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  Tricia laughed. “No, we just didn’t feel like cooking tonight. We’d love to have dinner with you.” She looked at her husband. Maybe Tricia had seen the same expression on Jerome’s face that Piper had.

  “Great,” the hostess said. “We have a booth ready for the four of you.”

  As they were led to their table, Nate grabbed Piper’s arm and pulled her back. “Why did you invite them to eat with us?”

  Piper could either play dumb or tell him the truth. She went with part of the truth. “Because I want to get to know them better. It’s only a couple of hours at most.” She patted him on the arm. “I’m sure you’ll survive.”

  “Don’t be so sure about that,” he muttered under his breath as they continued toward their seats.

  The four of them got situated, and the hostess told them their server would be with them soon.

  “So, how do you and Nate know each other?” Tricia asked.

  For a second, Piper was surprised that they didn’t recognize her name, but then she remembered that Nate had told her that he didn’t share much with his family.

  “Nate and my husband went to college together. Nate actually helped Jordan find a job here. That’s how we moved from Nebraska.”

  Tricia and Jerome looked around, and Piper realized she’d forgotten to say her late husband.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Jordan passed away a year ago in a car accident.”

  Recognition dawned in both Tricia’s and Jerome’s eyes.

  “This was the same accident as Nate?” Jerome asked.

  So, maybe they had heard of her. They just hadn’t known her name.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sorry to hear about your loss. I’m sorry we brought it up,” Tricia said.

  “Thank you. And it’s okay. Really. It’s my reality and a part of who I am. Yes, it makes me sad when I think about it, and I miss him every day, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to talk about him.”

  Nate flinched beside her, and for some odd reason, Tricia looked guilty.

  “But I try to look at the positive things,” Piper continued. “I wouldn’t have become such good friends with Nate if things had been different.” And she would never have known what it felt like to have Nate inside her. Since she couldn’t control the situation, she might as well take what good she could get out of it.

  Jerome smiled at the two of them with a slight sadness in his eyes, and Piper’s heart went out to him. It was obvious he wanted a better relationship with his son.

  Their server approached their table, and the previous conversation dropped. After taking their drink orders with a promise to be back, their server walked away.

  “What is it you do?” Tricia asked.

  “I work at a women’s shelter.”

  “Piper’s a women’s advocate,” Nate told his parents. “She won’t admit it, but she’s amazing at her job.”

  Piper blushed. She’d had no idea that Nate thought that way about her.

  “Wow. That must be intense sometimes,” Tricia said.

  “Oh, yes,” Piper agreed. “But, other times, it can be very mundane. What about you?”

  “I’m an accountant,” Tricia said. “And Jerome has his own contracting business,” she said proudly.

  “That’s impressive. I wouldn’t know where to start if I had my own business.”

  Jerome put up his hands in modesty. “It’s a small business. I’ve been in construction most of my life. My body can’t handle things the way it used to, but I’m too young to retire. Something had to change, and now, I’m the boss. I step in when help is needed, but I don’t do as much labor as I used to.”

  Piper smiled. “I think Nate once said that you taught him everything he knows, which I’m certainly grateful for because my backyard is coming along beautifully.”

  Jerome’s brows furrowed. “Backyard?”

  Nate really doesn’t tell his parents anything.

  “Yes, Nate has been working on my backyard all summer.”

  Nate shifted in his seat, as if he was uncomfortable, but it didn’t seem like a big deal that he was doing work at her house.

  Jerome cleared his throat. “Who’s been helping you?”

  When Nate didn’t say anything, Piper offered the information. “Luke. He kind of owed Nate since Nate worked on Luke and Elise’s house for free.”

  Nate kicked her under the table.

  “Ow.”

  What was that for?

  Jerome’s eyes widened, and he looked sad. “You worked on Luke’s house, too?”

  “It’s not a big deal,” Nate said.

  “I would have helped, you know.”

  Nate sighed. “I know, Dad.”

  He shot Piper a look that said, Now, look what you’ve done, and she finally understood what all the tension was about.

  I’m an idiot.

  Jerome was obviously hurt that Nate hadn’t asked for his help, and she’d had to open her big mouth and add more fuel to the fire.

  She put her hand on Nate’s thigh and squeezed. When he looked at her, she mouthed an apology.

  Once again, their server had excellent timing, and the subject was dropped. They spent the rest of the meal making small talk, and there were no more mentions of deceased spouses or odd jobs on the side.

  “Here’s the bill, whenever you’re ready,” their server said as she set the slip of paper on the table.

  Nate went to reach for it, but his dad beat him to it.

  “I’ve got this, son.”

  “Dad,” Nate protested.

  His father looked him in the eye. “I said, I have got this.”

  Nate knew when to push and when to back off. “Okay. Thank you.”

  Piper picked her napkin off her lap and set it next to her plate. “Yes, thank you very much. That is so kind of you to pay. It wasn’t my intention when I asked you to eat with us.”

  His father laughed. “We know.”

  “Well, thanks again.” She turned to Nate. “I’m going to go use the restroom. Should I meet you out front?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’m going to go use the restroom, too,” his father said. “Are you going to put this on the Visa?” he asked Tricia.

