Page 18 of Grateful for You
I watched as Piper sauntered back into the kitchen, putting the canned cranberry sauce into a bowl with a disdainful look on her face. I bit my lip, suppressing my laugh at the sight of her scrunched nose and wrinkled brow. From the looks of it, you’d have thought she was putting manure onto a serving dish.
I don’t want her to leave. I couldn’t quite explain it, but this relationship was already different. Everything from how I felt when I was near her to how I didn’t want to be apart from her. It wasn’t even the fact that she was planning to leave forever… even if she lived here in Maple Grove and had plans to go home back to her place—even if that was next door to me—that would be too much distance. I wanted her here in this house.
This old, Victorian house that was only just that—a house—until Piper entered it and made it feel likehome.
I had one more night to convince her to stay with me, but even if she didn’t… whether we only had this one more night or a lifetime, I knew what I was thankful for this Thanksgiving. It was Piper Morgan.
12
Piper
Even though it was a small Thanksgiving, it was filled with laughter and joy. Wren was sweet and funny, and Jackson was kind… if not a little guarded. I could feel how wary he was of me, and I had no doubt that it had to do with his brother’s kind and caring nature. I wasn’t sure how many people had taken advantage of Mason through the years, but I’m certain that, as the Sheriff of a small town, he had plenty of favors being asked of him.
And because Mason was Mason… he probably bent over backwards to care for every person in this town. Even the lone stranger who was only passing through for a night or two.
“So,” Jackson said, looking at me. “Where are you from, Piper?”
I swallowed my bite of mashed potatoes and did my best to smile at Jackson. I wanted him to like me, or at least trust me. “Just outside of DC.”
“And how’d you end up here?”
“I was driving to my sister’s house in Vermont, when a cat—”
“Squirrel,” Mason interrupted with a sweet smile.
“Acat-sized squirrel ran in front of my car. I swerved, ran off the road, and now my piece of shit car won’t start.”
Jackson nodded slowly, his mouth a firm, tight line as he took another sip of wine. “I meant… how’d you end uphere. At my brother’s house for two nights.”
Mason cleared his throat, sending his brother a warning glance. “Jackson…”
“It’s okay, Mason.” I turned to look at his brother, without anger, without confrontation. Just answering his questions. “I tried to get a room at the Maple Grove Inn, but they don’t allow large dogs.” I gestured to Athena laying at his feet, shamelessly begging for table scraps. I was pretty sure Mason’s shepherd’s pie idea last night had spoiled her normal dinner of kibble for life. “If your brother hadn’t offered me his guest room, I don’t know what we would have done. Maybe tried our luck curling up in the back seat of my car?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “And that’s where you’re staying? In hisguestroom?”
There was a sharp intake of air from Wren across from me before Mason jumped in. “That’s enough. You don’t have to be a dick. Piper’s my guest… and I care about her. Leave it alone.”
“Jackson, look, I don’t know how we got off on the wrong foot—” I was interrupted by the front door opening from somewhere out in the front hall. Athena jumped to her feet to greet the newcomer.
“That must be Carey,” Jackson said, dabbing his mouth with a napkin and standing. “Excuse me.”
Mason rubbed a slow circle over my back with his palm. “I’m so sorry about that, Piper. Please ignore him… He’s just being an overprotective big brother.”
“Over-protective,” I repeated. “That’s one word for it.”
“Yeah,” snorted Wren. “Another isasshole.” Then, he held his glass of wine up and tapped it to the edge of mine. “I, for one, have been enjoying your company. And I hope you can join us for Orphan Christmas this year, too.”
I blinked, looking over at Mason. “Just how many orphan holidays do you host?”
He smiled and shrugged. “If there’s a holiday, I usually host an orphan version here for anyone who has no family to visit.”
“Remember last Christmas?” Wren asked with a laugh. “There was that insane blizzard, and everyone who had planned to leave to visit family elsewhere had nowhere to go.”
Mason’s head fell back, laughing. “This house was filled with twenty different people… all eating my instant mashed potatoes.”
A lean brunette with a disarming smile came bounding into the dining room. “It was your worst meal yet!” she laughed. “But this one… holy hell, this one smells damn good, Mason.”
“We’ve got Piper to thank for that,” he said and gave a tender tug to the base of my hair. “Piper, this is Carey.”
