Page 132 of On My Side
Piper
no thanks
Ren
ok, i guess leia and i will go home.
Piper’s bolting down the porch steps exactly thirteen seconds later, skidding to a stop when she sees my car.
“No. Way.” Her eyes are wide as saucers.
I grin. “Way. Think you’re up to the challenge?”
“Hell, yeah,” she says decidedly, cracking her knuckles. “Let’s do it.”
An hour later, Audrey comes home from work, freezing in the doorframe as she takes everything in. To be fair, her boyfriend and daughter wrapping lights around a seven-foot-tall tree in her living room while wearing footie pajamas and singing along withThe Muppets Christmas Carolis a lot to take in.
“Mom!” Piper shouts excitedly, hopping down from the chair she’s standing on. “We saved the angel for you! And your pajamas are on your bed!”
Audrey’s staring at me, face unreadable, and I begin to fidget with my St. Anthony medal. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think we’d have time to get it together, so I drove to Aurora Falls myself and got it and—umph!”
I’m cut off by Audrey throwing her arms around my neck and pressing her lips to mine.
“Oh mygod!” Piper yells behind us. “This is afamilyestablishment! Leia, cover your eyes!”
I chuckle against Audrey’s lips before pulling away and tucking her hair behind her ears, lost in her eyes that glisten with unshed tears.
“Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” I tell her, voice hoarse.
The next evening, the three of us head to my parents’ for Christmas Eve dinner. It’s loud and obnoxious, even without Kat and Steve there. Audrey drinks a little too much white wine and is giggling with Jo about something. Try as I might, I haven’t been able to follow their conversation.
After dinner, we gather in the living room for presents.
“All right,” Leo says, clapping his hands and rubbing them together enthusiastically.
“I’m afraid your days of being the youngest in the family are over, son,” Dad says.
“Oh my god,” I say before I can stop myself. “Is Mom pregnant again?”
“Lorenzo! I’m not pregnant!” Mom scolds while my siblings and I let out a simultaneous exhale of relief. “But Piper gets to go first, becauseshe’sthe youngest.”
Before I can say anything, Nic is rummaging under the tree and depositing a stack of wrapped gifts at Piper’s feet. Piper stares down at them, wide eyed. “These… are for me?” she asks, voice barely audible.
“Did you do this?” Audrey whispers, voice shaky in my ear.
I shake my head, throat tight as Piper opens her first gift. “I didn’t know,” I said honestly.
That’s when I notice everyone, except my parents, who are diligently documenting Piper’s gift opening experience on their phones, is staring at me, grins on their faces.
And I think they know by taking care of Piper, they’re taking care of me, too.
Every single one of my siblings got Piper a small but unbelievably thoughtful gift—even Kat and Alex, who aren’there. Nic and Josh got her some fidgets she likes, Jo and Hunter gave her a gorgeous embroidery piece of the baby grand in the SandPiper Inn lobby, and Kat got her a classical composers calendar.
“No way!” Piper screeches as she unwraps her last gift, a long, rectangular package in silver wrapping paper. “Is this a…”
“YAMAHA 88-key Weighted Action Digital Piano with Sustain Pedal and Power Supply?” Dad finishes, obviously reading from his phone. “Sure is.”
“Holy shit,” I say, mouth agape. My parentsnevergot me anything as expensive as one of those.
