”

“What’s wrong with looking like a doctor?”

“Doctors are rich. Rich people get robbed,” Willow explained as she grabbed his bag and set it on the bed, quickly unzipping it. She was finding boundary crossing unavoidable. Last night they’d slept in her lumpy too small bed. Their bodies were forced to touch and they woke in each other’s tangled arms. Pawing through his clothes for something better to wear was just another line to cross and it seemed like it would be one of many.

“Here, what about this?” she asked, tossing him the only T-shirt in the bag. “Just leave it untucked.”

“Do I look like someone who tucks in his t-shirts? Boy, if so, I need to work on my image.”

“I wasn’t sure,” Willow laughed, and she wondered if she should leave him alone to change. Before she could decide, he was already reaching over his back and lifting his dress shirt over his head, exposing his well-defined chest and stomach. His tanned skin was smooth and begging to be touched.

“Shit,” she breathed out before she could catch her words.

“What?” he asked, grabbing the T-shirt.

“Do you work out? I didn’t know you had all that under your white coat and stethoscope. You’re in really good shape. Like really good.”

“So I’m full of surprises today. I’m not the goofy chubby guy who tucks in his T-shirts. I’m glad we’re clearing this up.”

“I didn’t think you were chubby, I just didn’t realize you had a damn six pack,” Willow retorted as she covered her own midsection self-consciously with her hand. “What’s that?” she asked pointing at the long jagged mark that cut across his lower stomach and trailed below the waist of his pants and out of sight. She couldn’t help but wonder where it ended.

“It is a scar and someday I’ll tell you how I got it. There are a lot of things you don’t know about me Willow. But you will.”

“I guess if we’re going to be in this three hundred square foot room we’ll be finding out a lot about each other.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Josh smirked as he opened the door for her. “After you,” he said waving her by him.

“Where did you learn to do all that?” she asked, hesitating on her way out and turning her body to face his, the small space of the doorframe forcing them close to each other.

“Opening doors? Well I think they covered operating common door knobs in med school.”

“Not the actual opening of the door, but all that stuff you do for people, for me. Holding doors, grabbing my bags, making sure I’m good before you worry about yourself. That has to come from somewhere.”

“I don’t know really. It just always seemed like the right thing to do. I guess my dad must have done a lot of it and I just picked it up. Then as I got older, I kept doing it because I liked the way it made me feel. Maybe it’s the doctor thing, wanting to help people.”

“You’re like a real gentleman. I don’t know that I’ve met anyone who does that stuff all the time.”

“Now you have,” Josh retorted, and Willow felt the urge to kiss him. She leaned her face in a few centimeters and felt his hand brush against her shoulder, not seductively but haltingly. “We probably only have a couple hours of sun left, we should head over to the apartment,” he said as he leaned back the equal distance that she had leaned in, sending a loud message.

“You’re right,” Willow conceded, talking more about the fact that he’d rebuffed her kiss than his comment about the daylight fading. He was indeed right, a kiss now could be catastrophic.

As Josh’s car rounded the corner to the apartment building where she’d spent the first part of her life, Willow felt weirdly excited. She wasn’t enthusiastic about remembering the horror that had occurred there, but she knew it was the first step in possibly finding these girls.

“That’s it right there.” Willow pointed as they approached the four-story apartment building with splintered dark brown wood siding. “Holy shit.” She brought her hands up to cover her mouth.