Page 87 of The Keeper

“Say yes,” Dane murmured, his lips brushing over my jaw. “Let me help make this happen for you.”

I opened my mouth to argue further, but Dane silenced me with another kiss. “Stop overthinking it, Piper. You want this. Just say yes.”

My own bakery. A fresh start in a new place. A future with the man I loved. A giddy laugh bubbled up from my chest, and I nodded.

“Okay, yes,” I said, unable to keep the smile off my face. “Let’s do it.”

“That’s my girl.” He rolled so I was beneath him once more, trailing kisses down my throat. His beard scraped deliciously against my sensitive skin as he made his way down my body, and I shivered.

“Now, spread your legs for me, baby, so that I can celebrate our engagement with a proper meal,” he growled before burying his face between my thighs.

TWENTY-SIX

PIPER

Ivy & Piper’s Guide to Life Rule Number One:

Never let a man break up the band.

Ifolded one of Avery’s sweaters and added it to the cardboard box on the floor of her bedroom, trying to ignore the tension knotting my shoulders. The movers would be arriving first thing in the morning, and I hadn’t even made a dent in my bedroom or the kitchen.

When Dane proposed and asked us to move to Lubbock, a month had seemed like more than enough time to get everything squared away. It didn’t help that Avery’s new favorite pastime was going behind me and unpacking the boxes faster than I could pack them. Thankfully, Dane had taken her with him to run some last-minute errands this morning while Ivy and my mom helped me finish.

“You know, there’s more than enough room in the moving truck,” I said, glancing at Ivy as she loaded Avery’s books into a box. “We could probably squeeze in your stuff, too. You’re always saying you don’t want to live in the city forever. Now’s your chance to make it happen.”

She shook her head, her long, icy blonde hair falling across her face. “We’ve been over this,” she said, donning her therapist’s voice. “Asmuch as I would love to stowaway in your suitcase, I can’t uproot my whole life and leave my patients high and dry.”

“Don’t think of it as uprooting. It would be more like…transplanting to better soil. Your own practice soil, perhaps.” I forced a smile, but it felt brittle on my lips.

We’d lived within a half-hour of each other since junior high. Even if we didn’t see each other often due to our work and life schedules, we were at least within easy driving distance.

Ivy’s bright blue eyes met mine, filled with a mix of affection and exasperation. “You’re completely ridiculous, you know that?”

“I’m persuasive,” I countered, tossing a stuffed giraffe at her. She caught it deftly, a small smile tugging at her lips.

“You’re going to be fine without me,” she added, holding my gaze. “You’ve always been stronger than you think.”

There was that word again.

Strong.

I swallowed hard, looking down at the half-packed box next to me. The weight of the last two years pressed down on my chest. “I’m scared,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. “Scared that the nightmares won’t ever go away. Scared that I’m jumping into a marriage and a brand-new life without a safety net.”

Ivy set down the book she was holding and moved to sit beside me on the floor. “How are the therapy sessions going?”

“They’re…” I trailed off, deciding how to best describe them before releasing a shaky breath. “Intense. Dr. Carlson says I’m making progress, but some days, it doesn’t feel like it. The nightmares are still there, vivid as ever. I wake up in a cold sweat, my heart racing, convinced it’s happening all over again.”

“Trauma affects everyone differently. Just because you’re struggling doesn’t mean your relationship is doomed to fail. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.” She reached over and squeezed my hand. “Be kind to yourself, and don’t be afraid to lean on the people who love you when you need to. Like Dane.”

Deep down, I knew she was right. But the thought of voicing my fears out loud and adding to his already full plate when he was grappling with his own demons felt wrong.

As if reading my mind, she asked, “Has he been sleeping any better?”

“No,” I replied, my nose stinging with the threat of tears. “When he does, he tosses and turns, mumbling things I can’t quite make out. More often than not, though I wake up to find him on the couch with Avery curled up against his chest. She’s become his little security blanket.”

I twisted my engagement ring around my finger, a nervous habit I’d developed over the past month. “He told me they found pictures of me inside Isaac’s house. But I feel like there’s more to it that he’s not telling me. Like maybe he gave me a watered-down version because he didn’t want to upset me further. Why else would he be acting the way he is?”

Ivy’s lips pressed together, her eyes darting away from mine for a split second. That subtle tell was all the confirmation I needed. She knew more than she was letting on.

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