The Forum by Marie Reyes (short books for teens .txt) 📕

"She knows. I'll tell her you were asking about her." She wanted to hug him, or squeeze his shoulder, but she didn't want to aggravate any of his wounds, so she just gave him a nod.

~~~

Kristen walked slowly into Piper's room as if she might frighten her if she made one wrong move. Piper was awake, but drowsy, her eyes barely open.

"Hi." Kristen spoke softly as if talking to a newborn baby. "The doctors said everything went really well." It was hard to look at Piper's haunted eyes. It was that look that came with trauma when you didn't know if anything was ever going to be okay ever again.

"I was just speaking with Martin. He was asking about you."

"He's okay?" her face changed in an instant. There was a glimmer of hope there now, which immediately changed to fear as someone appeared in her peripheral vision.

"Piper." A male voice came from her left, and she turned to see a tall man. He wasn't wearing scrubs, or a white coat, just jeans and a sweater. She turned back to Piper.

"Why are you here?" Piper shifted herself up and winced in pain.

"I'm still your next of kin. The kids are outside. I didn't know what kind of state you'd be in and didn't know if I should bring them in."

"I want to see them. Please."

"I want to say a few things first." He got closer to the bed, towering above her. "I can't believe what you've done. You took off. You kept this killer nonsense up. When will you learn that your actions have consequences? I mean, look at you."

Kristen stood up. "Will you keep it down? You're shouting. This is a recovery room."

"I'm sorry who the hell are you? If you don't mind, I'm busy talking to the mother of my children. Get out of here."

"Don't talk to me like that." She was not in the mood. He had picked a fight with the wrong girl.

"It's okay. But whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her."

"You know what, it can wait. We need privacy. I'll bring Stephen and Clara in."

"Trent," Piper called after him and he turned back. "I'm sorry about what I did. I only did it because I thought it was best for them, but I've done some thinking. I know I can do better. I can—"

"We'll talk about this later," he said, and then left the room.

"I'm going to leave you. You need time with your children. I'll check in with you in a bit okay?"

"Thanks for defending me. I feel like we're family now."

"Stop, you're going to make me cry again." Kristen laughed, fanning her eyes with her hands.

"It looks like you've already done enough crying for today. You poor thing. You look like you could really use a good sleep."

"Me? Poor thing? You're the one who got stabbed. I'm sorry. I know you were reluctant to even go to the abandoned school, but we pushed you, and now you're—"

Stephen and Clara burst into the room, and Clara went to jump on the edge of the bed. "Careful," Piper said softly, and Kristen left them to it.

Chapter Forty

Five

2 YEARS LATER

The smell of pine and earth blew in through the open car window as she got closer to the cabin, and the view of the mountains in the distance disappeared as the forest grew thicker. It was such a relief to get out of the city and away from civilization.

The last two years had been a flurry of interviews and hounding from the press. The worst thing that ever happened to her wouldn't leave her alone. After the incident at the offices of Best Choice Insurance, it had all been one big media circus. Here, there were no journalists, no reporters. She could just be herself again.

The log cabin appeared on the right and she parked out front. She stepped up onto the deck and took a quick look around to admire the view, briefly wondering if this was prime bear territory. The door looked freshly painted, so she rapped on the window instead and waited. It was Martin who answered, and Piper stood behind him, peering eagerly over his shoulder.

"Hi guys!" Kristen squealed. "It's been too long."

"Come in. I hope your flight was okay."

"Slept through the whole thing." Kristen looked around Martin and Piper's cabin. "This place looks cozy. You seen any bears yet? I really, really hope I don't see a bear."

"We've seen a couple."

"Ah man. If I see a bear, I'm sorry, but I will be using one of you as a human shield. Or are you supposed to play dead?"

"Relax will you? Have a glass of wine," said Kristen.

"Is that okay? I don't want to, because I know you can't..."

"It's fine. Three years sober." Kristen pulled out her three-year chip from her front jean pocket. "I know it's been so long, but I still carry it with me everywhere I go. Not because I feel like I might relapse at any minute, I'm just proud."

"That's fantastic. I'm proud of you too." She embraced her in a bear hug. "I'm really looking forward to seeing Clara and Stephen tomorrow. They seem to get so much bigger every time I see them. They're basically adults now."

"They can't wait to see you either. We can video chat them later if you want?"

"Sure. Maybe after we watch Aadesh's shows. We'll need something to cheer ourselves up."

"It feels strange, needing to be cheered up after watching three hours of comedy." Piper frowned.

"It wouldn't be a reunion without someone crying after all. I just tell myself he would have been so happy to know about all the people that he