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“I have an interview tonight—”
Cleo sucked in a breath. “If you cancel, I strap you to the hood of my car and drive you there myself.”
“Not canceling,” I quickly said.
“You’re not?”
“No.” Slowly, I walked back to my room and pushed my door open. I had a couple of hours. Plenty of time to contact a dry cleaner. “Cleo, could I move it up?”
“Move what up?”
“My interview.”
There was an audible pause over the line. “Is this a prank?”
“No.”
“But…? You want to move up an interview?”
“Yeah.” I nodded as if she could’ve seen it. “What about five o’clock at Gianna’s?”
54
Piper
Potential Sperm Donor
There was a horrible little monster resting on my conscience in the elevator. Which was dumb. Probably the dumbest thing I could’ve been worrying about. There were my classes—getting more difficult by the day—my first overnight shift—just around the corner—and the big floor events I was throwing during them. But the only thing I could think about was Adam.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
He was a grown man. He could take care of himself.
I spotted my parents beyond the desk assistant station, and a huge grin crossed my face. At least I could step away from all the head spinning for a while. I broke into a run and tugged them both into a huge hug, almost knocking them down.
Some college students might’ve been embarrassed about it or played it cool, but I didn’t care. It had been forever and a half since I’d seen them. My dad had grown out his beard and my mom was wearing the sweater I got her last Christmas. I squeezed them tighter, on the way to cutting off circulation.
"Hey, kiddo." My dad laughed. "Wow. Look at this place. Marrs, huh? It’s so interesting that the football team is named the Romans and the hockey team is named the Gladiators. Like the Gladiators were a distinguished step away from Romans! Unless they were taken from somewhere beyond the empire—and I suppose you could get into a debate about the hierarchy of what made a free citizen—"
I laughed. "Dad, I missed you so much."
“Oh my god, the traffic was horrific.” My mom shuddered and pulled out her purse to put away her phone. “There are fifty signs on every highway here I could barely read any of them. How does anyone drive in Houston? It’s a nightmare.”
I wiggled my eyebrows. “They can’t drive here. That’s the secret.”
One of the guys from the housing committee wove at me from down the hall. “Hey, Piper!”
I quickly waved back and encircled my parents towards the front entrance. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“What? I thought you were doing well?” My mom frowned.
“Piper!” One of my bosses stuck her head out of her office. “We have extra donuts, did you want any?”
“No, thank you!” I hurried to say. The longer we were in the lobby, the more we would get swarmed by people. It wasn’t like I didn’t like my building. I did. But inevitably the topic of the football player who spent twenty-four seven with me was bound to be brought up.
Zariah burst in front of me, bags under her eyes. “Holy shit, Piper, am I glad to see you.” She paused, blinking twice. “Wow. There’s…two Pipers?”
I smiled. “Zariah, these are my parents.”
