“Survivor’s guilt,” a therapist had told him and Piper a long time ago.

No shit . . .

Hearing a sound in the den, he headed that way, not all that surprised to find Winnie curled up in the window seat in the living room, head bent, reading something on her phone.

“Hey,” he said.

Winnie jerked and her phone went flying. “Hey yourself, creeper. You nearly scared the Bean right out of me.”

He moved close and sat with her, looking out into the night and seeing nothing, because there were no city lights out here, no billboards or traffic. Nothing. “The Bean’s okay.” He slid her a crooked grin. “Its mama, though . . .”

Winnie rolled her eyes.

Gavin bent and scooped up her phone for her, which had a YouTube video playing on how to become a handyman. He glanced at her in surprise. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” She snatched the phone from his fingers.

“It looks like you’re trying to learn how to be useful.”

“And?”

“And . . . that seems unlike you.”

“Shows how much you know. I want to help. Piper’s working so hard, and she’s trying to fix this place up all on her own. That’s not fair.”

“Never bothered you before.”

“Yeah, well, I was a child.” She sighed. “And now I’m having a child. Need to get my shit together. I’m glad you decided to come home to do the same, but you were late. You were supposed to beat me here and soften her up for me.”

He shrugged. “I nearly decided against coming home at all.”

“Glad you didn’t.” She paused. “And just out of curiosity, what does seem like me?”

Even he recognized a trick question, but this was Winnie. They didn’t pull their punches with each other. “You’re covert. Sneaky. Like”—he raised a brow—“pretending to be in college this whole past semester when you’re really hostessing at Chili’s.”

She grimaced.

“Or getting pregnant and then hiding it.”

“I never should have told you. It was a weak moment, I’d just peed on a stick and freaked.”

“Understandable. But it’s a long time to be keeping these secrets from Piper. It’s your superpower.”

She flipped him off.

“Oh, don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve got the same superpower.”

“Yeah, you do.” Winnie lost her animosity and reached for his hand. “Only your secret shouldn’t be a secret, Gav. It’s not good for your recovery.”

“Yeah.” Feeling claustrophobic, he rose, hating the feeling that he was trying to climb out of his own skin. “But I’m not who you should be worried about.”

“Then who?”

“Your sister, when she finds out how little you trust her not to freak out.”

“You mean we,” Winnie said. “How little we trust her not to freak out.”