“Rise and shine.” I stand over Everly’s bed with a glass of water and Advil.
She winces and rolls over. Ash is on the other side. He nudges the mattress with his foot. “Morning, Little Sharpie.”
She glances between us. “What is going on?”
“Little family therapy session,” I say, and put the water and pills on her side table. “Get up. Put on your running shoes and meet us downstairs in five.”
“Living with professional athletes is the worst,” she mumbles, and puts the pillow over her face.
It’s ten minutes before she shows, but Everly comes downstairs dressed in sweats, eyes barely open. “You can’t really expect me to run this morning.”
“Sure, I can. Little sweat, a good breakfast, you’ll be good as new.”
Leo is waiting for us outside. He and Ash take off on our usual route, but I hang back with Everly. She falls into a slow jog next to me. I don’t say a word until we’re about a mile from the house.
“You scared the shit out of me last night.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not going to tell you not to drink because we both know I did when I was your age, but you have to be smart, Ev. You want to have a beer, fine. Do it surrounded by people you trust, not people who are going to let you take it too far and leave you God knows where, or worse, drive you home after they’ve been drinking alongside you.”
She stays quiet, but she doesn’t have that look on her face like she’s not listening to a word I’m saying, so progress.
“I ordered you a new phone. It’s on my plan so you don’t have to worry about it getting shut off again.”
“Thank you.”
“Why’d he shut it off anyway? I thought things were better with your dad?”
“They were for a while when he and Mom were trying to work things out, but since he moved back out, he’s flaky again.” Everly’s dad and our mom have had a roller coaster of a relationship since the beginning. They’re madly in love, they hate each other, they’re working it out, and on and on. Unfortunately, Ev is often put in the middle of their games.
“Well, this one is yours no matter what.”
She glances over at me. “You mean if you send me packing?”
“I’m not going to do that. You should know that by now, but we have to figure out a different way because I’m going to be gray or in cardiac arrest by the time I’m twenty-five.”
She snorts and rolls her eyes.
“We leave tonight for Vegas. I’ll be back late Tuesday night.”
“Okay. Got it. Declan will be checking in on me, I assume?”
“No. Declan is playing Tuesday.”
I get a genuine smile out of her. “Really? That’s awesome. I can’t wait to watch him play. He says he’s the best player on the team.”
“I bet he does,” I say with a chuckle. “It’s great news but it means that when I’m traveling, I don’t have anyone to look in on you.”
“I promise I won’t go out drinking again. It was one time.” She places a hand on her stomach and winces. “Trust me.”
“I appreciate that, but it’s not only that. You need people to look after you. You’re eighteen and I know you feel like you’re an adult, but you should still have someone making you dinner and worrying about you, all that shit. Which is why I asked Piper to be your nanny.”
“Nanny?” She stops jogging and stares at me. “What am I, four?”
“Somehow I think a four-year-old would cause less trouble.”
She glowers at me.
“I thought you liked Piper.”
“I do, but this is humiliating. What do I tell River?”
“I don’t give a shit what you tell anyone, least of all that fuck face.” I’m still livid that he got her drunk.
“Am I still allowed to see him?”
If I thought she’d listen if I told her she couldn’t see him anymore, I’d do it. But even I know teenagers tend to gravitate toward the exact people you try to keep them from.
“As long as I know where you’re going, you come back when you say you will, and you keep your phone on at all times, then yes. But if I find out he’s giving you alcohol again or driving you around after drinking, I’ll break his ankles.”
Piper’s pulling into the driveway as we get back. She grabs a small bag from her back seat and faces us. “I packed enough for the two days you’re gone. Is it still okay that I stay?”
“Of course. I just told Ev the news.”
Piper smiles at her. “Hey, Everly.”
“So, you’re my new warden, huh?”
“It’ll be fun,” Piper says.
“Sure.” Everly huffs. “I’m going to shower.”
I step forward and take Piper’s bag from her. “Sorry about that. I made her get up and go run with me this morning. She’s grumpy.”
“She’s mad you hired someone to look after her like a child,” she says with a laugh.
“How’d you know?”
“Lucky guess.” She follows me inside the house.
“I probably won’t have time to come back after practice. Do you want the full tour now?”
“Ummm.” Her gaze lifts and scans the room. “Sure.”
As I show Piper around, she’s quiet, nodding along and offering small, hesitant smiles.
“This is, uh, my room,” I say, stepping into the doorway and waving a hand. I didn’t make the bed and I spy a pair of dirty boxers that didn’t quite make it into the hamper.
Not that Piper notices. She gives my room the briefest glance and then stares at her feet. I clear my throat and keep going. “This is you any time you want to stay over.”
I set her bag on the floor just inside of the room and let her walk fully inside by herself. She does a quick scan and then stares at the attached bath between our rooms.
“It’s a Jack and Jill style,” I say. “You can have that one and I’ll use the one down the hall.”
“What about Everly?”
“She’s the last room at the end of the hallway and she has her own bathroom.”
She sits on the end of the bed. “This all feels like too much, even for a night or two.”
“Ash is fine with it. I promise. I think he likes having a bunch of people around.”
“I meant me staying in your house. Even if you’re not here, it’s a lot. I’ve seen you more in the past week than I did most weeks when we were actually dating.”
Guilt and remorse prick at my skin. She’s right, of course; I may not have seen her every day but I felt her, wanted her, loved her. She was mine, no matter the distance. Until I fucked it all up.
And now that I’m lucky enough to have her this close, I’m not screwing it up again.
“Before I go, I need to come clean on something.”
She stiffens. “What?”
“I said this was about what is best for Everly, and I meant it. I think you are the best person for the job, and I don’t want to screw with that.”
“O-kay.”
I step closer. Her bottom lip trembles as I invade her space. “But it doesn’t change how I feel about you. There’s something still here, Pipes. I know it.”
