That did not just happen.

“Um, excuse me?”

Erik turned the fork in his mouth and said, “What?”

“You’re not going to eat at the table with me?”

“No, I’m in the middle of a game.”

“Can’t you just quit so we can eat?” she asked patiently.

She had the urge to chuck her plate at him, but instead she decided that he knew no better. He had been living as a bachelor; they probably ate off the carpet and thought nothing was wrong with that.

Erik laughed and dropped down in his seat. “No way, but don’t worry, I can still eat and play. I won’t make a mess.”

“That’s not my point,” she snapped back.

He glanced back at her annoyed. “What is your point?”

She took in a deep breath, annoyance written all over her face as she said, “My point is that we should eat at the table as a family would.”

He turned back to the TV, then with a low voice added, “We aren’t a family, Piper. Don’t forget that.”

She didn’t understand why that hurt, but it did. She wanted to start screaming at him, but she knew that would not make their situation any better. With a heavy heart, Piper bowed her head. She began her prayer, asking for patience and even for Erik to see that maybe they could be a family. Even if he was an ass**le, she did care for him. She knew it was stupid to hope for that, or even to pray for it, but it didn’t stop her from doing it anyway.

As she reached for the asparagus her phone started to ring. Piper got up just as Erik started screaming more obscenities. Finding her phone on the counter, she noticed that it was Harper.

She probably shouldn’t answer, but she knew she had to or else Harper would jump in the car and drive out to her house. That was the last thing Piper wanted.

“Hello?”

“Hey, you’re still coming tomorrow right? For Alla and Cooper?”

She nodded even though Harper couldn’t see her.

“Yeah. I’ll be there.”

“Okay. How are you feeling?”

“Okay. I’ve had an interesting day,” she said, leaning on the counter watching Erik’s back.

“Really? How so?”

“Well, my baby’s daddy decided he wanted to be in the baby’s life.”

Harper paused, then asked, “Why are you saying that so nonchalantly? You are acting as if you’re baking a cake. This is huge. I thought this guy was an ass.”

Oh, he is, she wanted to say, but instead she said, “Ah, ya know, I was angry, and hurt. We are working things out. We are coming tomorrow.”

“Who is it?” Harper asked. Piper could tell she was stunned.

“You’ll see tomorrow.”

“Do I know him?”

Piper replied, “Maybe?”

“Tell me.”

“No, just wait. He’ll be with me tomorrow.”

“I don’t like this,” Harper said in warning.

“I know, but it’ll be okay.”

“Are you happy with him?”

Piper glanced back at Erik. She hated that she was about to lie to her sister. She guessed she had better get used to it because the next three months would be full of lies. Just then Erik let out another slew of cuss words and threw his controller across the room at the wall, then screamed even more obscenities.

Gritting her teeth, she said, “Oh, I’m ecstatic.”

Chapter 6

Piper hadn’t said two words to Erik.

He was beginning to think this was the way the next three months would be. If she continued with the silent treatment it would be that much easier to end this charade when the time came. He should be happy about that, but he wasn’t. What the hell had he done? Why was she so quiet? He knew he’d probably pissed her off already.

Glancing over at her, he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. She had dressed up to meet his parents and she looked beautiful. She had on some short shorts that were hot as hell and her hair was loose and curly; he loved it when she wore her hair like that. Piper’s hair was so long it just passed her ass, and what a great ass she had.

“What’s wrong?” he found himself asking. They were in the car on the way to Jakob’s so she had to talk to him or else be rude, and Piper didn’t “do” rude.

She glanced over at him with a surprised look on her face.

“What?” she asked.

“I asked what was wrong. You haven’t spoken to me since yesterday,” he said, feeling extremely stupid. Why did he care if she was mad, hurt, or upset with him? He had more important things to worry about, such as the fact that he was about to walk into his brother’s house and face two sets of parents that might very much want to kill him. Nervousness pulsed through him, but in a way, this conversation was thankfully a good distraction.

“Oh, well you’re an ass**le and I have nothing to say to you.”

A smiled pulled at his lips as he shook his head. God he loved her sass.

“I’m pretty sure you have a lot to say to me, Piper, and I get that. Remember I told you a very long time ago that I wasn’t the nicest guy, so don’t say I never told you.”

“Whatever. You’re a poser, that’s what you are. You think that if you’re an ass**le that makes you hard, but let me tell you something, it doesn’t. It just makes you a jerk.”

Erik had to laugh at that. She was a little spitfire.