Love? Maybe. by Heather Hepler Read Free Book Online

stay shoved into my boot, my tights sport matching holes in the knees. I sigh and sink into the nearest seat. I set Chi Chi’s cage on my lap. Unfortunately I figure out too late that the dampness that is slowly leaking onto my legs through the air vents in the cage is not from the water tube. When the smell hits me, I realize that the spill scared Chi Chi more than he let on. And for the record, chinchilla pee is one of the worst smells you can imagine.
     
    My mother’s shop is called Lilly’s Flowers. It’s by far the nicest florist in Atlanta, mostly because my mom is a flower freak. A floraphilic. I hold the door open for Dom and Lucy as they race into the shop. My mother raises her eyebrows at me when she sees me. Not a good sign. Dom and Lucy run into the back, looking for the snack my mother always has laid out for them. I follow, letting our backpacks fall to the floor near the big walk-in refrigerator. I set Chi Chi’s cage on the floor. Once my mother finishes waiting on a woman wearing an enormous red hat that has purple feathers hanging off of it in every direction, she joins us.
     
    “Look what the cat dragged in,” she says, smiling slightly. My mother is infinitely amusing. She tilts her head at me when I don’t smile back. “Hard day?” I nod and lean againstthe wall. I feel like I’ve run seven marathons. “Hungry?” she asks. I nod again. I’m beyond speech at the moment, something that seems to be disturbing her. I file that away for the future. Nothing like having a little ammunition at your disposal when your parent is driving you nuts. My mother goes into the walk-in and comes out with a couple of apples and a bag of Jan’s granola. My mother seems jittery and keeps fiddling with her earrings. She’s also wearing makeup. That can only mean one thing.
     
    “What time is Beau coming by?” I ask.
     
    “Four,” she says. The clock over the desk reads ten after.
     
    I look at Dom and Lucy who are using their straws to blow bubbles in their milk.
     
    “You sure he’s coming?” I ask softly. Beau is not exactly Mr. Dependable.
     
    “He said for sure this week.” I bite my apple in frustration. Even though he moved out of our house over a year ago and almost directly into another woman’s apartment, Mom still gets taken in by his charm. Just another example of the suckiness of love. Mom’s cell buzzes and she pulls it from her pocket. She flips it open.
     
    “Beau?” I ask. She nods and reads the message. Apparently Beau has also realized the benefit of texting.
     
    “He said he has some business to take care of,” Mom says.
     
    “This is the third week in a row he’s bailed on them.”
     
    “He’s just busy, Piper,” Mom says.
     
    “And you’re not?” She takes off her glasses and rubs thebridge of her nose. “You have to stand up to him,” I say.
     
    “You don’t understand,” she says. I frown at my apple. I
do
understand. I understand that he’s just using her feelings for him to take advantage of her. “Can you take them home with you?” she asks. I nod, frowning. I had hoped to have a little peace at home, but obviously that’s not going to happen. I don’t say anything though. I know whatever I might say, I’ll regret. I sigh and start pulling my coat on again.
     
    Mom manages to get Lucy and Dom cleaned up and out the door in about a third of the time it would have taken me. “Thank you, Piper,” my mother says, holding the door for us. I just nod, still not trusting myself to say anything.
     
    Even though Dom and Lucy don’t mention their dad once on the walk home, it must be on their minds, because neither of them says anything at all. If there is anything worse than their constant bickering, it’s this. I’m sure there’s something in the big sister handbook about helping my younger brother and sister deal with life’s pitfalls better than I’m doing. I just don’t know what to say other than what I told Charlie. Divorce