AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I reminded her how to play, but she was right—this wasn’t her first time. The night ebbed around us, quiet outside the windows of the big house, and it was hard not to feel a little bit content, a little bit settled, for the first time in a long time.
I ended up staying a lot longer than five minutes, and there were stretches of the evening when I didn’t think about things, about Jess, for long periods at once. And then when she’d come back to mind, the guilt would crush me again. But each time it did, it felt just a little bit less heavy than the time before.
When it was time to go home, I found myself wishing I could stay in the light open space of Harper’s living room, in the warm glow of her smile.
As I finally pulled open the front door to go, I remembered my sister telling me to invite her tomorrow. “Hey, are you free tomorrow night?”
Her face lit up. “Well, I’ll have to check my Hello Kitty datebook.”
I chuckled. “My sister’s having a few people over for dinner at six. She asked me to bring you along if you’re up to it.”
Harper actually bounced on her toes and clapped her hands together in front of her—it was utterly charming and a little piece of my heart attached to her then, surprising me. “I’d love that.”
“We’ll go together, if you like.”
“Thanks, Cam,” she said. And as I walked down the front steps, I could feel those pretty eyes on my back, watching me leave.
I worried as I walked home about how attached I was beginning to feel to the gorgeous woman who’d come bounding into my life. I didn’t suffer from any misbeliefs about what I did or didn’t deserve—I wasn’t quite that masochistic. But I did believe that people and things I felt too personally attached to tended to die, and while a rational piece of my mind knew that couldn’t be true, I’d seen enough evidence that it was that I couldn’t quite convince myself it was crazy. I couldn’t let Harper too close—as much as I might wish I could. The universe seemed to like keeping me alone, and unbalancing the universe wasn’t on my to-do list.
We could be friends, but I’d keep my distance and my priorities.
If I possibly could.
Chapter 8
HARPER
Even though it was Saturday, I went into the Inn. I hadn’t slept well thanks to the mountain lion screaming intermittently—whenever I was about to drift off, mostly—and because I still couldn’t quite settle into the big house. I’d have preferred to lounge a bit longer, but that wasn’t going to happen.
Mike had called the day before and asked if I’d mind just meeting with her and Maddie, getting a little background on the wedding plans.
“She’s becoming a little stressed about things, I think,” Mike confided. “And I just don’t want her to worry. It’ll just be quick and casual. Originally we were just going to meet for coffee, but since you’re here now, I thought you should probably be there too.”
“Of course,” I had said, eager to make a good impression.
It was hard to know what was appropriate dress for work in a place where most people walked around in jeans from ten years ago and dirty boots, and where kitsch seemed to pass for culture. Adele at the diner had been sporting dangling earrings last time I’d been in—the plastic kind with three large round beads hanging on them in varying sizes. Ranger George’s wife had dropped by the house to say hello to me, and she’d been wearing a “scat identification” T-shirt with a Kings Grove logo on it. When people were wearing shirts explaining how to ID different kinds of poop, I figured I had a pretty open field in terms of appropriate work wear.
I decided to go with Michaela Grayson’s example, and put on a pair of black pants, a low wide black heel, and a wrap blouse that tied on one side. I left my hair down, and put on only mascara and lipstick.
An hour later, Maddie, Mike and I sat on the front deck of the Inn, looking out over the verdant green meadow to one side, the sweeping wild hillside to the other, and the distant parking lot and cluster of little buildings that made up the center of Kings Grove in front of us. We each held a cup of coffee, and the mood was much more girlfriends-for-coffee than stressed-about-a-wedding.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Maddie said, then shot a worried look at Mike. “Not that Mike couldn’t handle it, but things at the Inn have ramped up so fast it makes me feel good to know there’s someone focused just on events.”
“I’m glad to be here,” I told her. It was hard to look at Maddie without thinking about Cam—there was something similar about them, but her bright forthright attitude was a stark contrast to his more reserved demeanor.
“I’ll be honest,” Maddie leaned in. “Mike and I have coffee most Saturdays just to talk. Mostly I wanted to meet you.”
I raised an eyebrow and heard myself say, “oh,” surprised. “Why’s that?”
Maddie raised a shoulder and gave me a guilty smile. “Nosey, I guess. And you’re up there so close to my brother, I guess I feel a little protective.”
I nodded, I could understand that. But Mike said, “Seems like Cam can take care of himself. Isn’t he the big brother?”
A sad smile crossed Maddie’s face and she put her cup down. “It’s been a rough couple years for him,” she said. “That’s all.”
“Makes sense,” Mike said. Then she straightened a bit and asked, “Should we talk wedding details?”
Maddie’s face brightened and I pulled a notebook from my bag. “Yes,” she said. “I’m a little worried about the venue getting done. It’s going to be well over a hundred people, so I hope things will go smoothly.”
