Page 10 of Black Roses

“Assistant manager, really?” she asks, her attention fully on this kid who can’t be more than twenty. “I’m glad you’re so ambitious, Jarod. And of course, I’ll tell her all those things.”

“Thanks. I’ll go put your order in now. You won’t forget, right?”

“No, Jarod, I won’t forget. Now, hurry to table three, the patron looks annoyed.”

He rushes off and I shake my head after him. “She’s here only one day, and already she’s got a guy after her. What is it about you Mitchell sisters?”

“Actually, two guys,” she says.

“Two?Really?”My brows shoot up in question, and maybe concern.

“Oh, come on, Mason.” She goes into full mom mode and pulls abibout of the diaper bag I brought, placing it around Hailey’s neck. “Don’t play dumb with me. I saw the way you guys were with each other last night.”

“The way we were . . . uh, you mean the fight your sister picked with me?”

“Yes.” She smiles, her face lighting up and I can’t help but notice she shares the same brilliant green-colored eyes with Piper. “And the challenge you put on the table.And the heat between you.”She fans herself.

“Heat?”I say, incredulously, laced with a bit of denial. “You’re crazy. And she’s the one who threw down the gauntlet, I just picked it up. It’s purely selfish, because it’ll be good strength training to help me get ready for pre-season.”

“Right.”She helps Hailey with her straw when Jarod deposits the chocolate milk in front of her. “I just can’t believe how much she’s changed.”

“Hailey?”

“No, Piper. I mean, she got a nose piercing and then she did that thing with her hair. She was never like that before. We were the three musketeers—her, Baylor and me; well,fourif you count Charlie, who was always around. And even though Piper was five years younger than Baylor and three years younger than me, we still always got along so well. We did everything together. I just don’t understand what happened to her.”

“Europe happened to her.And Asia.And Africa,” I say. “People are different there. I was overseas last summer for some exhibition games. It’s a whole different world, Skylar. I think the more eccentric you are, the better you fit in.” Hailey’s chicken tenders are placed on the table and I cut them up into bite-sized pieces. “You just need to give her a chance to acclimate. She’s been gone for so long.”

“Yeah, maybe,” she says, picking around at her salad. “Just don’t be too hard on her, Mason. Something isn’t right. Something hasn’t been right with her for a long time. I know she comes off bitchy and self-centered, but she’s not really like that. I think she puts up a front. So if you have even the least bit of interest in her, don’t give up. I think you may be exactly what she needs.”

“Me?” I gesture to the waiter boy walking by. “What about him? Doesn’t he seem a little more her type?”

She shakes her head. “Don’t get me wrong. I love Jarod. And he’s right; he is the best waiter I have. But he’s not the guy for her. She needs someone strong.Someone discerning.Someone who can look past that rough exterior and break down her walls.”

“Skylar, I don’t need any distractions in my life. Dealing with Cassidy, having Hailey every other weekend, and playing football—that’s pretty much all I can handle right now. I don’t think I could take on a project as big as your sister.”

“Project?”She gives me a biting stare. “Isn’t that precisely what you’ve done, agreeing to train with my little sister for the marathon?”

“Who said I was going to train with her? I said I would let her work with my trainer. Anyway, I think she hates me.”

Skylar laughs.

“What’s so funny?” I ask.

“Oh, nothing.Except that’s exactly what I thought about Griffin when we first met.”

chapter five

piper

There’s still a winter chill in the air when I walk the ten blocks to the gym. I walk fast, trying to forget the dream I had last night. The dream I’ve had two nights in a row. I thought they were going away. I haven’t had one in a while. Maybe it’s because I’m home. It’s never the same dream. Never the same faces.

I wrap my coat around myself and quicken my steps even more as I think about brunch yesterday at Mitchell’s Long Island—my parents’ newest restaurant. It was interesting to see how everyone has gotten along without me these past years. They’ve moved on.Made something of their lives. Continued living.All while I seem to be stuck like a broken record on constant repeat.

I observed the things I’d missed when I flew in for a whirlwind weekend last year for Baylor’s wedding. Things like how my mom looks older and stressed out, the fine lines around her eyes and mouth more prominent than I’d ever seen them. I know she’s approaching fifty, but she’s always had such a youthful look about her. I guess four years make a big difference.

My dad has taken on Gavin and Griffin as his own flesh and blood. Like the sons he never had. Did he want me to be a boy?His third child—his last chance to sire a son?To have someone carry on the name of his empire?He doesn’t talk to me much. Not since I left junior year. I’m a disappointment to him.A failure.I think about how different all of our lives would be if I’d just been a boy. He seemed more interested in the fact that Mason didn’t show up for brunch than the fact that his youngest daughterhad.

It made me wonder why Mason didn’t show. Was it because I was going to be there? He clearly has a problem with me. I couldn’t care less about him one way or the other and my only problem with him is that he possesses a penis.

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