011

Dona’s POV

Post-hangout with August found me hiding in my room and reminiscing on what I'd witnessed that day, when I heard a knock on my door.

“Dona?” Piper’s voice carried through the wood, followed by the sound of it creaking open before I even had the chance to answer. That was Piper for you: permission was optional.

She walked in with her bag slung across her shoulder, curls bouncing as she shut the door behind her. But her face wasn’t its usual chipper self. No, she was frowning, eyebrows pulled tight like she’d just walked in on something criminal.

“Okay,” she started with her hands on her hips. “Why is the hockey captain sitting in your living room?”

I blinked at her from my bed. Oh. Right, that.

I sat up, rubbing the side of my head. The last two days had been a hurricane—finding out I had a stepdad-to-be, finding out I had a stepbrother-to-be, following August to the rink, seeing his dad with some shady Chicago guy. I hadn’t had a second to update Piper on… well, everything.

“Uh…” I started carefully. “About that.”

Her eyes narrowed. “About what? Dona, you’ve been hiding something. I can see it all over your face.”

I patted the edge of my bed, motioning for her to sit. “Fine. Sit down. This is… complicated.”

She dropped onto the bed, the springs creaking under her weight. “You’re killing me already. Spit it out.”

I sighed. “So… my mom got a new man.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Apparently, they’ve been dating for a while.”

“You’re lying.”

“I wish.”

Piper’s eyes widened so much I thought they might actually roll out of her head. “Wait. Wait, wait, wait. You mean to tell me… your mom has been out here secretly running a love life?”

I nodded slowly.

Piper flung her hands in the air. “And she didn’t say a word? Dios mío, Dona. That’s wild!"

“That’s not even the craziest part.”

She froze, staring at me like she didn’t want to hear the rest but couldn’t stop herself. “Don’t tell me—”

“Yup.” I braced myself. “Her new man has a son. And that son happens to be—”

“Don’t.” She pointed at me, shaking her head furiously.

“August Reynolds.”

For a second Piper just gawked at me, her chest rising and falling faster. Then she dug into her bag and whipped out her inhaler.

“Are you kidding me?” she wheezed, taking a sharp puff. “Tell me you’re making this up. Please.... please just tell me this is one of your sarcastic jokes.”

“I wish it was.”

Her brown eyes flared. “You mean to tell me that the same August is living under your roof? AS YOUR STEPBROTHER?”

“Not stepbrother, technically,” I groaned and collapsed into the bed. “Yet. My mom and his dad aren’t married on paper. But close enough.”

Piper pressed her palm to her chest, still catching her breath. “Girl, this is insane! How did this even happen? I thought your mom was still… you know, grieving.”

“She was. I mean, she is. But apparently she’s been dating Peter—that’s his dad—for months now. And now he’s moved into our house.”

Piper flopped backward on my bed like she’d just been shot. “Moved in? Oh, hell no. Who does that? Who dates a man for a few months and then just lets him drag his entire household into your space?”

"So many questions." I shrugged helplessly. “Exactly what I’ve been asking myself.”

She turned her head to look at me. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit. And I really don’t like August.”

That made me laugh. “Oh please. Don’t act like Caleb is any better.”

Her head shot up. “Caleb? What does Caleb have to do with this?”

"Weren't you all pro-Caleb some days ago?" I leaned back against my headboard. “Let me tell you what happened when I went with August to the rink the other day…”

I filled her in on the whole scene of Everett talking trash, me shutting him down, Caleb strutting over to me like he was hot stuff, chewing gum in my face, acting like he was the safe choice.

By the time I finished, Piper was groaning into her hands.

“You’re exaggerating.” She muttered.

“I’m not. Caleb is just as full of shit as August, maybe worse. You keep trying to make him sound like a golden retriever boy when he’s really just a peacock.”

Piper pouted. “He’s at least stable.”

I snorted. “Stable? Please. If Caleb is stable, then I’m a nun.”

She gave me a side-eye, but I could see her lips twitching like she wanted to laugh. “This is crazy.”

But then my mood dipped, because I remembered what else I’d seen that day. “Actually… there’s more. Something weird happened when August and I went out earlier.”

Piper straightened, sensing the shift in my voice. “What kind of weird?”

I told her about spotting August’s dad in the corner and arguing with some man August recognized from Chicago. I told her how August had pulled me behind a wall, how suspicious he looked when he watched them.

When I finished, Piper’s face was grave.

“Dona,” she whispered. “That’s bad news. Really bad news. You need to tell your mom immediately. Because no normal man shows up out of nowhere from Chicago to argue in some random corner of Florida. That smells like mafia nonsense.”

I groaned. “Piper, not everything is mafia.”

She jabbed a finger at me. “Fine, maybe not mafia. But shady? Oh, one hundred percent. You’ve been living in peace with your mom for years, and suddenly... bam! Peter and his kid roll in, and drama starts falling from the sky? Nope. No me gusta. You gotta warn her.”

“I know.” I hugged my knees to my chest. “Ever since Peter and August showed up, it feels like my whole world is upside down. It was just me and Mom for so long… ever since Dad died, it was us against the world. And now she’s splitting that life with strangers.”

Piper gave me a sympathetic look. “You don’t want to share her.”

I nodded, my throat tight. “Not with them especially.”

We sat in silence for a while, both of us lost in thought. Then I cleared my throat. “Anyway, the real reason I invited you here was so we could work on our project.”

Her head whipped toward me. “Perdón? Our project? Right now? After you drop all this telenovela drama on me, you want me to open G****e Docs?"

I shrugged, reaching for my notebook on the nightstand. “It's due Monday! We can’t fail Public Speaking 201 because you’re too busy being dramatic about my new family drama.”

She groaned so loud I thought the neighbors might hear. “How can you think about classwork when your entire life just got flipped upside down?”

“Because it’s due Monday, Piper!” I repeated, grinning. “And unlike you, I don’t want to stand in front of the professor empty-handed.”

She grabbed a pillow and tossed it at me. “Nerd.”

I dodged it and laughed. “Guilty as charged.”

Still muttering under her breath, Piper finally unzipped her bag and pulled out her laptop. She opened it with a dramatic flourish, glaring at me like I’d forced her into manual labor.

“Fine,” she huffed, typing in her password. “Let’s get this stupid thing done before my brain melts from all the chaos you just dumped on me.”