After they hung up, Piper knew she had to call Erik and tell him to check up on Phillip, but for some reason she dialed another number.

“Hello?”

Piper’s heart softened at the sound of his voice. “Phillip, it’s Piper. How are you?”

“Hey, I’m okay, you?” he asked.

“I’m good. I was calling to check up on you.”

“Elli called you?” he asked with suspicion in his voice.

She smiled. “Yeah.”

“I’m fine, I promise,” he said, but even Piper could tell he was lying. With a heavy heart, she tried to think of something else to say but she had never had anyone die that was close to her. She didn’t know what to say other than that she was sorry, but she was sure he had heard that plenty already. As the timer for her rice went off, an idea struck her.

“Will you be home in the next couple of hours?” she found herself asking.

“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere tonight.”

“Can I come over? I was going to bring you some dinner, maybe some cake, too, if I don’t eat it all.”

Phillip laughed, sounding a bit like his old self. “Sure, that would be great.”

“Great. I’ll be over in a bit.”

“Cool. Thanks, Piper.”

“No problem, but”—she took in a deep breath, then resumed—“is he there?”

Phillip was quiet for a moment. “Nope.”

“Cool. See you soon.”

Piper’s heart raced as she hung up the phone and looked around the room. She might have acted calm when she was on the phone but she wasn’t at all. Erik might not be there now but she knew there was a chance he would show up while she was there. She wasn’t surprised when Alla told her that he had gone back to live with Phillip. That was his best friend and where else would he have gone? He could have stayed with his parents or even gotten his own place like a regular grown man, but he hadn’t; instead he chose to go back to the life he had before Piper. It hurt and did nothing but make her think that he really didn’t want their life together. She could still see him grinning at her, holding her in his arms as his lips brushed over hers. She still believed that he cared, that he even loved her, but his choices made it so hard to keep believing.

After packing everything up, she got dressed and was soon on the road to Phillip’s house. With every mile bringing her closer to her destination, her fears grew as she sang louder and louder to the music of Adele. There are two ways she could do this: Drop off the food, give Phillip a quick hug, and then leave. Or she could go inside and sit with Phillip a bit; if Erik showed up she would force him to talk with her. Oddly enough, she would like to see Erik one last time. Maybe she’d finally get it into her head that he just didn’t care.

When she arrived she sat in the car a bit looking for Erik’s Aston Martin but it wasn’t there. Maneuvering herself out of her car, Piper got out the food she had brought for Phillip and walked up the short driveway. Relief and disappointment filled her as she knocked on the door. When Phillip opened it, she put a smile on her face as she gave him a sideways hug.

“Hey,” she said as she entered his home.

“Hey, thanks for bringing me food,” he said as he took the bags from her, but she wasn’t listening.

She heard him before she saw him, and soon Piper was on the floor with her arms wrapped around Stanley. She squeezed the dog so tight tears filled her eyes. Stanley licked and barked happily as she continued to hug him.

“Oh my goodness, Momma has missed you, Stanley. Have you missed me?” she cooed as she held him close.

“Wow, he usually doesn’t like girls who come through here,” she heard Phillip say. “We have to lock him in the room.”

“I’m not some girl, huh, buddy? I’m Momma. He misses his momma.” Stanley barked, licking any part of her as he struggled for air. Poor thing was going to have a heart attack. “Goodness me, calm down, buddy,” she said, petting the dog softly.

Piper stood and followed Phillip to the kitchen. She watched as he opened the boxes and threw a piece of broccoli in his mouth. He smiled over at her and nodded. “It’s good; thank you again.”

“Any time,” she said, leaning against the bar. “So you sure you’re okay?”

He flashed her one of his killer smiles, one that made all of the girls swoon. It did nothing for Piper. He was a gorgeous man, just not the man she wanted.

Pushing back her tears, she let him talk. “I’m good, I promise. My sister and I weren’t close. We were almost fifteen years apart and never really connected. I mean, I’m sad, but I’m mainly sad for my niece, Claire. I’m going up to see her after our game in Minnesota. She is staying with my aunt.”

“How old is she?”

“Sixteen. I haven’t seen her since I left home to play for a team in downtown Minneapolis, but I try to keep in touch. My sister was a bitch and kept her from me. So we’ll see how it goes,” he said before stuffing his mouth with some rice.

“Is she going to stay with your aunt?” Piper asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she is taking custody. She’s good people. Claire will be happy there.”

“That’s good,” Piper said.

“So how have you been?” he asked.

Piper shrugged her shoulders. “Okay; it’s been kind of hard.”

Phillip’s eyes softened as he gave her a small half smile.