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Chapter Fourteen
Harper ignored the sweat sliding down her back as she dropped her roller back into its pan before she stepped back a dozen steps to admire her handiwork. She’d painted the exterior a bright white and it was dazzling.
It was amazing what she’d achieved with a large quantity of paint that had been on sale and a lot of blood sweat and tears. She glanced at the extension ladders and scaffolding she’d hired. The company she’d hired them from would be here in the morning to take the scaffolding back.
Her giggle verged close to hysteria. She’d done it! She’d finished before she’d even imagined she would. And the white with dark gray trim had really brought the house back to life.
She sagged a little, her muscles sore and cramping a little. She’d clean all her brushes and rollers first, then she’d soak in a hot bubble bath. If she had the energy to move after that, she’d make a sandwich for dinner and collapse into bed.
Half-an-hour later she was soaking in the bath, half-heartedly scraping some of the paint off her hands. It’d been three weeks since she’d left Liam and not looked back. Three weeks where she’d worked herself into the ground trying to make her bed and breakfast a reality while squashing any thoughts of the man who’d taken up all the space in her heart.
No easy feat. Not when every quiet moment her thoughts returned to him.
She sighed heavily, a few bath bubbles separating and exploding. It was going to take her a long time to forget about him. She touched the shell she’d been wearing around her neck ever since she’d attached a cord to it. If it wasn’t for her dreams and ambitions maybe they would have had a chance together, a real relationship.
Or maybe she’d saved herself a whole lot of heartache by leaving him before she’d fallen for him completely, only to have him walk away once the novelty had worn off for him.
She released the shell and closed her eyes before she slipped further under the bubbles. She might be hurting now but she would have been hurt a whole lot more if she’d stayed. Her instincts had been all wrong about him.
What if they weren’t? What if you left the one man who might have made you happy?
Weariness slid over her, chasing away anymore doubts. She’d chosen her path, now she’d just have to live with it.
Suddenly she was camping with her dad, flames crackling in front of her as they pushed their long-handled camping sandwich makers into the coals. Her dad’s brown eyes gleamed as he lifted his toaster free then pulled its handles apart to check his ham and cheese toasted sandwich. “This one is golden brown perfection.” He looked at her. “What about yours?”
“I’ve got egg on mine and I don’t want the yolk oozing.”
Her dad laughed. “Looks like I’ll be eating first then, munchkin.”
“Dad, I’m thirteen! Hardly a munchkin anymore.”
“You’ll always be my munchkin, sweetheart.”
She was suddenly eighteen then and standing arm-in-arm with her dad while admiring the crumbling estate they’d just bought together. Though the mansion was cosmetically ugly, the bones of it were solid, even the electrics and plumbing were good. Anything that had needed to be fixed over the years had just been left unattended.
“She’s a beauty,” her dad said, a note of satisfaction in his voice. “We’re going make her shine again, munchkin.”
She didn’t bother correcting the nickname he used. Instead she giggled. “Then she’s going to need a lot of spit and polish.”
“She certainly will.”
“And a lot of money, Dad. I’ll see if I can get work in the city and—”
“Let’s not go rushing into anything. I’ve still got a little bit of a nest egg we can live on while we bring this beauty back to its former glory.”
“Dad, your nest egg is barely enough to cover groceries every week. We have a mortgage now and bills to pay, not to mention all the paint, curtains, flooring and everything else we’ll have to buy. Then there’s the fences.”
“Whoa, munchkin. One thing at a time, hey? I suggest we start with the paddock on the right with that lovely big lake. Our neighbor has a tractor, I’ll pay him to come and slash the weeds so the grass can grow, then we’ll fence it into separate paddocks and start earning an income from some horses. We’ll do the other paddocks once word gets out about our agistment here.”
She nodded. “If we stay here we’ll save money on rent.”
“That’s my girl. You can have the self-sufficient room downstairs. I’m happy to take one of the bedrooms upstairs.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure, munchkin. You deserve the best.” His eyes gleamed. “And I won’t be around forever. I only hope that when I’m gone you’ll find a man to fall head over heels in love with. A man who’ll be your best friend and someone you can trust.”
“Dad, stop talking like that...like you’re leaving me soon.” She shivered. “You’re all I’ve got.”
