Page 28 of Tell Me No Lies

I keep my eyes on her, taking in my last glimpse before she walks out. "Deal."

The last hour of the day flies by as I plow through as much work as I can, knowing the more I get done, the faster I will have Piper all to myself with no distractions. By the time the shop is closed and Piper has finished her front desk duties, I'm filing everything away.

She comes into my office carrying the deposit bag. "Do you want me to lock this up, or do you want to drop it off?"

Nancy usually handles the deposits, but there's no reason to leave it for her to deal with tomorrow. "Bring it. We’ll drop it off as we go." I turn back to the filing cabinets. "That way you'll know how to do it too."

Piper is quiet behind me. After a few seconds, she comes around my desk to where I'm sitting. Her eyes flick from the stack I'm working on to the open drawer in front of me. "Do you need help?"

"I'm just filing all these now that they're paid. It helps me keep track of everything when I file them as soon as I'm done." There’s a lot to keep track of, especially considering my financial hangups, so I do my best to make sure I stay as organized as possible. That way when I need to see that everything’s fine to ease the gnawing anxiety when it creeps in, it’s an easy task instead of an all-day job.

"How do you file them?" Piper picks the top one from the stack and looks it over.

"First letter of the first word in the business name." I glance at her. "Unless it's A or The."

She nods. Attention already on the task. "Got it."

We spend the next few minutes filing everything away. Piper quickly learns which drawers hold which letters, and by the last few, she's outpacing me.

Once we’re done, I turn to her. "That was quick. You weren't fucking around."

She shrugs. "You promised me chicken wings and fried pickles." Piper makes a beckoning motion with one hand. "Now get your ass moving, because I'm hungry."

We walk through the shop together, flipping off lights before locking the doors and going into the lot. I press the button on the fob to unlock the doors on my Jeep. "I'll drive."

I make it to the door before Piper does and open it up, holding it wide as she gets in. Once she's closed in, I round the front to take my place next to her. My Jeep is the one thing I've splurged on, and it was mostly because of other people's expectations. Driving around a twenty-year-old car, no matter how well-maintained it is, somehow gives people the impression I'm not genuinely a car guy and maybe shouldn't be trusted with theirs.

I never particularly cared about the bells and whistles that came with the purchase, but being able to flip on the fan in Piper's seat when the late summer heat has her cheeks flushing, brings me a ridiculous amount of satisfaction.

When cool air starts to move through the tiny holes in the leather beneath her, she lifts up to look at the spot where she’s sitting. "Is there a fan under my ass?"

I adjust the air conditioning, angling an extra vent her way. "Yup."

She settles back into her seat, letting out a long sigh. "That's magical."

"Good." I like the look of her next to me. Like the way she fits so well into that spot. “Food or paint first?”

“Paint.” Piper smooths down her dark hair but the airflow from the vents continues blowing it around. “I’ll be useless after you stuff me full of wings and fried pickles.”

I turn toward the home improvement store. It’s a short drive from my shop so we’re parked and walking inside in under fifteen minutes. Piper spends another fifteen minutes at the wall of paint samples, looking each row over while explaining which colors she thinks would work best in my house.

I’m a little surprised she hasn’t yet figured out I don’t give a shit what my house looks like. This isn’t about me.

Directly.

When she’s finally finished, the stack of options is almost an inch thick and she continues sifting through them as we drive to one of the chain wing places I’ve heard her go on about. We settle into a booth and she spreads all the samples out between us. “A lot of people stick to just a few colors so their house coordinates.” Her eyes lift to mine, like she’s waiting for me to reply.

“Do you think a house needs to coordinate?”

She hesitates, but finally shakes her head and says, “No.” Her lower lip pinches between her teeth. “That’s how Christian’s house is and I think it’s kinda boring.” Piper straightens. “Not that I don’t like Christian’s house. It’s just…”

“Not the kind of house you’d want to live in.” I finish for her so she doesn’t have to feel like she’s talking shit about my friend’s design choices.

I wouldn’t care if she was. I don’t particularly love Christian’s house either. It’s too fucking perfect.

Piper’s shoulders relax. “Exactly.”

“We can paint every room a different color if that’s what you think will look the best.” I slip in the we, just to see if she notices.

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