Page 20 of Forever and Other Lies

“I’m not hungry,” she said around the French fries in her mouth.

“That’s because you’ve been grazing off everyone else’s plates,” Derek grumbled.

Sticking her tongue out at him, she then turned her attention back to Nick. “So, what do you think?”

Nick’s brow furrowed. “Think?”

“About Piper 2.0? Doesn’t she look fantastic?”

“I like Piper 1.0. Although the new hair does look good. It’s just the rest. The clothes aren’t her.”

Jayna narrowed her eyes. “I think the question should be, is she for you?”

He shifted, visibly uncomfortable by her question. “Of course. Why would you even ask?”

“Well, Nick Taylor, even she doesn’t know. How much longer are you going to keep leading her on?”

Nick glared at her. His eyes moved back to the bathroom door, his expression changing to concern. She turned as well. Piper stood, staring down at her phone, a shattered expression on her face.

Nick shoved back his chair and stood. “What’s wrong?”

“That was the nursing home.” Piper lifted shocked eyes. “My grandmother had a bad fall. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance.”

Jayna watched Piper leave with Nick and bit her lip. She honestly had been trying to help. However, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had just made their relationship worse.

Chapter 8

Had he just made their relationship worse? Instead of addressing their issues head-on, Derek remained closed off and emotionally stunted, ignoring the elephant in the room. He pretended nothing had happened between them and tried to joke with his twin like he used to. It fell flat, like a lead elephant-shaped balloon. Tommy had stomped back up the stairs in frustration.

Rather than spending the rest of his day off at the farmhouse, Derek jumped in his truck and drove to his best friend’s house. But Nick wasn’t home, and Patty’s Pub didn’t open until noon. Good thing he had a cooler of beer in the bed of his pickup.

He eyed the front porch of Nick’s new house. Not a single chair in sight. Then he noticed the ladder beside the house and looked up. It was a one-story bungalow with a low-pitch roof.

Why not?

He set down the cooler, hoisted the ladder to the front of the house, and propped it against the eavestrough. Carefully, he balanced the cooler while climbing the ladder and stepped onto the roof. Edging himself to the peak, he sat down with the cooler precariously balanced beside him and pulled out a beer can.

Derek stretched out his legs, crossed them at the ankles, and took a long swallow of his beer. Cold beer, warm sun, great view; life was good. From the peak, he could see Main Street and the river. Nick had missed out on a great view by not building a two-story house.

Nick pulled his truck into the driveway and stepped out. He shielded his eyes and stared up. “Why are you on my roof?”

“I’m having a cold beer.”

“On my roof?”

“Why not? It has the best view, and you have nowhere to sit on the porch.” Derek held up a beer can. “Come on up and join me.”

“It’s ten-thirty in the morning.”

“Yeah, so? What’s your point?”

“So? You’re drinking beer. It’s not even noon, and you’re doing it on top of my house.”

“Get your chicken ass up here.”

“I’m not chicken. I have common sense. There’s a difference,” Nick said, but he still grabbed onto the ladder rung at eye level and began to climb.

Nick reached the top and shot him a dubious glance as he carefully inched his way to the peak, sitting beside him. Derek opened the cooler and pulled out a cold can, handing it to his friend.

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