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“Yep, I’ll just go right ahead and fuck off in this direction,” he replied, chuckling as he turned and wandered away toward his apartment. “Oh, and Cole…” he added without turning around.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t forget to wrap it up and good luck. It’s nice to see you getting back on your feet… or whatever you’re getting on,” he laughed. “But fuck with Harper and you’ll have to find yourself a new estate manager,” he warned.
As he made off down the hall, I heard the girls’ voices getting closer as they made their way back. I shook my head and glanced toward the stairs. Seeing them come into view I wondered if my attraction for Harper hadn’t been as covert as I’d thought.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Living in the valley with Draper Mountain in our sights, meant the short drive only took fifteen minutes to the car lot at the top. Stepping out of the car, I inhaled the fresh air deep into my lungs and slipped Layla’s hand into mine.
Although the sun shone, a brisk wind created some fast-moving clouds. They cast shadows, which crept over the land below as they moved past the sun. As each one passed, bursts of brilliant sunshine made the color of the lush green meadows more vibrant each time it appeared. When the wind died down, and the clouds moved slowly, we had the spectacular view of crepuscular rays breaking through.
Our clearly defined plot of land was visible from the main vantage point. However our large Colonial-style house was obscured from view behind a dense woodland. Layla was very interested in the geography of her home below and pointed out some of the landmarks she recognized. After she pointed out Grace’s man-made island she fell quiet.
“Are we in the sky, Daddy?” she eventually asked.
“The sky? No, Baby, the sky is always above us,” I told her, as I tried to figure out how to explain it better.
“Oh,” she remarked sounding disappointed.
“We are on a planet… it’s like a huge ball. We live on the outside, but it spins all the time and there’s this thing called gravity, which you can’t see, but it keeps us from falling off. The sky is all around the ball, so it’s always above us.”
Layla looked at me like I was insane, and I could see she’d dismissed my descriptive attempt to get into the mind of a small child.
“And Heaven is in the sky, right?” she asked.
“Heaven is a place you can’t see, and it’s really far away. You don’t go there until it’s your time,” I blurted out because the thought of anything happening to her was unthinkable.
“My time?”
“What your dad means is no one knows exactly where Heaven is, Honey. That’s why it’s so special, but we think it’s an incredible place where no one feels pain or suffering, and it’s much higher than a rocket can reach.”
Layla nodded and appeared to accept this, and I glanced at Harper who shrugged and gave me a sad smile.
My daughter then began to play a game where only she knew the rules, skipping and jumping, running back and doing it again. Ten minutes after this she became attention seeking and bored.
Proceeding to use me as a form of entertainment in the absence of anything else, she demanded a piggyback ride then this advanced to sitting astride my shoulders. As we walked along like this, Harper sneakily slipped her hand into mine, and for some reason, the simple contact of them both together made me feel whole in those moments for the first time in a long time.
“Excuse me, would you mind taking a picture of us?” A short stocky couple wearing matching waterproof coats stood looking expectantly at us. The woman glanced at me as if she knew me, but I stared through her and I saw her dismiss me. Thank you, God. The last thing I wanted was anyone disrupting my beautiful private moment by talking about my band.
“Sure,” Harper agreed, taking the camera as I moved Layla and I out of the way. The couple struck a holiday snap pose, the man hugging the woman’s waist as Harper lined up the shot of them against the view of Pulaski County down in the background.
After three quick snaps, Harper checked the pictures with the couple and handed the camera back. The small woman turned and glanced up at me. “You look like someone famous… I can’t remember his name. Has anyone ever told you this?”
Squeezing Layla’s leg, I shook my head, “No, I can’t say they have,” I replied with an innocent smile.
“Well, anyway, you’re a very handsome man and you have a beautiful family.”
“Thank you,” Harper responded before anyone corrected her. “Hope you like the pictures; we need to be on our way,” she added, concluding the interaction. We turned and walked away before the woman said anything else.
“Did that woman think you were my mom, Harper?”
“I think so.”
“Everyone does. I guess it’s because we’re together all the time, huh?” Layla mused.
“Guess so,” Harper replied, not making a big deal of it.
