Page 37 of Best Man
“When you experience something and people don’t believe you. It’s my worst fear. Not being believed.”
“Ibelieve you,” he said earnestly.
“Yeah, but that’s because you have an agenda. Youwantit to be aliens.”
“Sure do,” he admitted proudly. “I love aliens.”
“How can you love aliens?!” she asked, amused. “You don’t know who they are or what they’re up to at all! What if they’re evil?”
“Then we don’t stand achance,” he said in awe.
“Uh,yeah,and that’s completely scary!” She tutted. “I think you just love theideaof aliens, Niko. If they actually showed up on Earth, you’d be scared for your life.”
He pondered that. “Hm. You know what? Maybe you’re right.” He grinned at her. “I have a pretty good life on Earth. Would hate for evil aliens to come and mess it all up.”
She laughed. “Yeah. Me too.”
The steady patter of rainfall on the barn’s roof nurtured a soothing and reflective ambiance. Within time, their talks turned a little more serious, and they began to open up to each other, sharing stories from their childhood and truly getting to know each other.
“Can I ask a rude question?” he asked with a coy grin.
“Depends. How rude are we talking?” she countered.
“You seem like such a cool girl. How are you still single?”
She chuckled. “Well, I wasn’t, until recently.” With a sigh, she began the story about her last boyfriend, Scott. He was a fair bit older than she was, and they’d dated for about six months, and he’d talked about marriage and starting a family with her.
“That quick? After only six months?” Niko asked.
“Yeah,” she said, rolling her eyes at herself. “I should’ve seen it coming. But I thought he was just serious about the future, you know?”
She believed the fantasies he filled her head with—until one day, she learned the truth about him.
“To explain, I guess I have to backpedal a little bit,” she said. “So our public schools are often sitting on a decent plot of land that doesn’t get used, right? It’s just grass. Well, if you come from my background, you see all that grass as a waste of land. So, a couple years ago, I pitched an idea to our local school that we could turn some of that plot into a big garden, so the kids get some hands-on experience with growing plants. They approved the funding for an after-school gardening program, and I’ve been in charge of that ever since. The kids start the seeds in our greenhouse, they plant the seedlings, they water and weed, and once the plants start producing, they get to take home some produce they grew themselves.”
“Wow!” Niko said admiringly. “Very cool. Good for you. Sounds like you’re a businesswoman just like you’re sister?”
Piper chuckled. “Oh, no. It doesn’t really pay me anything. It’s barely enough money to pay for the program. But it’s not about the pay, it’s about the kids—and the kids are great.”
“Wow. You’re a good person.”
“Eh, I don’t know about that,” she demurred. “Anyway, to get back to my story. A couple months back, I was working with the kids after school. One of the boys, Charlie, was the sweetest little angel. Real green thumb on that boy—loved plants, loved being outdoors, was always eager to learn and wanting to help me in any way he could.”
Niko chuckled. “Sounds like a good kid.”
“Yeah. He was,” she said. “At the end of the day, Charlie always got picked up by his mom. One day, though, both his parents came to pick him up. Charlie got all excited and tugged on my shirt and told me he wanted me to meet his daddy. So, I turn, and who comes walking up? Scott.”
“Wait, what?”
“Scott, my so-called boyfriend, was a happily married man with a son.”
Niko’s jaw dropped. “No way!”
“Yes way,” she said. “That was the last time Charlie came to my program.”
“But what happened when you saw Scott?!”
“I shook his hand and ‘met’ him,” she said, shaking her head with disappointment. “He waspleadingwith me not to tell his wife and break up his little family. I could see it in his eyes.”
