True to You in Good Hope (Good Hope #14) - Cindy Kirk Page 0,2
Piper stood. Since Swoon, the boutique and wedding salon she owned, was closed on Thursdays, Piper had the rest of the day free.
Her skills in the kitchen were passable, and she’d just stocked the refrigerator yesterday. She could whip up a quiche or maybe make up a charcuterie board and enjoy a glass of wine.
Right now, both seemed like too much effort.
And after that, what? Piper had nothing planned and nowhere to go this evening. She enjoyed football, but didn’t feel like watching a game by herself. She really didn’t feel like being alone with her thoughts.
She considered her options. Her two closest friends, Bea Chapin and Charlotte Vogele, would be busy with their husbands. Piper, well, she didn’t have a husband. Didn’t even have a steady guy.
Normally, that fact didn’t bother her. Tonight, she wished she had someone, anyone, to take her mind off her family.
The interaction with her mom and sister had left Piper with a slight headache. After popping a couple of ibuprofen, she parted the curtains of her apartment’s front windows to glance out over Wrigley Road.
As it was mid-November, the flock of tourists who’d come for the fall season had long since hightailed it back home.
Not that the Door County peninsula—and the town of Good Hope in particular—didn’t get a fair amount of winter visitors. Still, life was quieter during the winter months, with many businesses cutting their hours.
Most Good Hope merchants embraced the slower pace as a welcome reprieve from the craziness of summer.
Right now, Piper wished for crazy-busy. Working would take her mind off the fact that her sister was set to make the biggest mistake of her life by marrying Heath Hamlin.
There was nothing Piper could do about that, unless she told Sasha what had happened between her and Heath.
Piper pulled herself up short, appalled at the thought. She knew better, which was why she’d kept this secret so long. Even if she confided in Sasha, Sasha likely wouldn’t believe her. The smart thing to do was what she’d done since the incident. She’d keep her mouth shut.
Whirling from the window, Piper impulsively grabbed her coat and headed for the stairs. Her apartment was above her store, so she could head down the steps, and her car was parked right outside the back door.
Piper hated that there wasn’t a garage, which meant her car sat out in the weather. Still, she was young and healthy. There was no reason she couldn’t scrape the snow and ice off her windshield in the winter or race the few feet to the back door when it rained.
She hoped getting out and being around people today would help clear her head. Even if she just read her phone while she ate dinner, the surrounding noise and conversation would have to be better than a quiet apartment, where she’d be alone with her thoughts.
In less than fifteen minutes, Piper pulled into a parking space in front of Muddy Boots. Seconds later, she walked through the doors of the popular café in the center of Good Hope’s business district. Yes, getting out among the living had been a wise decision.
Warm air wrapped around her like a thick blanket as she stood just inside the door. As she inhaled the enticing aroma of frying meat and onions, Piper’s stomach growled in anticipation. The whiteboard announced the specials of the day, including her favorite dessert—cherry crisp with ice cream.
No dessert, she told herself. Not after downing nearly half of a big bag of M&M’s. Ever since Piper had learned her sister was engaged to Heath, she’d fallen off the healthy-eating wagon. For years, Piper had been serious about nutrition and exercise.
That had all ended when Sasha texted her a picture of her left hand sporting a glittering diamond. Her baby sister could be a pain, but Piper loved her. Having firsthand knowledge of Heath’s character and not sharing it was a heavy burden.
She comforted herself that Heath likely wouldn’t do to Sasha what he’d done to her. Sasha was beautiful and more the type of woman he wanted.
Piper had assumed nutritious menu planning had become a habit. She’d assumed her daily runs and cardio classes at the YMCA were pleasures she’d never give up. She’d been wrong.
“Sit anywhere.” Helen, who’d waited tables at Muddy Boots since before Piper was born, gestured with coffeepot in hand toward the half-empty dining area. “I’ve got food up. Once I get that order out, I’ll be over to get yours.”