Page 143 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
That felt like an impossibility.
A dream.
Fiction that for a little while we were living.
Of course, I needed to somehow figure out how to get to a store and get decorations, but I was determined to make it happen.
“Oh my gosh. There is nothing better than a little one decorating a tree. The sheer joy of it.” Awe filled her features, her smile tipping in affection as she continued, “Maci demanded that Kane bring one home the day after Thanksgiving. She might be a little eager.”
“And what my girls demand, my girls get,” Kane said, grinning wide.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I pulled it out at the same time as Emery grabbed hers from where it sat on the counter.
Raven
Hey, you sexy bitches. My place tomorrow at 4. Bring a dish to share. This includes you, Piper Poo! We want to meet Finn!
Excitement filled Emery’s expression as she glanced up at me as she typed.
Emery
Best plan ever.
Disquiet gusted through my insides. Was it the best idea? Or was I just setting us all up to get our hearts broken?
Raven
Do you even know me? I have all the best plans.
Unknown
I concede to the fact. I love this idea. Nolan is going to be so excited! This is Charleigh, BTW, Piper. Save it and use it.
My heart palpitated, and I felt Emery peering over at me as I hesitated, not sure what to say. If I should give in or put the walls back up around us.
No doubt, Emery sensed my panic because she whispered, “You belong there.”
My eyes pinched at the corners, and the truth was flowing out before I gave it permission to. “I’m not sure I belong anywhere.”
Something passed through Kane’s eyes.
Something dark and ferocious that still somehow amounted to care. “Everyone belongs somewhere, Piper. All of us, even when we don’t trust the path to get us there.”
Tapping suddenly thudded against the glass pane of the door. We’d locked it when we closed.
I looked in that direction.
My chest squeezed when I found Theo standing on the other side of it.
My entire being flailed in that direction, stretching out for him as if I were lost in a dark sea and he was a buoy rather than realizing that this man was an abyss that would only lead to my destruction.
Emery rounded the counter and moved to the door, welcome on her face as she unlocked it.
Faint flurries of snow had begun to fall, and it flitted around him and stuck to the black locks of his hair.
His face was full of that casual menace that should terrify me but instead sent a gush of need streaking through my insides.
“Hey, Theo. What are you doing here?” Emery asked.
