Page 75 of Too Fast To Fall
Jason nodded. “I’m sure it’s hard to find the right person.”
Emilio clipped on Gus’s leash. “Harder than you know.” He walked out to the parking area and found his McLaren. With justthe two of them, there was plenty of room. He was about to start the engine, when he felt like he needed to say something.It was silly, but Gus always seemed so tuned in to what was going on with Emilio, and he was very obviously sad. And maybethis could be one more way for Emilio to tap into his feelings.
“Hey, buddy.” Emilio turned to Gus, who amazingly enough, made eye contact. “I know this has been hard for you. It’s beenhard for me. But I’m going to try to find a way to bring Piper back into our lives. I’m not quite sure how to do that, butI’ll figure it out. I just need to get through this last interview.” He swallowed hard as he saw Gus’s expression change.The way his eyes lit up at the things he loved. He reached over and gave him a few ear scratches. “No matter what happens,it’s you and me, buddy. We have to stick together. And I think you know this, but I love you.” He leaned in closer and kissedhis soft forehead. “So, so much.”
Piper lay in the slightly uncomfortable bed in her parents’ guest room and stared at the ceiling. “I am a good person.”Inhale. Exhale.“I deserve love.”Inhale. Exhale.“I probably fucked up when I didn’t tell Emilio my real feelings.” She rolled to her stomach and punched the pillow, thenlooked at the text he’d sent her early that morning.
Gus misses you. He keeps sleeping in the doorway of your room. I can’t cheer him up. Maybe you need to send a batch of treats.
In any other dimension, she would have loved getting a text from Emilio. But she couldn’t decipher what in the hell it meant.Did only Gus miss her? Was he trying to make her feel guilty? Make her sob uncontrollably? Out of the many, many things eatingat her right now, trying to decode that text might be the worst. But she didn’t have time to ruminate about it. She had toput on her makeup and a dress and go to the rehearsal dinner, where she would endure questions about why her “boyfriend,”the Formula One driver, wasn’t with her. Because that had been the only thing anyone had asked her about since the momentshe returned to Florida.
She forced herself off the bed and padded into the bathroom when she heard the bedroom door open. “Piper? You decent?”
“Yeah, Mom. What’s up?”
Willa stepped into the bathroom doorway. “You aren’t dressed yet?”
“Take a deep breath. We don’t need to leave for an hour.”
Her mom consulted her phone. “Fifty-five minutes.”
“Like I said. An hour.” Piper turned around to see that her mom was all gussied up, in an eggplant-purple wrap dress. “Whoa.Mom. You look hot. Has Dad seen you in that?”
Willa blushed. “Is it too much?” She leaned in closer. “Does it show too much of my boobs?”
“It’s perfect, Mom. You’re perfect.” Piper turned back to the mirror and pulled her hair into a ponytail, then began spongingon foundation.
Her mom perched on the edge of the bathtub. “Be honest. Have I seemed stressed out since you got home? Because I feel likeI’m managing things fine.”
Piper glanced over to see her mom tapping away at her phone. “Are you working?”
“I have some closings next week. And a couple with a tight timeline looking for a house.”
“Let’s take this time to catch up, okay?”
“Are you asking me to put my phone away?”
“Yes. I am.”
Her mom exhaled loudly and made a show of putting her phone facedown on the toilet seat. “Okay. Why don’t you tell me moreabout London? You already told me not to ask you about Emilio.”
“It’s not that you can’t ask me about him. It’s more the whole boyfriend thing. He’s not really my boyfriend. We were romanticallyinvolved, but our lives are too different. I don’t see how it would ever work. Long-term, at least.”
“When you say lives, what you really mean is circumstances. Those can change. In the blink of an eye.”
Piper didn’t want to sound like she was unsentimental or endlessly practical, but she didn’t really buy what her mom was saying.“His life is so crazy. Traveling all over the world. His fans everywhere, screaming his name.”
“Sounds exciting to me. He’s young. That’s the perfect time to live an exciting life.”
Piper had to gnaw on that. “I guess.”
“Do you love him?” her mother asked, completely matter-of-fact.
Mascara wand in hand, Piper stared at herself in the mirror. She knew the answer. She’d known it for a while. But she’d neveradmitted it to anyone else. “Doesn’tloveseem like a big word to throw around after knowing each other for a month?”
“Your father told me he loved me on our second date.”
Piper turned and rested her hip against the sink. “He did? How did that make you feel? Did you freak out?”