  “Yes,” she said and put her credit card on the table with the bill.

  For as long as Nate could remember, Tricia had kept track of the finances, which made sense since she was the accountant in the family.

  Both Piper and his dad got up and left as the waitress snagged the payment from the table, leaving him alone with Tricia. He watched Piper walk away, wishing they could be far away from here—preferably alone and naked.

  “You care about her.”

  “Huh?” Nate turned his attention to his stepmom.

  “You care about her. Piper,” she explained.

  “Oh…well…yeah. She’s my friend.”

  Tricia didn’t come out and call bullshit. It was written all over her face. “Can I say something?”

  If I said no, would that stop you?

  “Sure.” He shrugged. “Why not?”

  “I was very wrong to treat you the way I did when your father and I first got married.”

  Whoa. What? Where is this coming from?

  “When I first met your dad, he was very much in mourning, and I knew that he loved your mother so incredibly deeply.” Tricia looked down at her hands. “And, now, years later, I can admit, I was jealous. And part of that jealousy was taken out on you. It didn’t help that you were a constant reminder of what your father and mother had together.” She looked up and met Nate’s eyes. “I should have treated you better, Nate. You were a young boy who had just lost his mom. All you wanted was to be loved, and I threw it back in your face.”

  Nate felt his eyes widen as Tricia’s filled with tears.

  “It wasn’t until years later, when Tiana was born, that I realized how awful I had been to you. If I thought about some
one treating Tiana the way I’d treated you…” She took a deep breath. “Let’s just say, I am very sorry. I’m sorry that I wasn’t a better stepmom to you. I know I’m a huge reason that you and your father aren’t close, and I’m sorry for that, too.”

  His dad and stepmom had been married for years, and this was just coming out now.

  “Why are you telling me this now? After all this time?”

  She shrugged. “Partly because I never knew how to tell you. Partly because I was embarrassed, and I didn’t want to admit out loud how horrible I’d been. But I’m telling you now because I know something that I didn’t know back then.”

  “And what is that?”

  “That the heart has no limit to how much it can love. I learned that I had no reason to be jealous of Jerome’s love for your mother because he loves me, too. And his love for you doesn’t mean he loves Tiana any less. Your father can love your mother and me.”

  Nate didn’t understand what she meant by all this. “What does this have to do with me?”

  Tricia smiled, but her eyes were sad. “Just because Piper loved her husband doesn’t mean she can’t love anyone else.”

  Nate sat back in the booth. “Whoa, whoa, it’s not like that.”

  “Whatever you say. I just wanted you to know and maybe learn from my mistakes.”

  “But—”

  “Here comes Jerome,” Tricia said, looking over Nate’s shoulder. She met his eyes once more. “Also, please give your father a second chance. He knows he messed up when you were little. If you gave him a chance, he would like to apologize to you, too. He loves you very much, Nate.”

  Nate sat, stunned, as his dad walked up to the table.

  “Are you ready to go?”

  “Almost.” Tricia smiled at his father, and for maybe the first time, Nate saw how much love was between them. “Here comes the waitress now.”

  The server returned the card, and Tricia quickly signed the receipt.

  She stood and grabbed his father’s hand. “Think about what I said, okay?”

  “What did you say?” his dad asked.

  Tricia kissed him. “Nothing for you to worry about. Let’s go home.”

  Jerome smiled. “Okay, dear.” He looked at Nate, and his smile turned tentative. “Thanks, son, for letting us have dinner with you.”

  Nate nodded, and thinking about what Tricia had talked about, he said, “Thanks for eating with us.”

  His father’s smile no longer wavered, and he gave Nate a nod before leading his wife out the door.

  A few seconds later, Piper appeared. “I thought I was meeting you at the front.”

  Nate stood. “Yeah, I got to talking to Tricia and my dad.”

  She winced. “I hope it’s okay I asked them to eat with us. You’re not mad, are you?”

  Nate grabbed her hand. “No, I’m not mad.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, good.”

  Nate laughed and kissed her. “Let’s go home.”

  The next morning, Piper was awakened by her cell phone ringing on the nightstand. She blindly reached out an arm from where she had buried herself underneath the covers in the middle of the night to grab her phone from the table.

  She cleared her throat and swiped to answer. “Hello?” Her voice still sounded scratchy.

  “Piper!”

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “What are you doing today?”

  It was kind of an odd question, but she was too sleepy to really think about it. “I have to run to the grocery store, but I think that’s it.”

  “Do you have plans tonight?”

  She and Nate had talked about going out, but they had also talked about staying home and watching a movie.

  “Nothing firm.” A little prick at the back of Piper’s neck began to tingle, and she pushed the covers off her face. “What’s going on?”

  Her first thought was her mother was in the hospital or something, and alarm bells began to go off.

  “Can you text me your grocery list?”

  Piper calmed somewhat. A woman in the hospital wouldn’t ask for a grocery list.

  “Yeah,” she said hesitantly. “Why?”

  “Well, I was going to surprise you, but Don insisted that I give you some warning first.”

