Page 10 of Ranger Bravery

Emma promptly sat down and Piper went to work untangling the curls that’d worked themselves into knots. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.” She rubbed her right eye with a balled fist. “Robbie was mean to Carolyn at the playground yesterday. He pulled her hair. She started crying. So then I told him to stop it and he called me a bad name.” She met Piper’s gaze in the mirror. Her youthful cheeks and sweet, round face offset the seriousness in her expression. “I explained everything to Mrs. Hutchinson. She gave Robbie a talking to. Pulling hair and calling people names is against the rules.”

Mrs. Hutchinson was Emma’s teacher. The older woman was compassionate, but she didn’t let the kids get away with anything unacceptable. Piper liked her a great deal.

“Great job, Emma. You handled that exactly as you were supposed to.” Piper weaved the light-colored strands of her niece’s hair into a tight braid before wrapping the end with an elastic band. “I’m proud of you for sticking up for your friend.”

Her niece had a heart of gold and was a fearless champion of any underdog. Ava said Emma was exactly like Piper. She appreciated the compliment, although Piper believed Emma was a much better version. She wasn’t jaded. She was full of joy and light and everything good in the world.

Emma bloomed under Piper’s praise. A broad smile stretched across her face. Then she admired the braid in the mirror. “That looks good.” She gave her a fierce hug. “Thanks, Aunt Piper.”

“You’re welcome.” Warmth infused her insides. Piper held on to Emma for a second or two more. “Go get dressed and come down for breakfast. I don’t want you to be late for school.”

“Okay.” She skipped out of the bathroom.

Emma’s happiness brought a smile to Piper’s face and erased the last of the darkness caused by her nightmare. She hurried downstairs. The scent of coffee and bacon greeted her. Ava stood at the stove in her robe, the brace on her leg already attached over the leg of her pajamas. Several surgeries had put her sister back together after the car accident, and while she’d come a long way, things were far from 100 percent. She would probably need one more surgery at the end of the summer and was currently undergoing physical therapy.

Piper waved her sister from the stove. “Let me do it. Sit down.”

“I’m fine.” Ava stubbornly blocked the pan of eggs and held on to the spatula. “It’s easier for me in the morning when I’m well-rested. I did my stretches already and the physical therapist said it’s good for me to be standing.” She eyed Piper, her gaze lingering on the dark circles concealer did little to cover. “You didn’t sleep well.”

“Nightmares.” Piper poured a cup of coffee and then refilled Ava’s. The rich, dark brew smelled heavenly. She drank some and popped bread in the toaster. “Finn outside with Moxie?”

“Yep.” Ava kept stirring the eggs. “Want to talk about it?”

“The nightmare? No.”

“What about working with Jackson?”

“Not that either.”

“Nice try, kid, but you aren’t getting out of both those topics. I’ll pick the safer of the two.” Ava’s brows arched. “You and Jackson haven’t seen each other in years and then you invite him home for dinner. Granted, it’s been a while since I’ve been on the dating scene, but I know what attraction looks like and you two still have it.”

Piper groaned. Despite her failed marriage, Ava was a romantic. She needed to nip this in the bud. “First of all, Jackson and I are working together on a murder case. There’s nothing fun about that. Second, I invited him in for dinner because it was the polite thing to do.”

“Did you apologize for breaking up with him in a letter?”

She slid some more bread into the toaster. “If you must know, yes, I did. He said it was water under the bridge. No hard feelings.”

Ava was quiet for a long moment. Piper glanced at her sister, recognizing the furrowed brow and the way Ava was intensely stirring the scrambled eyes. Her sister knew something and was debating saying it.

She narrowed her gaze. “What?”

“Grandma Mary swore me to secrecy, but now that you and Jackson are working together, I think it’s better if you know.” She turned to face Piper. “After you left town, for almost a year, he checked in with Grandma Mary to see how you were doing. He was devastated by the breakup. Worried about how you were after the attack… Jackson really loved you.”

Dumbfounded, Piper stared at her sister. “Why didn’t either of you tell me?”

“I tried. I told you to call him.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“No, but your letter specifically asked him not to contact you. Jackson wanted to be respectful of your wishes, but also wanted to make sure you were okay. Grandma Mary said that once you were settled in South Dakota, he stopped asking.”

She sagged against the counter. “My PTSD was under control by then.”

“That’s what she told him.” Ava turned off the burner and wiped her hands on a dish towel. “Listen, Piper, you rarely listen to me, and perhaps I’m not the best person to give advice in the romance department considering my disastrous divorce, but I wouldn’t be doing my job as your big sister if I don’t say this. Jackson was one of the good ones. If friendship is all there is between the two of you, then fine. Leave it there. But if you decide at some point you want more… I’d tell him.” She smiled. “It’s rare to get a second chance with a first love.”

The back door opened, saving Piper from a response. She needed time to process everything Ava had shared.

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