"Braxton Hicks," she murmurs. "Their strength surprises me sometimes, that's all."
I understand the mechanics of the human body. I've studied it-not just beautiful women, but their inner workings. It's my job, so I know it well. That did not look like a false labor pain. But I keep my thoughts to myself and watch her for signs of another one, keeping time in my head.
"So this was a bit of an overreaction on my part?" I ask to distract her from my study.
"Slightly."
We rise and I pull over the chair I was just sitting in. Forcing her off her feet, I grab a water from the fridge and shove it in her face. "Drink."
"Yes, boss."
"You haven't seen anything yet, sunshine. Now drink or you will."
She salutes me and then takes a deep drag.
"Caden?" Cara calls from the kitchen door.
I assess Piper for another second. Pink cheeks, dark but sparkling eyes. She's the picture of health, so I point to the bottle before I free my sight for my sister. She pinches her displeasure into the tight line of her lips.
"A minute?" Cara nods to the back and walks ahead of me.
Piper waves me away and then looks to the door as the bell rings, announcing Mrs. Donaldson as the first customer of the morning. Gus mirrors her movements, as if he's attached to her feet. I lose sight of them as I round the corner to the kitchen, shiny and bright with new appliances.
"What was that?" Cara huffs, her hand resting on her hip again.
"Practice labor, or have you forgotten pregnancy symptoms in the four years since Willow was born?" She boxes my ear again, and I growl, "Stop with the manhandling. I didn't come here to get my shit kicked. If not that, what are you talking about?"
"This." She motions erratically between me and the wall, and what's on the other side of it. "You, Piper. That didn't look like best friends forever. Goddamn it, Lawless, what are you doing?"
Her whisper-scream is loud enough that my heart picks up with my heightened pulse. "Nothing. Making sure she's okay. What the fuck is wrong with that?"
"I know you, little brother."
"Three minutes, Cara, does not make me the little one in this family." I straighten to my full height to prove it, but she doesn't back down.
"That girl was devastated five months ago. She's mourning and vulnerable."
"And I'm not?"
"Don't be a dick. It's not the same; your intentions are not the same."
I grab my hair so I don't grab her arm and shake the sense back into her brain. "I'm not . . . Jesus." My breath expels in a big ball of frustration as I mirror her frantic motion toward the wall and back to me. "This is nothing. I'm doing the best I can. Just because I'm home doesn't mean I'm whole. My grieving is not so different from hers. He was my brother, closer than most formed by blood. But that doesn't mean I loved him more or less than she did. My intention is to help us both through losing Justin."
"I don't think so. I see how you look at her."
"How's that?"
"Like you did Leah, but with more intensity."
I cross my arms to block out the verbal blow. Mentioning my high school girl, the one everyone in town thought I'd marry, is a below-the-belt hit, even for my sister. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"I do too. In thirty minutes, you haven't taken your eyes off Piper. You track her steps, grin like a besotted teen when she smiles, and stop breathing when she laughs, which has been a rare occurrence until today. Something's going on with you two even if you've yet to acknowledge it. But I'm asking you to rethink your intentions, sunshine. Piper needs stability, someone who'll be around to help raise that baby. Someone to be a father to him."
Take care of her, Lawless. Love her and my kid better than I ever could. Justin. Jesus Christ. I recoil from his voice and knock over a stack of pans waiting for the dishwasher on the counter behind me. The noise startles Cara, and me from the ghost talking in my ear.
"She's nothing to me but a responsibility. That's it," I ground out the words and stalk to the door. "Someone has to help her, and Justin made me promise I would."
"You'll get her settled and hightail it back to San Diego. Is that your plan?"
I turn and give Cara the same lethal stare she's shooting at me. "That's exactly it. I don't have room in my life for anything but duty. And when it's done, I'm done."
My life.
My rules.
The mantra I have lived by has my lungs screaming for fresh air, along with my muscles aching to stretch. So I do what I'm good at-I run. Run away from the people who mean the most to me, like my mom and sister and Leah when Lilyfalls became too small, my team as things went to shit. I don't want to run anymore. But there's not enough air in this place to breathe through the suffocating thoughts. I burst out of the backroom and stop in my tracks.