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Piper’s phone rang, startling her out of a very sound sleep. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so hard. Had the weight of her past really affected her that deeply that she had lost sleep over it? That was pretty frustrating, but she couldn’t do anything about it and she wasn’t living in the past any longer.
The phone rang again and she frantically searched for it in the rumpled covers.
“Hello?” she answered without even looking at the number.
“Good morning, Piper. I’m sorry if I woke you.”
“Oh, uh…” She pulled the phone away to see who it was. Catherine. Shoot. She had hoped for a text back. She wasn’t prepared for a phone call. “It’s okay,” she lied as her heart rate spiked. It was not okay.
“Did you sleep well?” Catherine asked.
“I think so. Um. Did you?”
“I did, thanks for asking. I got your text this morning. Thank you for your apology. I owe you one of my own.”
“You do?” That wasn’t what she expected at all.
“Yes, I do. I shouldn’t have cornered you the way I did. I should have gone through the correct channels to reach out to you. I put us both in an awkward position, and for that I am very sorry.”
Piper appreciated the apology even if she didn’t find it necessary. There were proper channels at the Ranch just to talk to someone? That was news to her. “I forgive you, but only because that’s what I need from someone when I apologize, not because I actually feel like you wronged me in some way,” she answered truthfully.
Catherine laughed. “You are so sweet. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Do you have fun plans for today?”
Piper wasn’t a huge fan of small talk but she felt like she still owed the woman for standing her up the night before.
“I am going to hang out in the Littles’ Wing I think. I made some new friends yesterday.”
“Oh, that’s great. I hope you have a good time. Make sure you’re a good girl though, some of the Littles here will lead you into trouble before you even know what’s happening. And you don’t want to get into trouble.”
Her voice was almost teasing but it still made Piper’s tummy wiggle with nerves. The idea of being in trouble didn’t terrify her as much as it had just the day before, but she still wasn’t about to jump into it the first chance she got.
“I won’t let them,” she promised.
“Good girl. Well, we are going to sit down with Master Derek at lunchtime and then maybe we can chat with you later today?”
“With Master Derek?” Meeting with Catherine and her husband was intimidating enough, adding Derek to the mix seemed like overkill.
“Well, you’re a visitor to the Ranch and Sam and I are employees. It would be more appropriate to consult with Derek before putting you through something you have no interest in. That’s why I never should have blindsided you yesterday.”
That made a little sense, but she didn’t really need Master Derek, a virtual stranger to decide anything for her.
“How does he know what I have interest in?”
“Well, you would have indicated things in your intake paperwork. If our wants and needs don’t align, then there is no reason to put you in an awkward position.”
She thought back to the paperwork she filled out, and in the short time she’d been at the Ranch, she realized some of her answers might not even be accurate any longer.
“We’re kind of already in an awkward position,” she said, “It doesn’t feel like Master Derek will make it any less awkward. Not for me at least.”
There was a moment of silence and Piper questioned why she was pushing this issue. She didn’t know what she wanted, yet she was kind of invested in what this woman had to say.
“Well then, I guess if you’re willing, we could leave Master Derek out of it.”
