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“I approached her on the dance floor. Told her she could tell you, or I would. She had twenty-four hours, but as you know, shit hit the fan, and I was a bit preoccupied.”
“What if her motives had been like my mother’s?”
And there it is.
The truth behind my anger.
What if she didn’t come for me, but for my money?
“She’s not your mother, Aiden. You know better than that. The woman has done nothing but try to help you.”
I swallow down the lump that keeps lodging in my throat.
He sighs. “I’m just glad she came clean. I was not looking forward to that convo.”
“Hardly,” I snap, thinking back on how it all went down.
Pinky promise on your puck…
She could’ve pinky promised on anything else, and I likely would still be with her, none the wiser. But that phrase is all Pippa. The words she said before I left.
“What do you mean, she didn’t tell you?”
“She didn’t tell me. What else is there to say?”
“But you know. So—”
“I figured it out all by myself. There were signs I should’ve seen weeks ago.”
“How? What are you talking about?”
“She’s Pippa, Mike.” I make a strangled noise. “She’s Pippa.”
“Fuck,” he bites out. “I don’t even know what to say.”
Me either.
“I thought she would tell you that she wasn’t the girl we thought she was, but I never realized she knew you. Weird. Come to think about it, she seemed almost relieved when I demanded it.”
“I think she tried. A few times. I wouldn’t let her,” I admit.
After the gala, she told me she wasn’t who I thought she was. I told her I didn’t care. That I knew who she was.
Maybe I did.
Maybe a part of me knew all along.
I saw her, but I wasn’t ready to admit it. All the little things she said over time pile on top of me.
It’s only business.
A warm cup of milk.
The conversation about my Jeep.
The whole time, she was trying to tell me, and I was too blind to see.
Or maybe I didn’t want Cassidy to be Pip. Didn’t want her to be the girl I left behind. My best friend. The girl who I looked at like a sister.
