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Interesting philosophical question. "I’m not a builder."
"You are a builder! Look around you! You're incredibly talented."
She sounded like she was about to cry, and he had a pretty good idea it wasn't because she was heartbroken that the world wasn't going to get a chance to have homes designed by Declan Jones. "Thank you. I like what I built here," he said easily. "Never considered doing it for a living, but I'll think about it."
"Oh, my God! You're patronizing me! Why are you patronizing me? It's a valid question. I've spent my life trying to build a career I love, one that gives me joy. Why would you go back to being a cop when you love building?"
He ground his jaw, reminding himself that whatever was bugging her wasn't his choice of work. He used to let Diana get a rise out of him, but with Piper, it was different.
He wanted to be that guy she could vent to. "I do like being a cop. It's not what I do. It's who I am."
"Then who have you been for the last few years when you weren't a cop?"
He tapped his fingers on the table, trying to figure out how torefocus the conversation into something productive, not something that set his teeth on edge. "Healing."
She blinked and looked over at him. "What?"
"Healing in body and soul. I got shot in the leg. I was in no shape to carry a gun and run after bad guys. So, I built things, and I healed."
She stared at him, and then new tears filled her eyes. "I'm such a bitch. I'm sorry."
"Shit, no. I didn't mean it like that." He put his hand on the back of her bar stool and leaned in. "What's going on, Piper? It's not about me being a cop."
"Your mom freaked out on me tonight when she realized we were helping that woman. She said I shouldn’t let myself get sucked into your cop world, and she was so mad that you were being a cop again. She said that your dad being a cop killed their marriage and that I would die a lonely death if I married you and you were a cop."
He closed his eyes.Shit.He did not want to unpack that right now. "You're crying because my mom got upset at you?"
"No." She put her water down. "I'm crying because you losing your dad and your wife made me miss my family, so I called my older brother tonight and it was…it just…" She stared at him. "I walked out on my family. I can't be with them. They're not good for me. But how can I walk away from them when you don't even have your family anymore? And he was mad. God, Declan, hearing Roman's voice…he'd thought I was dead. And he asked me if I was ever coming home, and I didn't know."
She was letting him in.Declan had to fight to keep his face calm. After hiding everything about her past, Piper was finally lowering her walls that had kept him, and everyone else, out. He wanted to give her what she needed, to build a connection of trust between them, so he weighed his response very carefully.
"How long has it been since you left?" he asked, trying for the bridge between support and neutrality, not wanting to push herback into her cave, doing his best not to ask a question that would feel threatening, that she wouldn't want to answer.
"Seven years."
He wanted to ask why she left, why they were bad for her, but he knew he was standing in the middle of her darkest secrets, and he had to tread gently. "Family isn't always good for us," he said softly. "And if we need distance from them, that's okay."
She looked over at him. "You didn't walk out on your family."
"No, but my mom walked out on my dad. She couldn't handle who he was, and she still can't."
Piper sat back to look at him. "Did you forgive her? Did he?"
"He stayed married to her, so yes."
"Did you?"
Declan shook his head. "No, I didn't marry her. I felt like that would be weird."
Piper stared at him, and then she snickered. "You're such a dork."
Relief rushed through him. His attempt to release a little of her tension had worked. "Yeah, but if I'd married her, then it would be worse than being a dork."
She rolled her eyes and pushed at his shoulder. "Did you forgive your mom, you toad?"
"I am still working through my issues with her, as you know," he said. "It's not about forgiveness. It's about that she sees my dad in me, and she doesn't like it."
"And you see your dad in you, and you embrace it."