  “Surprise me how?” A different sort of panic began to set in.

  “Don and I decided to visit you!”

  Piper sat up. “When?”

  “Now! We’ve been driving all morning.”

  Piper looked at the clock. It was almost ten in the morning. “What time did you leave?”

  “Four.”

  It was about a six-hour drive from Omaha to Minneapolis with pit stops, which meant—

  “We’re going to be in town in about twenty minutes! Text me your grocery list, and we’ll go to the store before we come. Love you. Can’t wait to see you.” And then her mom was gone.

  Piper pulled up her memo pad app in her phone where she kept a list of groceries and quickly sent it to her mom. She added a few items to hopefully stall her mother some. She was not prepared for a visit. She needed to shower. She needed to pick up her house. She needed to put sheets on the guest bed. She needed to clean the bathroom.

  She rolled over.

  “Ah.” She needed to get a naked Nate out of her bed.

  He was sprawled on his back, sheet pulled down to his crotch, pillow over his face, with his tattooed arm slung over his pillow and a slight snore coming from his mouth. He obviously hadn’t heard a single thing. And he looked like such a sexy Adonis, lying there, that she wanted to cry. It wasn’t fair. She wanted to touch him, not push him out of her bed.

  She put her hand on his stomach and shook him. “Nate, it’s time to get up.”

  He shifted and made a humming noise. He grabbed her hand and pushed it under the sheet and over his hard length. He wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed. “Hmm.”

  “Nate, you have to get up.” Despite her words, she didn’t remove her hand.

  He pushed the pillow off his face. “I am up. Can’t you tell?”

  “Not your penis. All of you.”

  He reached up and thumbed her nipple.

  “Please.” She didn’t know if she was saying, Please get up, or, Please do more of that.

  Nate reached over to the nightstand on his side of the bed and opened the drawer. He pulled out a condom from the pile he had stocked there for them.

  She knew she should stop him, but instead, she watched as he rolled the protection down his beautiful cock. As soon as he was sheathed, she swung a leg over his hips.

  “We have to make this quick,” she told him as she pushed him inside her.

  “Damn,” he gasped. “Are you even ready?”

  She laughed. She was always ready for him. “Yes,” she assured him and rotated her hips.

  Nate pulled her down to him and cupped her breast, sucking her nipple into his mouth. He removed his palm from her breast and placed both hands on her hips, guiding her movements.

  Piper sat up, pulling her tip from his mouth, and pushed two fingers between her legs. If they were going to get this done before her mom and her mom’s fiancé got there, she was going to need a little extra help.

  “Fuck, it is so hot, watching you touch yourself.”

  Piper bit her lip and ground her hips over Nate’s.

  “Keep doing just that,” he said and slid his hands up to her breasts again, molding them in his palms, brushing his thumbs over her nipples.

  She arched her chest toward him and rode him. His hands on her breasts, her fingers on her clit, and his cock on her G-spot were the perfect trifecta, and Piper exploded. She didn’t stop until her orgasm waned and Nate bucked underneath her.

  She collapsed on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. She wished she could lie like that all day, but her mom was coming.

  Piper shot up, flinging Nate’s arms off her. “Oh m
y God, we have to get up.”

  “What? Why?”

  Piper climbed off him. “My mom’s coming.”

  Nate put his arms under his head and yawned. “When?”

  Piper looked at the clock again. “Oh, in probably fifteen minutes…unless she takes her sweet time at the store.”

  Nate’s eyes widened, and he scrambled out of bed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Twenty-three and a half minutes later, Piper and Nate had showered–separately—put clean sheets on her guest bed, and picked up things, like magazines and mail, from her living room and kitchen. She’d made sure to hang her mother’s wedding invitation on the fridge.

  They were sitting at her kitchen counter, drinking coffee, when her mom and Don, her mother’s new fiancé, arrived. Piper opened the door, and her mother pulled her in for a hug. Her mom’s dark blonde hair smelled like her favorite perfume, and Piper breathed in the familiar scent.

  She squeezed her mom, not realizing how much she had missed her until now. Her mother pulled away and brushed her wet hair from her face. Piper saw that her mother had noticed her newly washed hair, but she didn’t call her out on it. She simply smiled.

  “How’s my baby doing?”

  Piper grinned. “Good. How are you?”

  “So glad to see you.” She looked up and over Piper’s shoulder. “Nathaniel!”

  Her mom walked around her and pulled Nate into her arms. Piper was grateful that Nate had shaved his head this morning, so her mother wouldn’t see they were both freshly showered.

  “Hi, Mrs. Donovan.”

  Piper’s mom took a step back. “Now, now, you call me Karen.” She turned and looked at Piper. “I tell him this every time.”

  Piper rolled her eyes. “Mom, you’ve only met Nate, like, two times.”

  “Three, but who’s counting?”

  You are, Piper thought.

  “Any man who is nice enough to drive my daughter home for her husband’s funeral doesn’t call me Mrs. Donovan.”

  When Jordan had passed away, at the request of his parents, she’d brought him back to Nebraska to be buried. They had no family ties in Minnesota, and it didn’t make sense to keep him from those who loved him.